Part 77 (1/2)

”Gov'nor must have made a terrible mess of it, or he wouldn't be in such a stew,” said Sahtfully away, and ca he could do would be to have a ood dinner at a restaurant, and over this he sat thinking out his proceedings in a very cool, ht it was time to make a commencement, when he summoned the waiter, and asked for the railway ti out a suitable train, he paid his bill with one of his father's sovereigns, called a cab, and had himself driven to the terminus, where he took his ticket for the station beyond Furzebrough Road, and soon after was on his way down into the wild part of Surrey

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

Sa the little river-ford just as it was so dark that he could hardly ot over quite dry, and after a short walk on the level, began toFurzebrough at the top end, and led him by the fork in the road down one side of which his father had steered the bath-chair, and plunged into the soft sand of the great pit

It was a soft, silent time, and the place seeas-laes were so deep that they appeared likely to hide lurkers who ht suddenly leap out to rob, perhaps murder, for with all his outward show in bravado, Sam Brandon felt extreht him down there, and he at once decided that it would be better to walk in the middle of the road

Five ain, for he ht, to which Sam responded with a stifled cry of alarainst a man who suddenly appeared in the darkness, but proved to be quite an inoffensive personage bound for home

Then as the crown of the hill was reached, there was the great gloomy fir-wood, whose columns stood up quite close to the road, and under whose shade Sa deeply the while, that after all his task was not so easy as it seemed before he cah,” he thought, as he went on, continually on the look-out for danger to hi none, till he was in the deepest part of the sandy lane, with the side of the fir-wood on his right, a hedge-topped bank on the left

It was darker now than ever; and as it was early yet for the work he had in hand, he had slackened speed, and finally stopped short, hesitating about going on

”What a horrible, cut-throat-looking place!” he loom which hid the beautifully--draped sand-banks dotted with ferns, and ht be in hiding there, ready to spring out”

He had hardly thought this when he uttered a cry of horror, swung round, and ran as hard as he could back toward the crown of the hill, for all at once there was a peculiar sound, like theup, he could di horns, whose oas evidently gazing down upon him where he stood in the middle of the lane twenty feet below

Sam Brandon must have run five hundred yards back before want of breath coave place to common-sense

”What a fool I am!” he said to himself, onderful accuracy; ”it ht brought him quite to a stand, and after a little consideration, he felt so certain of the cause of his alarain toward the village, reaching the dark part, hesitating for a fewup to the left and over the diular _crop, crop, crop_ of sorass

”If anybody had told me,” he muttered, ”that I could have been scared by a jolly old cow, I should have kicked hih, till, in spite of the darkness, the road becahts at Heatherleigh, and looking up to his right against the starry sky, the top of the greatback, pretty well strung up noas rapidly assu the aspect of a desperate venture, he walked on till the golden sand looked light upon his left, and showed a way into the wood Here he turned off, walked cautiously in ast the tall columns for a few yards, and then sat down on the fir-needles, listened to find that all was still, and taking out cigarette-case andthe bright burning end of the little roll of tobacco, and trying as he rested to improve his plans

For he was hot and tired He had found the station beyond Furzebrough quite sevena perfectly fresh route to him, it had seemed twice as far; while the fact that he wished to keep his visit a profound secret forced hi instructed by the station-master at the first

It was restful and pleasant there on the soft natural couch of sand and fir-needles, and after a tian to bow and nod, and then, just as he was dropping off fast asleep, the cigarette, which he had been puffing at mechanically, dropped from his lips and fell in his lap

In a few ed its odour fro animal, and Sam leaped up with a yell of pain, to hastily clap his hands to a bright little round hole upon the leg of his trousers, where the woollen h to his skin

”Hang the stupid thing!” he gru spark ”Must have dropped off Looked nice if I'd slept all night in this idiotic place Too soon yet, but I an to walk up and down arasped the fact that it would be very easy to go astray in a fir-wood at night

Now as the dark hours are those when certain animals which live in the shade of trees choose for their rambles abroad, it so happened that one of these creatures ake, had left its hole, and was prowling about on mischief bent, when the yell Saht air

The first effect was to cause the prowler to start off and run; the second caused curiosity, and in to crawl cautiously toward the spot fro the tree-trunks, till the shadowy figure of Sa to and fro to avoid more sleep

Then, as the prowler lay near at hand upon his chest watching, there came a time when Sam went down upon his knees in the densest spot near, to shelter hiarette

Now it so happened that the darkest spot was close to where the prowler lay without being able to escape, as it would have caused a noise, and consequent betrayal