For a moment we each stared at the other. Then I shut the door
and locked it again. A crash and a cry came from the other end
of the garden. I understood that one of my enemies had come to
grief in trying to get over the pig-sty. How could I ever get
out of this cul-de-sac? It was evident that some of the party
had galloped round, while some had followed straight upon my
tracks. Had I my sword I might have beaten off the Lancer at the
door, but to come out now was to be butchered. And yet if I
waited some of them would certainly follow me on foot over the
pig-sty, and what could I do then? I must act at once or I was
lost. But it is at such moments that my wits are most active and
my actions most prompt. Still leading my horse, I ran for a
hundred yards by the side of the wall away from the spot where
the Lancer was watching. There I stopped, and with an effort I
tumbled down several of the loose stones from the top of the
wall. The instant I had done so I hurried back to the door. As
I had expected, he thought I was making a gap for my escape at
that point, and I heard the thud of his horse's hoofs as he
galloped to cut me off.
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