and all at once a great figure loomed up gigantic before him and the
light of lantern gleamed in his face.

"Now, my man," a voice said, "you've been following me ever since I
left Bittermeads, and I'm going to give you a lesson you won't
forget in a hurry."

Dunn stood quite still. At the moment his chief feeling was one of
intense discomfiture at the way in which he had been outwitted, and
he experienced, too, a very keen and genuine admiration for the
woodcraft the other had shown.

Evidently, all the time he had known, or at any rate, suspected,
that he was being followed, and choosing this as a favourable spot
he had quietly doubled on his tracks, come up behind his pursuer,
and taken him unawares.

Dunn had not supposed there was a man in England who could have
played such a trick on him, but his admiration was roughly disturbed
before he could express it, for the grasp upon his collar tightened
and upon his shoulders there alighted a tremendous, stinging blow,
as with all his very considerable strength, the big man brought down
his walking-stick with a resounding thwack.

The sheer surprise of it, the sudden sharp pain, jerked a quick cry
from Dunn, who had not been in the least prepared for such an attack,
and in the darkness had not seen the stick rise, and the other
laughed grimly.

"Yes, you scoundrel," he said. "I know very well who you are and