without giving time to either to reply, the old man
applied his spurs once more to the flanks of Silvertail,
who, with drooping mane and tail, resembled a half drowned
rat; and again hallooing defiance to Desborough, who lay
to at a distance, apparently watching the movements of
his enemies, he retraced his way along the sands at full
gallop, and was speedily out of sight.

Scarcely had Gattrie disappeared, when two other
individuals, evidently officers, and cloaked precisely
like the party he had just quitted, issued from the wood
near the hut upon the clearing, and thence upon the
sands--their countenances naturally expressing all the
surprise that might he supposed to arise from the picture
now offered to their view.

"What in the name of Heaven is the meaning of all this?"
asked one of the new comers, as both now rapidly advanced
to the spot where Middlemore was yet employed in coolly
binding up his leg, while Henry Grantham, who had just
risen, was gasping with almost ludicrous efforts to regain
his respiration.

"You must ask the meaning of our friend here," answered
Middlemore, with the low chuckling good-natured laugh
that was habitual to him, while he proceeded with his
bandaging. "All I know is, that I came out as a second,
and here have I been made a first--a principal, which,
by the way, is contrary to all my principle."