The bull-necked man regarded the limp figure in grim silence for a moment.
"That'll do, he's had enough; we ain't to kill him this time," he said.
An instant later he, with his two companions, had vanished silently into the woods.
Norton's horse trotted down the road.

When it entered the yard at Thicket Point half an hour later, Carrington was on the porch.
"Is that you, Norton ?" he called, but there was no response, and he saw the horse was riderless.

"Jeff!" he cried, summoning Norton's servant from the house.
"What's the matter, Mas'r ?" asked the negro, as he appeared in the open door.
"Why, here's Mr.Norton's horse come home without him.

Do you know where he went this afternoon ?" "I heard him say he reckoned he'd ride over to Belle Plain, Mas'r," answered Jeff, grinning.

"I 'low the hoss done broke away and come home by himself--he couldn't a-throwed Mas'r Charley!" "We'll make sure of that.