Then the fires sprang up and created a wide circle of light and cheerfulness.
Dick joined zealously in the task of finding firewood and his search took him somewhat further than the others.

He passed all the way through the belt of forest, and noticed fields beyond.

He was about to turn back when he heard a faint, but regular sound.

Experience told him that it was the beat of a horse's hoofs and he knew that some distance away a road must lead between the fields.
He walked a hundred yards further, and climbing upon a fence waited.
From his perch he could see the road about two hundred yards beyond him, and the hoof beats were rapidly growing louder.

Some one was riding hard and fast.
In a minute the horseman or rather horsewoman, came into view.