The next second we had forced our horses on the top of them, and the three were off like rabbits.

I sent a shot over their heads to encourage them.

Peter dismounted and tossed the guns into a bit of scrub where they would take some finding.
This hold-up had wasted time.

By now it was getting very dark, and we hadn't ridden a mile before it was black night.

It was an annoying predicament, for I had completely lost my bearings and at the best I had only a foggy notion of the lie of the land.