If Rupert had come and gone, the king's demeanor would probably betray the fact; if he had not yet come, I and James, patrolling outside, would bar his passage.

There was a third possibility; he might be even now with the king.

Our course in such a case we left unsettled; so far as I had any plan, it was to kill Rupert and to convince the king that the letter was a forgery--a desperate hope, so desperate that we turned our eyes away from the possibility which would make it our only resource.
We were now very near the hunting-lodge, being about forty yards from the front of it.

All at once Sapt threw himself on his stomach on the ground.
"Give me a match," he whispered.
James struck a light, and, the night being still, the flame burnt brightly: it showed us the mark of a horse's hoof, apparently quite fresh, and leading away from the lodge.

We rose and went on, following the tracks by the aid of more matches till we reached a tree twenty yards from the door.