"Don't be frightened; I'll keep him on leash till you get a good lead." Alloway jumped down from the gate, on the other side of it, his anger changed to uncertainty spiced with discomfort.
Blazer felt the chain loosen, and darted forward, jerking Tinker after him.
"I can't hold him!" yelled Tinker.
[Illustration: "I can't hold him!"] Alloway turned, dropped his whip, and bolted up through the village.
Blazer dashed at the gate, clawing it; Tinker got a better grip on the chain, opened the gate, snatched up the whip as Blazer jerked him through; and they set off down the road after Alloway.

The farmer ran better than ever, faster than he had run after Tinker, faster, probably, than he had ever run before in his life.
Blazer, though Tinker dragged for all he was worth, made a very fair pace after him.

But by the time they were a hundred yards beyond the village, the throttling drag began to tell; Blazer slowed down; and Alloway, still going hard, disappeared round the corner.
Blazer and Tinker fell into a walk, and then stopped.
Sir Tancred Beauleigh, on his quiet way to the village post-office, was surprised at being nearly knocked down by one of the most respectable young farmers of the neighbourhood, who was running with the speed and face of a man pursued by all the tigers of Bengal.

A hundred yards further on he heard yells and screams, and shouts of laughter; and coming round a corner, he saw a small boy rolling in recurring paroxysms of joy on the grass by the roadside, watched by a puzzled bull-terrier.

He had no difficulty in connecting them with the flying farmer.
He came up to the absorbed pair unnoticed, and standing over them, said quietly, "What's the joke, Tinker ?" Tinker sprang to his feet, and wiping away the joyful tears, said, "I have been playing at hunting runaway slaves." "Ah, Alloway was the slave ?" said Sir Tancred.
"Yes, sir," said Tinker.
Sir Tancred dropped the subject; he knew by experience that the truth might be painful hearing, and that he would probably hear it from Tinker's flying partner in the game quite soon enough.
"What are you doing with that dog ?" he said.
"I borrowed him," said Tinker.
Sir Tancred looked Blazer carefully over.