It was harder far for them to sit there in the hall, listening to the unsympathetic tick of the clock and starting at every sound on the gravel without, than it was for the father to tramp through the woods and trace the footsteps along the river's bank.
At last the clock struck two, and scarcely had the chimes ceased, when Walker put up his finger, and exclaimed,-- "Hist!" A moment of terrible silence ensued.

Then on their quickened hearing there came a distant rumble of wheels.

Almost at the same instant footsteps came tearing up the gravel drive.

It was Appleby, who rushed into the midst of the group assembled on the doorstep.
"All right--he's found!" gasped the lad.
"Is he alive ?" cried the mother.
"On a cart!" exclaimed the panting Appleby.
Mrs Rimbolt gave a little shriek, and fell into her husband's arms.
Raby, nerved by the very agony of the suspense, rushed out and ran down the drive to meet the cart.
"Is Percy there ?" she cried.
The cart stopped abruptly, and a strange voice replied,-- "Yes--safe and well and fast asleep." The words fell like music on the girl's ears.

It was too dark to see anything but the shadowy form of the cart and of a man walking at the horse's head.