But, familiar as he was with all the infinite disturbances of the woodland, and even the simulation of intrusion caused by a falling branch or lapsing pine-cone, he was arrested now by a recurring sound, unlike any other.

It was an occasional muffled beat--interrupted at uncertain intervals, but always returning in regular rhythm, whenever it was audible.

He knew it was made by a cantering horse; that the intervals were due to the patches of dead leaves in its course, and that the varying movement was the effect of its progress through obstacles and underbrush.

It was therefore coming through some "blind" cutoff in the thick-set wood.

The shifting of the sound also showed that the rider was unfamiliar with the locality, and sometimes wandered from the direct course; but the unfailing and accelerating persistency of the sound, in spite of these difficulties, indicated haste and determination.
He swung his gun from his shoulder, and examined its caps.