The family were returning to the house the same afternoon, Mrs.Peyton and the girls in one carriage, the female house-servants in another, and Clarence on horseback.

They had reached the first plateau, and Clarence was riding a little in advance, when an extraordinary figure, rising from the grain beyond, began to gesticulate to him wildly.

Checking the driver of the first carriage, Clarence bore down upon the stranger.

To his amazement it was Jim Hooker.

Mounted on a peaceful, unwieldy plough horse, he was nevertheless accoutred and armed after his most extravagant fashion.
In addition to a heavy rifle across his saddle-bow he was weighted down with a knife and revolvers.