.

THE COURIER.
It was well for La Boulaye that he had tethered his horse to a tree before approaching the coach.

That solitary beast standing by the roadside in the deepening gloom attracted the attention of his followers, when--a half-hour or so later--they rode that way, making for Liege, as La Boulaye had bidden them.
At their approach the animal neighed, and Garin, hearing the sound, reined in and peered forward into the gloom, to descry the horse's head and back outlined above the blur of the hedge.

His men halted behind him whilst he approached the riderless beast and made--as well as he could in the darkness--an examination of the saddle.

One holster he found empty, at which he concluded that the rider, whoever he had been, had met with trouble; from the other he drew a heavy pistol, which, however, gave him no clue.
"Get down," he ordered his men, "and search the roads hereabouts.