The
horse panted so hard that any one near would have heard him, but there
was no other sound in the thicket. The rest was valuable for both.
Harry was able to concentrate his mind and consider, while the panting of
the horse gradually ceased, and he breathed with regularity. The young
lieutenant patted him on the nose and whispered to him consolingly.
"Good, old boy," he said, "you've brought me safely so far. I knew that
I could trust you."
Then he stood quite still, with his hand stroking the horse's nose to
keep him silent. He had heard the first sounds of search. To his right
was the distant beat of hoofs and men's voices. Evidently they were
going to make a thorough search for him, and he decided to resume his
flight, even at the risk of being heard.
He led the horse again, because the forest was so dense that one could
scarcely ride in it, and he thought, for a while, that he had thrown off
the pursuit, but the voices came again, and now on his left. They had
never relaxed the hunt for an instant. They had a good leader, and Harry
admitted that in his place he would have done the same.
The country grew rougher, being so steep and hilly that it was not
easy of cultivation, and hence remained clothed in dense forest and
undergrowth.
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