Farther and farther behind them sounded the hoofs;
then they were swaying and rocking again down the slope that led to the
long flat piece of road that ended in the slope up to East Maskells. It
was softer going now and darker too, as there were trees overhead;
pollared willows streamed past them as they went; and twice there was a
snort and a hollow thunder of hoofs as a young sleeping horse awoke and
raced them a few yards in the meadows at the side. Once Anthony's horse
shied at a white post, and drew in front a yard or two; and he heard for
a moment under the rattle the cool gush of the stream that flowed beneath
the road and the scream of a water-fowl as she burst from the reeds.
A great exultation began to fill Anthony's heart. What a ride this was,
in the glorious summer night--reckless and intoxicating! What a contrast,
this sweet night air streaming past him, this dear world of living
things, his throbbing horse beneath him, the birds and beasts round him,
and this gallant girl swaying and rejoicing too beside him! What a
contrast was all this to that terrible afternoon, only a few hours
away--of suspense and skulking like a rat in a sewer; in a dark, close
passage underground breathing death and silence round him! An escape with
the fresh air in the face and the glorious galloping music of hoofs is
another matter to an escape contrived by holding the breath and fearing
to move in a mean hiding-hole. And as all this flooded in upon him,
incoherently but overpoweringly, he turned and laughed loud with joy.
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