“I was uneasy at the sight of the man, too, in the afternoon.  I think he thought that I was asleep; for when I saw him for the first time I was lying down and looking at the crag opposite.  And I saw him raise himself on his hands against the sky, as if he had been lying flat on his face in the heather.  I looked at him for a while, and then I flung my hand out of bed suddenly, and he was gone in a whisk.  I went to the door after a time, stretching myself as if I were just awakened, and there was no sign of him.

“About an hour before sunset I was watching again; and I saw, on a sudden, a covey of birds rise suddenly about two hundred yards away to the north of the hut—­that is, by the way that I should have to go down to the valleys again.  They rose as if they were frightened.  I kept my eyes on the place, and presently I saw a man’s hat moving very slowly.  It was the movement of a man crawling on his hands, drawing his legs after him.

“Then I waited for David to come, but he did not come, and I determined then to make my way down here as well as I could after dark.  If there were any fellows after me, I should have a better chance of escape than if I stayed in the hut, I thought, until they could fetch up the rest; and, if not, I could lose nothing by coming a day too soon.”

“But—­” began the girl eagerly.

“Wait,” said Robin quietly.  “That is not all.  I made very poor way on foot (for I thought it better to come quietly than on a horse), and I went round about again and again in the precipitous ground so that, if there were any after me, they could not tell which way I meant to go.  For about two hours I heard and saw nothing of any man, and I began to think I was a fool for all my pains.  So I sat down a good while and rested, and even thought that I would go back again.  But just as I was about to get up again I heard a stone fall a great way behind me:  it was on some rocky ground about two hundred yards away.  The night was quite still, and I could hear the stone very plainly....  It was I that crawled then, further down the hill, and it was then that I saw once more a man’s head move against the stars.

“I went straight on then, as quietly as I could.  I made sure that it was but one that was after me, and that he would not try to take me by himself, and I saw no more of him till I came down near Padley—­”

“Near Padley?  Why—­”

“I meant to go there first,” said the priest, “and lie, there till morning.  But as I came down the hill I heard the steps of him again a great way off.  So I turned sharp into a little broken ground that lies there, and hid myself among the rocks—­”

* * * * *

Mistress Alice lifted her hand suddenly.

“Hark!” she whispered.

Then as the three sat motionless, there came, distinct and clear, from a little distance down the hill, the noise of two or three horses walking over stony ground.