A slight patter caught the ear of Vic, like the running of many small
children over a heavy carpet, and then two shades blew around the side of
the house, one small and scudding close to the ground, the other vastly
larger--a man on horseback. It seemed a naked horse at first, so close to the
back did the rider lean, and before Vic could see clearly the vision
burst on them all. Several things kept shots from being fired earlier.
The first alarm had called attention to the opposite side of the house from
that on which the rider appeared; then, the moon gave only a vague,
treacherous light, and the black horse blended into it--the grass lightened
the fall of his racing feet.
Like a ship driving through a fog they rushed into view, the black
stallion, and Bart fleeting in front, and the surprise was complete. Vic
could see it work even in the sheriff, for the latter, having his rifle
trained towards his right jerked it about with a short curse and blazed at
the new target, again, again, and the line of the posse joined the fire.
Before the crack of their guns went from the ears of Vic, long before the
echoes bellowed back from the hills, Satan leaped high up.
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