He had just come to a particularly heavy part of the road where the horses were compelled to walk, when he heard the thud of hoofs some distance behind him.  The sound made him vaguely uneasy.  It ceased for a moment or two; then he heard it again, and realized that the horse was coming at full gallop.  Instinctively he whipped up the horses.  The ladies had also heard the sound; and, putting her head out of the window, the elder implored him to drive faster.

Could the two besotted knaves have put the horseman on his track, he wondered.  They must believe that the carriage had been run away with, and in their tipsy rage they would seize any means of overtaking him that offered.  The horseman might be an inoffensive traveler; on the other hand, he might not.  It was best to leave nothing to chance.  With a cheery word, to give the ladies confidence, he lashed at the horses and forced the carriage on at a pace that put its clumsy springs to a severe test.

Fortunately the road was straight, and the horses instinctively kept to the middle of the track.  But fast as they were now going, Desmond felt that if the horseman was indeed pursuing he would soon be overtaken.  He must be prepared for the worst.  Gripping the reins hard with his left hand, he dropped the whip for a moment and felt in the box below the seat in the hope of finding a pistol; but it was empty.

He whistled under his breath at the discovery:  if the pursuer was a “gentleman of the road” his predicament was indeed awkward.  The carriage was rumbling and rattling so noisily that he had long since lost the sound of the horse’s hoofs behind.  He could not pause to learn if the pursuit had ceased; his only course was to drive on.  Surely he would soon reach the edge of the heath; there would be houses; every few yards must bring him nearer to the possibility of obtaining help.  Thus thinking, he clenched his teeth and lashed the reeking flanks of the horses, which plunged along now at a mad gallop.

Suddenly, above the noise of their hoofs and the rattling of the coach he heard an angry shout.  A scream came from the ladies.  Heeding neither, Desmond quickly reversed his whip, holding it halfway down the long handle, with the heavy iron-tipped stock outward.  The horseman came galloping up on the right side, shouted to Desmond to stop, and without waiting drew level with the box and fired point blank.

But the rapid movement of his horse and the swaying of the carriage forbade him to take careful aim.  Desmond felt the wind of the bullet as it whizzed past him.  Next moment he leaned slightly sidewise, and, never loosening his hold on the reins with his left hand, he brought the weighty butt of his whip with a rapid cut, half sidewise, half downwards, upon the horseman’s head.  The man with a cry swerved on the saddle; almost before Desmond could recover his balance he was amazed to see the horse dash suddenly to the right, spring across the ditch, and gallop at full speed across the heath.