"'I must reconnoitre,' said Louis; 'I don't understand his tactics.'
And, to my dismay, he prepared to get out of the wagon.
"'Are you going away?' I asked breathlessly.
"'Yes; sit still--the horses won't stir. I'm going to open fire at close
quarters.'
"I thought Louis's attempt at jocularity most ill-timed, but I said
nothing. It seemed to me an immense time that he was gone, but he
declares that it was not more than a minute and a quarter. Then I heard
him laugh quietly to himself.
"'All right, come on,' he said to me. 'Gee, whoa, haw, get up, girlies,'
he said to the horses, and those sagacious beasts immediately walked
straight towards the spot whence his voice came, without paying the
least attention to me, who was holding the reins so tight, as I thought.
"'Well, Milly, I suppose you'll never stop laughing,' was the first
thing he said to me when the horses came to a standstill, with their
noses almost in his beard.
"'I never felt less like laughing,' I replied, hardly daring to believe
that the peril was past and that I was still alive.
"'Our highwayman is an old stump, don't you see?' exclaimed Louis. I
looked again and saw that what he said was true; a gnarled tree stump,
some twisted branches, a deceiving white vapour, and perhaps, too, our
own vivid imaginations, these were the elements which had given birth to
our highwayman.
"'I never was more taken in,' said Louis, as he resumed his seat beside
me.
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