He lowered the pistol involuntarily--he
forgot to pull the trigger, and when he recovered himself, steed and
rider had gone beyond his reach.
"Is there a devil," he involuntarily murmured, "that stands between me
and my victim? am I to be baffled always? Is there, indeed, a God?"
He paused in stupor and vexation. He could hear the distant tramp of the
horse, sinking faintly out of hearing.
"That I, who have lived in the woods all my life, should have been
startled by an owl, and at such a moment!"
Cursing the youth's good fortune, not less than his own weakness, the
fierce disappointment of Guy Rivers was such that he fairly gnashed his
teeth with vexation. At first, he thought to dash after his victim, but
his own steed had been fastened near the cottage, several hundred yards
distant, and he was winded too much for a further pursuit that night.
Colleton was, meanwhile, a mile ahead, going forward swimmingly, never
once dreaming of danger. He was thus far safe. So frequently and
completely had his enemy been baffled in the brief progress of a single
night, that he was almost led to believe--for, like most criminals, he
was not without his superstition--that his foe was under some special
guardianship.
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