Away on his track went the whole party of dragoons, headed by Sir Francis Clark, and in a few minutes the line of videttes was reached. The alarm had already become general, and at least a dozen shots were fired at the flying horseman, while a single vidette rode at him with drawn saber.

Sir Francis, better mounted than the rest, was close behind, as the demon met the dragoon. He heard a clash of weapons, and the wild rider darted out unharmed, while the soldier threw up his arms and fell back off his saddle, dead!

There was no time to lose, however. Shouting to his men to follow, the English officer galloped on, keeping within thirty feet of the other, till they reached the woods. Then, with a shrill laugh, the demon rider darted under the arches of the forest, and Clark followed.

The moon was not yet up, and the darkness in the woods was intense, but still the foremost horseman galloped on as if horse and rider well knew the way. Sir Francis followed, almost alone, for the dragoons were already strung out behind, owing to the severity of the pace.

Presently a crimson glow flashed up ahead, and the officer perceived a long, flaring flame, that streamed from the head of the demoniac figure in front, revealing the short black horns and the long cloak streaming out behind, exactly like huge wings in appearance.

Amazed, but still resolute, the aid-de-camp followed on, still riding at the same rapid pace through the arches of the wood.

The hoof-beats of the following dragoons grew fainter and fainter, and still the two horsemen galloped on in a direction due west, away from both armies. How long they rode, Clark could not tell, but hour after hour passed by without any change in their relative positions. The aid-de-camp rode a splendid horse, one of the few thoroughbreds then in America, and horses of that blood, as is well known, will gallop till they drop.

At the pace at which they were going, four hours of this work took them many a mile from settlements of any kind, till they entered a broken, limestone region. Then, of a sudden, the red flame went out on the demon’s head, and, with a[Pg 48] loud, mocking laugh, horse and rider plunged into a narrow black gully, almost hidden in bushes.

[Pg 48]

A moment later, Clark pulled up, thoroughly bewildered, in thick darkness. The light that had guided him had disappeared, and he 

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