"Where are they all, Jackson?" said he.
"All away to the right, sir," said the trooper. "One of my comrades is
killed, your father has had his horse shot, the Doctor is hit in the
arm, and Mr. James Brentwood has got his leg broke with the fall of
his horse. They are minding him now. We've got all the gang, alive or
dead, except two. Captain Desborough is up the valley now after the
head man, and young Mr. Hawker is with him. D--n it all! hark to
that."
Two shots were fired in quick succession in the direction indicated;
and Sam having caught his horse, gallopped off to see what was going
on.
* * * * *
Desborough fought neither against small nor great, but only against one
man, and he was George Hawker. Him he had sworn he would bring home,
dead or alive. When he and his party had first broken through the fern,
he had caught sight of his quarry, and had instantly made towards him,
as quick as the broken, scrub-tangled ground would allow.
They knew one another; and, as soon as Hawker saw that he was
recognised, he made to the left, away from the rest of his gang, trying
to reach, as Desborough could plainly see, the only practicable way
that led from the amphitheatre in which they were back into the
mountains.
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