So on
they went, flying down the long slope before them, dashed across a
little stream at its foot in hot pursuit of the last of the horsemen,
and on again along a little track on the other side. The ascent was a
little steep beyond the stream, but the ponies struggled gamely up, and
then another long slope stretched downward before them, beyond which
rose a great bank of heather. The hounds had already reached the
heather and were breasting the ascent, but their voices could be heard
now and then, and the last of the horsemen was not many hundred yards
ahead. So away the ponies went again, the children nothing loth, for
they doubted not but that the Corporal was near them. By the time that
they reached the foot of the slope the ponies were beginning to roll a
little, but they splashed through the next little stream as lively as
ever, and began to gallop up through the heather on the other side.
The horseman whom the children were following was still just in sight,
hugging his horse up the ascent; but first his horse's tail disappeared
over the hill, then only his shoulders were visible, then only his hat,
and presently he vanished from sight altogether. And Dick hustled his
pony up the hill to catch him, and Elsie hustled hers after him; but
the feeble gallop soon became a slow trot, and the trot became feebler
and feebler in spite of all the hustling.
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