'Stand or I fire.' I flattened myself against Fairy's neck and urged her into a gallop, praying I could lose them in the fog. I heard the crack of the carbine and a shot whistled by my ear.

I galloped back towards Basing, branches whipping at my clothes and clods of earth flying up from Fairy's hooves. She was sweating heavily but her pace did not falter. Looming out of the fog I could make out the ramparts of the Old House, the dim outlines of the turrets of the New House beyond it. Behind me I could hear the muffled hoof beats of the two horses. Were they gaining on me? I could not...