What a lot of horses were there with nobody to look after them! He saw
one that suited him, a handsome beast he had seen in Collingwood, the
travelling powers of which he knew. To that stall he went, and braced
himself against the partition for a spring, after he had loosed the
halter, and slipped on a bit and bridle. He backed his steed out, turned
in the passage way and made for the door. Another moment and he would be
free. No horse in the stable, even if saddled and bridled, would be able
to overtake him, once he was on the road. But, at the door he met an
obstacle in the shape of a mountain of straw, that caused the horse to
back. The desperate man dug his knees into the flanks of the beast, and
urged it on. Down went the straw mountain, and the luckless Timotheus
beneath it, and Newcome rained a few exultant curses on him, as he
forced his steed; when a well-dressed negro sprang up from nowhere, and,
seizing the rein nearest him, spoke to the intelligent animal, and
backed it to one side. In a moment Timotheus wriggled himself unhurt out
of the litter, and, by main force, pulled the escaped prisoner down;
while Mr.
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