 and the instant the guide perceived that the females could
command their steeds, he moved on, at a pace between a trot and a walk; and at a
rate which kept the sure-footed and peculiar animals they rode, at a fast, and
yet easy amble. The youth had turned, to speak to the dark-eyed Cora, when the
distant sounds of horses' hoofs, clattering over the roots of the broken way in
his rear, caused him to check his charger; and as his companions drew their
reins at the same instant, the whole party came to a halt, in order to obtain an
explanation of the unloocked for interruption.
    In a few moments, a colt was seen gliding, like a fallow deer, amongst the
straight trunks of the pines; and in another instant, the person of the ungainly
man, described in the preceding chapter, came into view, with as much rapidity
as he could excite his meager beast to endure, without coming to an open
rupture. Until now this personage had escaped the observation of the travellers.
If he possessed the power to arrest any wandering eye, when exhibiting the
glories of his altitude on foot, his equestrian graces were still more likely to
attract attention. Notwithstanding a constant application of his one armed heel
to the flanks of the mare, the most confirmed gait that he could establish, was
a Canterbury gallop with the hind legs, in which those more forward assisted for
doubtful moments, though generally content to maintain a lopeing trot. Perhaps
the rapidity of the changes from one of these paces to the other, created an
optical illusion, which might thus magnify the powers of the beast; for it is
certain that Heyward, who possessed a true eye for the merits of a horse, was
unable, with his utmost ingenuity, to decide, by what sort of movement his
pursuer worked his sinuous way on his foot-steps, with such persevering
hardihood.
    The industry and movements of the rider were not less remarkable than those
of the ridden. At each change in the evolutions of the latter, the former raised
his tall person in the stirrups; producing, in this manner, by the undue
elongation of his legs, such sudden growths and diminishings of the stature, as
baffled every conjecture that might be made as to his dimensions. If to this be
added the fact, that in consequence of the ex parte application of the spur, one
side of the mare appeared to journey faster than the other; and that the
aggrieved flank was resolutely indicated, by unremitted flourishes of a bushy
tail, we finish the picture
