“Star! Whoa! Belgian Star! Whoa! Come back!”
The mare must have heard Nancy, for the hoofbeats and crashing of underbrush stopped. The next moment, Nancy and Ned heard a frantic “Giddap! Giddap!”
Still no sound from the horse.
“Ned, have you a flashlight?” Nancy asked.
“Yes, in the glove compartment.”
She ran back to the car and reached into the compartment. At that moment the horse whinnied. Again Nancy cried out:
“Star! Come back!”
Grabbing the flashlight, Nancy turned it on and held the light high in the air. She waved it back and forth, and kept calling to the horse. Suddenly there was a sound of hoofbeats and a frantic trampling of undergrowth. A moment later the car’s headlights picked up the oncoming horse. It was Belgian Star with Hitch, the groom, astride her!
At the bank of the brook, the mare stopped. Hitch was straining on the bridle so tightly that the horse’s head, with mouth wide open and teeth bared, was lifted toward the sky.
“I’ll get this guy!” Ned yelled, and waded into the stream.
In desperation, Hitch jumped from Belgian Star and started off through the woods. Ned was only a few feet behind. Reaching the opposite shore, he plunged into the woods after his quarry.
Belgian Star slowly crossed the stream and came to stand at Nancy’s side. The mare nuzzled the girl’s neck, as if looking for sympathy. Nancy was stroking the horse when she heard a scream.
“Oh, one of the men has been injured!” she thought fearfully.
Quickly mounting the mare, Nancy urged her across the stream and into the woods. She started calling Ned’s name. There was no answer. Fear clutched her.
Playing the flashlight around, she rode among the trees. A few minutes later, to her complete amazement, she saw both Ned and Hitch lying unconscious in a small clearing.
Dismounting, Nancy rushed to Ned’s side first. He was beginning to revive. Nancy chafed his wrists and forehead, and presently he opened his eyes.
“Ned, I’m so thankful you’re all right,” Nancy said, helping him to sit up.
“Where’s Hitch?” he asked immediately.
“Right here,” Nancy replied, and pointed to the unconscious stableman.
When she turned the light on Hitch she could see that he had not suffered any serious injuries. He had merely blacked out.
“What happened?” Nancy asked Ned.
He told her that the two had grappled in the darkness. Hitch was clutching the boy’s throat, but just before Ned blacked out, he had landed a knockout wallop on Hitch’s jaw. Evidently they both had lost consciousness at the same time.
“That guy’s a fighter,” Ned remarked.
They swung the man’s unconscious form across the back of the horse, then they started Lack through the woods. Nancy led Belgian Star, while Ned watched the prisoner for signs of regaining consciousness.
When they reached the car, Nancy and Ned held a short consultation. They concluded that if they put Hitch in the car, and Nancy rode the horse, the man might revive and try to overpower Ned.
“Do you think Belgian Star could carry two men?” Ned asked.
“It won’t hurt her for a short distance.”
“Then I suggest,” said Ned, “that you drive the car and I’ll ride with this fellow.”
Nancy concurred, and Ned and his prisoner went ahead. Just before reaching the riding academy, Hitch began to regain consciousness. Fortunately, he did not become completely lucid until after Ned had carried him inside and laid him on the floor. Together, Nancy and Ned securely tied their prisoner with pieces of harness.
They had just finished when Hitch fully regained consciousness. He tried to sit up but found that he could not do so because of the straps that bound him. Screaming like a madman, he cried out that he had done nothing and they had no business to tie him up.
“Hitch,” said Ned, “you have plenty to account for. You’d better start talking.”
The groom insisted that he would reveal nothing about himself, except to say that he was merely borrowing Belgian Star to get somewhere.
“You needn’t tell us if you don’t want to,” Nancy said. “You can give your story to the police.”