Page:Jepson--The terrible twins.djvu/159
"All right," said Erebus; and she mounted briskly.
She rode back through the wood slowly, her keen eyes straining for a sign of an ambush. The Terror followed her at a distance of sixty yards, ready to jump off, turn his machine, and fly should she give the alarm. They got no sight of Wiggins till they came, just beyond the end of the wood, to the lodges of Great Deeping Park; then, half-way up the drive, they saw the keeper and his prey. The keeper held Wiggins with his left hand and wheeled the captured bicycle with his right. The Twins dis-
mounted. Even at that distance they could see the deep dejection of their friend.
"There's not really any reason for him to be frightened. He was never in the wood at all; and he never touched the pheasant," said the Terror.
"What does that matter? He will be frightened out of his life; he's so young," cried Erebus in a tone of acute distress, gazing after their receding friend with very anxious eyes. "He's not like us; he won't cheek the keeper all the way like we should."