"
Old Man Coates had Belcher at a disadvantage, and, of course, availed
himself of it, and had no difficulty in making a bargain which reduced
the fugitive's stock of ready money in a fearful degree.
At half-past nine, that night, "Old Calamity" was driven down to the
side of the car by Coates' own hands, and in a moment the old man was
out of the wagon and the new owner was in it. The horse, the moment Mr.
Belcher took the reins, had a telegraphic communication concerning the
kind of man who was behind him, and the nature of the task that lay
before him, and struck off up the road toward Sevenoaks with a long,
swinging trot that gave the driver a sense of being lifted at every
stride.
It was a curious incident in the history of Mr. Belcher's flight to
Canada, which practically began when he leaped upon the deck of
Pilot-Boat Number 10, that he desired to see every spot that had been
connected with his previous life. A more sensitive man would have
shunned the scenes which had been associated with his prosperous and
nominally respectable career, but he seemed possessed with a morbid
desire to look once more upon the localities in which he had moved as
king.
He had not once returned to Sevenoaks since he left the village for the
metropolis; and although he was in bitter haste, with men near him in
pursuit, he was determined to take the longer road to safety, in order
to revisit the scene of his early enterprise and his first successes.
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