But it might have been
noticed that his manner had lost much of that nervous
susceptibility and anxiety which indicates a lover; and it was with
a return of his professional coolness and precision that he rode
out of the patio as if on parade. Erect, observant, and self-
possessed, he felt himself "on duty," and, putting spurs to his
horse, cantered along the high-road, finding an inexpressible
relief in motion. He was doing something in the interest of
helplessness and of HER. He had no doubt of his right to
interfere. He did not bother himself with the rights of others.
Like all self-contained men, he had no plan of action, except what
the occasion might suggest.
He was more than two miles from La Mision Perdida, when his quick
eye was attracted by a saddle-blanket lying in the roadside ditch.
A recollection of the calamity of the previous night made him rein
in his horse and examine it. It was without doubt the saddle-
blanket of Dr. West's horse, lost when the saddle came off, after
the Doctor's body had been dragged by the runaway beast. But a
second fact forced itself equally upon the young officer. It was
lying nearly a mile from the spot where the body had been picked
up. This certainly did not agree with the accepted theory that the
accident had taken place further on, and that the body had been
dragged until the saddle came off where it was found. His
professional knowledge of equitation and the technique of
accoutrements exploded the idea that the saddle could have slipped
here, the saddle-blanket fallen and the horse have run nearly a
mile hampered by the saddle hanging under him.
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