He decided that his quickest and safest route lay by the highroad, and he had also some hopes of recovering his bicycle.

On examining his body he seemed to have sustained no very great damage, except a painful cramping of legs and arms and a certain dizziness in the head.

His pockets had been thoroughly rifled, and he reflected with amusement that he, the well-to-do Mr.McCunn, did not possess at the moment a single copper.
But his spirits were soaring, for somehow his escape had given him an assurance of ultimate success.

Providence had directly interfered on his behalf by the hand of Wee Jaikie, and that surely meant that it would see him through.

But his chief emotion was an ardour of impatience to get to the scene of action.