But his rider was on the alert.

Gathering his reins firmly in his hands, he dashed his spurs into the flanks of his horse, which sprang forward like an arrow from a bow, and thundered down the path toward Pierre, who turned pale with terror.
"Out of the way, you villain, or I'll ride you down," shouted Frank.
This was very evident to the Ranchero, who, seizing upon the only chance for escape offered him, plunged head-foremost into the bushes.

He barely missed being run down, for Roderick flew by before he was fairly out of the path, and, by the time he had recovered his feet, Frank was out of sight.
When Frank reached home, he shed a great many tears over Marmion's untimely death; but, as it happened, it was grief wasted.

One morning, about a week after his adventure with the highwayman, while Frank and Archie were out for their morning's ride, a sorry-looking object crawled into the court, and thence into the office, where Mr.Winters was busy at his desk.

"Mad dog!" shouted the gentleman, when he discovered the intruder; and, springing to his feet, he lifted his chair over his head, and was in the very act of extinguishing the last spark of life left in the poor brute, when the sight of a collar he wore around his neck arrested his hand.