"No, I haven't," Nancy replied. "I didn't see his face."

Suddenly the riding master bellowed, "Hitch! Hitch! Come here at once!"

The stableman did not appear instantly. But after the third summons he ran from the building.

"Were you out here when Miss Drew fell?" the riding master asked him.

"Why, no, sir," the groom replied. "I didn't even know there'd been any trouble."

"Did you see anyone outside the fence?"

"No, sir."

"Did Belgian Star run into her stall?" Roberto questioned him.

"Yes, she did. Star seemed pretty excited. I've been tryin' to calm her down."

While the riding master explained to his hostler about the accident, Nancy noticed that Hitch was wearing the same kind of clothes and old soft hat as the figure she had seen on the ground. And his suit had fresh dirt on it! Nancy's suspicions were instantly aroused. She gazed beyond the fence to determine whether the man might have had time by now to make a circuitous route back to the stable.

"He could have done it easily," she told herself, staring at the thick woods which came up almost to the fence of the riding ring. "And Hitch, is out of breath from running."

The man who had caused the accident could have crawled into the woods and returned to the academy without being seen.

Nancy turned to Señor Roberto, "How long was I unconscious?" she asked.

"Oh, twenty or thirty seconds—that's all," the riding master replied.

Then Nancy turned to Hitch. "How did you get all that fresh dirt on the front of your clothes?"

Hitch suddenly looked uncomfortable. He did not reply for a few seconds. Instead he countered, "I've heard you're a detective. Is it true?"

Nancy, somewhat taken aback by his question, acknowledged that she was known as an amateur sleuth.