"But who are the good fellows who helped you?"
Mr. Jervoise briefly gave an account of the affair.
"They are only keeping up a sham pursuit of the soldiers, so as to
send them well on their way. I told them not to overtake them, as
there was no occasion for any further bloodshed, when you were once
out of their hands. By tomorrow morning they will all be at work on
their farms again, and, if they keep their own counsel, need not
fear."
Suddenly Sir Marmaduke reined in his horse.
"We are riding south," he said.
"Certainly we are," Mr. Jervoise said. "Why not? That is our only
chance of safety. They will, in the first place, suspect us of
having doubled back to the hills, and will search every farmhouse
and cottage. Our only hope of escape is to ride either for Bristol,
or one of the southern ports."
"I must go back," Sir Marmaduke said doggedly. "I must kill that
scoundrel John Dormay, before I do anything else. It is he who has
wound this precious skein, in order to entrap us, expecting, the
scoundrel, to have my estates bestowed on him as a reward."
"It were madness to ride back now, Sir Marmaduke. It would cost you
your life, and you would leave Charlie here fatherless, and with
but little chance of ever regaining the estate.
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