About half-way between the town and the forest, those
whom he was following had plainly been assailed by
archers; for the corpses lay pretty closely scattered,
each pierced by an arrow. And here Dick spied
among the rest the body of a very young lad, whose
face was somehow hauntingly familiar to him.
He halted his troop, dismounted, and raised the lad’s
head. As he did so, the hood fell back, and
a profusion of long brown hair unrolled itself.
At the same time the eyes opened.
“Ah! lion driver!” said a feeble voice.
“She is farther on. Ride--ride fast!”
And then the poor young lady fainted once again.
One of Dick’s men carried a flask of some strong
cordial, and with this Dick succeeded in reviving
consciousness. Then he took Joanna’s friend
upon his saddlebow, and once more pushed toward the
forest.
“Why do ye take me?” said the girl.
“Ye but delay your speed.”
“Nay, Mistress Risingham,” replied Dick.
“Shoreby is full of blood and drunkenness and
riot. Here ye are safe; content ye.”
“I will not be beholden to any of your faction,”
she cried; “set me down.”
“Madam, ye know not what ye say,” returned
Dick. “Y’ are hurt” —
“I am not,” she said. “It
was my horse was slain.”
“It matters not one jot,” replied Richard.
“Ye are here in the midst of open snow, and
compassed about with enemies. Whether ye will
or not, I carry you with me. Glad am I to have
the occasion; for thus shall I repay some portion
of our debt.”
For a little while she was silent. Then, very
suddenly, she asked:
“My uncle?”
“My Lord Risingham?” returned Dick.
“I would I had good news to give you, madam;
but I have none. I saw him once in the battle,
and once only. Let us hope the best.”
It was almost certain that Sir Daniel had made for
the Moat House; but, considering the heavy snow, the
lateness of the hour, and the necessity under which
he would lie of avoiding the few roads and striking
across the wood, it was equally certain that he could
not hope to reach it ere the morrow.
There were two courses open to Dick; either to continue
to follow in the knight’s trail, and, if he
were able, to fall upon him that very night in camp,
or to strike out a path of his own, and seek to place
himself between Sir Daniel and his destination.
Either scheme was open to serious objection, and Dick,
who feared to expose Joanna to the hazards of a fight,
had not yet decided between them when he reached the
borders of the wood.
At this point Sir Daniel had turned a little to his
left, and then plunged straight under a grove of very
lofty timber. His party had then formed to a
narrower front, in order to pass between the trees,
and the track was trod proportionally deeper in the
snow. The eye followed it under the leafless
tracery of the oaks, running direct and narrow; the
trees stood over it, with knotty joints and the great,
uplifted forest of their boughs; there was no sound,
whether of man or beast—not so much as the
stirring of a robin; and over the field of snow the
winter sun lay golden among netted shadows.
