The next morning Esca sells their horses in Cluta. As sturdy and reliable as the ex-cavalry horses have proved, they are too easily identified. Instead Esca brings back two shaggy local ponies. The pair travels swiftly for two days. The third morning, they sight riders with hounds behind them. Soon the tribesmen are practically upon them.
Marcus and Esca elude their pursuers by slipping into a glen on foot while sending their ponies on. They slip into a river to elude the dogs. At the end of a very long day, the two men stumble out of the river, bone-tired and starving. All of their food was in.....
