Wilton rode forward, very well contented to have escaped so easily; but he remarked that his servant was likewise stopped, and that the same questions were put to him also.  He, too, was allowed to pass, however, without any molestation, and for the next half mile they went on without any further interruption.  Then, however, they were met by a single horseman, riding at the same leisurely pace as the others; but he suffered Wilton to pass without speaking, and merely stopped the servant to ask, “Who is that gentleman?”

No sooner had the man given his name than the horseman turned round and rode after him, exclaiming, “Mr. Brown!  Mr. Brown!”

Wilton checked his horse, and in a moment after, to his surprise, he found no other but the worthy Captain Byerly by his side.

“How do you do, Mr. Brown?” said the Captain, as he came up.  “I have but a moment to speak to you, for I have business on before; but I wanted to tell you, that if you keep straight on for half a mile farther, and taking the road to the right, where you will see a finger-post, go into a cottage—­that cottage there, where you can just see a light twinkling in the window over the moor—­you will find some old friends of yours, whom you and I saw together the last time we met, and another one, too, who will be glad enough to see you.”

“Who do you mean?” demanded Wilton, somewhat anxiously.

“I mean the Colonel,” replied Captain Byerly.

“Indeed!” said Wilton.  “I wish to see him very much.”

“You will find him there, then,” replied the other.  “But he is sadly changed, poor fellow, sadly changed, indeed!”

“How so?” said Wilton.  “Do you mean that he has been ill?”

“No, not exactly ill,” answered Byerly, “and I don’t well know what it is makes him so.—­At all events, I can’t stop to talk about it at present; but if you go on you will see him, and hear more about it from himself.  Good night, Mr. Brown, good night:  those fellows will get too far ahead of me, if I don’t mind.”  And thus saying, he rode on.

Wilton, for his part, proceeded on his way, musing over what had occurred.  It seemed to him, indeed, not a little strange, that a party of men, whose general business was hardly doubtful, should suffer him, without any knowledge of his person or any private motives for so doing, to pass them thus quietly on his way, and he was led to imagine that they must have in view some very peculiar object to account for such conduct.  That object, however, was evidently considered by themselves of very great importance, and to require extraordinary precautions; for before Wilton reached the direction-post to which Byerly had referred, he passed two more horsemen, one of whom was singing as he came up, but stopped immediately on perceiving the wayfarer, and demanded in a civil tone—­

“Pray, sir, did you meet some gentlemen on before?”

“Yes,” replied Wilton, “I did:  three, and then one.”