“Many people, I am afraid. In the first place we must have food.”
“It is useless to deny that I am very hungry,” she agreed.
“Instead of seeking food, I fell asleep,” I confessed miserably. “I shall never forgive myself.”
“Nonsense! We both of us needed rest first of all. Indeed I find the pangs of hunger rather exhilarating—and how I shall relish the food when we get it! But continue: whom else shall you meet?”
“In the second place,” I went on, “I must ask my way, since I am wholly unfamiliar with this country.”
“Yes, of course.”
“And in the third place, in a country even thinly settled, we must be prepared for chance encounters. To all the people we meet I must appear a peasant in order to protect you.”
“To protect me?”
“Yes; you are my prisoner—a spoil of war; there is a price on your head which I am anxious to secure. I may even have to be a little brutal with you.”
“I pardon you in advance,” she smiled. “Do not hesitate to be as brutal as is needful.”