The question of terms was quickly settled, and the mounts were ordered to be brought round at nine the next morning. Then we went back to enjoy the festivities, longing the while for the morrow to come.
[CHAPTER XIX--How Three Horsemen set out for the North]
Punctually to the minute our steeds were brought round, the farewells were said, and with a loose rein we cantered down the narrow cobble-paved street towards the Landport Gate. The horses' hoofs echoed under the dark gateway and clattered across the drawbridge, the town of Portsmouth was left behind, and the dense cluster of timbered and red-tiled houses gave place to verdant fields and clumps of tall trees that even now were beginning to burst into leaf.
We were each armed with sword and pistols, for the highways were far from safe, and we wot not what awaited us at our journey's end. The fine spring morning told on our spirits and we were in good humour. Conversation, mingled with laugh and jest, flowed fast, and one would have imagined we were setting out for a holiday rather than on an expedition on which fortune, nay life and death, depended.
At the summit of Portsdown we halted to look back upon the good old seaport once more, then we cantered easily down the long slope to the village of Purbrook. Then came the steady climb through the Forest of Bere, where memories of a journey seven years before rose before my mind.
At Butser we reined our horses while I pointed out the scene of my encounter with the three Dorset smugglers. Then we reached the lofty summit of the road, from which the magnificent view of the valley of the Rother could be seen under its fairest conditions.
At Petersfield we stopped for our midday meal, and after giving our horses a well-earned rest, we resumed our way northward till the bold headline of Hindhead loomed up in front of us.
At Rake we stopped to visit the scenes of old associations, calling in at the "Flying Bull", where Giles Perrin, now grey-haired, bent, and decrepit, still followed his calling.
"Lord ha' mercy on me if 'tis not young Master Wentworth!" he exclaimed, showing that, though grown in stature, I had not outgrown the appearance of my boyhood; and when Drake told him of my newly found title, the old man tottered away to let the frequenters of the inn know the news; whereat we, unwilling to tarry longer, pushed on towards the towering heights of Hindhead.
Presently we crossed a heath beyond which we could perceive the village of Liphook. In the distance we could make out a crowd of people whose infuriated shouts were plainly audible.