“—after us?” I inquired.
He nodded his head.
“Don’t you feel the thrill of it?” he asked beaming in my face. “And doesn’t it warm your blood to see them go flying past when we are standing here at our ease?”
I had to laugh in spite of myself, but for all that the seriousness of our situation tormented me. To live like a hunted animal was little to my liking. The long and short of it was that the scrivener was used to danger. I had my trials yet to come.
We had to keep on the move so we started back to wander under the protection of the trees. We crossed the forest path at a right angle and directed our steps towards the north. Here the woods grew thicker. The ground was more and more covered with brush and knotted weeds and there ran tiny streams down the hillside in and out among the rocks.
I came to a sudden stop and touched the scrivener on the arm.
“I hear a noise of some one walking,” I said. “A stone just clattered against a rock.”
The scrivener raised his finger to silence me.
“I saw them when we were watching the horsemen ride past,” he said. “It’s two fellows armed with bows and arrows. They are behind us.”
I asked no further questions. I knew that they were on our tracks. It was a sign that our enemies were combing the country round in their search and would leave no stone unturned till they found us.