I stopped for a few minutes to rest among some ferns, while I
debated how to proceed. I changed the arrangement of my
stockings; I also dusted my very dirty clothes, all filthy from
that horrid passage underground. "Now," I said to myself, "there
must be many ways to Taunton. One way, I know, leads along this
valley, past Chard there, where the houses are. The other way
must lie across these combes, high up. Which way shall I choose,
I wonder?" A moment's thought showed me that the combes would be
unfrequented, while the valley road, being the easy road, which
(as I knew) the Duke's army had chosen, would no doubt be full of
people, some of them (perhaps) the King's soldiers, coming up
from Bridport. If I went by that road my pursuers would soon hear
of me, even if I managed to get past the watchers on the road. On
the other hand, Aurelia would probably know that I should choose
the combe road. Still, even if she sent out mounted men, she
would find me hard to track, since the combes were lonely, so
lonely that for hours together you can walk there without meeting
anybody. There would be plentiful cover among the combes in case
I wished to lie low. Besides, I had a famous start, a five hours'
start; for I should not be missed until eight o'clock. It could
not then have been much more than half-past two. In five hours an
active boy, even if he knew not the road, might put some half a
dozen miles behind him. I say only half a dozen miles, because
the roads were the roughest of rough mud-tracks, still soft from
the rains.
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