When that moment did
come, it was too late. The fields were examined, the orchards and
out-houses thoroughly searched, without any traces of the fugitives. It
would have been useless to enter the forest in the darkness, and all that
could be done in reason, was to set a watch during the night, and to
prepare for a more active and intelligent pursuit in the morning.
But, long before the sun arose, the small and melancholy party of the
fugitives threaded the woods at such a distance from the valley, as would
have rendered the plan of the family entirely nugatory. Conanchet had led
the way over a thousand forest knolls, across water-courses, and through
dark glens, followed by his silent partner, with an industry that would
have baffled the zeal of even those from whom they fled. Whittal Ring,
bearing the infant on his back, trudged with unwearied step in the rear.
Hours had passed in this manner, and not a syllable had been uttered by
either of the three. Once or twice, they had stopped at some spot where
water, limpid as the air, gushed from the rocks; and, drinking from the
hollows of their hands, the march had been resumed with the same
speechless industry as before.
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