It is ill trusting even proverbs implicitly; that old one,
about the safe middle course, will break down, like the rest, sometimes.
My pertinacious querist stopped, I suppose, when he had got to the end
of his list, and apparently spent the rest of the evening in a slow
process of digestion; for he would break out, now and then, at the most
irrelevant times, with a repetition of one of his former interrogations,
which I had to answer again, briefly as I might. About sundown _le Bon
Gualtier_ returned, sorely travel-worn himself, and with an utterly
exhausted horse. He had ascertained that our companions had gone on,
probably to our original destination of the previous night; though why
they should have passed our present resting-place without calling there,
remained a mystery; nor was that point ever satisfactorily explained. To
proceed at once was impossible, for a fresh horse had to be found for
our guide; this, a cousin of our host's offered to provide by the
following evening (we could not venture to stir abroad in daylight); he
also offered to make his way to the farm where the missing men were
supposed to be, early in the morning, and to bring back certain
intelligence of their movements. This was only one instance of the
cordial kindness and hearty co-operation which I met with at the hands
of these sturdy yeomen.
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