Dick nodded and stepped a little faster.

"Won't you stop for a bite and fresh water with friends of the cause?"

"Thanks, but important dispatches. Must hurry." They repeated the
invitation. He shook his head, and went on. He did not look back,
but he was sure that they stared at him as long as he was in sight.
Then, for safety's sake, he left the road and entered the wood once more.

He had now come to country comparatively free from swamp and marsh,
and pursued his way through a great forest, beautiful with live oaks and
magnolias. In the afternoon he took a long rest by the side of a clear
spring, where he drew further upon the store of food in his saddlebags,
which he calculated held enough for another day. After that he would
have to forage upon the country.

He would sleep the second night in the forest, his blanket being
sufficient protection, unless rain came, which he would have to endure
as best he could. Another look at his map and he believed that on the
following afternoon he could reach Hertford.

He took the remaining food from his saddlebags, wrapped it in his blanket,
and strapped the pack on his back. Then, in order to lighten his burden,
he hung the saddlebags on the bough of a tree and abandoned them, after
which he pressed forward through the woods with renewed speed.

He came at times to the edge of the forest and saw houses in the fields,
but he always turned back among the trees. He could find only enemies
here, and he knew that it was his plan to avoid all human beings.