That distance covered, again I halted.

There was not a soul in sight.

I stripped one of the mules of all its harness, which I buried in the snow, behind a hedge, then I drove the beast loose into a field.

The peasant-owner of that land might conclude upon the morrow that it had rained asses in the night.
And now I was able to travel at a brisker pace, and in an hour or so I had passed the point where the road diverged, and I caught a glimpse of the four grooms, already high up in the hills which they were crossing.
Whether they saw me or not I do not know, but with a last curse at their cowardice I put them from my mind, and cantered briskly on towards Cagli.

It was a short league farther, and in little more than half an hour, my mule half-dead, I halted at the door of "The Full Moon." Flinging my reins to the ostler, I strode into the inn, swaddled in my cloak, and called for the hostess.