It would have been brutal to refuse; and what harm could he do to himself or others by simply delivering a packet of papers?
He had almost promised Master Robert Catesby before this to visit him in his river-side house.

Doubtless this was the very place for which he was now bound.

Anything like an adventure was agreeable to one of Cuthbert's imaginative nature, and a spice of possible danger did not detract from the sense of fascination, even though he might not see wherein the danger lay.
The wherry he was wont to use lay moored near to the Three Cranes, and no one heeded or questioned him as he stepped in and pushed off into the river.

A couple of soldiers were lounging upon the little wharf and watching the small craft as they came and went.

They appeared to take some note of Cuthbert, as of others who passed by, but they did not speak to him, and he wondered what their business was there.
A fragment of talk between two watermen reached him as he began rowing out in the direction of the Cherry Blossom; for he did not wish to take the upstream direction till twilight should have fallen and his movements would escape unheeded, and the voices of these men as they passed him reached him clearly over the water.
"On the lookout for the runaway priest, I take it.