Amongst them went a man in grey clothes, whom Mr.Trenchard rightly conjectured to be the messenger riding for Whitehall.

He thought with a smile of what a handful he and Wilding would have had had they waited to rob that messenger of the incriminating letter that he bore.

Then he checked his smile to consider again how Sir Rowland Blake came to head that party.

He abandoned the problem, as the little troop swept unhesitatingly round to the left and went pounding along the road that led northwards to Bridgwater, clearly never doubting which way their quarry had sped.
As for Sir Rowland Blake's connection with this pursuit, the town gallant had by his earnestness not only convinced Colonel Luttrell of his loyalty and devotion to King James, but had actually gone so far as to beg that he might be allowed to prove that same loyalty by leading the soldiers to the capture of those self-confessed traitors, Mr.
Wilding and Mr.Trenchard.From his knowledge of their haunts he was confident, he assured Colonel Luttrell, that he could be of service to the King in this matter.

The fierce sincerity of his purpose shone through his words; Luttrell caught the accent of hate in Sir Rowland's tense voice, and, being a shrewd man, he saw that if Mr.Wilding was to be taken, an enemy would surely be the best pursuer to accomplish it.