If we ride hard we can do it easily, and have little fear of being followed.

They'll naturally take it we have made for Bridgwater." They acted on the suggestion there and then, Vallancey going with them; for his task was now accomplished, and he was all eager to get to Lyme to kiss the hand of the Protestant Duke.

They rode hard, as Wilding had said they must, and they reached the junction of the roads before their pursuers hove in sight.

Here Wilding suddenly detained them again.

The road ahead of them ran straight for almost a mile, so that if they took it now they were almost sure to be seen presently by the messengers.
On their right a thickly grown coppice stretched from the road to the stream that babbled in the hollow.