Where he was he had no idea, but he judged that he must be fully twenty miles from the village.
His first impulse was to take the handkerchief from his mouth, and he then walked slowly along the road, in the direction from which he had come.

It was, he felt sure, no use shouting; for they would have been certain to have selected some lonely spot to set him down, and there would be no chance of awakening the inhabitants of any distant cottage.

He walked slowly, for he was faint with loss of blood.
After proceeding about a quarter of a mile, he emerged from the wood and came upon a spot where the road forked.

Having no clue whatever as to the direction in which Lewes lay, he sat down upon a heap of stones and waited patiently for morning.

He had no doubt that the burglary had been a successful one, and he bitterly regretted his neglect to keep a watch down the lane, to see that he was not surprised by the men he had heard were coming.