Some miles farther, they saw ahead of them the towers of Bazas; and struck off from the road they were traversing, to pass to the east of it.

They presently came upon a wide road.
"This must be the road to Nerac," Philip said.

"There are neither rivers nor places of any size to be passed, now.

The only danger is from bodies of horse watching the road." "And if I mistake not, sir, there is one of them approaching now," Pierre said, pointing ahead.
As he spoke, the heads and shoulders of a body of horsemen were seen, as they rode up from a dip the road made into a hollow, half a mile away.
Philip glanced round.

The country was flat, and it was too late to think of concealment.
"We will go quietly on," he said.