h stretched for miles
on either side.

Half a mile before he reached it the track divided.

He had for some little time eased his horse down to a walk, as he felt
that the wood would be the spot where he would in all probability be
attacked, and he needed that his steed should be possessed of its utmost
vigor.

At the spot where the track branched a man in the guise of a mendicant
was sitting. He begged for alms, and Cuthbert threw him a small coin.

A sudden thought struck him as he heard a rustling in the bushes near.

"Which is the nearest and best road to Avignon?" he said.

"The right-hand road is the best and shortest," the beggar said. "The
other makes a long circuit and leads through several marshes, which your
honor will find it hard to pass."

Cuthbert thanked him and moved forward, still at a walk, along the
right-hand road.

When he had gone about two hundred yards, and was hidden from the sight
of the man he had left--the country being rough, and scattered with
clumps of bushes--he halted, and, as he expected, heard the sound of
horses' hoofs coming on at full gallop along the other road.

"Your master must have thought me young indeed," he said, "to try and
catch me with such a transparent trick as that. I do not suppose that
accursed page has more than ten men with him, and doubtless has placed
five on each road. This fellow was placed here to see which track I
would follow, and has now gone to give the party on the left hand the
news that I have taken this way. Had it not been for him I should have
had to run the gantlet with four or five of my enemies. As it is, the
path will doubtless be clear."

So saying, he turned his horse, galloped back to the spot where the
tracks separated, and then followed the left-hand route.

As he had hoped, he passed through the wood without incident or
interruption, and arrived safely that night at a small town, having seen
no signs of his enemies.

The next day he started again early, and rode on until midday, when he
halted at a large village, at which was the only inn between the place
from which he started and his destination. He declined the offer of the
servant of the inn to take his horse round to the stable, telling the
man to hold him outside the door and give him from a sieve a few
handfuls of grain.

Then he entered the inn and ate a hearty meal. As he appeared at the
door he saw several men gathered near. With a single spring he threw
himself