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to stop and outface any searching troop if necessary. It was nearly dawn anyway. Even at first light it would be reasonable enough to be traveling along a roadso long as no one noticed the blown and lathered horses. |
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That was the deciding factor. The horses had to be rested in any case, and it would be best to rest them before fording the river Kennet. Simon did not know any ford except the one at Marlborough. Since the ford would surely be guarded, they could neither cross it at this time of night nor take the chance that the condition of the horses would be noticed. The only reason not to stop was that Simon had come to the conclusion that he did not want to talk to Rhiannon for a while. The reason was scarcely tactically sound, and Simon was forced to put it aside. |
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They moved sufficiently off the road to be screened by trees and brush, watered the horses at a small streamlet, and fed them. No scouts were sent out. Simon had decided to run no farther. He did not think there would be any searches on or near the road. It led south to a town loyal to the king and north only to the ford at Marlborough. In either direction there was no escape for any fugitive, so there was no real point in patrolling the road. Simon's expectation was correct. No one moved on the road until the ordinary traffic of the morning began. |
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When he had set the watch, Simon came back with some reluctance to where Rhiannon lay. It had occurred to him, somewhere in the muddled night, that if she did not say aloud that she did not wish to see or speak to him again after this journey was over, there would be a greater chance she would relent. Commitments spoken aloud are very hard to forget. Again Simon wondered whether she had thought of the bitter challenge about whose hunger would triumph. He thought it was a draw, but Rhiannon might consider herself shamed. She had first |
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