In going that twelve miles the river took a great turn, so that in fact the farm where the horses were pastured was not, in a straight line, more than four miles from Mr.Forester's house.

But the intermediate country was a desolate and almost impassable region of forests and mountains.

There was, indeed, a sort of footpath by which it was possible for men to get through, but this path was dangerous, and in fact almost impracticable for horses.

So James had formed the plan of walking through the woods by the path, and then of coming home by the road, riding one of the horses and leading the other.
Forester and Marco concluded to adopt the same plan; except that in coming home there would be just a horse a-piece for them to ride.

They put up some provisions to eat on the way, packing them in Marco's knapsack.