In the distance, the noise of the rout of the Lancastrian army still continued to be faintly audible; but with every step they left it farther in the rear.
At the end of half an hour of silent progress they came forth upon a broad patch of heathy open.

It glimmered in the light of the stars, shaggy with fern and islanded with clumps of yew.

And here they paused and looked upon each other.
"Y' are weary ?" Dick said.
"Nay, I am so weary," answered Matcham, "that methinks I could lie down and die." "I hear the chiding of a river," returned Dick.

"Let us go so far forth, for I am sore athirst." The ground sloped down gently; and, sure enough, in the bottom, they found a little murmuring river, running among willows.

Here they threw themselves down together by the brink; and putting their mouths to the level of a starry pool, they drank their fill.
"Dick," said Matcham, "it may not be.