When the lights had gone along the road, he descended to the river, took off his doublet and shirt, as before, and swam over; crossed the road, and was not long in finding the trees that marked the spot where he was to turn off to the farmhouse.
He made his way to the stable, raised the latch, and entered.

A lamp was burning, and the two men sitting and talking together.

They leapt up, with an exclamation of pleasure, as Oswald entered.
"We were afraid that something might have gone wrong; for, as I was waiting for you in the road, I heard a body of horsemen coming along, and hid behind the trees.

As they went by, one of them said, 'We must have passed them long ago, if they came by this road.

They had not more than a quarter of an hour's start.' "I heard no more, but it suggested that, maybe, you had managed to escape with the ladies, and that the Bairds were in pursuit of you." "That was exactly the case.