The earl is
not accustomed to be thwarted, and they say that he is a mighty
hot-tempered man. I have no doubt that, as soon as his fellows bring
him word of what has happened to them, and he finds that you have
quitted the inn, he will send parties of horse out to scour the roads
to Berwick and Haddington; and to search the country, far and near."
"He is welcome to do that," Oswald said. "My fear is that he will send
down to the port, to inquire if any craft put out about the hour at
which his men were attacked. But even if he does so, there is no great
chance of our being overtaken. We are travelling fast, and in another
hour it will be dark; and long before daybreak we shall reach Leith,
having both wind and tide in our favour, all the way."
They kept an anxious watch, as long as there was light enough for them
to make out if a vessel left Dunbar. Both fancied that they could see a
sail, just as twilight was falling, but neither could be sure that it
was not the effect of imagination. They were already ten miles away,
and as the tide had now begun to make along the shore, it was certain
that for some time, at least, a ship, however fast she might be, would
gain but little upon them, until she had fairly entered the Firth.
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