It was now late in the afternoon, and Ralph pondered whether he should
abide the night where he was and sleep the night there, or whether
he should press on in hope of winning to some clear place before dark.
So whereas he was in a place both rough and waterless, he deemed it better
to go on, after he had rested his horse and let him bite the herbage a while.
Then he rode his ways, and entered the wood and made the most of the way.
CHAPTER 3
Ralph Meeteth With Another Adventure in the Wood Under the Mountain
Soon the wood grew very thick of pine-trees, though there
was no undergrowth, so that when the sun sank it grew dark
very speedily; but he still rode on in the dusk, and there
were but few wild things, and those mostly voiceless,
in the wood, and it was without wind and very still.
Now he thought he heard the sound of a horse going behind him
or on one side, and he wondered whether the chace were up,
and hastened what he might, till at last it grew black night,
and he was constrained to abide. So he got off his horse,
and leaned his back against a tree, and had the beast's reins over
his arm; and now he listened again carefully, and was quite sure
that he could hear the footsteps of some hard-footed beast going
nowise far from him. He laughed inwardly, and said to himself:
"If the chacer were to pass but three feet from my nose
he should be none the wiser but if he hear me or my horse.
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