Said Simon: "Thus it is: if I go back to my lord and bear
no token of having done his errand to Jack of the Tofts,
then am I in evil case; and if I come to the Tofts, I wot
well that Jack is a man fierce of heart, and ready of hand:
now, therefore, I pray thee give me thy word to be my
warrant, so far as thou mayst be, with this woodman and his
sons."

At that word Christopher brake out a-laughing loudly, till
all the dusk wood rang with the merry sound of his fresh
voice; at last he said: "Well, well, thou art but a craven
to be a secret murderer: the Lord God would have had an
easy bargain of Cain, had he been such as thou. Come on,
and do thine errand to Jack of the Tofts, and I will hold
thee harmless, so far as I may. Though, sooth to say, I
guessed what thine errand was, after the horses waked thee
and put a naked sword in thine hand last night. Marry! I
had no inkling of it when we left the Castle yesterday
morning, but deemed thy lord needed me to do him some
service. Come on then! or rather go thou on before me a
pace; there, where thou seest the glimmer betwixt the
beech-trees yonder; if thou goest astray, I am anigh thee
for a guide. And I say that we shall not go far without
tidings."

Simon went on perforce, as he was bidden, and they rode thus
a while slowly, Christopher now and then crying, as they
went: "To the right, squire! To the left! Straight on now!"
and so on. But suddenly they heard voices, and it was as if