`` It was my horse was slain . '' `` It matters not one jot , '' replied Richard . `` Ye are here in the midst of open snow , and compassed about with enemies . Whether ye will or not , I carry you with me . Glad am I to have the occasion ; for thus shall I repay some portion of our debt . '' For a little while she was silent . Then , very suddenly , she asked : `` My uncle ? '' `` My Lord Risingham ? '' returned Dick . `` I would I had good news to give you , madam ; but I have none . I saw him once in the battle , and once only . Let us hope the best . '' CHAPTER V -- NIGHT IN THE WOODS : ALICIA RISINGHAM It was almost certain that Sir Daniel had made for the Moat House ; but , considering the heavy snow , the lateness of the hour , and the necessity under which he would lie of avoiding the few roads and striking across the wood , it was equally certain that he could not hope to reach it ere the morrow . There were two courses open to Dick ; either to continue to follow in the knight 's trail , and , if he were able , to fall upon him that very night in camp , or to strike out a path of his own , and seek to place himself between Sir Daniel and his destination . Either scheme was open to serious objection , and Dick , who feared to expose Joanna to the hazards of a fight , had not yet decided between them when he reached the borders of the wood . At this point Sir Daniel had turned a little to his left , and then plunged straight under a grove of very lofty timber . His party had then formed to a narrower front , in order to pass between the trees , and the track was trod proportionally deeper in the snow . The eye followed it under the leafless tracery of the oaks , running direct and narrow ; the trees stood over it , with knotty joints and the great , uplifted forest of their boughs ; there was no sound , whether of man or beast -- not so much as the stirring of a robin ; and over the field of snow the winter sun lay golden among netted shadows . `` How say ye , '' asked Dick of one of the men , `` to follow straight on , or strike across for Tunstall ? '' `` Sir Richard , '' replied the man-at-arms , `` I would follow the line until they scatter . ''
`` Ye are , doubtless , right , '' returned XXXXX ; `` but we came right hastily upon the errand , even as the time commanded .
Daniel Dick NIGHT RISINGHAM Richard Tunstall fall lateness man-at-arms tracery