The men answered , almost with one voice , that they would follow Sir Richard where he would . And Dick , setting spur to his horse , began once more to go forward . The snow in the trail had been trodden very hard , and the pursuers had thus a great advantage over the pursued . They pushed on , indeed , at a round trot , two hundred hoofs beating alternately on the dull pavement of the snow , and the jingle of weapons and the snorting of horses raising a warlike noise along the arches of the silent wood . Presently , the wide slot of the pursued came out upon the high road from Holywood ; it was there , for a moment , indistinguishable ; and , where it once more plunged into the unbeaten snow upon the farther side , Dick was surprised to see it narrower and lighter trod . Plainly , profiting by the road , Sir Daniel had begun already to scatter his command . At all hazards , one chance being equal to another , Dick continued to pursue the straight trail ; and that , after an hour 's riding , in which it led into the very depths of the forest , suddenly split , like a bursting shell , into two dozen others , leading to every point of the compass . Dick drew bridle in despair . The short winter 's day was near an end ; the sun , a dull red orange , shorn of rays , swam low among the leafless thickets ; the shadows were a mile long upon the snow ; the frost bit cruelly at the finger-nails ; and the breath and steam of the horses mounted in a cloud . `` Well , we are outwitted , '' Dick confessed . `` Strike we for Holywood , after all . It is still nearer us than Tunstall -- or should be by the station of the sun . '' So they wheeled to their left , turning their backs on the red shield of sun , and made across country for the abbey . But now times were changed with them ; they could no longer spank forth briskly on a path beaten firm by the passage of their foes , and for a goal to which that path itself conducted them . Now they must plough at a dull pace through the encumbering snow , continually pausing to decide their course , continually floundering in drifts . The sun soon left them ; the glow of the west decayed ; and presently they were wandering in a shadow of blackness , under frosty stars . Presently , indeed , the moon would clear the hilltops , and they might resume their march . But till then , every random step might carry them wider of their march . There was nothing for it but to camp and wait . Sentries were posted ; a spot of ground was cleared of snow , and , after some failures , a good fire blazed in the midst .
The men-at-arms sat close about this forest hearth , sharing such provisions as they had , and passing about the flask ; and XXXXX , having collected the most delicate of the rough and scanty fare , brought it to Lord Risingham 's niece , where she sat apart from the soldiery against a tree .
Daniel Dick Holywood Richard Sentries finger-nails fire hour jingle left