The last of all to fly was Thomas Winter.[266] Of his movements Catesby
could have told Sir Everard nothing; but he left London very soon after
Rookwood, and eventually joined his fellow-conspirators at Huddington.
[266] Gardiner. _Hist. Eng._, Vol. i. p. 257.
When Rookwood had gone about three miles beyond Highgate, he overtook
Keyes, and rode with him into Bedfordshire, where Keyes took a
different road, as is conjectured by Jardine,[267] for "Lord Mordaunt's
house at Turvey, where his wife resided." Somewhere in the neighbourhood
of Brick-hill, a place not far from Fenny Stratford, Rookwood overtook
Percy, the two Wrights, and Catesby, after which these five rode
together to Ashby St Leger, Lady Catesby's place in Northamptonshire,
which was very near to Dunchurch. Roughly speaking, the course of the
fugitives had been not very wide of the route of the London and
North-Western railway from Euston to Rugby, and while all did it
quickly, Rookwood's pace was exceptionally fast, as he rode about eighty
miles between eleven in the morning and six in the evening, averaging
more than eleven miles an hour, including stoppages to change horses. He
himself stated that he[268] "rode thirty miles of one horse in two
hours," and that "Percy and John Wright cast off their cloaks and threw
them into the hedge to ride the more speedily."
[267] _G. P._, p. 106.
[268] _Rookwood's Examination_, Dec. 2, 1605. S.P.O. Jardine, _G.
P._, p. 106.
The five fugitives entered Lady Catesby's house just as she and her
party, which included Robert Winter and Acton, were sitting down to
supper. The news of the arrest of Fawkes and the failure of the main
design having been announced by the new arrivals, who, as Jardine says,
were[269] "fatigued and covered with dirt,"--Father Gerard, again, in
describing their ride, writes of[270] "the foulness of the winter
ways"--no time was lost over the hurried meal, during which a short
conference took place, ending in a decision that the whole party should
ride off immediately to Dunchurch, taking with them all the arms that
were in the house.
[269] P. 108.
[270] _Narrative G. P._, p. 106.
CHAPTER XI.
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