"Oh, yes, my lord," replied the boy, "if your beasts be strong and willing. The night is fresh, and the ground soft; and we can afford to stop and feed the horses at Nozay, for, if any one comes after us, a thousand to one they will take the other road." "That is one recommendation to yours at all events," said Dorset, laughing; "and the ground is soft enough indeed, for it seems to me as if we were entering a morass." "So we are," answered the boy, coolly. "We had better ride one by one. Then if I make a mistake, I shall be the first to pay for it." Thus saying, he rode on boldly and rapidly, till, at the end of about half a league, the swampy ground ceased, and the country began to rise a little. Ascending by gradual slopes the road which they now followed, and which was clearly enough defined by its sandy colour, gained a considerable elevation above the sea; and Richmond was just in the act of observing that they must have got at least eight miles from Vannes, when they heard the distant report of a cannon boom upon the air, and Dorset exclaimed: "What may that mean?" "That they have found out you are gone," said the boy, laughing. "Did it seem to come from Vannes?" demanded Richmond. "To a certainty," answered the boy. "The wind sets this way; but it is our own fault if they catch us now." No other indication of pursuit reached their ears as they pursued their way, till at length the boy, pointing forward with his hand, said: "There is Redon. You can either go through the town or by the ford. The ford is shortest." "And safest too, in all probability," replied Richmond. "I think they could hear that gun," said the boy, "if they could but make out what it meant." "Then take the ford, by all means," said Richmond; and, pursuing a narrow path to the left, which ran some way up the river, the lad led them to the bank of the stream, and passed safely through, though the water rose to the horse's girths. The rest followed; and, turning over the shoulder of the hill, at the end of a few miles, they entered a wild and desolate track, where woods and bushes seemed scattered over a wide extent of shifting sand, amidst which all vestige of a road seemed lost. Straight on went the boy, however, without pause or hesitation, appearing to be guided, in finding his way back to his native place, by the same sort of instinct which is possessed by dogs and some kinds of pigeons. All seemed so dark--for the moon had by this time gone down--so wild, so trackless, that Richmond at length exclaimed, with anxious sternness: "Are you sure you are right, boy?" "Quite sure," replied the boy; and on he went, leading the way through one wide patch of bushes, round the angle of a little wood, down a little dell, across a rivulet, up a slope, into another track wilder than before, as if not a tree had been cut down or a bush grubbed up since last he was there. "There comes morning," he said at length. "We shall reach Nosey just at break of day."