They said the Cavaliers stole him, but 'twas like
such rogues. No mischief could be done in the country, but 'twas the
poor Cavaliers must bear the blame, and the like, and thus they jogged
on till they came to the place where the other two lay. The first
fellow they assisted as they had done t'other, and gave him a dram
out of the leather bottle, but the last fellow was past their care,
so they came away. For when they understood that 'twas my horse they
claimed, they began to be afraid that their own horses might be known
too, and then they had been betrayed in a worse pickle than I, and
must have been forced to have done some mischief or other to have got
away.
I had sent out two troopers to fetch them off, if there was any
occasion; but their stay was not long and the two troopers saw them at
a distance coming towards us, so they returned.
I had enough of going for a spy, and my companions had enough of
staying in the wood for other intelligences agreed with ours, and all
concurred in this, that it was time to be going; however, this use we
made of it, that while the country thought us so strong we were in the
less danger of being attacked, though in the more of being observed;
but all this while we heard nothing of our friends till the next day.
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