Chapter 32

Allow him not a parting word;
Short be the shrift, and sure the cord!
--_Rokeby_.

The peddler and his companion soon reached the valley, and after pausing
to listen, and hearing no sounds which announced that pursuers were
abroad, they entered the highway. Acquainted with every step that led
through the mountains, and possessed of sinews inured to toil, Birch led
the way, with the lengthened strides that were peculiar to the man and
his profession; his pack alone was wanting to finish the appearance of
his ordinary business air. At times, when they approached one of those
little posts held by the American troops, with which the Highlands
abounded, he would take a circuit to avoid the sentinels, and plunge
fearlessly into a thicket, or ascend a rugged hill, that to the eye
seemed impassable. But the peddler was familiar with every turn in their
difficult route, knew where the ravines might be penetrated, or where
the streams were fordable. In one or two instances, Henry thought that
their further progress was absolutely at an end, but the ingenuity, or
knowledge, of his guide, conquered every difficulty. After walking at a
great rate for three hours, they suddenly diverged from the road, which
inclined to the east, and held their course directly across the hills,
in a due south direction. This movement was made, the peddler informed
his companion, in order to avoid the parties who constantly patrolled in
the southern entrance of the Highlands, as well as to shorten the
distance, by traveling in a straight line. After reaching the summit of
a hill, Harvey seated himself by the side of a little run, and opening a
wallet, that he had slung where his pack was commonly suspended, he
invited his comrade to partake of the coarse fare it contained. Henry
had kept pace with the peddler, more by the excitement natural to his
situation, than by the equality of his physical powers. The idea of a
halt was unpleasant, so long as there existed a possibility of the horse
getting below him in time to intercept their retreat through the neutral
ground. He therefore stated his apprehensions to his companion, and
urged a wish to proceed.

"Follow my example, Captain Wharton," said the peddler, commencing his
frugal meal. "If the horse have started, it will be more than man can do
to head them; and if they have not, work is cut out for them, that will
drive all thoughts of you and me from their brains."

"You said yourself, that two hours' detention was all-important to us,
and if we loiter here, of what use will be the advantage that we may
have already obtained?"

"The time is past, and Major Dunwoodie thinks little of following two
men, when hundreds are waiting for him