The boy forgot what he had been pleased to regard as the
insubordination of his servant, and Humphrey forgot the anger he had
felt against Fleetfoot and his master.
As soon as they dared, they pushed cautiously farther into the thicket,
and presently Humphrey dismounted and tied his horse. Here was no
grassy spot within enclosing underbrush where comfort might be found.
There was such a place not far off, but Humphrey would not go to it.
With his knife he set to work clearing a place large enough for the
tied horses to lie down in. Cutting every stick into the very ground,
he laid the cut brush in an orderly heap, and thus made a bed for
himself and Hugo. Then without a word he went out on foot and down to
the bank of the Went, peeled a willow, and came back with a long strip
of its bark. "Thou wilt tie this to the collar of thy dog," he said."
He hath been trespassing, and hath taken a partridge. Should the keeper
discover it and us, thy hand or foot, or mine, must pay for it."
"How knowest thou that Fleetfoot did take a partridge?" asked Hugo,
with disbelief in his tone.
"I did see him," replied Humphrey.
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