"Make
haste with the beast, sirrah. Here is a coin for thee, good groom. I do
now see thou wert never drunken in thy life. Make haste with the
horse."
The groom stared at him foolishly. "Why, who could make haste with such
a beast?" he said at length.
"Then stay not to finish thy work," cried Walter Skinner, impatiently.
"Bring saddle and bridle. I must away instantly. But do thou first
describe to me the place where thou didst see the fire."
"The place," said the groom, deliberately, while he examined the coin
Walter Skinner had given him. "Thou dost go till thou comest to it. A
turn here and a turn there mayhap thou must make, and thou wilt find it
a little solid place with three scrub trees upon it. It is a matter of
a short distance from the south end of the Isle, and thou wilt not fail
to know it when thou seest it."
With this not over-clear direction Walter Skinner was obliged to be
content. Bidding the groom to bring the horse to the door of the inn at
once, he hurried away, paid his reckoning, examined carefully the
string of his bow, and looked over his store of arrows.
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