"Ye be sad knaves both.
What! would ye leave the monastery and go forth into the fen on ponies
and armed with your staves? And would ye seek out once more the knaves
ye did stun, and try to lead them astray, even down into the Broads?
And all to keep them from the king?"
The two servants grinned.
"And would ye make believe to be on the trail of Hugo and Humphrey
here? And would ye lead them far from the trail? I see that ye would,
knaves that ye are. I have discovered ye. And there is no restraining
ye when once ye have set your minds upon a thing. Therefore get ye gone
to the fen. No man can say that I did send ye thither. And here be
coins for ye both, which, no doubt, ye will deserve later, if not now."
The two joyfully withdrew and shortly afterward were in the streets of
the town jogging slowly along as if bent on a most unwelcome journey.
"See the Saxon sluggards!" commented a bystander. "Naught do they do
but eat, unless compelled."
But once outside the town, the ponies were put to a good pace as the
two hastened eagerly into the fen to trace, if they might, Richard Wood
and his men-at-arms.
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