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Even as Alleyne watched them they turned upon their heels and
plodded off together upon their way.

CHAPTER IX.
HOW STRANGE THINGS BEFELL IN MINSTEAD WOOD.

The path which the young clerk had now to follow lay through a
magnificent forest of the very heaviest timber, where the giant
bowls of oak and of beech formed long aisles in every direction,
shooting up their huge branches to build the majestic arches of
Nature's own cathedral. Beneath lay a broad carpet of the
softest and greenest moss, flecked over with fallen leaves, but
yielding pleasantly to the foot of the traveller. The track
which guided him was one so seldom used that in places it lost
itself entirely among the grass, to reappear as a reddish rut
between the distant tree trunks. It was very still here in the
heart of the woodlands. The gentle rustle of the branches and
the distant cooing of pigeons were the only sounds which broke in
upon the silence, save that once Alleyne heard afar off a merry
call upon a hunting bugle and the shrill yapping of the hounds.


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