Page 212 - A Jacobite Exile

"Better. The night's rest, and a wash and change of clothes this morning,
have made me feel another man. How far do you intend to march?"

"We shall go slowly for a day or two. The other parties have all pushed on

ahead fast, but by taking matters quietly, and by keeping a sharp lookout,
we need have no great fear of being surprised. I know the forest well, and
its thickest hiding places, so we can afford to travel slowly, and as you

become accustomed to it you will be able to make longer journeys."

For ten days they travelled through the forest, increasing their distance
daily, as Charlie regained his strength. The last day or two they did not
make less than twenty miles a day. Their faces were turned steadily east.

Occasionally they passed large tracts of cleared land, villages, and
cultivated fields. At some of these they stopped and replenished their stock

of flour, which they took without paying for it, but did no farther damage.

Of meat they had abundance. Two or three men started each day as soon as

they halted, and, in a short time, returned with a goat or young pig.

"We are now close to the Bug River," Ladislas said at their last halting
place. "Tomorrow we shall meet some, at least, of our comrades. I do not
expect a great many, for we were pretty equally divided as to the direction

we should travel in. Practically, we were safe from pursuit when we had
gone fifteen miles, for the forest there spreads out greatly, and those in

search of us would know that further pursuit would be useless. Many of my
men did not care about going farther, but all this part of the country has
been so harried, for the last two or three years, that we thought it best to try

altogether new ground. When we have crossed the Bug we shall be beyond
the forest, but there are great swamps and morasses, and hills with patches

of wood. Many streams take their rise there, all meeting farther on, and
forming the Dnieper. We must keep north of that river, for to the south the
country is thinly populated, and we should have difficulty in maintaining

ourselves."

Charlie made no comment, but he was glad to hear that the band intended
to keep to the north of the Dnieper, for that river would have formed a