Assured that his pursuers would search chiefly on the direct
route between their abode and the village, to which they would
necessarily surmise the flight was directed, he boldly determined upon a
course, picked sinuously out, obliquing largely from the true direction,
which, while it would materially lengthen the distance, would at least
secure them, he thought, from the danger of contact with the scouring
party.
By no means ignorant of the country, in and about which he had
frequently travelled in the pursuit of trade, he contrived, in this way,
completely to mislead the pursuers; and the morning found them still
some distance from the village, but in a direction affording few chances
of interruption in their contemplated approach to it.
Lucy was dreadfully fatigued, and a frequent sense of weariness almost
persuaded her to lay down life itself in utter exhaustion: but the
encouraging words of the pedler, and the thought of _his_ peril, for
whose safety--though herself hopeless of all besides--she would
willingly peril all, restored her, and invigorated her to renewed
effort.
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