"They have no dog," thought Edward, "or it would have growled before
this; and it's lucky that I have none either." Edward then crept
softly nearer to them: the wind, which was strong, blew from where
they were to where Edward stood, so that there was less chance of
their hearing his approach.
Edward went on his hands and knees, and crawled through the fern until
he gained another tree, and within ten yards of them, and from where
he could hear what they might say. He was thus cautious, as he had
been told by Oswald that there were many disbanded soldiers who had
taken up their quarters in the forest, and had committed several
depredations upon the houses adjacent to it, always returning to the
forest as a rendezvous. Edward listened, and heard one say--
"It is not time yet! No, no: too soon by half an hour or more. The
people from Lymington, who buy him what he wants, always bring it to
him at night, that his retreat may not be discovered. They sometimes
do not leave the cottage till two hours after dark, for they do not
leave Lymington to go there till it is dark."
"Do you know who it is who supplies him with food?"
"Yes, the people at the inn in Parliament-street--I forget the sign."
"Oh, I know. Yes, the landlord is a downright Malignant in his heart!
We might squeeze him well, if we dared show ourselves in Lymington.
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