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CHAPTER V--NIGHT IN THE WOODS: ALICIA RISINGHAM
It was almost certain that Sir Daniel had made for the Moat House; but,
considering the heavy snow, the lateness of the hour, and the necessity
under which he would lie of avoiding the few roads and striking across
the wood, it was equally certain that he could not hope to reach it ere
the morrow.
There were two courses open to Dick; either to continue to follow in the
knight's trail, and, if he were able, to fall upon him that very night in
camp, or to strike out a path of his own, and seek to place himself
between Sir Daniel and his destination.
Either scheme was open to serious objection, and Dick, who feared to
expose Joanna to the hazards of a fight, had not yet decided between them
when he reached the borders of the wood.
At this point Sir Daniel had turned a little to his left, and then
plunged straight under a grove of very lofty timber. His party had then
formed to a narrower front, in order to pass between the trees, and the
track was trod proportionally deeper in the snow. The eye followed it
under the leafless tracery of the oaks, running direct and narrow; the
trees stood over it, with knotty joints and the great, uplifted forest of
their boughs; there was no sound, whether of man or beast--not so much as
the stirring of a robin; and over the field of snow the winter sun lay
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