He turned to the man with the lantern (who was standing in the door-way,
looking as if he rather suspected Bressant contemplated stealing some of
the valuables of the place), and asked him whether he could tell him
the nearest road to his destination. After considerable questioning and
delay, the man finally announced his entire ignorance in the matter; and
Bressant was just about to make him a sharp rejoinder, when his eyes
happened to fall upon the map. He stepped up to it, and found it to be
of the State in which they were.
By the aid of the lantern, and a good deal of dusting, he finally
discovered the spot in which he then stood, and managed to trace out a
doubtful line of road, between that and the place whither he was bound.
There seemed to be few cross-roads, however, and such as there were he
rapidly noted in his memory. In one place the road ran off in a kind of
loop, to pass through an outlying village, and, by making a cross-cut at
that point, he might save himself five or six miles. But since, on
calculation, he found it would be at least six o'clock in the morning
before he got to the loop in question, he decided not to risk
abandoning, in the state he would then be in, the beaten track for any
such problematical advantage.
Pages:
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416