Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/52

28 it was apt to lead to awkward questions as to his reasons for giving up the church, and a desire to avoid observation was one thing that led him to linger behind the hunting-party while taking notes of the land features.

But Hugh was not far from the hawkers, for he could hear them talking and laughing; and so, coming to a high hill that seemed likely to afford a wide view, Hugh pushed his way through the light underbrush, and ascended it. He believed that he would be able, by pushing his steed a little, to overtake the members of his party. And he would have done so if they had kept the moderate pace at which they had been traveling. It happened, however, that the hunters let slip their hawks just about the time that Hugh entered the woods at the base of the hill, and that, riding after them, they went a long distance before he had come out upon the rocky summit. Hugh had dismounted and tied his horse to a low bush, and then had climbed to the top of a ledge of rock that was the highest point of the hill.

When Hugh could look about him, he was glad that he had taken the trouble to climb the little eminence, for it gave him a wide view in all directions. He could see Mortimer Castle to the north, the castle of de Ferrers to the south, the windings of the river for many miles, and the