Here he
trusted to his own instinct. "They have gone into the wood," said he,
"and I don't blame 'em. I found my way here long before his age. I say,
don't you tell; I've snared plenty of the governor's hares in that
wood."
He got to the edge of the wood and ran down the side. At last he found
the marks of small feet on a low bank, and, darting over it, discovered
the fainter traces on some decaying leaves inside the wood.
"There," said he; "now it is just as if you had got them in your
pocket, for they'll never find their way out of this wood. Bless your
heart, why _I_ used to get lost in it at first."
"Lost in the wood!" cried Lady Bassett; "but he will die of fear, or be
eaten by wild beasts; and it is getting so dark."
"What about that? Night or day is all one to me. What will you give me
if I find him before midnight?"
"Anything I've got in the world."
"Give me a sovereign?"
"A thousand!"
"Give me a kiss?"
"A hundred!"
"Then I'll tell you what I'll do--I don't mind a little trouble, to
stop your crying, mamma, because you are the right sort. I'll get the
village out, and we will tread the wood with torches, an' all for them
as can't see by night; I can see all one; and you shall have your kid
home to supper. You see, there's a heavy dew, and he is not like me,
that would rather sleep in this wood than the best bed in London city;
a night in a wood would about settle his hash.
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