Once Hetty was beside him, he kicked his horse into a canter. They raced down the road and into an open field that took them over the hill, in the opposite direction to Derby. Unfortunately, their horses still hadn’t recovered from their previous exertions and were slower than the jailers.
“My horse cannot go on for much longer,” Hetty shouted when her horse started to slow down again.
Charlie bit back a curse when he realised just how much she had fallen behind even his horse. Although his horse had also started to grow tired as well, it was still willing to canter whenever asked. Hers wasn’t.
“We will have to find somewhere to stop.”
“We can’t stop,” Hetty cried, panic stricken at the very thought.
“We have no choice,” Charlie argued. “If that horse drops, we are stuck out here on foot. If we stop for a minute or two, the horses might be able to carry us a bit further.”
Hetty opened her mouth to argue, but couldn’t get the words out. Although her instincts warned her not to, she stupidly glanced behind her again only for her panic to increase tenfold at the distance their pursuers had closed in a short space of time.
“Let’s go this way,” Charlie suggested.
“Where to?”
“Those trees over there.” Charlie nodded to a small wood on the horizon.
Hetty followed his horse through the open gate, into the field. They took a moment to close it behind them, and then they raced along the hedgerow. They both ducked low so that their heads couldn’t be seen above the thick bramble as they raced toward the trees, and relative safety.
By the time they disappeared into the gloomy woodland, both the riders and the horses were exhausted. Hetty’s chest heaved with exertion when she pulled her horse to a stop beside Charlie’s. He placed one hand on hers as he fought for his own breath, and they stood in silence while they rested.
Their position gave them a perfect view over the surrounding landscape. At any other time they would have appreciated the outstanding beauty of the scenery, and the large town of Derby that sat quite resplendent, right in the centre of it. Right now though, their gazes were captured by the group of jailers who were studying the area, and trying to decide which parties were going to search which area.
“What’s that?” She turned fearful eyes on Charlie when the sound of clanking metalwork broke the silence.
“It’s a farmer. Keep quiet,” he whispered. He studied the area on the other side of the trees, and heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of a farm about half a mile away.
“Look. Over there,” he nodded to the small group of buildings.
“Do you think they have horses?”
“If they have one horse we can swap for yours, that will be enough,” Charlie whispered. “Stay close to me. Let’s go.” He threw Hetty an apologetic look. “We may have to steal the man’s horse. I doubt he is going to be willing to trade but, once this is all over, I promise that I will put the matter right with him.”
Hetty nodded. Although horse stealing was highly illegal, Charlie was already a condemned convict who had been sentenced to death. Until he could prove his innocence, he had nothing to lose by committing another crime, and they both knew it.
Although it went against everything within her, the thought of ending up at the end of the hangman’s noose was just too horrific to contemplate and, as a result, she was prepared to do whatever she needed to do to keep herself out of Meldrew’s clutches – even stealing.
“We have no choice,” she said, unsurprised when he slowly shook his head.
As they grew closer to the farm, they came across a field which contained three horses and a pony.
“How do we catch them?” Hetty asked.
The mill pony, Doris, was easy to catch because she was always hungry. All Hetty ever had to do to catch her was take a carrot, and Doris would come trotting along.
Given the rather wary way these horses were looking at them, catching one of the farmer’s horses wouldn’t be so easy.
Charlie studied the field, and its distance to the farm house. “I’ll catch one. You keep a look out. We have to be quick, or the farmer’s wife will see us. Wait here.”
“Hurry,” she urged as she dismounted and began to unsaddle her horse.
She stood beside the gate to the field and eyed the surrounding area warily while Charlie made his way slowly toward one of the horses. It was huge and looked incredibly mean but, thankfully, it pricked its ears but made no attempt to run away when Charlie approached.
Hetty heaved a sigh of relief when he led it toward her and put the reins on. Within seconds, he had it saddled and mounted it himself to ensure that it could be ridden before he quickly dismounted and helped her up.
It was a relief to be back on a horse, if a little unnerving when the new animal, fresh from a good night’s rest and a belly full of grass, began to dance enthusiastically beneath her. She tried to murmur soothing words to it, but it seemed to sense that a good long run was in order and was eager to get going.