Occasionally they were hailed from the bank by travellers who desired
to journey downstream; but the invariable answer was that this barge
had been hired by a nobleman who wished to travel without company and
at his leisure. As Tristram, however, knew nothing of the Dutch
language, he imagined these to be but kindly salutations of the
inhabitants designed to enliven a voyage which (as he judged) must be
inexpressibly tedious to anyone who made it with any other purpose
than that of being restored to Sophia's embrace.
Towards sunset he went on deck, and observed his father steadily
gazing at the left bank of the canal, parallel to which, and at a
distance of five hundred yards or less, there ran an embankment with
a highroad along the top of it. Following the direction of Captain
Salt's eyes, he descried a party of four horsemen about half a mile
behind them advancing down this road at a steady trot. The Captain
had paused in his whistling--which had been pretty continuous all
day--and was regarding these horsemen with great interest.
"I do not like them," he said reflectively, and spoke a few words to
the steersman, who glanced back over his shoulder.
"You have met them before?" Tristram inquired.
"Not that I know of.
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