Besides, 't is the business o' the government to take care of its
criminals, not mine."
"True, so it is; and I felt as you did--that were enough without
me."
"I don't want to break my limbs running over the humps and hollows
of this wild country."
"Nor I, either, between you and me."
"These shepherd people are used to it--simpleminded souls, you
know, stirred up to anything a moment. They'll have him ready for
me before the morning, and no trouble to me at all."
"They'll have him, and we shall have saved ourselves all labour in
the matter."
"True, true. Well, my way is to Casterbridge, and't is as much as
my legs will do to take me that far. Going the same way?"
"No, I am sorry to' say. I have to get home over there" (he nodded
indefinitely to the right), "and I feel as you do--that it is quite
enough for my legs to do before bedtime."
The other had by this time finished the mead in the mug, after
which, shaking hands at the door and wishing each other well, they
went their several ways.
In the meantime the company of pursuers had reached the end of the
hog's-back elevation which dominated this part of the coomb. They
had decided on no particular plan of action, and, finding that
the man of the baleful trade was no longer in their company, they
seemed quite unable to form any such plan now.
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