road west until they reached the end of the village, where some men
were working on a colliery bank. Pete indicated a lane that branched
off to the north.

"Yon's our way, but I'm thinking we'll gang straight on for a bit."

They followed the main road until the men were out of sight, and then
crossing some fields, turned into the lane they had passed, which rose
steadily to higher ground. After a time they found another road
running straight towards the west. This was the old military road,
made when the Romans built the Pict's wall, and long afterwards
repaired by General Wade, who tried to move his troops across to
intercept Prince Charlie's march. Foster sat down for a few minutes at
the corner and looked back at the distant chimney-stacks and trails of
smoke.

The railway and the road by which the main traffic went followed the
valley of the Tyne, but the military road kept to the edge of the bleak
moors. He gathered from the map that it was, for the most part,
lonely, and thought Graham would expect him to go by train; the latter
probably knew enough about him to anticipate his making for Liddesdale,
and as there were not many trains running north from Hexham, would
reckon on his traveling by Carlisle. If this were so, and he was being
looked for, his pursuers would now be in front of him instead of
behind, and he saw some advantage in keeping them there. Still he must
not lose much time in finding Daly; for one thing, it would be awkward
if the police arrested him while he had the checks in his pocket. All
the same, he meant to visit the Garth, tell Alice he had been
successful, ask is she had news of Lawrence, and try to overcome
Featherstone's suspicions. Then, if Lawrence had not written yet, he
must go back to Canada as soon as he had seen Daly.

Beyond this Foster's plans were vague; he did not know, for example,
how he could force Daly to keep Lawrence's secret, without promising to
withhold evidence that would bring the man to justice. But he might
find a way and was tired of puzzling about the matter. In a sense, he
had taken a ridiculous line from the beginning and perhaps involved
himself in needless difficulties. His partner, however, must be
protected, and in the meantime he had two objects; to avoid the police
and Graham.

"Perhaps we had better keep the military road until we strike the North
Tyne," he said to Pete. "Then, if nothing turns up to prevent it, we
might risk stopping