第49章 Part 4(9)

They parleyed no further at that time,but came all up to the barn,and with some difficulty got into it.There was nothing but hay in the barn,but it was almost full of that,and they accommodated themselves as well as they could,and went to rest;but our travellers observed that before they went to sleep an ancient man who it seems was father of one of the women,went to prayer with all the company,recommending themselves to the blessing and direction of Providence,before they went to sleep.

It was soon day at that time of the year,and as Richard the joiner had kept guard the first part of the night,so John the soldier relieved him,and he had the post in the morning,and they began to be acquainted with one another.It seems when they left Islington they intended to have gone north,away to Highgate,but were stopped at Holloway,and there they would not let them pass;so they crossed over the fields and hills to the eastward,and came out at the Boarded River,and so avoiding the towns,they left Hornsey on the left hand and Newington on the right hand,and came into the great road about Stamford Hill on that side,as the three travellers had done on the other side.And now they had thoughts of going over the river in the marshes,and make forwards to Epping Forest,where they hoped they should get leave to rest.It seems they were not poor,at least not so poor as to be in want;at least they had enough to subsist them moderately for two or three months,when,as they said,they were in hopes the cold weather would check the infection,or at least the violence of it would have spent itself,and would abate,if it were only for want of people left alive to he infected.

This was much the fate of our three travellers,only that they seemed to be the better furnished for travelling,and had it in their view to go farther off;for as to the first,they did not propose to go farther than one day's journey,that so they might have intelligence every two or three days how things were at London.

But here our travellers found themselves under an unexpected inconvenience:namely that of their horse,for by means of the horse to carry their baggage they were obliged to keep in the road,whereas the people of this other band went over the fields or roads,path or no path,way or no way,as they pleased;neither had they any occasion to pass through any town,or come near any town,other than to buy such things as they wanted for their necessary subsistence,and in that indeed they were put to much difficulty;of which in its place.

But our three travellers were obliged to keep the road,or else they must commit spoil,and do the country a great deal of damage in breaking down fences and gates to go over enclosed fields,which they were loth to do if they could help it.

Our three travellers,however,had a great mind to join themselves to this company and take their lot with them;and after some discourse they laid aside their first design which looked northward,and resolved to follow the other into Essex;so in the morning they took up their tent and loaded their horse,and away they travelled all together.

They had some difficulty in passing the ferry at the river-side,the ferryman being afraid of them;but after some parley at a distance,the ferryman was content to bring his boat to a place distant from the usual ferry,and leave it there for them to take it;so putting themselves over,he directed them to leave the boat,and he,having another boat,said he would fetch it again,which it seems,however,he did not do for above eight days.

Here,giving the ferryman money beforehand,they had a supply of victuals and drink,which he brought and left in the boat for them;but not without,as I said,having received the money beforehand.But now our travellers were at a great loss and difficulty how to get the horse over,the boat being small and not fit for it:and at last could not do it without unloading the baggage and making him swim over.

From the river they travelled towards the forest,but when they came to Walthamstow the people of that town denied to admit them,as was the case everywhere.The constables and their watchmen kept them off at a distance and parleyed with them.They gave the same account of themselves as before,but these gave no credit to what they said,giving it for a reason that two or three companies had already come that way and made the like pretences,but that they had given several people the distemper in the towns where they had passed;and had been afterwards so hardly used by the country (though with justice,too,as they had deserved)that about Brentwood,or that way,several of them perished in the fields -whether of the plague or of mere want and distress they could not tell.

This was a good reason indeed why the people of Walthamstow should be very cautious,and why they should resolve not to entertain anybody that they were not well satisfied of.But,as Richard the joiner and one of the other men who parleyed with them told them,it was no reason why they should block up the roads and refuse to let people pass through the town,and who asked nothing of them but to go through the street;that if their people were afraid of them,they might go into their houses and shut their doors;they would neither show them civility nor incivility,but go on about their business.