About midday
It was loss of time wandering in the woods , skirting thicket and marsh , forced ever and again to return to the beaten track . She thought , also , that she must be safe , so far was she now from Fair View . How could they guess that she was gone to the mountains ? About midday , two men on horseback looked at her in passing . One spoke to the other , and turning their horses they put after and overtook her . He who had spoken touched her with the butt of his whip . `` Ecod ! ''