He then related the inhospitable reception they had met with. "It
seemed strange to us, sir, and contrary to nature, that anyone should
refuse to allow two shipwrecked lads to enter the house for shelter on
such a day; and it seemed well-nigh impossible that his tale of the
place being too full to hold us could be true. However, we started to
walk. On our way we met four horsemen going towards the house, closely
muffled up in cloaks."
"There was nothing very strange in that," the earl observed, "in such
weather as we had yesterday."
"Nothing at all, sir; we should not have given the matter one thought
had it not been that the four men were very well mounted, and,
apparently, gentlemen; and it was strange that such should have
business in an out-of-the-way house in Foulness Island. A little
further we met three men on foot. They were also wrapped up in cloaks;
but they wore high riding-boots, and had probably left their horses on
the other side of the ferry so as not to attract attention. A short
time afterwards we met two more horsemen, one of whom asked us if he
was going right for the house we had been at.
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