Explore "The Lake of Wine" by Bernard Capes on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Pushing onward at what fury of speed the dangerous state of the road permitted, Tuke, like a good captain, would not subordinate his prudence to his eagerness. True, he had nothing but a vague sense that some evil was abroad, to justify his mood of suspicion; yet, forasmuch as this mood _was_ unaccountable, it behoved him to move circumspectly through the first stages of reconnoitre.
Therefore it was that coming to the top of the long dip, on the crest of whose further slope stood Mr. Breeds's little ill-omened tavern, he called to Dennis and, pulling on his left rein, cantered his horse on to the easterly downs, with the idea of making a _détour_ that should bring him into the Winchester road a half-mile above Stockbridge.