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her body seriously jittery between Serena’s legs, even after she moved her along. Serena told Freddy, “Odd. Brandy rarely spooks … but she is still quite upset about something.”
    “This path takes us near Buckler’s Hard, doesn’t it, Serena?” Freddy asked thoughtfully.
    “Indeed. My, but you are getting to know your surroundings very well,” she said with a smile and then again stopped her horse. A sound assailed her ears, and something about it made her uneasy. “What was that? Did you hear it Freddy?”
    “ Trouble .” Freddy made a face, but his voice was full with excitement. “It sounded as though someone is in trouble.” He glanced at her and added, “Stay here—I’ll go and investigate.”
    “Oh no, my friend. I am coming with you,” Serena answered and trotted up alongside him.
    They both stopped short and sat very still, before they urged their horses forward. They definitely heard two men, evidently in a heated argument, shouting at one another.
    “Look there … in the deep of the woods,” Freddy whispered.
    “I see—the smaller man looks like he took a blow. His nose is bleeding,” Serena said.
    “Aye, the other looks to be a seaman.”
    Serena studied the two. Freddy was right—the large, burly fellow looked like a sailor in his dark woolens. The other was short and stout. His eyes were wide open, in a pale face and he was cowering. It was at that moment that both men turned startled expressions to Freddy and Serena.
    The tall, husky seaman gave the other man a push. Then without doing anything further he mounted his horse and rode away. The smaller man had a bit of trouble mounting, as he couldn’t quite reach his stirrup, but finally managed. With a harried expression he glanced once more in their direction before he too weaved through the woods and away.
    Freddy and Serena eyed one another, and Freddy grinned. “Odd that.”
    “Yes, indeed it was, and I didn’t like the looks of that big bully of a sailor. I wonder what they were doing out here.” Serena went quiet for a moment and then said thoughtfully, “You know, Freddy, that seaman … I do believe I have seen him now and then at Buckler’s Hard.”
    “Have you? They both looked like shady characters to me,” Freddy remarked.
    “Yes, indeed they did,” Serena agreed. “Well, ’tis none of our affair, at any rate.”
    “Lord, no, but what a strange picture they presented out here in the woods,” Freddy said and then chuckled. “The sailor so tall, the other so short and round, all bug-eyed and harried. Whatever is towards? Something havey-cavey, I’d wager.”
    As they made their way to the pike, they threw different suppositions at one another as to what these two strangers might have been up to, all alone in the woods.
    Freddy gave his final opinion on the matter, “Whatever you may say, whatever they were up to, I am certain that the sailor was nearly seven feet in height.”
    “Freddy!” Serena exclaimed on a giggle. “Unusually tall, yes … but seven feet?”
    “Well, as to that, I am six foot two, and my uncle is taller than I … and that brute was taller even than my uncle,” Freddy returned.
    It was at this point that Freddy’s horse took a misstep. Serena exclaimed, “Oh no, Freddy, have you lost a shoe?”
    Freddy jumped down to investigate. When he picked up his horse’s leg and bent it at the knee, even from her vantage Serena could see the hoof was loaded with mud and debris but had no shoe.
    “Aye,” he said. “We’ll stop at the blacksmith’s when we get to town.” He moved to her and touched her booted leg as he looked up at her. Worship absolute and complete was in his eyes, and Serena frowned.
    She saw he was going to say something romantic and immediately stuck in, “We must hope he will not put a crack in it over the rough stones in town—”
    “Serena, my dear sweet …” Freddy said, obviously trying to bring matters back to what he had in mind.
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