[Susan Delgado]

After finishing his own muffin- which was too dry- Hardo stood up and remounted his pony.

"Come on, people. We have to be at least in Whitfurrows by dark, and preferably over the Bridge of Stonebows and out of the Shire. If we have to go on this journey, we should get it over with as quickly as possible so we can come back. Not that that's very likely with the state of the world these days."

The others looked disappointed and a little rebellious, but when Hardo took off down the road without them, they had no choice but to mount and follow. The ponies objected to the cantering no less than their riders, but Hardo was quite serious when he said he wanted to out of the Shire by nightfall and they reached the Bridge a good two hours before the sun set. Even Hardo couldn't complain about their timing.

They paused just over the Bridge for a light supper, and when Hardo wanted to push on down the road while there was still light, he met universal resistance. The others had expected a leasurely, holiday-like trip South andHardo had severly upset their expectations with his hard ride through the Shire. They absolutely refused to go any farther this day. In fact, Orlo wanted to go back to Whitfurrows to find an Inn, but he was voted down. The ended up camping on the side of the road about two miles past the Bridge. The ground was too hard and lumpy to get a decent sleep, of course, and Hardo didn't know how the others had dropped off like they had.