Jasper awoke with a terrific headache. Feeling the sizable lump on his forhead he guessed that he had been knocked out. For how long, he did not know. The other two bandits were gone.
The young man sulked for a while over his injury, and the 'desertion' of the other two bandits. "A lot of help they are, leavin me here alone, with a broken skull an' all."
But his thoughts soon became more cheerful. At least he'd be away from that mean Evelina! He could follow the hobbits and stop them himself, then find Lobelia and take the reward alone. That will teach Evelina! With all of that money, he could stay away from home for months, and live comfortably at inns, eating well all the time.
He stood from the ground and re-traced his footsteps back to the road, where he peered out at from behind a rock cautiously. The hobbits had gone.
He checked the road and found distinct tracts leading away down the road. He followed them, staying near the edge. Eventually he came to a hill where he spotted them, but he kept low. No sense in alerting them. Surprise is much better.
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