A few minutes later, the horsemen moved off and Ralph Morin shouted across to de Wolfe that they would see the Templars and abbot on their way for a few miles, then return to Exeter through South Molton, a more direct route than via Barnstaple. ‘We’ll catch you up in an hour or two, or when you stop to eat,’ promised the coroner. He watched the procession plodding up the track through the glen, lined by silent widows, fatherless children and old men.
‘Why didn’t we go with them?’ asked Gwyn.
‘I want to see that damned ship well out of sight,’ answered the coroner bitterly.
They saddled their own horses and climbed up to Lynton, then to a nearby headland on the seaward side of the valley of rocks. Here they had a panoramic view of the coastline in either direction, from the great prominence of the Foreland Point on their right across to a headland near Martinhoe on the left. Sitting in their saddles, they watched in silence as the little ship clawed its way across the westerly breeze, making slowly northwards towards the Welsh coast, clearly visible over twenty miles away.
Then, suddenly, from around the Foreland, they saw two long lean ships racing side by side, each propelled against the wind by a dozen oars on either side. High curved posts rose at stem and stern and their whole appearance was blatantly foreign. Like two greyhounds after a badger, the predatory galleys sped after the clumsy knarr, the gap closing rapidly as the three men watched.
Thomas de Peyne crossed himself for the tenth time that morning and murmured quietly to himself in Latin, ‘Requiescat in pace!’ while Sir John de Wolfe’s feeble belief in a jealous God was suddenly strengthened.
Further Reading
Those readers who wish to learn more about the nature of the Awful Secret, are recommended to read the following paperbacks:
Andrews, R., and O. Schellenberger, The Tomb of God, (Warner, London, 1996; ISBN 0 7515 1961 8)
Baigent, M., R. Leigh and H. Lincoln, The Holy Blood & the Holy Grail, (Arrow, London, 1996; ISBN 0 09 968241 9)
Gardner, L., Bloodline of the Holy Grail, (Element, Shaftesbury, 1996; ISBN 1 86204 152 0)
Theiring, Barbara, Jesus the Man, (Corgi, London, 1993; ISBN 0 552 13950 5)
Also many Internet sites reached through Rennes-le-Chateau etc.