the wind."

"With a speed like your own, if that be possible," said Moyse.

"Is there danger, father?" asked Genifrede, trembling.

"My child, there is danger in the air we breathe, and the ground we
tread on: but there is protection also, everywhere."

"You will see Afra, father," said Aimee. "If there is danger, what will
become of Afra? Her father will be in the front, in any disturbance:
and Government-house is far from being the safest place."

"I will not forget Afra. Farewell, my children! Go now to your mother;
and, before this hour to-morrow, I shall think of you resting at
Pongaudin."

They saw him mount before the courtyard, and set off, followed by one of
his two trompettes--the only horsemen in the island who could keep up
with him, and therefore his constant attendants in his most important
journeys. The other was gone forward, to order horses from post to
post.

Vincent, having received written instructions from the secretary, set
off in an opposite direction, more gay than those he left behind.

The loftiest trees of the rich plain were still touched with golden
light; and the distant bay glittered so as to make the gazers turn away
their eyes, to rest on the purple mountains to the north: but their
hearts were anxious; and they saw neither the glory nor the beauty of
which they heard talk between the painter, the architect, and their
host.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

A NIGHT OF OFFICE.

As soon as Toussaint was out of hearing of his family and suite, he put
his horse to its utmost speed. There was not a moment to be lost, if
the peace of the island was to be preserved. Faster than ever fugitive
escaped from trouble and danger, did the negro commander rush towards
them. The union between the black and white races probably depended on
his reaching Cap by the early morning--in time to prevent certain
proclamations of Hedouville, framed in ignorance of the state of the
colony and the people, from being published. Forty leagues lay between
L'Etoile and Cap, and two mountain ridges crossed his road: but he had
ridden forty leagues in a night before, and fifty in a long day; and he
thought little of the journey. As he rode, he meditated the work of the
next day, while he kept his eye awake, and his heart open, to the beauty
of the night.

He had cleared the plain, with his trompette at his heels, before the
woods and fields had melted together into the purple haze of evening;
and the labou