calm fell around them;
the temporary hush of the boisterous wind? And yet, when again the
squall swept by with renewed turmoil, her face remained unchilled. She
seemed but a child in his arms. How light her own hand-touch compared
to that compelling grasp with which he held her! She remembered he had
but spoken to her standing in the window, and she had obeyed without a
question--without thought of fear. She longed to spring to the ground
now, to draw herself from him.

"You can hear the chariot down the road, Miss Carew."

Quickly her glance returned to his face; his gaze was bent down the
thoroughfare. He spoke so quietly she wondered at her momentary fears;
his voice reassured her.

A gleam of light shot through a rift in the clouds.

"Hello-a!" came a welcome voice from the distance.

"Hello-a!" answered the soldier.

"You'd better ride on!" shouted the manager. "They're after us!"

For answer the soldier touched his horse, and now began a race for the
river and the ferry, which were in plain sight, Luna fortunately at
this critical moment sailing from between the vapors and shining from
a clear lake in the sky. The chaste light, out of the angry
convulsions of the heavens, showed the fugitives the road and the
river, winding like a broad band of silver across the darkness of the
earth, its surface rippled into waves by the northern wind. Behind
them the soldier and Constance could hear the coach creaking and
groaning. It seemed to careen on its beams' end, but some special
providence was watching over the players and no catastrophe occurred.

Nearer came the men on horseback down the hill; now the foremost
shouted. Closer was the river; Saint-Prosper reached its bank; the
gang-plank was in position and he dashed aboard. With a mighty
tossing and rolling, the chariot approached, rattled safely across the
gangway, followed by the property wagon, and eager hands grasped the
rope, extending from shore to shore above the large, flat craft. These
hand ferries, found in various sections of the country, were strongly,
although crudely, constructed, their sole means of locomotion in the
stationary rope, by means of which the passengers, providing their own
power for transportation, drew themselves to the opposite shore.

The energy now applied to the hempen strand sent the ferry many feet
from the shore out into the river, where the current was much swifter
than usual, owing to the heavy rainfalls. The horses on t