f
from his horse, and, being provided with a silver drinking cup,
flew to the river to fill it. In order to obtain the liquid pure
and cool, however, it was necessary to turn a small and acute point
of underwood, a little to the right, where a few rude stone steps
led to a sort of natural well, where, even in the hottest day of
summer, the beverage came fresh as from a coral fountain. It was
a spot well known to every frequenter of that road, and few passers-by
ever drank from any other source.

The young officer was in the act of dipping his cup into the stream,
when three shots were distinctly heard in the neighborhood of
Hardscrabble, then about half a mile distant, and after the interval
of a few seconds, the rapid galloping of horses' hoofs behind him.
With an inconceivable dread of he knew not what at his heart, he
sprang round the point of wood to gain the road where he had left
his wife and Von Voltenberg. To his astonishment both were gone.
They were the hoofs of their horses he had heard--his own was tied
to a tree, as he had left him, and making endeavors to free himself,
that he might follow his companions.

We will not attempt to describe the feelings of Ronayne. The mere
disappearance of the party might have been accounted for, had it
not been for the shots which preceded. But the association was
terrible. It bewildered him--almost deprived him of thought and
judgment. Evidently, there was an enemy in the neighborhood; but,
even if so, why the obvious advance into the very heart of danger;
for, from the direction of the sound, he could have no doubt that
one horse, at least, had taken the direction of Hardscrabble, and
that, from the peculiar and rapid footfall of the animal, he felt
assured was his wife's.

What could this mean? Mrs. Ronayne's he knew to be a very spirited
young horse, and the only manner in which he could explain her
absence was by inferring that, startled by the report of the
firearms, he had suddenly run away with her, and that Von Voltenberg
had followed as speedily as he could to check him.

He dashed the cup of water to the earth, mounted, and dug his spurs
in the flanks of his horse, when the latter, bounding forward with
agony under the exquisite sense of pain, seemed rather to leap than
run over the ground Fifty yards from the point where he started,
something glaringly white on the ground frightened the animal and
caused him to shy so abruptly, even while continuing his sp