onflicting feelings, Sir Everard now raised the
insensible Clara from the ground; and, having satisfied himself she had
sustained no serious injury, prepared for a flight which he felt to be
desperate, if not altogether hopeless. There was not a moment to be
lost, for the cries of the wretched Ellen increased in violence, as she
seemed sensible she was about to be left utterly alone; and ever and
anon, although afar off, yet evidently drawing nearer, was to be heard
the fierce denouncing yell of Wacousta. The spot on which the officer
stood, was not far from that whence his unfortunate friend had
commenced his flight on the first memorable occasion; and as the moon
shone brightly in the cloudless heavens, there could be no mistake in
the course he was to pursue. Dashing down the steep, therefore, with
all the speed his beloved burden would enable him to attain, he made
immediately for the bridge, over which his only chance of safety lay.

It unfortunately happened, however, that, induced either by the malice
of her insanity, or really terrified at the loneliness of her position,
the wretched Ellen Halloway had likewise quitted the tent, and now
followed close in the rear of the fugitives, still uttering the same
piercing cries of anguish. The voice of Wacousta was also again heard
in the distance; and Sir Everard had the inexpressible horror to find
that, guided by the shrieks of the maniac woman, he was now shaping his
course, not to the tent where he had left his prisoners, but in an
oblique direction towards the bridge; where he evidently hoped to
intercept them. Aware of the extreme disadvantages under which he
laboured in a competition of speed with his active enemy, the unhappy
officer would have here terminated the struggle, had he not been
partially sustained by the hope that the detachment prayed for by De
Haldimar, through the friendly young chief, to whom he owed his own
liberation, might be about this time on its way to attempt their
rescue. This thought supported his faltering resolution, although
nearly exhausted with his efforts--compelled, as he was, to sustain the
motionless form of the slowly reviving Clara; and he again braced
himself to the unequal flight The moon still shone beautifully bright,
and he could now distinctly see the bridge over which he was to pass;
but notwithstanding he strained his eyes as he advanced, no vestige of
a British uniform was to be seen in the open space that lay beyond.