ce like a lurking thief.
Better be shot down--far better--I think with you--than risk recapture."

"Well, it's the right spirit you have, and we may beat them yet! We
cease again to hear them. They are driving through the close grove where
the trees hang so much over. God--it is but a few moments since we went
through it ourselves--they gain on us--but the river is not far--speed
on--bend forward, and use the spur--a few minutes more close pushing,
and the river is in sight. Kill the beasts--no matter--but make the
river."

"How do we cross?" inquired the youth, hurriedly, though with a
confidence something increased by the manner of his companion.

"Drive in--drive in--there are two fords, each within twenty yards of
the other, and the river is not high. You take the path and ford to the
right, as you come in sight of the water, and I'll keep the left. Your
horse swims well--so don't mind the risk; and if there's any difficulty,
leave him, and take to the water yourself. The side I give you is the
easiest; though it don't matter which side I take. I've gone through
worse chances than this, and, if we hold on for a few moments, we are
safe. The next turn, and we are on the banks."

"The river--the river," exclaimed the youth, involuntarily, as the broad
and quiet stream wound before his eyes, glittering like a polished
mirror in the moonlight.

"Ay, there it is--now to the right--to the right! Look not behind you.
Let them shoot--let them shoot! but lose not an instant to look. Plunge
forward and drive in. They are close upon us, and the flat is on the
other side. They can't pursue, unless they do as we, and they have no
such reason for so desperate a course. It is swimming and full of snags!
They will stop--they will not follow. In--in--not a moment is to be
lost--" and speaking, as they pursued their several ways, he to the
left, and Ralph Colleton to the right ford, the obedient steeds plunged
forward under the application of the rowel, and were fairly in the bosom
of the stream, as the pursuing party rode headlong up the bank.

Struggling onward, in the very centre of the stream, with the steed,
which, to do him all manner of justice, swam nobly, Ralph Colleton could
not resist the temptation to look round upon his pursuers. Writhing his
body in the saddle, therefore, a single glance was sufficient and, in
the full glare of the moonlight unimpeded by any interposing foliage,
the prospect before his eyes was im