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 be 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.
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