brothers pursued the flying footsteps of the pair--guided by the
footmarks in the dusty and untrodden streets--that they had come
upon this strange and ghastly scene almost at its commencement, and
in a moment their practised eyes took in what had happened.

The open door marked with the ominous red cross, the troubled face
of the watchman, the ghastly apparition of the delirious
plague-stricken man, the horror depicted in the face of the
mother--all this told a tale of its own. Scenes of a like kind were
now growing common enough in the city; but this was more terrible
to the young men from the fact that the face of the unhappy and
half-fainting Frederick was known to them and that they understood
the awful peril into which this adventure had thrown him. They knew
the strength of delirious patients, and the peril of contagion in
their touch. To attempt to loosen that bearlike clasp might be
death to any who attempted it.

Reuben looked about him, still holding his sister in his arms as
though to keep her away from the peril; and Dan, who had taken one
step forward towards the sheeted spectre, paused and muttered
between his teeth:

"The hound! he has but got his deserts!"

"True," said Reuben, for he was certain now that it had been
Frederick who was Dorcas's pursuer; "yet we must not leave him
thus. He will be strangled or choked by the pestilential smell if
we cannot get him away. Take Dorcas, Dan. Let me see if I can do
aught with him."