"Look, dearest Arthur," exclaimed Edith, pointing with her riding whip
to a bend in the road some distance below them, "what are those
horsemen? are they friends or foes? Oh! I see you change colour, and we
are lost. But is there no hope for us?"

For a few moments Carlton remained silent, measuring with a practised
eye the distance between those advancing and the spot on which they
stood. For himself he had not a single thought, but for her in whom his
whole soul was bound, the thought of what would be her fate, should she
fall into the hands of those who he well knew were bent on their
capture, it was this agonizing thought that caused a convulsive shudder
to run through his whole frame, and rendered him for the moment
speechless. But it was only for a moment; his deep love for the
beautiful being at his side, and her imminent peril, roused him to
immediate action.

"It would be wrong for me to attempt to conceal the fact of the great
danger in which we stand. Our pursuers are irregular troops; men who
have been taught to hate everything Christian, being the followers of
petty Rajahs, who for some act of their own, or some of their families'
treachery or disloyalty to our Government, lost their landed
possessions, and consequently their revenue and power; but, dearest,
they shall only reach you over my dead body. They would, in the long
run, overtake us; but could we reach a wooden bridge that crosses a
small river, a few miles up the road, I believe we could yet elude
them. For there is an old road leading from the ford and running
parallel with the one we are on. It has not been used for the past two
years, and they, being strangers in this part of the country, will, in
all probability, know nothing of it, and by this way we may escape.
Courage, dearest Edith, all may yet go well with us."