recklessly through the narrow street, so that the murmur of the
mob behind them grew perceptibly fainter at each leap forward.

The noise of the galloping hoofs brought women and children to
the barred windows of the houses, but no men stepped into the
road to stop their progress, and those few they met running in
the direction of the palace hastened to get out of their way, and
stood with their backs pressed against the walls of the narrow
thoroughfare looking after them with wonder.

Even those who suspected their errand were helpless to detain
them, for sooner than they could raise the hue and cry or
formulate a plan of action, the carriage had passed and was
disappearing in the distance, rocking from wheel to wheel like a
ship in a gale. Two men who were so bold as to start to follow,
stopped abruptly when they saw the outriders draw rein and turn
in their saddles as though to await their coming.

Clay's mind was torn with doubts, and his nerves were drawn taut
like the strings of a violin. Personal danger exhilarated him,
but this chance of harm to others who were helpless, except
for him, depressed his spirit with anxiety. He experienced in
his own mind all the nervous fears of a thief who sees an officer
in every passing citizen, and at one moment he warned the driver
to move more circumspectly, and so avert suspicion, and the next
urged him into more desperate bursts of speed. In his fancy
every cross street threatened an ambush, and as he cantered now
before and now behind the carriage, he wished that he was a
multitude of men who could encompass it entirely and hide it.