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burden, he carried not to tremble as he rode. More than once, the blundering of the jaded animal demanded all his horsemanship to prevent the certain destruction of both. And many and frequent were the cautions he gave his fair charge to embrace him more firmly. Her hands were unconsciously twined over his heart. Amidst all his anxiety he felt their pressure, and it beat as if it would have leaped from its prison.

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As to O'Gollochar, he rode with very different feelings. The Carline urged on Broadbottom with a speed to which, active as he was by nature, he had never before been put, and at which he was very much astonished to find himself moving. The way was so narrow in many of the more perilous places, that a greyhound could hardly have passed them, yet the rapidity of the Carline's flight was never relaxed. At one moment, O'Gollochar's eyes glanced in horror downwards into the black pools at a frightful depth below, but transiently discovered by the fire that flashed from the flinty rocks at every stroke of the horses' heels. At another, his ears were deafened by the mighty roar of the rapids, chafing among the huge blocks of granite, and appearing white.

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amidst the darkness of the night. His guide, seated on the neck of the horse, seemed, like some demon of the elements, to give a more than natural energy to the animal. His former superstitious notions regarding her returned with fourfold strength upon him. He clung mechanically to the saddle with knees and hands, in a cold perspiration, until he became persuaded that he was actually riding post to the devil. He lost all other recollection indeed, and shutting his eyes, he might soon have been convinced that he was actually flying through the air, had not his visage been occasionally subjected to some rude shocks, and scrapings, from the projecting boughs, under which the lesser figure of his companion had passed without damage.

In this way they rode, fortunately without accident, until, as the grey morning began to appear, they passed by the thicket where the grotto. lay-forded the smaller river at the very place where Amherst had crossed it before, and climbed those wooded banks rising over its bed.

On the breezy brow of the hill overlooking the beautiful scenery of the double valley, so fully described on a former occasion, the Dwarfie halt

ed. It was not, however, until the poor quadrupeds required it that she thus gave them a temporary repose. Notwithstanding the ablution they had just undergone in stemming the rough stream of the ford, their flanks were covered with a lather, and their chests and necks with foam,their sides heaved, and their nostrils yawned wide at every inspiration, as if to draw in a whole atmosphere of air. For some minutes after they had stopped, O'Gollochar continued to adhere to the back of his horse,-and, like a landsman after a voyage, still felt the motion of his

hurricane passage. He was soon, however,

brought to his senses, for Broadbottom, after shaking himself till he made the stirrups ring again, yet without displacing his master, began to kneel down to take the luxurious refreshment of a roll on the grass, in which amusement he was immediately joined by Brisk. Lucky was it, for the poor Irishman, that he happened to open his eyes, just as his charger was laying himself leisurely on one side on the green sod;-for the very first tumble would have so squeezed him, that, in the language of the old romances," he might have had little need of a leech," As it

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was, he had just time to scramble off upon allfours, ere the armed heels of both the steeds were glittering in the air, crack went the girths, and off came both the saddles. This was an unlooked-for misfortune that required to be immediately remedied, and O'Gollochar was quickly shaken from his dream to repair the damage. Meanwhile Eliza, much fatigued, was assisted under the shade of a weeping birch, where, seated on the grass, and resting with her back against its rugged bark, she partook of some fragments of food, prudently hoarded up by the Irishman from the feast of the preceding night.

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The dawn was as yet little advanced, and objects in the valley were hidden by one of those dense morning exhalations, often filling the hollow troughs in a country where rivers have their courses. O'Gollochar had nearly succeeded in righting the damage occasioned by the untimely frolics of the horses, and was almost ready to fit the saddles again to their backs, when the distant plunge, and splash of water, followed by the clattering sound of hooves, came from the misty void beneath. The noise rose fast upon them, and spread alarm through the group.

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All were instantly in motion; and even Miss Malcolm, fatigued as she was, became reanimated by renewed terrors. The utmost expedition was used to get the horse-furniture adjusted; but + ให้รายการ even their very hurry contributed to baffle them. The sound became stronger, and approached nearer—and men's voices were heard—and Amherst began to prepare his arms for resolute defence.

"Rash young man !" said the Carline, “think not of conflict where you have so much at stake! -retire by that path winding amongst those birches, there you will be concealed until you have gained a few moments to fit yourself for flight, then make for the track over the hill, and spare neither spur nor lash till you have reached the level country. You bear a treasure your life must answer for. Leave me to deal with these wretches.-But hold !-you must ride without your hat and mantle, young Lady, for these are necessary for my purpose.”—So saying, she snatched both the one and the other from Miss Malcolm.

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"Tarry not for me," she continued in a rapid manner, as she waved her hand towards the

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