"Alice!" he cried, seizing her arm with such force as to cause her pain. "See! We are discovered!"
Lights were moving in the bush, and the voices of men, calling to each other, were heard.
"It is Jim Pizey and the rest, looking for me," he whispered, hoarsely, and trembling with fear--for her, not for himself. "If they find us, it is all over with us. They swore to kill me, if I attempted to escape; and you--Oh, Alice! say that you forgive me for the peril to which I have exposed you!"
"I do forgive you, Richard!" Alice said, kissing him. "Have you any weapon?"
He produced a revolver, loaded.
"Is it useless trying to escape?" she asked.
"Quite. See--they are spreading themselves out. We are lost. They have no pity, those men. Oh my God!" he cried, in an anguish. "This is worse than all!"
"If those men be the men you fear, Richard," said Alice, rapidly, her limbs trembling, and a nameless horror resting in her eyes, "swear that you will kill me! Swear it, as you hope for mercy--as you hope to meet me in heaven, when all our misery is ended!"
"I swear it, Alice!"
"My poor husband!--my dear love!" and she pressed him to her breast. "Forgive us, O Lord, for what we are about to do!"