“If you would only have waited till—” sobbed Janice.
“’T was no time for shilly-shallying,” interrupted the man. “Dost not see that we had to take to-night, when the groom was gone, for there ’d have been no getting the horses with him sleeping in the stable?”
“What if we meet him returning?” cried the girl, her voice shaking.
“’T would little matter. Think ye he could catch us afoot?”
“But he could tell dadda.”
“And by that time we shall be two-thirds of the way to Amboy. ’T is but a twenty miles, and we should be there by three. Then if we meet no delay in getting a boat, we shall be on the ‘Asia’ near seven. By eight the chaplain will have made us twain one.”
“Oh!” moaned the girl, “what ever will dadda say?”
As this was a question no one could answer, a silence ensued, which lasted until they rode into Brunswick. Guiding the horses upon the green, to reduce the beat of their hoofs to a minimum, Evatt turned off the grass at the river road and headed toward the bridge across the Raritan. As they approached, a noise of some kind arrested Evatt’s attention, and he was just checking the horses when a voice cried:—
“Stand!”
Janice gave a startled cry which instantly set a dog barking.