the face. That he is not here
is perfectly inexplicable. We have still eight miles before we get out
of the heath."

While he was thus speaking, they had reached the top of the bank, and
the great west heath lay spread out before them like a vast sea; but no
carriage, no living being was to be seen. The Cornet stopped to let the
mare take breath, at the same time making a half turn, the more easily
to survey that part of the heath that lay behind them. This was also
naked and desolate; nothing was there to be seen save a few scattered
turf stacks, nothing to be heard but the cry of the heathcock, the
rushing of the rivulet, the panting of the mare, and their own sighs.
Awhile they thus remained, until the Froeken broke silence with the
question, "Is there not something moving yonder?" She uttered this in a
suppressed voice, as if she feared it would be heard on the other side
of the waste.

"There is no time for staying longer," answered he; "I am fearful it is
your father who is coming yonder." With these words, he turned again
towards the west.

"Oh! my father," exclaimed Mette sighing, and at the same time clasping
her lover still more closely.

He again looked round. "They seem to draw nearer," said he; "if I urge
on the mare, I fear she will fall." They rode onwards a short distance,
he with an oppressed, she with an anxiously throbbing heart.

"I must walk," cried he, and dismounted, "that will so far help; do not
look back, dearest girl."

"Ah heaven! can it be our pursuers?"

"There are seven or eight of them, as far as I can discern."

"How far off may they be?" asked Mette again.

"Scarcely more than two miles," he replied, and notwithstanding his
admonition she again looked back.

"I see no one," said she.

"Nor do I at this moment," he answered, "they are most probably down in
a valley: one is just now making his appearance, and now another. Come,
come, poor Bel," cried he, drawing the mare after him, "you are
accustomed at other times to carry an arched neck, and to lift your
feet high enough; now you drag them along the ground, and stretch out
your neck like a fish when it is being hauled out of the water."

After a pause, the Froeken asked, "Can they see us?"

"They ride point blank after us," answered the Cornet, "and gain more
and more upon us."

"Heavens! if they overtake us, I fear my father will kill you, dearest
Holger! but I will shield you with my weak body, for I cannot outlive