THE FAIR COURIER. 101

 

this road she had not herself known; but
her guide, being familiar with the country,
was able to conduct her by the shorter and
safer route.

All night the girl and her companion
rode on, at a pace as rapid as the nature of
the road and the darkness rendered safe,
and at daylight they were far away from.
the neighbourhood of the enemy's camp.
As the sun came up from the east, the guide
of Emily, according to instructions, after
minutely describing to her the course she
was to take, left her to pursue the remain-
der of her journey alone. Without stop-
ping to refresh either herself or her tired
horse, the young heroine pressed forward,
though the heat grew more and more in-
tense every hour, as the sun swept up to-
ward the zenith. Faint, weary, and almost
sick with fatigue, hunger, and excitement,
she was urging on the jaded animal she
rode, when, about three o’clock in the after-
noon, in emerging from a dense wood, she
came suddenly on a file of soldiers whose