Now and then Nathaniel saw the three red stripes of the whipper's lash upon the bare shoulders of the man ahead and to these every step seemed to add new wounds made by the thorns.

As they came out upon an old roadway the captain stripped off his coat and Neil thrust himself into it as they ran.
Even in these first minutes of their flight Nathaniel was thrilled by another thought than that of the peril behind them.

Whom had he saved?
Who was this clear-eyed young fellow for whom the girl had so openly sacrificed herself at the whipping-post, about whom she had thrown her arms and covered with the protection of her glorious hair?
With his joy at having served her there was mingled a chilling doubt as these questions formed themselves in his mind.

Obadiah's vague suggestions, the scene in the king's room, the night visits of the girl to the councilor's cabin--and last of all this incident at the jail flashed upon him now with another meaning, with a significance that slowly cooled the enthusiasm in his veins.

He was sure that he was near the solution of the mysterious events in which he had become involved, and yet this knowledge brought with it something of apprehension, something which made him anticipate and yet dread the moment when the fugitive ahead would stop in his flight, and he might ask him those questions which would at least relieve him of his burden of doubt.