“The long wished-for hour had now arrived, and bracing myself to the desperate chance, I threw a change of raiment into a wallet I had prepared, and hurried forth, preferring rather to encounter the battling elements than abide with those I could not love. Breasting the driving rain, I shouted with exultation at the prospect of achieving my own fortune by my own exertions. Although ‘from cliff to cliff the rattling crags among,’ I heard ‘the live thunder’ leaping, and the forked lightning almost seethed the brain with its sharp and sulphurous fire. I pressed on regardless of the storm and only fearful of pursuit. For some miles the road, which ran winding among the hills, was overflowed, and each indentation in the mountains had become the bed of a foaming torrent. I was obliged to clamber the hill-sides, and spring from ledge to ledge across the mad and plunging streams. But that I was in full health, buoyant with hope, and of an elastic frame, I could never have overcome the difficulties or survived the perils of that night. Once or twice I nearly despaired, but the prospect of the unfeeling treatment to which I would be subjected if I returned determined me to persevere. After severe toil I gained the high-road, and threw myself down exhausted. I had done so but a few minutes, when, borne upon the wind, I heard a loud clatter, and now and then a shrill and piercing shriek. Springing to my feet, I gazed anxiously up the road. The rain had partially subsided, and a momentary luminous spot in the heavens, showed the position of the moon; the thunder, no longer near, reverberated in the distance, and the glare of the lightning, although less frequent, was no less sulphurous and blinding. I could soon distinguish the tramp of horses at full speed, and in an instant after, a carriage passed at headlong velocity. The screams I had heard, satisfied me that there was at least one person within, and I breathlessly hurried after it.