"In that event, King James shall still reckon with me," said the Earl resolutely. "Good-bye, lad, and God bless you. Mistress Alison, Master Dunner will take you up behind him. I will gallop on ahead." "Good-bye, good friends all," I answered, saluting them. "May God give us success!" responded the gallant old nobleman, lifting his plaided bonnet in return. He turned away, followed presently by Master Dunner, with Mrs. Alison riding on the croup. I sat my horse a moment and stared out to sea at the little boat bearing my wife away; then I turned, clapped my hat more firmly on my head, gathered the reins more tightly, and looked at my new friend with his long sword. "Come," said I. "And God help that man if he falls in my hands," he said. "And God help the King if he falls in mine," I replied, cantering off to the south. _Chapter_ XIV _Wherein, by the Grace of God, our own Determination, and the Speed of our good Horses, we reach Monkwearmouth in Time_ I do not believe that any two men ever pushed horse-flesh to a greater extremity than did Macleod and I on that journey south. I am reputed to be a cool man, and it would be idle to deny that, having been rather severely tested a great many times in the course of my life, I had earned the reputation, especially as more than once that life had depended on my skill with my sword or my quickness with my pistol. Accordingly, I fancied myself as well able to preserve my equanimity in times of stress and strain as any man in England, but I declare that I never was so thoroughly aroused and excited in my life. Our horses were in a constant lather of sweat and foam, but the journey was just as hard on the riders as upon the ridden. Macleod was a grim old soldier, and he seemed to catch some of my determination. Lady Katharine's horse had been a good one, else he would have foundered long since, and he kept pace with my spirited bay, which had carried me often in the wars and whose mettle and endurance I knew by heart. It hurt me somewhat to push the horses the way we did, but I was playing for greater stakes than were to be measured by one horse's life, or many for that matter. I had to get to Sunderland before, or at least by the time, my wife arrived there by sea. Going by land, naturally I should have outspeeded the ship easily had luck not been so cursedly against me. In the first place, it had rained, some of the roads were almost impassable, and some of the bridges were washed out. We pushed on frantically, scarcely allowing ourselves time to eat, snatching a few moments' rest here and there, more to breathe the horses than to sleep.