Ah, how happy was her lot? He kissed the
upturned mouth and held her to his heart. They pledged themselves to
one another for ever and ever. Then the angel who watched over his
sleeping flew away, and he was awake.
A sound came to his ears, Alas! it was not the music of his beloved
Aster's voice--_but the baying of bloodhounds_.
'Merciful God' what chance have I with bloodhounds in this wood?'
Roland exclaimed as he arose. Then he set out, as fast as he could,
in the same direction which he had pursued during the morning. He was
well aware that the hounds were brought into the wood at the point
where he had entered it; and that they were now far upon his track.
Reflecting upon his hunting experience he concluded that the cries
which he could now hear, whenever he paused, were little more than
half a mile behind him.
A man fleeing through such a wood as this has little need for speed
with only human pursuers upon his track. But with a pack of
bloodhounds holding the trail, and that keep well in advance of their
followers, it was far otherwise. It was only necessary to follow the
baying pack; and pursuit could thus be maintained at a pace fully as
swift as the flight.
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