He set a sharp pace; if there was need for haste at all it was now, at the beginning of their flight.  They plunged deeper into the forest; no one spoke; only the crackling under foot and certain wood sounds broke the stillness.  Unfortunately the soil was soft so that their footprints might be followed by any one versed in woodcraft.  At times they were forced to skirt unusually thick places, but in spite of these deviations Mr. Heatherbloom was enabled generally to keep to their course by consulting a small compass he had found in the boat.  It was essential to maintain as straight a line as possible.  People sometimes walked round and round in forests; he took no chance of that; better a moment lost now and then, while stopping to wait for the quivering pointer to settle, than returning, perhaps, to the very spot they had left.

As thus they advanced, often he looked around to reassure himself that the young girl, in spite of the roughness of the way, yet followed.  Once Sonia Turgeinov arrested that swift backward look; her own shone with curiosity.

“How in heaven’s name did you do it, Monsieur?” she asked suddenly, drawing nearer.  “Get out of that cell, I mean.  When last I saw you on the ship, you were as securely fastened as a prisoner in the fortress at Petersburg.  Of course you must have had some one to help—­”

He answered coldly, recalling a promise to protect Francois.  He could, however, and did, tell her the truth in this without involving the youth.  “When the third officer, my jailer, came to the cell and released my hands—­well, I did the best I could, surprised him, got the keys and left him there in my stead.  A little Jap trick for handling men that I learned in San Francisco long ago,” he added.

Her dark eyes lingered on him not without a trace of admiration.  “Mademoiselle is fortunate, indeed, in her champion,” she murmured.  “And yet that does not explain the preparations for departure—­the provisions in the boat—­other little details.  How came you by that compass, for example?”

“It explains all that will be explained.”

“Which means, once more, you do not trust me?” She shrugged. “Eh bien!” And again they went on in silence.

Toward noon, reaching a fringe of the forest, they found before them a wide open space where the ground was higher and dry, but the walking more difficult.  The grass, long and tenacious, twined snake-like around their ankles; they had to go more slowly, but reached, at length, the top of the eminence.  Here Mr. Heatherbloom stopped.  They ate their biscuit and rested, but only for a brief while.  Scanning the distance, in the direction they had come, he suddenly discerned moving forms on the farthest edge of the open space—­forms which advanced toward them.  No doubt as to their purpose could be entertained; his excellency had landed and was already in pursuit.  A smoldering fire leaped from Mr. Heatherbloom’s eyes while rage that she should thus be driven harder filled his breast.  Fool! that he had not killed the prince when opportunity had offered that night in the cabin.  His clemency might—­probably would—­cost her dear.