Their friends were dead or scattered; and rumour, with a thousand tongues, multiplied the most awful horrors which were said to be approaching them.

Although they received and sheltered Mr.O'Brien, he evidently saw that their generosity cost them dearly, and that they were in the utmost alarm.

His own privations he could endure; but not the fear and suffering his presence caused to others.

This, and this only, determined him in the first instance.

He might also have hoped that if he could reach the neighbourhood of his own home, he would be defended with desperate fidelity.