He had in the meantime penetrated pretty far into the valley, and might hope soon to overtake the maiden, provided he were pursuing the right track.

The fear, indeed, that he might not as yet have gained it, made his heart beat with more and more of anxiety.

In the stormy night which was now approaching, and which always fell more fearfully over this valley, where would the delicate Bertalda shelter herself, should he fail to find her?
At last, while these thoughts were darting across his mind, he saw something white glimmer through the branches on the ascent of the mountain.

He thought he recognized Bertalda's robe; and he directed his course towards it.

But his horse refused to go forward; he reared with a fury so uncontrollable, and his master was so unwilling to lose a moment, that (especially as he saw the thickets were altogether impassable on horseback) he dismounted, and, having fastened his snorting steed to an elm, worked his way with caution through the matted underwood.