Question about the use of 察す


I was reading a light novel, and this sentence came up, is と here working as
quotation with 察して? and what can the verb in this situation mean?

むしろ追いかけられていると察して、逃げ足を速めるに違いない。




察して is the te-form of 察する, and it is one of the verbs that take quotative-と.
The meaning is "to notice/understand/guess (some fact, indirectly via a
circumstantial evidence, a facial expression, etc)". The と-clause contains
what is noticed/understood.

> 追いかけられていると察する  
>  to notice they are chased _(not by actually seeing the chaser but by seeing
> some indirect evidence)_




察して is the te-form of 察する, and it is one of the verbs that take quotative-と.
The meaning is "to notice/understand/guess (some fact, indirectly via a
circumstantial evidence, a facial expression, etc)". The と-clause contains
what is noticed/understood.

> 追いかけられていると察する  
>  to notice they are chased _(not by actually seeing the chaser but by seeing
> some indirect evidence)_

