Chapter Twenty Eight.The Time at last.It was nervous work during the next few days, neither Nic nor Pete daring to take any step towards making their escape, for the feeling was strong upon both that they were in their enemy’s hands, and that he was only waiting his time before betraying them to the overseer.“That’s his way, Master Nic, and it always was. Once he had a grudge agen a man he’d never forgive him,” said Pete one night, “and he’d wait his chance to serve him out. I never liked Humpy, and he never liked me; zo, after all, it was six o’ one and half-a-dozen o’ the other.”“I can’t help thinking that we are worrying ourselves about nothing, Pete,” replied Nic. “It’s a case of the guilty conscience needing no accuser.”“That it aren’t, sir,” said the man sturdily. “I aren’t going to believe you’ve got any guilty conscience, and there aren’t nothing worse on mine than a bit o’ zalmon.”Nic smiled in the darkness, and Pete went on:“Well, if you think like that, Master Nic, let’s risk it. Old Humpy’s cunning enough, but p’raps two heads’ll be better than one, and we can beat him. What do you zay to trying, then?”“Anything is better than this terrible suspense, Pete,” said Nic. “I did manage to bear my fate before, but the thought now of that boat lying ready to carry us down the river is too much for me, and there are moments when I feel as if I must say to you, ‘Come on; let’s run down to the river and dash in, risking everything.’”“What! and them zee us go, Master Nic?”“Yes; I am getting desperate with waiting.”“Wouldn’t do, my lad. They’d chivvy us, them and the blacks and Humpy and t’others. Why, bless you, nothing old Humpy would like better.”“I’m afraid so.”“That’s it, zir, whether you’re ’fraid or whether you bean’t. And s’posing we got the boat, what then, zir? Them seeing us and going along by the bank shooting at us.”“We might lie down, Pete.”“Yes; and they’d send in half-a-dozen niggers to zwim to the boat and bring it ashore. What do you say to that, zir?”“That I’m half-mad to propose such a thing,” replied Nic.“Talk lower, zir. I can’t hear old Humpy; but let’s be on the lookout.”“Better give up all thought of getting away,” said Nic despondently.“Bah! Never zay die, Master Nic. Why, there’s the old place at home seeming to hold out its finger to us, beckoning-like, and zaying ‘Come,’ and once I do get back, you’ll never ketch me meddling with no one’s zalmon again. But look here, zir, we thought it all out before, and I don’t see as we can better it.”“I feel hopeless, Pete.”“And I feel as if I’ve got ’nough o’ that stuff in me for both. Wish we could be hoeing together again, so as we could talk it over.”“I wish so too, Pete.”“It aren’t half so pleasant hoeing along with the blacks as it is with you, zir.”“Thank you, Pete,” said Nic, smiling to himself.“I aren’t got nought agen ’em. They can’t help having black skins and them thick lips, and they’re wonderful good-tempered. Just big children, that’s what they are. Fancy a man being a zlave and ready to zing and dance ’cause the moon zhines, ready to go out hunting the coons and ’possums as if there was nothing the matter.”“It’s their nature to be light-hearted,” said Nic.“Light-hearted, zir? Why, there’s one o’ the gang along with me as allus seems as if you were tickling him. Only to-day he drops hisself down and rolls about in the hot sun, and does nothing but laugh, just because he’s happy. Why, I couldn’t laugh now if I tried.”“Wait, Pete; perhaps you may again some day.”“I want to laugh to-morrow night, zir.”“What?”“When we’ve got a couple o’ guns aboard that boat, and we’re going down the river,” whispered Pete excitedly. “I can laugh then.”“We couldn’t do it, Pete.”“We could, zir, if we zaid we would.”“There is the risk of that man watching us and telling.”“He’d better!” growled Pete. “Look here, zir; let’s have no more shilly-shallying. Say you’ll go to-morrow night, and risk it.”“Why not wait for a good opportunity?”“’Cause if we do it mayn’t never come.”“But food—provisions?” said Nic, whose heart was beginning to throb with excitement.“Eat all we can to-morrow, and chance what we can get in the woods, or go without a bit. I’d starve two days for the sake of getting away. Will you risk it, zir?”For answer Nic stretched out his hand and grasped Pete’s, having his own half-crushed in return.“That settles it, then,” whispered Pete hoarsely. “Zave a bit of bread-cake if you can. May come in useful. To-morrow night, then.”“To-morrow night.”“Are you two going to keep on talking till to-morrow morning?” growled a deep voice. “Zum on us want a bit o’ sleep. Look here, mates; I’m going to speak to the gaffer to-morrow, to ax if them two chatterin’ old women can’t be put somewheres else.”Nic turned cold, and Pete uttered a deep sigh, for if this were done they would, he knew, have to begin making their plans again.But hope cheered them both as the next day dawned and passed on without incident. Humpy Dee’s was evidently only an empty threat, and as evening drew on Nic’s excitement increased, and with it came a sensation of strength such as he had not enjoyed for months.It was as if his companion had endowed him with a portion of his own elastic temperament, and success was going to attend their efforts. All the weary despondency had passed away, and in imagination Nic saw the boat floating down the river towards the sea, where, hope whispered, it must be very easy to find some British ship whose captain would be ready to listen to their unhappy story, and let them hide on board till he set sail, and then let them work their passage home. “For,” argued Nic now in his excitement, “no Englishman could be so hardhearted as to refuse help to a white slave.”He saw nothing of Pete after they had started for their day’s work, their duties taking them to different parts of the plantation; but that was no more than he expected, and he toiled away with his hoe, telling himself that this was the last time he would handle it, for they would—they must—escape; and he wondered now that he could have hesitated so long, and have let the notion that Humpy Dee was quietly trying to undermine them act like a bugbear.One thing was difficult, though, and that was to eat heartily in readiness for what might be a long fast. Nic ate all he could force down, however, and hid away the rest. But how long that hot day seemed, before the darkness closed in and the strange sounds began to rise from the woods and river!Never had all these sounded so loudly before; and when at last Nic lay down in his rustling bunk, and the place had been locked and the black sentry placed at the door, it seemed to the listener as if the great goat-suckers were whirring about just outside, and the bull-frogs had come in a body to the very edge of the woods and up the ditches of the plantation to croak.Humpy Dee and his companions were talking together; the black sentry yawned, and began to hum an air to himself; and soon after the voices of the settler and the overseer passed, discussing some plan in connection with the crops; but Nic did not hear either of the dogs bark, neither did the one which had shown friendliness towards him come snuffling about the entrance of the low shed.“Why doesn’t Pete say something?” thought Nic, who began to wonder at the silence of his companion, not a word having passed since they met at the rough supper; and now, for the first time that day, Nic’s heart sank a little, for it seemed to him that his fellow-plotter had shrunk from the risks they would have to encounter—risks which might mean being shot at, worried by the dogs, dragged down by the alligators to a horrible death, perhaps fever and starvation in the swamp, or being drowned at sea, if they reached the river’s mouth, and were swept away by one of the fierce currents along the shore.It meant waiting two hours at least before they could begin their attempt; but still Nic wanted to get rid of the oppression which troubled him, and to feel that they really were going to make their escape; but the murmuring of their companions’ voices went on, and still Pete made no sign.At last Nic could contain himself no longer. He was all eagerness now; and, if they were not going to make the attempt, he wanted to know the worst. He spoke in a whisper:“Pete, Pete!”“Phew! how hot—how hot!” muttered the man.“Pete!” whispered Nic again.“I wish you wouldn’t keep on talking,” said Pete loudly. “You know how it set them grumbling last night.”Nic drew a deep breath through his teeth, as he lay there in the hot, oppressive darkness. They were not going, then. It was the way with a man of Pete’s class to pick a quarrel upon some other subject when he wanted to find an excuse and back out of an arrangement.“Ay, you had a narrow escape on it,” said one of the men surlily. “Old Humpy was pretty nigh going to the gaffer to-day.”“It’s all over,” thought Nic, as a feeling of bitterness ran through him. Only four-and-twenty hours earlier he had been ready to give up and accept his position. Then Pete had touched the right chord in his nature, and roused him up to a readiness to run any risk, and make a brave dash for liberty; while now the man seemed to have shrunk back into his shell, and to be completely giving up just when the call was about to be made upon his energies.At another time Nic might have argued differently; but, strung up as he had been, his companion’s surly indifference was crushing, and it seemed that the wild, exciting adventures of the night were to give place to a cowardly, sordid sleep.“If anything big is to be done, one must depend upon one’s-self,” thought Nic at last; and, angry with the whole world, bitter at his own helplessness, as he felt how mad it would be to attempt the venture alone, he turned over in his bunk, throwing out one hand in the movement, and it came in contact with Pete’s, to be gripped fast.In an instant the blood was dancing through his veins, and a choking sensation as of impending suffocation troubled him; the arteries in his temples beat painfully, and he lay breathing hard.For it was to be after all, and this conduct was his companion’s way of showing him that it was better to lie in silence, waiting till the time arrived for commencing their task.Nic lay there listening to the low murmur of his fellow-prisoners’ voices and the chorus of strange sounds from the forest and river; and in the stillness of the night, every now and then, a faint splash came plainly to where he lay, sending a thrill through him, as he thought that, if all went well, before very long he might be swimming across the river, running the gauntlet of the horrible-looking reptiles, and his left hand stole down to his belt to grasp the handle of the sharpened knife, while he wondered whether the skin of the alligators would be horny or tough enough to turn the point.How long, how long it seemed before all was perfectly still in the long, low shed, and not a sound could be heard outside but the faint humming noise made by the black sentry!Then all at once there were steps.Some one had come up, and in a low whisper Nic heard the words:“All right?”“Yes, massa.”Then the steps passed away again, and Pete gripped Nic’s hand as he lay straining his hearing to try and ascertain whether the overseer had entered the house; but the barking or croaking of reptiles was the only sound.Another hour must have passed, and then Nic’s blood rushed through his veins, for a hand touched his again lightly, and seemed to seek for the other. Directly after he felt a hot breath upon his face, and lips to his ear, uttering the one word:“Come!”
It was nervous work during the next few days, neither Nic nor Pete daring to take any step towards making their escape, for the feeling was strong upon both that they were in their enemy’s hands, and that he was only waiting his time before betraying them to the overseer.
“That’s his way, Master Nic, and it always was. Once he had a grudge agen a man he’d never forgive him,” said Pete one night, “and he’d wait his chance to serve him out. I never liked Humpy, and he never liked me; zo, after all, it was six o’ one and half-a-dozen o’ the other.”
“I can’t help thinking that we are worrying ourselves about nothing, Pete,” replied Nic. “It’s a case of the guilty conscience needing no accuser.”
“That it aren’t, sir,” said the man sturdily. “I aren’t going to believe you’ve got any guilty conscience, and there aren’t nothing worse on mine than a bit o’ zalmon.”
Nic smiled in the darkness, and Pete went on:
“Well, if you think like that, Master Nic, let’s risk it. Old Humpy’s cunning enough, but p’raps two heads’ll be better than one, and we can beat him. What do you zay to trying, then?”
“Anything is better than this terrible suspense, Pete,” said Nic. “I did manage to bear my fate before, but the thought now of that boat lying ready to carry us down the river is too much for me, and there are moments when I feel as if I must say to you, ‘Come on; let’s run down to the river and dash in, risking everything.’”
“What! and them zee us go, Master Nic?”
“Yes; I am getting desperate with waiting.”
“Wouldn’t do, my lad. They’d chivvy us, them and the blacks and Humpy and t’others. Why, bless you, nothing old Humpy would like better.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“That’s it, zir, whether you’re ’fraid or whether you bean’t. And s’posing we got the boat, what then, zir? Them seeing us and going along by the bank shooting at us.”
“We might lie down, Pete.”
“Yes; and they’d send in half-a-dozen niggers to zwim to the boat and bring it ashore. What do you say to that, zir?”
“That I’m half-mad to propose such a thing,” replied Nic.
“Talk lower, zir. I can’t hear old Humpy; but let’s be on the lookout.”
“Better give up all thought of getting away,” said Nic despondently.
“Bah! Never zay die, Master Nic. Why, there’s the old place at home seeming to hold out its finger to us, beckoning-like, and zaying ‘Come,’ and once I do get back, you’ll never ketch me meddling with no one’s zalmon again. But look here, zir, we thought it all out before, and I don’t see as we can better it.”
“I feel hopeless, Pete.”
“And I feel as if I’ve got ’nough o’ that stuff in me for both. Wish we could be hoeing together again, so as we could talk it over.”
“I wish so too, Pete.”
“It aren’t half so pleasant hoeing along with the blacks as it is with you, zir.”
“Thank you, Pete,” said Nic, smiling to himself.
“I aren’t got nought agen ’em. They can’t help having black skins and them thick lips, and they’re wonderful good-tempered. Just big children, that’s what they are. Fancy a man being a zlave and ready to zing and dance ’cause the moon zhines, ready to go out hunting the coons and ’possums as if there was nothing the matter.”
“It’s their nature to be light-hearted,” said Nic.
“Light-hearted, zir? Why, there’s one o’ the gang along with me as allus seems as if you were tickling him. Only to-day he drops hisself down and rolls about in the hot sun, and does nothing but laugh, just because he’s happy. Why, I couldn’t laugh now if I tried.”
“Wait, Pete; perhaps you may again some day.”
“I want to laugh to-morrow night, zir.”
“What?”
“When we’ve got a couple o’ guns aboard that boat, and we’re going down the river,” whispered Pete excitedly. “I can laugh then.”
“We couldn’t do it, Pete.”
“We could, zir, if we zaid we would.”
“There is the risk of that man watching us and telling.”
“He’d better!” growled Pete. “Look here, zir; let’s have no more shilly-shallying. Say you’ll go to-morrow night, and risk it.”
“Why not wait for a good opportunity?”
“’Cause if we do it mayn’t never come.”
“But food—provisions?” said Nic, whose heart was beginning to throb with excitement.
“Eat all we can to-morrow, and chance what we can get in the woods, or go without a bit. I’d starve two days for the sake of getting away. Will you risk it, zir?”
For answer Nic stretched out his hand and grasped Pete’s, having his own half-crushed in return.
“That settles it, then,” whispered Pete hoarsely. “Zave a bit of bread-cake if you can. May come in useful. To-morrow night, then.”
“To-morrow night.”
“Are you two going to keep on talking till to-morrow morning?” growled a deep voice. “Zum on us want a bit o’ sleep. Look here, mates; I’m going to speak to the gaffer to-morrow, to ax if them two chatterin’ old women can’t be put somewheres else.”
Nic turned cold, and Pete uttered a deep sigh, for if this were done they would, he knew, have to begin making their plans again.
But hope cheered them both as the next day dawned and passed on without incident. Humpy Dee’s was evidently only an empty threat, and as evening drew on Nic’s excitement increased, and with it came a sensation of strength such as he had not enjoyed for months.
It was as if his companion had endowed him with a portion of his own elastic temperament, and success was going to attend their efforts. All the weary despondency had passed away, and in imagination Nic saw the boat floating down the river towards the sea, where, hope whispered, it must be very easy to find some British ship whose captain would be ready to listen to their unhappy story, and let them hide on board till he set sail, and then let them work their passage home. “For,” argued Nic now in his excitement, “no Englishman could be so hardhearted as to refuse help to a white slave.”
He saw nothing of Pete after they had started for their day’s work, their duties taking them to different parts of the plantation; but that was no more than he expected, and he toiled away with his hoe, telling himself that this was the last time he would handle it, for they would—they must—escape; and he wondered now that he could have hesitated so long, and have let the notion that Humpy Dee was quietly trying to undermine them act like a bugbear.
One thing was difficult, though, and that was to eat heartily in readiness for what might be a long fast. Nic ate all he could force down, however, and hid away the rest. But how long that hot day seemed, before the darkness closed in and the strange sounds began to rise from the woods and river!
Never had all these sounded so loudly before; and when at last Nic lay down in his rustling bunk, and the place had been locked and the black sentry placed at the door, it seemed to the listener as if the great goat-suckers were whirring about just outside, and the bull-frogs had come in a body to the very edge of the woods and up the ditches of the plantation to croak.
Humpy Dee and his companions were talking together; the black sentry yawned, and began to hum an air to himself; and soon after the voices of the settler and the overseer passed, discussing some plan in connection with the crops; but Nic did not hear either of the dogs bark, neither did the one which had shown friendliness towards him come snuffling about the entrance of the low shed.
“Why doesn’t Pete say something?” thought Nic, who began to wonder at the silence of his companion, not a word having passed since they met at the rough supper; and now, for the first time that day, Nic’s heart sank a little, for it seemed to him that his fellow-plotter had shrunk from the risks they would have to encounter—risks which might mean being shot at, worried by the dogs, dragged down by the alligators to a horrible death, perhaps fever and starvation in the swamp, or being drowned at sea, if they reached the river’s mouth, and were swept away by one of the fierce currents along the shore.
It meant waiting two hours at least before they could begin their attempt; but still Nic wanted to get rid of the oppression which troubled him, and to feel that they really were going to make their escape; but the murmuring of their companions’ voices went on, and still Pete made no sign.
At last Nic could contain himself no longer. He was all eagerness now; and, if they were not going to make the attempt, he wanted to know the worst. He spoke in a whisper:
“Pete, Pete!”
“Phew! how hot—how hot!” muttered the man.
“Pete!” whispered Nic again.
“I wish you wouldn’t keep on talking,” said Pete loudly. “You know how it set them grumbling last night.”
Nic drew a deep breath through his teeth, as he lay there in the hot, oppressive darkness. They were not going, then. It was the way with a man of Pete’s class to pick a quarrel upon some other subject when he wanted to find an excuse and back out of an arrangement.
“Ay, you had a narrow escape on it,” said one of the men surlily. “Old Humpy was pretty nigh going to the gaffer to-day.”
“It’s all over,” thought Nic, as a feeling of bitterness ran through him. Only four-and-twenty hours earlier he had been ready to give up and accept his position. Then Pete had touched the right chord in his nature, and roused him up to a readiness to run any risk, and make a brave dash for liberty; while now the man seemed to have shrunk back into his shell, and to be completely giving up just when the call was about to be made upon his energies.
At another time Nic might have argued differently; but, strung up as he had been, his companion’s surly indifference was crushing, and it seemed that the wild, exciting adventures of the night were to give place to a cowardly, sordid sleep.
“If anything big is to be done, one must depend upon one’s-self,” thought Nic at last; and, angry with the whole world, bitter at his own helplessness, as he felt how mad it would be to attempt the venture alone, he turned over in his bunk, throwing out one hand in the movement, and it came in contact with Pete’s, to be gripped fast.
In an instant the blood was dancing through his veins, and a choking sensation as of impending suffocation troubled him; the arteries in his temples beat painfully, and he lay breathing hard.
For it was to be after all, and this conduct was his companion’s way of showing him that it was better to lie in silence, waiting till the time arrived for commencing their task.
Nic lay there listening to the low murmur of his fellow-prisoners’ voices and the chorus of strange sounds from the forest and river; and in the stillness of the night, every now and then, a faint splash came plainly to where he lay, sending a thrill through him, as he thought that, if all went well, before very long he might be swimming across the river, running the gauntlet of the horrible-looking reptiles, and his left hand stole down to his belt to grasp the handle of the sharpened knife, while he wondered whether the skin of the alligators would be horny or tough enough to turn the point.
How long, how long it seemed before all was perfectly still in the long, low shed, and not a sound could be heard outside but the faint humming noise made by the black sentry!
Then all at once there were steps.
Some one had come up, and in a low whisper Nic heard the words:
“All right?”
“Yes, massa.”
Then the steps passed away again, and Pete gripped Nic’s hand as he lay straining his hearing to try and ascertain whether the overseer had entered the house; but the barking or croaking of reptiles was the only sound.
Another hour must have passed, and then Nic’s blood rushed through his veins, for a hand touched his again lightly, and seemed to seek for the other. Directly after he felt a hot breath upon his face, and lips to his ear, uttering the one word:
“Come!”
Chapter Twenty Nine.For Life and Liberty.Before Nic Revel’s mental sight the difficulties rose like a great black rock, but he did not shrink. He rose softly from his bunk, striving hard to keep the corn-stalks from crackling, and felt Pete as the man took a couple of steps from his sleeping-place and stood with his face to the back of the shed.Then, in the midst of a very faint rustling, Nic knew that his companion had thrust a couple of pegs into the knot-holes in the stout planks, and raised himself by hand and foot till he could softly draw the wooden shingles of the roof aside, and the cool, moist air of the night came down. Then for a moment or two Nic saw a bright star, which was blotted out by something dark as the faint rustling continued.Nic turned to listen, but all was well within the shed. He could hear the deep breathing of sleepers, and the low humming song of the sentry outside the door.“How long will it be?” thought Nic, who was trembling with excitement; but the suspense was soon over. All at once there was a dull sound, such as might be made by two bare feet alighting on the earth outside, and he knew that his turn had come.He was lightly enough clothed, merely in short-sleeved, striped cotton shirt, and breeches which did not reach the knee, and his feet were bare, so that there was nothing to hinder his efforts as he reached up till he could place one foot upon the first peg. Then, seeking for the other, he seized it in his hand, and drew himself into a standing position upon the first, reached up to the rafters, drew himself farther up till he could rest his foot on the second peg and pass his head and shoulders through the hole in the roof; then, resting a hand on either side, he drew his legs through, turned and lowered himself down, and dropped upon the ground almost without a sound.It was intensely dark, but every step was familiar enough, and there was no need for words: their plans had been too well made. But as they moved off towards the house, one thought was in both minds as presenting the greatest obstacle they had to dread:Where were the dogs? If loose, and their approach were heard, the great brutes would set up a fierce baying directly, preliminary to a savage attack; and then—They neither of them cared to reckon more in advance than that, and went softly on, to receive proof directly that the dogs were not loose, for there came from the back of the house the rattle of a chain being drawn over wood, followed by a low, muttering growl, as if one of the animals was uneasy.This ceased directly; and, treading cautiously, Nic went straight up to the front of the building, feeling as if, at any moment, he might see the flash of a musket and hear its roar.But the place was dark and still, and the croaking and other sounds which came in chorus were quite loud enough to drown their light footsteps as they approached.The door was closed, but the two long, low windows in the veranda proved to be open; and, as Nic approached the one upon his right and listened, he could distinctly hear the heavy breathing of a sleeper. He drew cautiously back, to come in contact with Pete, who was taken by surprise at the sudden movement made.Then they stood with hearts thumping against their ribs, feeling certain that they must have been heard; but not a sound followed. After waiting nearly a minute, a fresh movement was made, Nic stepping softly to the window on his left, the perspiration streaming down his face, for the heat was intense.He listened here, with Pete close behind, but all was still, the window wide open to admit the air; and he knew that all he had to do was to pass softly in, take down a couple of the guns, passing one out at a time through the window to Pete, beat a retreat, and then all would be as easy as possible. It was only cool, quiet action—that was all; but Nic for a time could not move, only stand there, breathing heavily, in the full expectation of hearing his companion say something to urge him on.Pete did not stir: he felt that he must trust to his companion’s common-sense, and leave him to act as was best.Then the power to act seemed to come, and Nic softly grasped the window-sill, passed one leg in, then the other, and stood upon the bare floor, fully expecting to hear a bullet whiz past his head, even if it did not strike.But he could hear nothing; the house might have been unoccupied; and, drawing a deep breath, he acted quickly now, turned to his left, raised his hands, and pressed forward till they touched one of the weapons hanging upon the wall.A sudden feeling of elation now came over him, for it all seemed to be so astonishingly easy, as he stepped softly to the window to pass out a musket with its flask and pouch, feeling it taken from his hand directly.The next minute he was in front of the other pieces, and took down a second musket, felt that the flask and pouch were attached to it, and, with his pulses hard at work, he was about to make for the window when every drop of blood in his veins seemed to stand still. For there was a sharp, angry oath, a quick start, and the overseer, who had been sleeping upon a rough couch, rose to a sitting position.It was too dark for Nic to make out anything more than a shadowy figure within ten feet of him; and he stood as if petrified, holding the musket, meaning to use it as a club at the first attack; one which seemed to be strangely deferred, for the figure sat as if staring at him in astonishment.How long this pause lasted it is impossible to say, but to the intruder it seemed like minutes before he heard a faint rustling movement as if the overseer was about to lie down again.“He can’t see me,” thought Nic. “It is too dark.”Then his heart seemed to stand still again, as the horrible thought occurred that the rustling meant getting something out of a pocket, and that something must be a pistol.Instinct taught the listener that to save his life he must spring at his enemy before he could take aim, and, nerving himself for a leap forward to dash the musket he held upon the man’s face, he was almost in the act of bounding across the room when there was a low gurgling sound, and his nerves and muscles relaxed, for he realised the fact—the overseer had awoke suddenly from some nightmare-like dream, and it was no pistol he had taken out, but a flask of spirits.It was plain enough now—the gurgling of the flask, the smack of the lips in the darkness, and the long, satisfied breath taken, before the bottle was replaced and its owner sank back upon his couch.In another minute the breathing had grown deeper and sounded stertorous; and, without pausing longer, Nic stepped to the window, handed out the gun, and felt it taken quickly from his hands.Just then there was a faint muttering which almost paralysed Nic, who turned to meet an attack; but none came, and in another instant or two he had slipped out of the window and was following Pete, who had handed back one gun, with the warning to beware of the dogs.Pete’s stooping figure was just visible as Nic followed, him in silence till they were about a hundred yards away, making for the spot where the boat was hidden, when one of the dogs barked loudly.“Mustn’t stop to load,” whispered Pete. “Let’s get to the water, and then they can’t take up the scent.”They hurried on, listening the while; but the dog quieted down again; and with his spirits rising, Nic closed up alongside of his companion.“That was a near touch, master,” whispered Pete. “I waited ready to jump in and help you, for I zomehow thought it was too dark in there for him to zee you, and you hadn’t made any noise. Lucky for him he lay down again.”Nic made no reply, but he thought a great deal; and no more was said till they had crossed a couple of the great fields and knew by the sounds they heard that they must be close to the long, low band of reedy growth which ran by the river-side.“You lead now, my lad,” whispered Pete. “Get as nigh as you can to where you think the creek is on the other side.”“It is so dark,” whispered Nic; “but I think we are right.”He went to the front, assailed by a horrible doubt now that he had taken the wrong way, and was some distance farther up the river; but, as he bent down to part the low growth, to peer through over the dark water, there was a scuffle and a splash, telling of some reptile taking flight, and he shrank back.But he hardly heeded it, for he had dimly made out a solitary tree across the river, some eighty or a hundred yards away, which he had marked down for bearings.“This is the place, Pete,” he whispered. “If you stand here and look across, the creek is a little way up to the right.”“That is good, my lad; I was beginning to be feared that we should have to wait for daylight, and be missed. Now then, take my gun and the tackle, and while I’m gone you load both on ’em.”“While you are gone?” whispered Nic excitedly. “You are not going; I know the way, and I’ll fetch the boat.”“That you don’t, Master Nic,” said the man sturdily. “That there water’s full o’ them great brutes, and one of ’em might pull you down.”“I know it is; and one of them might pull you down.”“He’d be zorry for it if he did, for I’d zoon zend my knife through his carcass. It’s my job, zir, and I’m going.”“I tell you I know just where it is, and I’m going to fetch it.”“That you aren’t, zir. I won’t have you risk it.”“Then we’ll swim the river together, Pete.”“And what about the guns?”“Leave them on the bank, and come back and fetch them.”“Never find ’em again in the darkness and hurry, my lad. Now, do be zensible.”“I’m master, and I order you to stay.”“Which you aren’t master, zir, for we’re both zlaves, and if you talk so loud you’ll be bringing down the dogs and I’m off.”Almost before Nic could realise it, Pete had slipped across the narrow space, lowered himself into the water, and swum away, leaving his companion horrified at the sounds he heard. For directly after the man had struck out there was a tremendous wallowing splash, which Nic felt certain had been caused by some monstrous reptile; and he crouched there grasping the guns, with a chilly perspiration breaking out over his brow.It was some minutes before he thought of the loading, and when he did he could not follow out his instructions for listening and staring across the dark, gliding water, which was full of life, startling him with the belief that Pete had been attacked when some louder splash than usual came from the direction the man had taken. Then the horrible thought came that the poor fellow had been seized the moment he plunged in, and that that loud wallowing noise was when he was dragged underneath. For, though he listened so hard, there was nothing to prove that his comrade was still swimming across the river; and his heart sank at the thought of what would be a most horrible death.Everything served to depress him more as he crouched there in the enforced inaction; he could hear rustlings in the low water-growth as of reptiles creeping along, the splashes in the river, and all about him the croaking, hooting, and barking of the nocturnal creatures which made the place their home; while, as if these were not sufficient, there was the dread of pursuit, with their enemies hounding on the savage dogs, which might spring upon him at any moment.“Not without giving notice, though,” he said to himself. “What a nervous coward all this has made me! Why, the hounds would begin to bay as soon as they took up the scent.”He listened again; but all was still save a splash or two, and he bitterly repented that they had not thought of some signal—a whistle or the like—to give warning that the river had been successfully crossed.“He would do it,” thought Nic, trying to be firm. “He is a splendid swimmer. Why, it was wonderful what I believe he did when he tried to save me—in irons, too.”Nic paused for a few moments longer to listen to the splashing which went on; and then, recalling once more his companion’s words, he prepared to load the muskets.But the first he tried proved to be loaded, and, on replacing the ramrod and opening the pan, he found the priming all right. The next proved to be in the same condition; and, once more laying the pieces down, he crouched with his ear near the water to listen to the lapping and splashing which went on. But there was nothing that he could interpret to mean the movement of an oar or pole on a boat, and his heart began to sink again lower and lower, till wild thoughts arose about his companion’s fate.He would not give harbour to the suggestion that he had been dragged down by the reptiles, but fancied that the boat might be securely padlocked, or that Pete had got it out, and, not knowing the force of the stream, had been swept away past where he should have landed, and with so big and heavy a boat he might not be able to get back. If this were the case Pete would escape, and he would have to go back to his prison.“No, he would not forsake me,” muttered Nic, with a strange glow about his heart as he thought of the man’s fidelity to his cause; and he had just come to this conclusion when he heard a rustling behind him as of some creature creeping up. It was forgotten, though, the next moment, for unmistakably there was the sound of an oar whishing about in the water, as if someone had it over the stern and, fisherman fashions was sculling the boat towards the bank.Then for a moment Nic was doubtful, for the sound ceased.“It was one of the alligators,” he muttered through his teeth, “and the poor fellow—”There was a faint chirrup off the river, and once more Nic’s heart beat wildly as he answered the signal. Then the sculling began again, the rustling was repeated somewhere behind where Nic crouched, and he felt for the muskets to take them up.“Whatever it is, I shall be aboard in a moment or two,” he thought, with a strangely wild feeling of exultation; for he heard the oar drawn in, the head of the boat suddenly appeared close at hand, and it was run into the muddy, reedy bank a couple of yards away, while Pete leaped ashore with the painter.“Now!” cried a loud voice, when, with a rush, half-a-dozen men sprang upon them from the bed of reeds and a fierce struggle began.
Before Nic Revel’s mental sight the difficulties rose like a great black rock, but he did not shrink. He rose softly from his bunk, striving hard to keep the corn-stalks from crackling, and felt Pete as the man took a couple of steps from his sleeping-place and stood with his face to the back of the shed.
Then, in the midst of a very faint rustling, Nic knew that his companion had thrust a couple of pegs into the knot-holes in the stout planks, and raised himself by hand and foot till he could softly draw the wooden shingles of the roof aside, and the cool, moist air of the night came down. Then for a moment or two Nic saw a bright star, which was blotted out by something dark as the faint rustling continued.
Nic turned to listen, but all was well within the shed. He could hear the deep breathing of sleepers, and the low humming song of the sentry outside the door.
“How long will it be?” thought Nic, who was trembling with excitement; but the suspense was soon over. All at once there was a dull sound, such as might be made by two bare feet alighting on the earth outside, and he knew that his turn had come.
He was lightly enough clothed, merely in short-sleeved, striped cotton shirt, and breeches which did not reach the knee, and his feet were bare, so that there was nothing to hinder his efforts as he reached up till he could place one foot upon the first peg. Then, seeking for the other, he seized it in his hand, and drew himself into a standing position upon the first, reached up to the rafters, drew himself farther up till he could rest his foot on the second peg and pass his head and shoulders through the hole in the roof; then, resting a hand on either side, he drew his legs through, turned and lowered himself down, and dropped upon the ground almost without a sound.
It was intensely dark, but every step was familiar enough, and there was no need for words: their plans had been too well made. But as they moved off towards the house, one thought was in both minds as presenting the greatest obstacle they had to dread:
Where were the dogs? If loose, and their approach were heard, the great brutes would set up a fierce baying directly, preliminary to a savage attack; and then—
They neither of them cared to reckon more in advance than that, and went softly on, to receive proof directly that the dogs were not loose, for there came from the back of the house the rattle of a chain being drawn over wood, followed by a low, muttering growl, as if one of the animals was uneasy.
This ceased directly; and, treading cautiously, Nic went straight up to the front of the building, feeling as if, at any moment, he might see the flash of a musket and hear its roar.
But the place was dark and still, and the croaking and other sounds which came in chorus were quite loud enough to drown their light footsteps as they approached.
The door was closed, but the two long, low windows in the veranda proved to be open; and, as Nic approached the one upon his right and listened, he could distinctly hear the heavy breathing of a sleeper. He drew cautiously back, to come in contact with Pete, who was taken by surprise at the sudden movement made.
Then they stood with hearts thumping against their ribs, feeling certain that they must have been heard; but not a sound followed. After waiting nearly a minute, a fresh movement was made, Nic stepping softly to the window on his left, the perspiration streaming down his face, for the heat was intense.
He listened here, with Pete close behind, but all was still, the window wide open to admit the air; and he knew that all he had to do was to pass softly in, take down a couple of the guns, passing one out at a time through the window to Pete, beat a retreat, and then all would be as easy as possible. It was only cool, quiet action—that was all; but Nic for a time could not move, only stand there, breathing heavily, in the full expectation of hearing his companion say something to urge him on.
Pete did not stir: he felt that he must trust to his companion’s common-sense, and leave him to act as was best.
Then the power to act seemed to come, and Nic softly grasped the window-sill, passed one leg in, then the other, and stood upon the bare floor, fully expecting to hear a bullet whiz past his head, even if it did not strike.
But he could hear nothing; the house might have been unoccupied; and, drawing a deep breath, he acted quickly now, turned to his left, raised his hands, and pressed forward till they touched one of the weapons hanging upon the wall.
A sudden feeling of elation now came over him, for it all seemed to be so astonishingly easy, as he stepped softly to the window to pass out a musket with its flask and pouch, feeling it taken from his hand directly.
The next minute he was in front of the other pieces, and took down a second musket, felt that the flask and pouch were attached to it, and, with his pulses hard at work, he was about to make for the window when every drop of blood in his veins seemed to stand still. For there was a sharp, angry oath, a quick start, and the overseer, who had been sleeping upon a rough couch, rose to a sitting position.
It was too dark for Nic to make out anything more than a shadowy figure within ten feet of him; and he stood as if petrified, holding the musket, meaning to use it as a club at the first attack; one which seemed to be strangely deferred, for the figure sat as if staring at him in astonishment.
How long this pause lasted it is impossible to say, but to the intruder it seemed like minutes before he heard a faint rustling movement as if the overseer was about to lie down again.
“He can’t see me,” thought Nic. “It is too dark.”
Then his heart seemed to stand still again, as the horrible thought occurred that the rustling meant getting something out of a pocket, and that something must be a pistol.
Instinct taught the listener that to save his life he must spring at his enemy before he could take aim, and, nerving himself for a leap forward to dash the musket he held upon the man’s face, he was almost in the act of bounding across the room when there was a low gurgling sound, and his nerves and muscles relaxed, for he realised the fact—the overseer had awoke suddenly from some nightmare-like dream, and it was no pistol he had taken out, but a flask of spirits.
It was plain enough now—the gurgling of the flask, the smack of the lips in the darkness, and the long, satisfied breath taken, before the bottle was replaced and its owner sank back upon his couch.
In another minute the breathing had grown deeper and sounded stertorous; and, without pausing longer, Nic stepped to the window, handed out the gun, and felt it taken quickly from his hands.
Just then there was a faint muttering which almost paralysed Nic, who turned to meet an attack; but none came, and in another instant or two he had slipped out of the window and was following Pete, who had handed back one gun, with the warning to beware of the dogs.
Pete’s stooping figure was just visible as Nic followed, him in silence till they were about a hundred yards away, making for the spot where the boat was hidden, when one of the dogs barked loudly.
“Mustn’t stop to load,” whispered Pete. “Let’s get to the water, and then they can’t take up the scent.”
They hurried on, listening the while; but the dog quieted down again; and with his spirits rising, Nic closed up alongside of his companion.
“That was a near touch, master,” whispered Pete. “I waited ready to jump in and help you, for I zomehow thought it was too dark in there for him to zee you, and you hadn’t made any noise. Lucky for him he lay down again.”
Nic made no reply, but he thought a great deal; and no more was said till they had crossed a couple of the great fields and knew by the sounds they heard that they must be close to the long, low band of reedy growth which ran by the river-side.
“You lead now, my lad,” whispered Pete. “Get as nigh as you can to where you think the creek is on the other side.”
“It is so dark,” whispered Nic; “but I think we are right.”
He went to the front, assailed by a horrible doubt now that he had taken the wrong way, and was some distance farther up the river; but, as he bent down to part the low growth, to peer through over the dark water, there was a scuffle and a splash, telling of some reptile taking flight, and he shrank back.
But he hardly heeded it, for he had dimly made out a solitary tree across the river, some eighty or a hundred yards away, which he had marked down for bearings.
“This is the place, Pete,” he whispered. “If you stand here and look across, the creek is a little way up to the right.”
“That is good, my lad; I was beginning to be feared that we should have to wait for daylight, and be missed. Now then, take my gun and the tackle, and while I’m gone you load both on ’em.”
“While you are gone?” whispered Nic excitedly. “You are not going; I know the way, and I’ll fetch the boat.”
“That you don’t, Master Nic,” said the man sturdily. “That there water’s full o’ them great brutes, and one of ’em might pull you down.”
“I know it is; and one of them might pull you down.”
“He’d be zorry for it if he did, for I’d zoon zend my knife through his carcass. It’s my job, zir, and I’m going.”
“I tell you I know just where it is, and I’m going to fetch it.”
“That you aren’t, zir. I won’t have you risk it.”
“Then we’ll swim the river together, Pete.”
“And what about the guns?”
“Leave them on the bank, and come back and fetch them.”
“Never find ’em again in the darkness and hurry, my lad. Now, do be zensible.”
“I’m master, and I order you to stay.”
“Which you aren’t master, zir, for we’re both zlaves, and if you talk so loud you’ll be bringing down the dogs and I’m off.”
Almost before Nic could realise it, Pete had slipped across the narrow space, lowered himself into the water, and swum away, leaving his companion horrified at the sounds he heard. For directly after the man had struck out there was a tremendous wallowing splash, which Nic felt certain had been caused by some monstrous reptile; and he crouched there grasping the guns, with a chilly perspiration breaking out over his brow.
It was some minutes before he thought of the loading, and when he did he could not follow out his instructions for listening and staring across the dark, gliding water, which was full of life, startling him with the belief that Pete had been attacked when some louder splash than usual came from the direction the man had taken. Then the horrible thought came that the poor fellow had been seized the moment he plunged in, and that that loud wallowing noise was when he was dragged underneath. For, though he listened so hard, there was nothing to prove that his comrade was still swimming across the river; and his heart sank at the thought of what would be a most horrible death.
Everything served to depress him more as he crouched there in the enforced inaction; he could hear rustlings in the low water-growth as of reptiles creeping along, the splashes in the river, and all about him the croaking, hooting, and barking of the nocturnal creatures which made the place their home; while, as if these were not sufficient, there was the dread of pursuit, with their enemies hounding on the savage dogs, which might spring upon him at any moment.
“Not without giving notice, though,” he said to himself. “What a nervous coward all this has made me! Why, the hounds would begin to bay as soon as they took up the scent.”
He listened again; but all was still save a splash or two, and he bitterly repented that they had not thought of some signal—a whistle or the like—to give warning that the river had been successfully crossed.
“He would do it,” thought Nic, trying to be firm. “He is a splendid swimmer. Why, it was wonderful what I believe he did when he tried to save me—in irons, too.”
Nic paused for a few moments longer to listen to the splashing which went on; and then, recalling once more his companion’s words, he prepared to load the muskets.
But the first he tried proved to be loaded, and, on replacing the ramrod and opening the pan, he found the priming all right. The next proved to be in the same condition; and, once more laying the pieces down, he crouched with his ear near the water to listen to the lapping and splashing which went on. But there was nothing that he could interpret to mean the movement of an oar or pole on a boat, and his heart began to sink again lower and lower, till wild thoughts arose about his companion’s fate.
He would not give harbour to the suggestion that he had been dragged down by the reptiles, but fancied that the boat might be securely padlocked, or that Pete had got it out, and, not knowing the force of the stream, had been swept away past where he should have landed, and with so big and heavy a boat he might not be able to get back. If this were the case Pete would escape, and he would have to go back to his prison.
“No, he would not forsake me,” muttered Nic, with a strange glow about his heart as he thought of the man’s fidelity to his cause; and he had just come to this conclusion when he heard a rustling behind him as of some creature creeping up. It was forgotten, though, the next moment, for unmistakably there was the sound of an oar whishing about in the water, as if someone had it over the stern and, fisherman fashions was sculling the boat towards the bank.
Then for a moment Nic was doubtful, for the sound ceased.
“It was one of the alligators,” he muttered through his teeth, “and the poor fellow—”
There was a faint chirrup off the river, and once more Nic’s heart beat wildly as he answered the signal. Then the sculling began again, the rustling was repeated somewhere behind where Nic crouched, and he felt for the muskets to take them up.
“Whatever it is, I shall be aboard in a moment or two,” he thought, with a strangely wild feeling of exultation; for he heard the oar drawn in, the head of the boat suddenly appeared close at hand, and it was run into the muddy, reedy bank a couple of yards away, while Pete leaped ashore with the painter.
“Now!” cried a loud voice, when, with a rush, half-a-dozen men sprang upon them from the bed of reeds and a fierce struggle began.
Chapter Thirty.Making Friends of Enemies.The struggle was very fierce but short. Nic fought his best, and, in spite of the excitement, wondered at his strength. He was encouraged, too, by Pete, whom he heard raging and tearing about; and, hard pressed as he was, he yet had a thought for his companion.“Never mind me, Master Nic,” he shouted. “Zwim for it—the boat. Never mind me.”Then his voice was smothered, and there was the sound of a heavy fall, but the struggle went on.“Hold on!” came the voice of the overseer, giving his orders; and then that of the settler:“Give in, you scoundrels!” he raged out. Then fiercely, “Hold their heads under water, boys, if they don’t give in.”“All done now, sah,” panted Samson, with his lips close to Nic’s head, for he was across his prisoner’s chest, and a couple of the blacks were holding his legs.“Yes, we must give up, Master Nic,” cried Pete. “I’ve got five loads o’ black stuff sitting on me.”“Have you your whip with you, Saunders?” cried the settler.“No, sir; I wish I had. But it is hanging by the door, and we can give them a better taste by daylight.”“You use it on him,” roared Pete fiercely, “and I’ll kill you.”“Silence, you scoundrel!” cried the settler, “or I’ll have you gagged as well as ironed. I warned you both of what would happen if you tried to escape.”“Lucky for them I let loose the black dogs instead of the brown,” cried the overseer. “We should not have had the trouble of taking them back. Tie their hands behind their backs, Samson, and have the irons ready as soon as we get to the house.”“Got no rope, sah.”“What!” cried the settler. “Why didn’t you bring some, you black fool?”“No time, sah,” said the black humbly. “Soon as dat ugly ruffyum, Humpy, come knock at door and say dey ’scape, Zerk call me quite sharp, an’ I come tell you, and dey fetch de boy and have ’em back. Me no t’ink ’bout no rope, sah; on’y t’ink dey go swim for de boat and catch ’em first.”“Quite right,” said the settler more calmly. “There, one of you go in front of each man, and two others take fast hold of a wrist on each side. Cock your pistols, Saunders.”There was a sharp clicking sound.“Walk behind that big scoundrel, and if he makes the slightest attempt to escape send a bullet through him. I’ll look after this one. Pity we didn’t stop to loose the dogs. Ready?”“Iss, sah,” came from Samson, as Nic felt a strong hand like a live handcuff upon each wrist.“Lead on, then.”“You be very careful, please, massa; no make mistake and shoot dis boy.”“Oh yes, I’ll take care.”The march back began, and at the second step Nic felt that a cold ring of iron had been pressed between his shoulders—the pistol-muzzle resting upon his skin where the shirt had been torn down from neck to waist.He could not suppress a shiver, for the heat and passion of the struggle had passed away, leaving him weary, aching, and depressed.But in a few minutes the pistol-muzzle was withdrawn, it being awkward for the holder to walk over the rough ground and keep it there; and the prisoner marched on between his black warders as patiently as Pete in front, thinking perhaps the same ideas.For he felt that they had not taken warning by the hints they had received. Humpy Dee had been on the watch, and, in his malignity, let them get away before giving notice to the sentry, that they might be caught, ironed, and flogged, or perhaps meet their death in the struggle.But Nic had yet to find that Humpy Dee’s designs were deeper than this.The walk back was not long enough for a hundredth part of the bitter thoughts that crowded into Nic Revel’s brain; neither would they have got a hearing had the distance been a thousand times the length, on account of the one dominant horror which filled his brain: “Will they flog us?—will they flog us?” That question was always repeating itself, and, when the prisoner heard Pete utter a low groan, he was convinced that the poor fellow was possessed by similar thoughts.Only so short a time before that they had left their quarters, and now they were back in the darkness, their plans crushed, and only the punishment to look forward to.“Now, Sam, be sharp with a couple of lanthorns and those irons,” cried the overseer.“Iss, sah.”“Prisoners been quiet?” whispered the settler to the sentry.“Iss, sah, berry quiet; all fass asleep;” and the man let his musket fall down upon the ground with an ominous thud as, in obedience to an order, he unlocked the shed-door and lowered the huge bar before drawing it open.“Now then,” muttered the overseer, “how long is he going to be with that lanthorn? Here, in with them, boys; but don’t loose your hold till I tell you.”Nic and Pete were hurried on; and, as soon as they were inside, the settler and his lieutenant stood in the doorway, pistol in hand, while Nic’s face was involuntarily turned in the direction of the corner where Humpy Dee’s bunk lay, in the full expectation of hearing some bantering sneer.But the man made no sign, and directly after thepad,padof Samson’s feet was heard, and a faint light threw up the figures of those at the doorway. Then Samson’s big black face appeared, lit up by the lanthorns he swung, one in each hand.“I take in de light, sah, and den go fetch de irons?”“Yes; look sharp,” cried Saunders.He made way for the black to pass, and the man raised one of the lanthorns to hang it upon a hook. He did not do this, but raised the other lanthorn and hurriedly took a few steps in the direction of the bunks, to begin shouting directly:“Hyah!” he cried, “whar dem oder white fellow? You, Zerk, what you go and done wid de oder man?”“What!” roared the settler and the overseer in a breath as they rushed forward, pistol in hand.“All gone, sah,” cried Samson, beginning to tremble.“Bah! you ’most fass ’sleep,” cried Xerxes, who had come in at the call of his companion; “dey all tuck under de corn-’talk.”“You black idiot!” roared the overseer, turning upon the sentry so savagely that the man’s knees began to knock together; he let go his hold of his musket, and it fell on the floor with a thud, followed by a flash and an explosion, while the man escaped a knockdown blow by ducking.“Here, quick!” cried the settler, who had seized one of the lanthorns from Samson and convinced himself that the other prisoners had taken advantage of the hole made by Pete, and, as soon as the chase began, climbed quietly out in turn. “All of you follow. Pick up that musket and load it again, you black fool!”“No ’top clap irons on dese two, sah?” cried Samson.“No. Here, Saunders, fetch another musket. Samson, you and Nero guard these two while we’re gone; and if you let them escape I’ll shoot you.”“No, no,” said Saunders quickly; “I’ll manage them. We want all our men. Here, Sam; go and let loose the dogs.”“But these two?” cried the settler impatiently.“Well, the dogs will watch them.”“We want them, man, to track the other scoundrels.”“We can do that ourselves. They followed us, for a hundred pounds, and have taken the boat by now.”The settler uttered a furious oath and stamped his foot.“Sharper than we are,” he roared. “Yes, that is right.”Just then the dogs, newly set at liberty, came bounding up, followed by Samson; and the overseer went up to the two prisoners.“There, lie down in your kennels,” he snarled. “We shall not be long, and it depends upon yourselves whether we find you when we come back. I warn you that if you move the hounds will tear you to pieces.”“Saunders!” whispered the settler.“Their lives will be in their own hands, sir,” cried the overseer warmly. “Let me have my own way, please; it is the only thing to do.”The settler shrugged his shoulders, and the blacks all stood there round-eyed and staring, while the two unfortunates lay down in their bunks, and the overseer called up the dogs and bade them couch.“Watch,” he said fiercely, and a deep-toned growl arose. “Stay there and watch.”“Now, sir,” he said coldly, “the sooner we are off the better. Out with you, boys, and bring the lights.”The blacks ran out, the settler followed, and the overseer went to the door last.“I’ve warned you,” he said fiercely, as he turned to face the prisoners. “Make the slightest movement, and those hounds will be at your throats and rend you limb from limb. Good dogs, then—watch,” he shouted; then he banged the door, locked and barred it, and just then the settler’s voice was heard at a little distance.“Here, Saunders,” he cried; “two of the loaded muskets have been taken from the hooks.”“Hor, hor!” laughed Pete savagely; “just found that out?”He ceased, for three dogs sprang to their feet, uttering a furious barking trio which made his heart seem to leap to his throat.In the intense desire to save himself, Nic sprang up into a sitting position and spoke quickly and gently, calling to the dog which had shown a friendly disposition towards him from the first.“Don’t do that, Master Nic,” said Pete hoarsely.But even as the man spoke the dog was upon Nic’s bunk, whining, pawing at him, and thrusting its great muzzle in his hand, uttering the while a low, eager bark.The others barked too, and, as if in imitation of their companion, made at Nic as well, favouring him with their clumsy caresses, and ending by sitting close up to him, panting loudly.“Have they killed you, Master Nic?” whispered Pete hoarsely, eliciting a fierce growl from one of the brutes.“Quiet,” cried Nic loudly, and the growling ceased; while the next moment from out of the darkness a great head began to nestle upon his shoulder. “Good dog, then!” cried Nic, patting and stroking its head. “There, I think you may venture to talk, Pete.”“Do you, zir? If I waren’t beginning to think they’d done for you. Aren’t you hurt, then?”“No; they are used to us now, and I don’t think there’s anything to fear. Look here; do you dare to reach out your hand and pat him?”“No, zir; I’m too great a coward. I was always feared of a dog’s bite; not of the dog.”Nic was silent for a few moments, and then he began to pat first one dog and then another heavily, the great brutes submitting to the familiarities evidently with satisfaction, one of them beginning to bound about the shed, and returning to be caressed again.“You order me to come close and pat one of ’em, Master Nic, and I will,” said Pete hoarsely.“Come on, then.”The man drew a deep breath and made the venture, with so much success attending it that he tried it upon the others.“Master Nic,” he whispered excitedly, “what do you think of that?”“Of what?”“Here’s one of ’em licking my face. Oh, I zay, it don’t mean tasting me first to zee whether I’m good, do it?”“No; the poor brutes believe we are friends, I suppose, from being shut up with us. But, Pete, they’ve all gone off after the others. Couldn’t we try to escape again?”“Nay; t’others have got the boat.”“But the high ground yonder, or the woods?”“Nay; they’d hunt us down with the dogs. The beggars would go at us if they hounded ’em on.”Nic was silenced for a few moments, and he sat with a dog on either side and his arms on their necks.“But we could get out again; the shingles must be off the roof.”“Yes; that’s how Humpy and the others got out, zir. They must ha’ known all our plans.”“Let’s creep out, then; the dogs couldn’t follow.”“S’pose not, zir; but they’d make howl enough to bring the gaffers back to lay ’em on our scent. I don’t think it’s any use to try. I’d face it and the dogs too with my knife; they never took it away from me. Did they take yourn?”“I don’t know, Pete. No: here it is.”“And it would be too hard on you to have to face ’em. Best not to try. We had our go and missed; p’raps we’d better take what they give us and not grumble.”“Impossible, Pete. I’d rather face the dogs than the lash. But I don’t believe they’d hurt us now.”“P’raps not, zir,” said Pete sadly. “This here one’s as playful as a puppy. He’s ’tending to bite my arm, but he don’t hurt a bit.”There was silence again for a few minutes, during which time Nic sat with his heart beating hard, listening to the familiar sounds which came from the forest, while the passionate desire to flee grew and grew till it swept everything before it.“Pete,” he cried at last, “we must escape. Better starve in the woods than lead such a life as this. We shall be flogged to-morrow, and it will kill me, I know.”“The dogs’ll hunt us down if we go, lad, and we shall get it worse. Better face what we’ve got to have.”“I will not; I cannot, Pete. The way is open, man. Let’s try for our liberty before these wretches come back.”“Zay the word, then, Master Nic; but the dogs is friends now, as long as we’re quiet; they won’t let us go.”“Ah, I know!” cried Nic wildly. “Why didn’t I think of it before?”“Think of what, zir?”“This. Perhaps they might attack us if they thought they were going to be left.”“That’s zo.”“And if we got away they’d be laid on our track.”“O’ course, zir.”“Then we will not give Saunders the chance.”“I dunno what you mean, zir; but I’m ready for anything you tell me to do. What is it?”“Take the dogs with us, man. I believe they’ll follow us now.”“Take ’em with us?” panted Pete. “Why, o’ course! I never thought o’ that. But we can’t, Master Nic; we’re locked in.”“The roof’s open. Look here, Pete; I’m going to climb out at once. The dogs will begin to bay at this, but as soon as I’m on the roof, ready to drop down, you get up, put your hands against the boards, and lay a-back. Then I’ll call them. They’ll scramble up, and I’ll help them through. You come last.”“Think they’ll do it?” said Pete, panting like one of the hounds.“I’m sure they will.”“Be worse than the flogging,” cried Pete excitedly; “they’ll tear all the skin off my back. But I don’t care; I’m ready. They’ll leave the bones.”“Ready, then?” cried Nic. “The moment there’s room make a back for the dogs.”The eager talking excited the great animals, and they began to sniff at the speakers and growl; but Nic’s blood was up, and he was ready to risk an attack on the chance of his scheme succeeding.“A dog is a dog, whether it’s here or at home, and I know their nature pretty well.”The next moment he was proving it by leaping to his feet.“Hey, boys, then!” he cried loudly; “the woods—a run in the woods!”The dogs sprang round him, and began leaping up, barking excitedly.“Come on, then,” he shouted, though his heart leaped with a choking sensation at his mouth; and, scrambling up to the opening by means of the pegs, he was the next minute squeezing himself through, the dogs bounding up at him as he went, and nearly causing him to fall. For one moment he felt he was being dragged back, and shuddered at the thought of what might happen if the excited animals got him down.But the dread passed away as quickly as it had come. He tore off another of the shingles to widen the opening, and shouted down into the shed:“Come on, then. Come on.”Already the hounds were growing savage in their disappointment, and baying and growling with tremendous clamour, as they kept on leaping over each other and dropping back.But at the words of encouragement from above one of them awoke to the fact that there was a step all ready in the darkness, and, leaping upon it, the great creature reached up, got its paws on the sides of the opening, scrambled through without help from Nic, as he sat on the roof, and leaped down.That was enough; the others followed quickly, and the next minute Pete was up, seated by Nic’s side, the dogs now leaping at them from below, barking loudly.“Hurt?” panted Nic.“Not a bit. Durst us jump down?”“We must,” cried Nic firmly; and, shouting to the dogs, he lowered himself down, dropped to the ground, and was followed by Pete.“Hie on, boys! Forward, then!” cried Nic, as the dogs leaped and bounded around him, and he began to trot away from the river.“Which way?” said Pete, who was as excited now as his companion.“Wherever the dogs lead us,” replied Nic. “Anywhere away from this slavery and death. Forward, then, boys! Hie on!”The dogs ceased barking and began dashing on through the plantation leading to the nearest wood. The hunt was up, and Nic had rightly weighed their nature. They were off in chase of something; that was enough, and the two men followed, feeling that at last they were on the highroad to freedom, with their most dreaded enemies turned to friends.“Master Nic,” said Pete hoarsely as they trotted on, step for step following the sound made by the heavy dogs, “I aren’t never been a ’ligious sort of a chap, but would it be any harm if, instead o’ kneeling down proper, I was to try and say a prayer as we run?”“Harm, Pete?” cried Nic, with a wild, hysterical ring in his voice; “it could not be. Why, I’ve been praying for help ever since I leaped down among those savage beasts. I could not have ventured but for that.”Sound travels far during the night, and, though the fugitives were not aware of it, their attempt to escape was known. For, just when the dogs were free of the shed and were baying their loudest, the settler, at the head of his men, turned to Saunders:“Hear that?” he said hoarsely.“Yes. They’ve risked it, and the dogs are running them down. Well, they have only themselves to thank; I wash my hands of it all.”The settler shuddered, for his companion’s words had brought up a thought that was full of horror; and for a moment he was about to order his blacks to turn back. But just then the overseer whispered:“Keep up, sir; not a sound, please. We shall have them now.”“No firing,” said the settler quickly; “they will be unarmed.”“I don’t know that,” said the overseer; “but we shall soon know. Hadn’t we better deal with them as they deal with us? Hark! the dogs are quiet now. They’ve got their prisoners, and, if I’m not wrong, in a few minutes we shall have taken ours.”“Heah dat, Zerk?” whispered Samson.There was a grunt.“You an’ me’s gwan to have de arm-ache to-morrow morn’ wid all dat lot to flog.”“Iss,” whispered Xerxes; “and den got to go and bury dem oder one bones.”
The struggle was very fierce but short. Nic fought his best, and, in spite of the excitement, wondered at his strength. He was encouraged, too, by Pete, whom he heard raging and tearing about; and, hard pressed as he was, he yet had a thought for his companion.
“Never mind me, Master Nic,” he shouted. “Zwim for it—the boat. Never mind me.”
Then his voice was smothered, and there was the sound of a heavy fall, but the struggle went on.
“Hold on!” came the voice of the overseer, giving his orders; and then that of the settler:
“Give in, you scoundrels!” he raged out. Then fiercely, “Hold their heads under water, boys, if they don’t give in.”
“All done now, sah,” panted Samson, with his lips close to Nic’s head, for he was across his prisoner’s chest, and a couple of the blacks were holding his legs.
“Yes, we must give up, Master Nic,” cried Pete. “I’ve got five loads o’ black stuff sitting on me.”
“Have you your whip with you, Saunders?” cried the settler.
“No, sir; I wish I had. But it is hanging by the door, and we can give them a better taste by daylight.”
“You use it on him,” roared Pete fiercely, “and I’ll kill you.”
“Silence, you scoundrel!” cried the settler, “or I’ll have you gagged as well as ironed. I warned you both of what would happen if you tried to escape.”
“Lucky for them I let loose the black dogs instead of the brown,” cried the overseer. “We should not have had the trouble of taking them back. Tie their hands behind their backs, Samson, and have the irons ready as soon as we get to the house.”
“Got no rope, sah.”
“What!” cried the settler. “Why didn’t you bring some, you black fool?”
“No time, sah,” said the black humbly. “Soon as dat ugly ruffyum, Humpy, come knock at door and say dey ’scape, Zerk call me quite sharp, an’ I come tell you, and dey fetch de boy and have ’em back. Me no t’ink ’bout no rope, sah; on’y t’ink dey go swim for de boat and catch ’em first.”
“Quite right,” said the settler more calmly. “There, one of you go in front of each man, and two others take fast hold of a wrist on each side. Cock your pistols, Saunders.”
There was a sharp clicking sound.
“Walk behind that big scoundrel, and if he makes the slightest attempt to escape send a bullet through him. I’ll look after this one. Pity we didn’t stop to loose the dogs. Ready?”
“Iss, sah,” came from Samson, as Nic felt a strong hand like a live handcuff upon each wrist.
“Lead on, then.”
“You be very careful, please, massa; no make mistake and shoot dis boy.”
“Oh yes, I’ll take care.”
The march back began, and at the second step Nic felt that a cold ring of iron had been pressed between his shoulders—the pistol-muzzle resting upon his skin where the shirt had been torn down from neck to waist.
He could not suppress a shiver, for the heat and passion of the struggle had passed away, leaving him weary, aching, and depressed.
But in a few minutes the pistol-muzzle was withdrawn, it being awkward for the holder to walk over the rough ground and keep it there; and the prisoner marched on between his black warders as patiently as Pete in front, thinking perhaps the same ideas.
For he felt that they had not taken warning by the hints they had received. Humpy Dee had been on the watch, and, in his malignity, let them get away before giving notice to the sentry, that they might be caught, ironed, and flogged, or perhaps meet their death in the struggle.
But Nic had yet to find that Humpy Dee’s designs were deeper than this.
The walk back was not long enough for a hundredth part of the bitter thoughts that crowded into Nic Revel’s brain; neither would they have got a hearing had the distance been a thousand times the length, on account of the one dominant horror which filled his brain: “Will they flog us?—will they flog us?” That question was always repeating itself, and, when the prisoner heard Pete utter a low groan, he was convinced that the poor fellow was possessed by similar thoughts.
Only so short a time before that they had left their quarters, and now they were back in the darkness, their plans crushed, and only the punishment to look forward to.
“Now, Sam, be sharp with a couple of lanthorns and those irons,” cried the overseer.
“Iss, sah.”
“Prisoners been quiet?” whispered the settler to the sentry.
“Iss, sah, berry quiet; all fass asleep;” and the man let his musket fall down upon the ground with an ominous thud as, in obedience to an order, he unlocked the shed-door and lowered the huge bar before drawing it open.
“Now then,” muttered the overseer, “how long is he going to be with that lanthorn? Here, in with them, boys; but don’t loose your hold till I tell you.”
Nic and Pete were hurried on; and, as soon as they were inside, the settler and his lieutenant stood in the doorway, pistol in hand, while Nic’s face was involuntarily turned in the direction of the corner where Humpy Dee’s bunk lay, in the full expectation of hearing some bantering sneer.
But the man made no sign, and directly after thepad,padof Samson’s feet was heard, and a faint light threw up the figures of those at the doorway. Then Samson’s big black face appeared, lit up by the lanthorns he swung, one in each hand.
“I take in de light, sah, and den go fetch de irons?”
“Yes; look sharp,” cried Saunders.
He made way for the black to pass, and the man raised one of the lanthorns to hang it upon a hook. He did not do this, but raised the other lanthorn and hurriedly took a few steps in the direction of the bunks, to begin shouting directly:
“Hyah!” he cried, “whar dem oder white fellow? You, Zerk, what you go and done wid de oder man?”
“What!” roared the settler and the overseer in a breath as they rushed forward, pistol in hand.
“All gone, sah,” cried Samson, beginning to tremble.
“Bah! you ’most fass ’sleep,” cried Xerxes, who had come in at the call of his companion; “dey all tuck under de corn-’talk.”
“You black idiot!” roared the overseer, turning upon the sentry so savagely that the man’s knees began to knock together; he let go his hold of his musket, and it fell on the floor with a thud, followed by a flash and an explosion, while the man escaped a knockdown blow by ducking.
“Here, quick!” cried the settler, who had seized one of the lanthorns from Samson and convinced himself that the other prisoners had taken advantage of the hole made by Pete, and, as soon as the chase began, climbed quietly out in turn. “All of you follow. Pick up that musket and load it again, you black fool!”
“No ’top clap irons on dese two, sah?” cried Samson.
“No. Here, Saunders, fetch another musket. Samson, you and Nero guard these two while we’re gone; and if you let them escape I’ll shoot you.”
“No, no,” said Saunders quickly; “I’ll manage them. We want all our men. Here, Sam; go and let loose the dogs.”
“But these two?” cried the settler impatiently.
“Well, the dogs will watch them.”
“We want them, man, to track the other scoundrels.”
“We can do that ourselves. They followed us, for a hundred pounds, and have taken the boat by now.”
The settler uttered a furious oath and stamped his foot.
“Sharper than we are,” he roared. “Yes, that is right.”
Just then the dogs, newly set at liberty, came bounding up, followed by Samson; and the overseer went up to the two prisoners.
“There, lie down in your kennels,” he snarled. “We shall not be long, and it depends upon yourselves whether we find you when we come back. I warn you that if you move the hounds will tear you to pieces.”
“Saunders!” whispered the settler.
“Their lives will be in their own hands, sir,” cried the overseer warmly. “Let me have my own way, please; it is the only thing to do.”
The settler shrugged his shoulders, and the blacks all stood there round-eyed and staring, while the two unfortunates lay down in their bunks, and the overseer called up the dogs and bade them couch.
“Watch,” he said fiercely, and a deep-toned growl arose. “Stay there and watch.”
“Now, sir,” he said coldly, “the sooner we are off the better. Out with you, boys, and bring the lights.”
The blacks ran out, the settler followed, and the overseer went to the door last.
“I’ve warned you,” he said fiercely, as he turned to face the prisoners. “Make the slightest movement, and those hounds will be at your throats and rend you limb from limb. Good dogs, then—watch,” he shouted; then he banged the door, locked and barred it, and just then the settler’s voice was heard at a little distance.
“Here, Saunders,” he cried; “two of the loaded muskets have been taken from the hooks.”
“Hor, hor!” laughed Pete savagely; “just found that out?”
He ceased, for three dogs sprang to their feet, uttering a furious barking trio which made his heart seem to leap to his throat.
In the intense desire to save himself, Nic sprang up into a sitting position and spoke quickly and gently, calling to the dog which had shown a friendly disposition towards him from the first.
“Don’t do that, Master Nic,” said Pete hoarsely.
But even as the man spoke the dog was upon Nic’s bunk, whining, pawing at him, and thrusting its great muzzle in his hand, uttering the while a low, eager bark.
The others barked too, and, as if in imitation of their companion, made at Nic as well, favouring him with their clumsy caresses, and ending by sitting close up to him, panting loudly.
“Have they killed you, Master Nic?” whispered Pete hoarsely, eliciting a fierce growl from one of the brutes.
“Quiet,” cried Nic loudly, and the growling ceased; while the next moment from out of the darkness a great head began to nestle upon his shoulder. “Good dog, then!” cried Nic, patting and stroking its head. “There, I think you may venture to talk, Pete.”
“Do you, zir? If I waren’t beginning to think they’d done for you. Aren’t you hurt, then?”
“No; they are used to us now, and I don’t think there’s anything to fear. Look here; do you dare to reach out your hand and pat him?”
“No, zir; I’m too great a coward. I was always feared of a dog’s bite; not of the dog.”
Nic was silent for a few moments, and then he began to pat first one dog and then another heavily, the great brutes submitting to the familiarities evidently with satisfaction, one of them beginning to bound about the shed, and returning to be caressed again.
“You order me to come close and pat one of ’em, Master Nic, and I will,” said Pete hoarsely.
“Come on, then.”
The man drew a deep breath and made the venture, with so much success attending it that he tried it upon the others.
“Master Nic,” he whispered excitedly, “what do you think of that?”
“Of what?”
“Here’s one of ’em licking my face. Oh, I zay, it don’t mean tasting me first to zee whether I’m good, do it?”
“No; the poor brutes believe we are friends, I suppose, from being shut up with us. But, Pete, they’ve all gone off after the others. Couldn’t we try to escape again?”
“Nay; t’others have got the boat.”
“But the high ground yonder, or the woods?”
“Nay; they’d hunt us down with the dogs. The beggars would go at us if they hounded ’em on.”
Nic was silenced for a few moments, and he sat with a dog on either side and his arms on their necks.
“But we could get out again; the shingles must be off the roof.”
“Yes; that’s how Humpy and the others got out, zir. They must ha’ known all our plans.”
“Let’s creep out, then; the dogs couldn’t follow.”
“S’pose not, zir; but they’d make howl enough to bring the gaffers back to lay ’em on our scent. I don’t think it’s any use to try. I’d face it and the dogs too with my knife; they never took it away from me. Did they take yourn?”
“I don’t know, Pete. No: here it is.”
“And it would be too hard on you to have to face ’em. Best not to try. We had our go and missed; p’raps we’d better take what they give us and not grumble.”
“Impossible, Pete. I’d rather face the dogs than the lash. But I don’t believe they’d hurt us now.”
“P’raps not, zir,” said Pete sadly. “This here one’s as playful as a puppy. He’s ’tending to bite my arm, but he don’t hurt a bit.”
There was silence again for a few minutes, during which time Nic sat with his heart beating hard, listening to the familiar sounds which came from the forest, while the passionate desire to flee grew and grew till it swept everything before it.
“Pete,” he cried at last, “we must escape. Better starve in the woods than lead such a life as this. We shall be flogged to-morrow, and it will kill me, I know.”
“The dogs’ll hunt us down if we go, lad, and we shall get it worse. Better face what we’ve got to have.”
“I will not; I cannot, Pete. The way is open, man. Let’s try for our liberty before these wretches come back.”
“Zay the word, then, Master Nic; but the dogs is friends now, as long as we’re quiet; they won’t let us go.”
“Ah, I know!” cried Nic wildly. “Why didn’t I think of it before?”
“Think of what, zir?”
“This. Perhaps they might attack us if they thought they were going to be left.”
“That’s zo.”
“And if we got away they’d be laid on our track.”
“O’ course, zir.”
“Then we will not give Saunders the chance.”
“I dunno what you mean, zir; but I’m ready for anything you tell me to do. What is it?”
“Take the dogs with us, man. I believe they’ll follow us now.”
“Take ’em with us?” panted Pete. “Why, o’ course! I never thought o’ that. But we can’t, Master Nic; we’re locked in.”
“The roof’s open. Look here, Pete; I’m going to climb out at once. The dogs will begin to bay at this, but as soon as I’m on the roof, ready to drop down, you get up, put your hands against the boards, and lay a-back. Then I’ll call them. They’ll scramble up, and I’ll help them through. You come last.”
“Think they’ll do it?” said Pete, panting like one of the hounds.
“I’m sure they will.”
“Be worse than the flogging,” cried Pete excitedly; “they’ll tear all the skin off my back. But I don’t care; I’m ready. They’ll leave the bones.”
“Ready, then?” cried Nic. “The moment there’s room make a back for the dogs.”
The eager talking excited the great animals, and they began to sniff at the speakers and growl; but Nic’s blood was up, and he was ready to risk an attack on the chance of his scheme succeeding.
“A dog is a dog, whether it’s here or at home, and I know their nature pretty well.”
The next moment he was proving it by leaping to his feet.
“Hey, boys, then!” he cried loudly; “the woods—a run in the woods!”
The dogs sprang round him, and began leaping up, barking excitedly.
“Come on, then,” he shouted, though his heart leaped with a choking sensation at his mouth; and, scrambling up to the opening by means of the pegs, he was the next minute squeezing himself through, the dogs bounding up at him as he went, and nearly causing him to fall. For one moment he felt he was being dragged back, and shuddered at the thought of what might happen if the excited animals got him down.
But the dread passed away as quickly as it had come. He tore off another of the shingles to widen the opening, and shouted down into the shed:
“Come on, then. Come on.”
Already the hounds were growing savage in their disappointment, and baying and growling with tremendous clamour, as they kept on leaping over each other and dropping back.
But at the words of encouragement from above one of them awoke to the fact that there was a step all ready in the darkness, and, leaping upon it, the great creature reached up, got its paws on the sides of the opening, scrambled through without help from Nic, as he sat on the roof, and leaped down.
That was enough; the others followed quickly, and the next minute Pete was up, seated by Nic’s side, the dogs now leaping at them from below, barking loudly.
“Hurt?” panted Nic.
“Not a bit. Durst us jump down?”
“We must,” cried Nic firmly; and, shouting to the dogs, he lowered himself down, dropped to the ground, and was followed by Pete.
“Hie on, boys! Forward, then!” cried Nic, as the dogs leaped and bounded around him, and he began to trot away from the river.
“Which way?” said Pete, who was as excited now as his companion.
“Wherever the dogs lead us,” replied Nic. “Anywhere away from this slavery and death. Forward, then, boys! Hie on!”
The dogs ceased barking and began dashing on through the plantation leading to the nearest wood. The hunt was up, and Nic had rightly weighed their nature. They were off in chase of something; that was enough, and the two men followed, feeling that at last they were on the highroad to freedom, with their most dreaded enemies turned to friends.
“Master Nic,” said Pete hoarsely as they trotted on, step for step following the sound made by the heavy dogs, “I aren’t never been a ’ligious sort of a chap, but would it be any harm if, instead o’ kneeling down proper, I was to try and say a prayer as we run?”
“Harm, Pete?” cried Nic, with a wild, hysterical ring in his voice; “it could not be. Why, I’ve been praying for help ever since I leaped down among those savage beasts. I could not have ventured but for that.”
Sound travels far during the night, and, though the fugitives were not aware of it, their attempt to escape was known. For, just when the dogs were free of the shed and were baying their loudest, the settler, at the head of his men, turned to Saunders:
“Hear that?” he said hoarsely.
“Yes. They’ve risked it, and the dogs are running them down. Well, they have only themselves to thank; I wash my hands of it all.”
The settler shuddered, for his companion’s words had brought up a thought that was full of horror; and for a moment he was about to order his blacks to turn back. But just then the overseer whispered:
“Keep up, sir; not a sound, please. We shall have them now.”
“No firing,” said the settler quickly; “they will be unarmed.”
“I don’t know that,” said the overseer; “but we shall soon know. Hadn’t we better deal with them as they deal with us? Hark! the dogs are quiet now. They’ve got their prisoners, and, if I’m not wrong, in a few minutes we shall have taken ours.”
“Heah dat, Zerk?” whispered Samson.
There was a grunt.
“You an’ me’s gwan to have de arm-ache to-morrow morn’ wid all dat lot to flog.”
“Iss,” whispered Xerxes; “and den got to go and bury dem oder one bones.”
Chapter Thirty One.A Night’s Muddle.On went the dogs, apparently following the track of some animal; and, as they seemed to be leading the fugitives farther and farther away from the plantation, nothing Nic felt, could be better.For, in spite of the long imprisonment at the settler’s place, the knowledge of the prisoners was confined to the river and the clearings about the house. Certainly they had had a view of the distant hills; but all beyond the plantation, save towards the swamp, was unknown land.“We can’t do better than go on, Pete,” said Nic, after following the dogs for about an hour.“Don’t see as we can, zir. They’re hunting after zomething they’ve got the zmell of, and maybe, if we cross their scent, they may begin hunting us; zo I zay let ’em go. You zee, they’re mostly kep’ chained up in them gashly kennels o’ theirs; and they’re enjoying a run in the woods. Any idee where we be?”“Not the slightest, Pete; but at any rate we’re free.”“Till we’re ketched again, Master Nic. But I zay, you’ll show fight if they should catch up to uz?”“Yes, Pete; I should feel so desperate that I should be ready to die sooner than give up now.”“That’s me all over, lad,” said Pete. “I zay, though; couldn’t get to be more friends still wi’ the dogs, and make ’em fight for uz, could we?”Nic laughed bitterly, and then stopped short, for the yelping had ceased.“Can you hear the hounds now?”A sharp burst of barking a short distance away told of their direction, and after wandering in and out among the trees for a few minutes, they found the three great creatures apparently waiting for them to come up before starting off again.This went on for a full hour longer, the dogs leading them on and on, evidently getting scent of one of the little animals the blacks hunted from time to time; but from their clumsiness, and the activity of the little quarry, each run being without result.“Where are we now?” said Pete at last, after the yelping of the little pack had ceased.“It is impossible to say,” replied Nic. “It is all so much alike here in the darkness that I have felt helpless ever since we started; but we must be many miles away from the plantation, and I hardly know how the night has gone in this excitement; but it must be near morning.”“Must be,” said Pete, “for my clothes are quite dry again, and I’m getting thirsty. What are we going to do now?”“Keep on, and coax the dogs more and more away. We must not let them go back.”“No; that wouldn’t do, Master Nic. On’y if they don’t ketch anything they’ll get hungry, and if they gets hungry they’ll grow zavage; and if they grow zavage, what’s going to happen then?”“Wait till the trouble comes, Pete,” replied Nic; “then we’ll see.”“That’s good zense, Master Nic; and I b’lieve them brutes are lying down and resting zomewhere. Shall I give a whistle?”“Yes; it would do no harm.”Pete uttered a low, piping sound such as would be given by a bird, and it was answered by a bark which showed the direction; and, on turning towards it, a minute had not elapsed before they heard the heavy panting of the three animals, which sprang up and came to them, lolling out their tongues to be caressed.“Good old dogs, then,” said Nic, patting their heads. “Go on, and take us right away, and when it gets daylight you may all have a good sleep. Hie on, then, boys; hie on! Right away.”The dogs threw up their heads, snuffed about a bit, and then started off once more at a steady pace, which soon slowed down, and made the task of following them in the darkness much less difficult. Then all at once one of them uttered a low, whining sound and sprang off a little faster.For the ground was more open here, the trees bigger, and the undergrowth—the great hindrance—scarce.“Better going here, Master Nic, if it waren’t for the great roots sticking out. Now, if the day would only break we should be able to zee better what we were doing. My word! if we could only come across a good wild-apple orchard it wouldn’t be amiss.”“And that we shall not find.”“Never mind, zir; we’ll find zum’at else—toadstools on the trees, or wild berries, or zomething; and if them dogs don’t run down anything good for a roast, why, they don’t come up to one of our old Devon lurchers. If this was one of our woods we shouldn’t be long without something between our teeth. Don’t you be downhearted; I’ll find zome’at we can eat.”“I am not downhearted, Pete; and, if we can do so in safety, we’ll go on walking all day.”“That’s right; on’y we don’t want to run upon no more plantations.”“No; we must trust to the wild country, Pete, till we can reach the sea.”“And not feel zafe when we get there, zir. Zay, Master Nic, I don’t think much of a country where they has zlaves, whether they’re white or whether they’re black.”“Never mind that now, Pete; we have escaped.”“And without my having a chance to thrash Humpy Dee, and giving Master Zaunders one for his nob.”“Hist! what’s that?” whispered Nic, as a peculiar sound came through the trees.“Water!” said Pete excitedly. “The dogs lapping. Come on, zir. My mouth’s as if it was full of dust. The very thing we want.”The next minute the darkness seemed to be less intense, and in another they were close to a little stream, where the dogs were drinking deeply; but they left the edge as the fugitives came up, shook themselves, and stood by while Pete sought for a place a little higher up.“Here you are, Master Nic,” he said. “They might ha’ let uz have first go; but I forgive ’em for finding it. Lie down on your face and drink.”Nic needed no incitement, and Pete followed his example, both enjoying the sweetest, most refreshing draught that had ever passed their lips.“Hall!” ejaculated Pete as he raised himself into a sitting posture. “Can’t drink any more. Hope we aren’t zwallowed no young ’gators or a snake; but if we have, zir, it’ll be vittles as well as drink, and do uz good.”“Ugh! don’t talk about it,” said Nic. “But where are the dogs?”“Eh? Gone on, I s’pose; and we must trot on too. I’m ready for anything now.”“Look, Pete. Yonder’s the east.”“That’s our way then, zir.”“And the sun will not be long before it’s up. It is getting light fast. Come along and find the dogs. We came up from the left; they will go right on to the right. We should have heard them if they had crossed the stream.”“That’s right, lad. What a good—” Pete was going to say poacher, but he checked himself—“wood-man you’d have made. Forward, then. It’s all open yonder.”A minute later they had stopped short, to see the three dogs walking across a clearing, plainly seen in the grey dawn, while to the left the stream had widened out.It was only a momentary pause, and then the fugitives shrank back into cover, chilled to the heart by the dreadful truth.The dogs, quite at home in the neighbouring forest, had taken them a long round, and brought them back to the plantation; and now, wearied out, they were making their way to their kennel at the back of the house and sheds.The night’s labour seemed to have been all in vain; and Nic laid his hand upon his companion’s shoulder as he said, with a bitter sigh:“Pete, Pete, it is hopeless. We shall never see the old home again.”
On went the dogs, apparently following the track of some animal; and, as they seemed to be leading the fugitives farther and farther away from the plantation, nothing Nic felt, could be better.
For, in spite of the long imprisonment at the settler’s place, the knowledge of the prisoners was confined to the river and the clearings about the house. Certainly they had had a view of the distant hills; but all beyond the plantation, save towards the swamp, was unknown land.
“We can’t do better than go on, Pete,” said Nic, after following the dogs for about an hour.
“Don’t see as we can, zir. They’re hunting after zomething they’ve got the zmell of, and maybe, if we cross their scent, they may begin hunting us; zo I zay let ’em go. You zee, they’re mostly kep’ chained up in them gashly kennels o’ theirs; and they’re enjoying a run in the woods. Any idee where we be?”
“Not the slightest, Pete; but at any rate we’re free.”
“Till we’re ketched again, Master Nic. But I zay, you’ll show fight if they should catch up to uz?”
“Yes, Pete; I should feel so desperate that I should be ready to die sooner than give up now.”
“That’s me all over, lad,” said Pete. “I zay, though; couldn’t get to be more friends still wi’ the dogs, and make ’em fight for uz, could we?”
Nic laughed bitterly, and then stopped short, for the yelping had ceased.
“Can you hear the hounds now?”
A sharp burst of barking a short distance away told of their direction, and after wandering in and out among the trees for a few minutes, they found the three great creatures apparently waiting for them to come up before starting off again.
This went on for a full hour longer, the dogs leading them on and on, evidently getting scent of one of the little animals the blacks hunted from time to time; but from their clumsiness, and the activity of the little quarry, each run being without result.
“Where are we now?” said Pete at last, after the yelping of the little pack had ceased.
“It is impossible to say,” replied Nic. “It is all so much alike here in the darkness that I have felt helpless ever since we started; but we must be many miles away from the plantation, and I hardly know how the night has gone in this excitement; but it must be near morning.”
“Must be,” said Pete, “for my clothes are quite dry again, and I’m getting thirsty. What are we going to do now?”
“Keep on, and coax the dogs more and more away. We must not let them go back.”
“No; that wouldn’t do, Master Nic. On’y if they don’t ketch anything they’ll get hungry, and if they gets hungry they’ll grow zavage; and if they grow zavage, what’s going to happen then?”
“Wait till the trouble comes, Pete,” replied Nic; “then we’ll see.”
“That’s good zense, Master Nic; and I b’lieve them brutes are lying down and resting zomewhere. Shall I give a whistle?”
“Yes; it would do no harm.”
Pete uttered a low, piping sound such as would be given by a bird, and it was answered by a bark which showed the direction; and, on turning towards it, a minute had not elapsed before they heard the heavy panting of the three animals, which sprang up and came to them, lolling out their tongues to be caressed.
“Good old dogs, then,” said Nic, patting their heads. “Go on, and take us right away, and when it gets daylight you may all have a good sleep. Hie on, then, boys; hie on! Right away.”
The dogs threw up their heads, snuffed about a bit, and then started off once more at a steady pace, which soon slowed down, and made the task of following them in the darkness much less difficult. Then all at once one of them uttered a low, whining sound and sprang off a little faster.
For the ground was more open here, the trees bigger, and the undergrowth—the great hindrance—scarce.
“Better going here, Master Nic, if it waren’t for the great roots sticking out. Now, if the day would only break we should be able to zee better what we were doing. My word! if we could only come across a good wild-apple orchard it wouldn’t be amiss.”
“And that we shall not find.”
“Never mind, zir; we’ll find zum’at else—toadstools on the trees, or wild berries, or zomething; and if them dogs don’t run down anything good for a roast, why, they don’t come up to one of our old Devon lurchers. If this was one of our woods we shouldn’t be long without something between our teeth. Don’t you be downhearted; I’ll find zome’at we can eat.”
“I am not downhearted, Pete; and, if we can do so in safety, we’ll go on walking all day.”
“That’s right; on’y we don’t want to run upon no more plantations.”
“No; we must trust to the wild country, Pete, till we can reach the sea.”
“And not feel zafe when we get there, zir. Zay, Master Nic, I don’t think much of a country where they has zlaves, whether they’re white or whether they’re black.”
“Never mind that now, Pete; we have escaped.”
“And without my having a chance to thrash Humpy Dee, and giving Master Zaunders one for his nob.”
“Hist! what’s that?” whispered Nic, as a peculiar sound came through the trees.
“Water!” said Pete excitedly. “The dogs lapping. Come on, zir. My mouth’s as if it was full of dust. The very thing we want.”
The next minute the darkness seemed to be less intense, and in another they were close to a little stream, where the dogs were drinking deeply; but they left the edge as the fugitives came up, shook themselves, and stood by while Pete sought for a place a little higher up.
“Here you are, Master Nic,” he said. “They might ha’ let uz have first go; but I forgive ’em for finding it. Lie down on your face and drink.”
Nic needed no incitement, and Pete followed his example, both enjoying the sweetest, most refreshing draught that had ever passed their lips.
“Hall!” ejaculated Pete as he raised himself into a sitting posture. “Can’t drink any more. Hope we aren’t zwallowed no young ’gators or a snake; but if we have, zir, it’ll be vittles as well as drink, and do uz good.”
“Ugh! don’t talk about it,” said Nic. “But where are the dogs?”
“Eh? Gone on, I s’pose; and we must trot on too. I’m ready for anything now.”
“Look, Pete. Yonder’s the east.”
“That’s our way then, zir.”
“And the sun will not be long before it’s up. It is getting light fast. Come along and find the dogs. We came up from the left; they will go right on to the right. We should have heard them if they had crossed the stream.”
“That’s right, lad. What a good—” Pete was going to say poacher, but he checked himself—“wood-man you’d have made. Forward, then. It’s all open yonder.”
A minute later they had stopped short, to see the three dogs walking across a clearing, plainly seen in the grey dawn, while to the left the stream had widened out.
It was only a momentary pause, and then the fugitives shrank back into cover, chilled to the heart by the dreadful truth.
The dogs, quite at home in the neighbouring forest, had taken them a long round, and brought them back to the plantation; and now, wearied out, they were making their way to their kennel at the back of the house and sheds.
The night’s labour seemed to have been all in vain; and Nic laid his hand upon his companion’s shoulder as he said, with a bitter sigh:
“Pete, Pete, it is hopeless. We shall never see the old home again.”