Part 35 (2/2)

No place of concealment, which was apparently suitable for his purpose, presented itself; and, without loss of time, he mounted a grain chest, and ascended to the loft over one of the rooms; for the beams were not floored in the middle of the building. The aspect of this place was not at all hopeful; for there were none of those convenient ”cubby holes,”

which most houses contain, wherein he could bestow his body with any hope of escaping even a cursory search for him.

In the gable end, on one side of the chimney, which, our readers are aware, is generally built on the outside of the structure, in Virginia, was a small window, one-half of which, in the decay of the gla.s.s panes, had been boarded up to exclude the wind and the rain. The job had evidently been performed by a bungling hand, and had never been more than half done. The wood was as rotten as punk; and without difficulty, and without much noise, the fugitive succeeded in removing the board which had covered the lower part of the window.

By this time the absence of the prisoner had been discovered, and the rebels were in a state of high excitement on account of it; but Somers was pleased to find they had not rightly conjectured the theory of his escape. He could hear them swear, and hear them considering the direction in which he had gone. Two of them stood under the window, to which Somers had restored the board he had removed; and he could distinctly hear all that they said.

”Of course he did,” said one of them. ”He slipped round the corner of the house when we came out.”

”If he did, where is he? It's open ground round here; and he couldn't have gone ten rods before we missed him.”

”The captain will give it to me,” replied the other, whose voice the fugitive recognized to be that of the sergeant.

”We shall find him,” added the other. ”He can't be twenty rods from here now.”

”I did not think of the young fellow running off, but kept both eyes on the other all the time; for I thought he wasn't telling all those stories for nothing.”

”Maybe he is in the house,” suggested the other.

Somers thought that was a very bad suggestion of the rebel soldier; and, if there had been any hope of their believing him, he would himself have informed them that he was not in the house, and reconciled his conscience as best he could to the falsehood.

”Can't yer find 'em?” demanded a third person, which Somers saw, through the aperture he had left between the board and the window, was the farmer.

”We haven't lost but one.”

”He can't be fur from this yere.”

”Isn't he in the house?” demanded the sergeant anxiously.

”No; I saw them both foller yer out.”

”So did I,” added the farmer's wife, who had come out to learn the cause of the excitement.

”Well, then, we must beat about here, and find him;” and the party beneath the window moved away in the rear of the house.

Thus far, the project was hopeful; but it was apparent to Somers that the rebels would not leave the place without searching the house, after they had satisfied themselves that the fugitive was not hidden in any of the out-buildings of the farm. If they did so, his situation would at once become hopeless, if he remained where he was. The remembrance of his former experience in a chimney, in another part of Virginia, caused him to cast a wistful eye at the great stone structure which adorned the end of the building. At that time, he had occupied his smoky quarters with the knowledge and consent of the lady of the house. But now his secret was lodged in his own breast alone; not even Captain de Banyan knew where he was, or what he proposed to do.

When the party beneath the window left the place, he carefully removed the board, and thrust out his head to reconnoiter the position. The only way by which he could enter the chimney, which his former experience and prejudice a.s.sured him was the only safe place in the vicinity, was by the top. To achieve such a result was a difficult piece of gymnastics, even if it could have been performed without reference to any spectators; but to accomplish it without being seen by any of the party below was as near an impossibility as any impracticable thing could be.

The rebels, both civil and military, were now out of sight; but he doubted not from his eyrie on the ridge-pole of the house, if he could reach it, they could all be seen. Somers was as prudent as he was bold, and he decided not to run any risks until necessity should absolutely compel such a course. Quietly ensconcing himself beneath the window, where he could hear what transpired below, he waited the issue; but he had studied out the precise steps which it would be necessary for him to take in order to reach the roof of the house. He knew exactly where his right and his left foot were to be successfully planted to achieve his purpose, when it could no longer be postponed. But he indulged a faint hope that the rebels would widen the area of their search, and finally abandon it when it should be unsuccessful.

A long quarter of an hour elapsed--long enough to be an hour's time as its ordinary flow is measured; so burdened with intense anxiety was each second that made up its sum total. The rebels, a.s.sisted by the farmer and his wife, who were now hardly less zealous than the soldiers, had examined every hole and corner in the vicinity of the house, without finding the escaped prisoner.

”I tell you, he must be in the house,” said the sergeant, as the party paused under the window on their return to the front of the house.

”Of course, ye kin look in the house if yer like; but I see 'em both go out of the door with yer,” persisted the farmer.

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