Part 20 (1/2)

”It is better as it is than if we had let them take us.”

”Did you really mean to kill them, Dan?”

”Not if I could help it; but I would have killed a dozen of them rather than be carried back into slavery.”

”We didn't kill 'em, Missy Lily,” interposed Quin. ”Dey done drownded.

De good Lo'd strike 'em down jus like he did de 'Gyptians in de Red Sea, in de midst ob dar wickedness. We didn't kill 'em, Missy Lily.”

”That's it, Lily,” added Dan, indorsing the explanation, though the religious aspect of the case was not so strongly impressed upon his mind as upon that of his pious companion.

”We might have saved them,” continued the gentle-hearted girl, who derived but little consolation from the words of Quin. ”You might have taken them on board when the squall came.”

”Why, Lily, I had just smashed their boat with my own hands, and I wasn't going to put my head into the lion's mouth. It is best as it is, Lily. The death of these men will remove all danger from our path, for no one has seen us except them.”

”But how awful!” sighed she.

”I told you, Lily, before we started, that terrible things might happen to us. You shall be free; let this thought comfort you.”

But it did not comfort her, and she continued to bewail the catastrophe that had befallen the slave-hunters till the attention of her companions was called to the position of the Isabel.

”Dar's land on de bof sides of us,” called Cyd, who had again been stationed at the heel of the bowsprit to act as lookout man.

”All right! I see it,” responded Dan. ”Quin, let go the foresail halyards. How does it look ahead, Cyd?”

”Dark as de back of dis chile's hand.”

”Look out sharp!”

”Do dat, for sartin.”

The Isabel continued slowly on her course, for the woods on the sh.o.r.e now began to shelter the sails from the full force of the wind. The corner of the lake grew narrower with every moment she advanced, till the boat was not more than a couple of rods from either sh.o.r.e. She was running up one of the tributaries of the lake.

Presently the creek was less than thirty feet wide; and having pa.s.sed round a bend so as to hide her from the open lake, Dan ordered his companions to make fast to a tree, as he ran her up to the sh.o.r.e.

CHAPTER XVI.

IN THE SWAMP.

The place where the Isabel had been moored was in the midst of a gloomy and extensive swamp. Though Dan had never been here before, he had heard of the region, and from the first had determined to conceal his party within its deep and almost impenetrable mora.s.ses. The swamp was about fifteen miles in extent from north to south, and ten from east to west.

It was full of bayous and lagoons, and inhabited only by herons, alligators, and other wild animals of the south-west.

It was impossible to penetrate the swamp without a boat, for the _terra firma_ of the region consisted only of islands covered with trees, most of them surrounded by shallow and muddy waters. It is doubtful whether any human being had ever fully explored this extensive swamp; and Dan was confident that, if he could succeed in making his way with the Isabel to a distance of two or three miles from the lake, his party would be free from intrusion, unless, indeed, the slave-hunters made a business of driving them from their covert.

The information of the leader of the expedition in regard to the swamp was exceedingly limited. All he knew had been derived from Colonel Raybone, who, in conversation with some of his friends, had mentioned the region, and given a partial description of it. He had learned that the bayou, which was the outlet of the waters of the swamp, was obstructed by fallen timber a short distance from the lake. As runaway slaves could not live in this desolate place, there had been no occasion to pursue them into its deep recesses.

The party on board the Isabel were very much fatigued by the labor and excitement of the night; and when the schooner was safely moored, Dan declared that nothing more should be done until the party had rested themselves. It was not yet daylight, and the boat was in a secure position.

”But we must not all go to sleep,” added Dan. ”I intend to keep a watch night and day while we stay in this place, if it should be for a year.”