The sun sank lower and disappeared behind the trees straight away as the
boat drifted on; the sky turned of a glorious amber, darkened quickly,
and then it was black night, with the eerie cries of the birds rising on
either side, and the margins of the swift river waking up into life with
the hoarse bellowings and croakings of the reptiles which swarmed upon
the banks. Every now and then there was a rush or a splash, or the
heavy beating of the water, as some noisome creature sought its prey;
and Nic sat there watching and listening, wakeful enough, and always on
the alert to catch the breathing of his companion, who for hours had not
stirred.
"Beat out," said Nic to himself; "utterly exhausted, poor fellow! If I
could only feel that it was a natural sleep."
He was thoroughly done-up himself, and in spite of his efforts to keep
awake, and the dread inspired by the movements of the strange creatures
splashing about in the water, and often enough apparently close at hand,
he could not keep from dozing off time after time, but only to start up
in an agony of fear. He hardly lost consciousness, and at such times
the startling noises and movements around him in the darkness seemed to
be continued in the wild dreams which instantly commenced.
Now in imagination he saw through the transparent darkness some huge
alligator making for the boat, where it reared itself up, curved over,
and seemed about to seize upon Pete, when he raised the oar with which
he was keeping the boat's head straight and struck at the monster with
all his might, and in the act awoke.
Another time Nic dropped off, to imagine that they were slowly gliding
beneath the far-spreading boughs of a gigantic forest tree; and, as they
swept on, something soft and heavy suddenly hung down into the boat,
began crawling about, and at last stopped its progress by coiling itself
round one of the thwarts, and then raising its head high in the air and
beginning to dart its tongue, now at Nic, now at the motionless body of
Pete, who still lay sleeping soundly.
Nic felt powerless, and lay watching the approach of the huge boa,
seeing it plainly in spite of the darkness and suffering an agony of
horror as he felt that he could not move, but must lie there, quite at
the mercy of the powerful reptile, which drew the boat over so much on
one side that the water, as it rippled by, rose apparently higher and
higher till it was about to pour in.
Ripple, ripple, ripple, against the sides, while the boughs of a tree
swept over his face, the touch awakening the dreamer, who uttered a low
gasp of relief as he realised how much the water and the brushing of the
leaves over his face had had to do with the dream from which he had just
been roused.
Morning at last, with the east all aglow, and the beauties of river and
tree sweeping away the horrors of the black night.
Pete awoke as if by instinct, and started into a sitting position, to
stare hard at his companion.
"Why, Master Nic, you aren't never gone and let me sleep all night?"
"Indeed, but I have, Pete," replied Nic. "Feel better?"
"No, zir. Never felt so 'shamed of myself in my life. Oh dear! oh
dear! To think of my doing that! Where are we, zir? 'Most got to that
t'other zattlement, aren't uz?"
"What! where we rested for the night, Pete? No; I don't think we are
near that yet."
"Then get nigh we must," cried Pete, putting out his oar. "We've got to
find some braxfuss there. What we had yes'day don't zeem to count a
bit. I zay, though, you don't think they got another boat and passed us
while we were asleep, do you?"
"No, Pete," replied Nic, smiling; "and I don't think that we shall dare
to land at that plantation lower down. The man there would know we are
escaped slaves, and stop us."
"He'd better not," said Pete, with a curious look in his eyes. "He's
the only man there."
"There are several blacks."
"Blacks!" cried Pete contemptuously. "I'm not afraid o' them. It's o'
no use, Master Nic; I've tried hard to bear it, and I can bear a deal,
but when it comes to starvation it's again' my natur'. I must eat, and
if he calls twenty blacks to stop me I mean to have zomething, and zo
shall you. Why, lad, you look as if you're half-dead wi' want o' zleep
and a morsel o' food. Nay, nay; you leave that oar alone, and cover
your head up with those leaves while you have a good rest. By that time
p'raps we may get a bit o' braxfuss."
"I'm not sleepy, Pete," said Nic sadly.
"P'raps not, zir; but man must eat and he must zleep, so you lie back in
the bottom of the boat. Now, no fighting agen it, zir; you worked all
night, zo I must work all day."
"Well, I'll lie down for an hour, Pete, for I do feel very weary. As
soon as you think an hour's gone, you wake me up."
"Right, Master Nic, I will," cried Pete heartily; and after a glance up
and down the river, the young man sank back in the bottom of the boat,
settled the leafy cap and veil in one over his face to shield it from
the sun, and the next minute--to him--he unclosed his eyes to find that
Pete was kneeling beside him with a hand on each shoulder as if he had
been shaking the sleeper.
"Hullo! Yes; all right, Pete, I've had such a sleep. Why, Pete, it
must be getting on for noon."
"Ay, that it is, my lad; noon to-morrow. But don't bully me, zir; you
was zleeping just lovely, and I couldn't waken you. Here we are at that
farm-place, and I don't zee the man about, but yonder's the two women."
"And the dogs, Pete?"
"Nay, don't zee no dogs. Maybe they're gone along wi' the master. Come
on, lad; I've tied the boat up to this post, and we'll go up and ask the
women yonder to give us a bit o' zomething to eat."
The place looked very familiar as Nic glanced round and recalled the
time when he reached there, and their departure the next morning, with
the looks of sympathy the two women had bestowed.
Just as he recalled this he caught sight of the younger woman, who came
from the door of the roughly-built house, darted back and returned with
her mother, both standing gazing at their visitors as they landed from
the boat.
"Must go up to the house quiet-like, Master Nic, or we shall scare 'em,"
said Pete. "Just you wave your hand a bit to show 'em you know 'em.
Dessay they 'members we."
Nic slowly waved his hand, and then shrugged his shoulders as he glanced
down at his thin cotton rags; and his piteous plight made him ready to
groan.
"We must go up to them as beggars, Pete," he said.
"That's right enough for me, Master Nic; but you're a gentleman, zir,
and they'll know it soon as you begin to speak. Let's go on, zir. I'm
that hungry I could almost eat you."
Nic said nothing, but began to walk on towards the house by his
companion's side, anxiously watching the two women the while, in the
full expectation that they would retreat and shut the door against their
visitors.
But neither stirred, and the fugitives were half-way to the house, when
suddenly there was a growl and a rush.
"Knives, Master Nic," cried Pete, for three great dogs came charging
from the back of the low shed which had given the slaves shelter on
their journey up the river. The dogs had evidently been basking in the
sunshine till they had caught sight of the strangers, and came on baying
furiously.
Nic followed his companion's example and drew his knife, feeling excited
by the coming encounter; but before the dogs reached them the two women
came running from the door, crying out angrily at the fierce beasts,
whose loud barking dropped into angry growls as they obeyed the calls of
their mistresses--the younger woman coming up first, apron in hand, to
beat off the pack and drive them before her, back to one of the
out-buildings, while her mother remained gazing compassionately at the
visitors.
"Thank you," said Nic, putting back his knife. "Your dogs took us for
thieves. We are only beggars, madam, asking for a little bread."
"Have you--have you escaped from up yonder?" said the woman, sinking her
voice.
"Yes," said Nic frankly. "I was forced away from home for no cause
whatever. I am trying to get back."
"It is very shocking," said the woman sadly, as her daughter came
running up breathlessly. "Some of the men they have there are bad and
wicked, and I suppose they deserve it; but Ann and I felt so sorry for
you when you came that night months ago. You seemed so different."
"You remember us, then?" said Nic, smiling sadly.
"Oh yes," cried the younger woman eagerly. "But they are hungry,
mother. Bring them up to the house; I've shut-in the dogs."
"I don't know what your father would say if he knew what we did," said
the woman sadly. "It's against the law to help slaves to escape."
"It isn't against the law to give starving people something to eat,
mother."
"It can't be; can it, dear?" said the woman. "And we needn't help them
to escape."
"No," said Pete; "we can manage that if you'll give us a bit o' bread.
I won't ask for meat, missus; but if you give us a bit, too, I'd thank
you kindly."
"Bring them up, mother," said the girl; "and if father ever knows I'll
say it was all my fault."
"Yes; come up to the house," said the elder woman. "I can't bear to see
you poor white men taken for slaves."
"God bless you for that!" cried Nic, catching at the woman's hand; but
his action was so sudden that she started away in alarm.
"Oh mother!" cried the girl; "can't you see what he meant?"
The woman held out her hand directly, and Nic caught it. The next
moment he had clasped the girl's hands, which were extended to him; but
she snatched them away directly with a sob, and ran into the house,
while the mother bade the pair sit down on a rough bench to rest.
The girl was not long absent; but when she returned with a big loaf and
a piece of bacon her eyes looked very red.
"There," she said, setting the provisions before them; "you'd better
take this and go, in case father should come back and see you. Don't,
please, tell us which way you're going, and we won't look; for we
shouldn't like to know and be obliged to tell. Oh!"
The girl finished her speech with a cry of horror; for how he had
approached no one could have said, but the planter suddenly came up with
a gun over his shoulder, and stood looking on as, with a quick movement,
Pete snatched at the loaf and thrust it under one arm.
"Hullo!" said the man quietly as he looked from one to the other; "where
are the dogs?"
"I shut 'em up, father, so as they shouldn't hurt these two poor men."
"An' s'pose these two poor men wanted to hurt you; what then?"
"But they didn't, father," said the girl, as the mother stood shivering.
"They were hungry, and only wanted something to eat."
"Yes, that's right, master," said Pete stoutly. "We shouldn't hurt no
one."
"Let's see," said the planter; "I've seen you both before. My neighbour
brought you up months ago."
"Yes," said Nic firmly; "but he had no right to detain us as slaves."
"Humph! S'pose not," said the planter, glancing sharply from one to the
other. "So you're both runaways?"
"We are trying for our liberty," replied Nic, who was well upon his
guard; but the man's reply disarmed him.
"Well, it's quite nat'ral," said the planter, with a chuckle. "Hot work
hoeing the rows, eh? Took the boat, I s'pose, and rowed down?"
"Yes," said Pete gruffly.
"Hungry too, eh?"
"Yes," said Pete again.
"Course you would be. Quite nat'ral. They've give you a bit to eat, I
see. Well, then, you'd better come and sit down out o' the sun and eat
it, and then be off, for your overseer won't be long before he's down
here after you. He's a sharp un, Master Saunders, aren't he?"
"Yes; he's sharp enough," said Pete quietly.
"He'll be down after you with his dogs, and then, if he catches you,
there'll be a big row and a fight, and I don't want nothing o' that
sort, my lads. Come on, and bring your bread and meat in here.--Ann, my
gal, get 'em a pitcher o' cool, fresh water."
"Yes, father," said the girl; and, as the planter turned off to lead the
way, Nic caught the lass's eyes; for she began to make quick movements
of her lips, and her eyes almost spoke as she pointed towards the river
and signed to them to go.
Nic gave her an intelligent nod, and followed Pete after the planter
into the great, barn-like place which had been their prison for the
night when they were there before; but as he passed the door he noticed
the great wooden bar turning upon a bolt, and fully realised that the
girl's signs were those of warning, for treachery was meant.
"Nice and cool in here," said the man. "Sit ye down on the corn-husks
there. My gal will soon be back with the water; and I wouldn't be long,
if I were you, in case Master Saunders should come down the river, for
when he asked me if you two was here I couldn't tell a lie about it,
could I?"
"No," growled Pete. "That would be a pity."
"Ay; it would. But he'd know you was both here by the boat. Where did
you tie it up?"
"Just at the bottom there, by the trees," said Nic, to whom these words
were addressed.
"Ah, 'tis the best place," said the man, halting by the door, and
standing aside to make room for the young men to pass. "In with you.
It's better than being in the hot sun. Seems a bit dark; but it's
cooler to have your dinner there. Well," he continued, "why don't you
go in? The dogs are not here."
"Because it looks like a trap, sir," said Nic firmly. "Do you want to
shut us up there, and keep us prisoners till your neighbour comes?"
"Yes, I do," cried the planter fiercely as he stepped back, and with one
motion brought down and cocked his piece, which he presented at the
young man's breast. "In with you both, or I'll shoot you like dogs!"
He raised his gun to his shoulder and drew the trigger; but it was too
late. Nic had sprung forward, striking up the barrel; and, as the
mother and daughter shrieked aloud from the house door, there was a
sharp report, which set the dogs baying furiously from the shed in which
they were fastened.
A short struggle followed, in which the gun was wrested from the
planter's hands by Nic, and the next moment Pete had joined in the fray,
securing the planter's arms, and then with Nic's help he was dragged and
thrown into the great barn. Then the door was banged to and fastened
with the bar; and the prisoner began to call and threaten what he would
do if his people did not let loose the dogs.
What followed would have seemed almost comic to a spectator, for the two
women came hurrying up with their fingers stuck in their ears.
"Run--run to your boat!" they whispered. "We can't hear what he says
now, but we must soon, and then we shall be obliged to let out the
dogs."
"Oh, mother!" cried the girl, "the blacks will be here directly."
"Yes, yes," cried the elder woman, who somehow seemed to have heard
that. "Run, then, run, and get away before it is too late."
"God bless you both for what you have done for us!" cried Nic. "I pray
that you may not get into more trouble on our account."
"Oh, father won't hurt me," said the girl; "and he shan't hurt mother.
Serve him right for being so cruel. You never did him any harm."
"Oh, run, run!" cried the woman, with her fingers still in her ears; and
the two young men dashed off to the boat and leapt in, Nic's next
action, as Pete unfastened the slight cord, being to fling the gun as
far out into the river as he could.
"Oh!" cried Pete, "what did you do that for?" as the gun fell with a
splash and disappeared.
"I was not going to steal the scoundrel's gun," said Nic, seizing an
oar.
"Well, it wouldn't ha' been any use without powder and zhot," said Pete
as he thrust the boat out into the stream. "Good-bye to you both," he
shouted, waving his hand to the two women, who stood waving their
aprons.
"But it seems cowardly, Pete, to go and leave them in the lurch."
"Ay, it do, Master Nic; but it only means a rowing for them, and it's
life and liberty for us."
There was another wave of a white apron as the boat glided out into
mid-stream, and Nic responded with his hand. Then trees interposed and
hid the house and sheds from view, and the fugitives went on straining
at their oars till they felt that their safety was assured, when they
relaxed their efforts.
"That was close, Master Nic," said Pete. "Treacherous martal. Wish I'd
give him a good topper before we zhut the door."
"I'm glad you did not, for his wife and daughter's sake," replied Nic.
"Poor things! they will suffer for their gentle, womanly compassion
towards a pair of poor escaped slaves."
"Ay, it was good of 'em, Master Nic. Zees how hungry we were, and
fetches that fresh brown loaf, and all that pink-and-white bacon as
looks d'licious. Zo, as we're going gently on, and not likely for him
to take boat after us, what do you say to staying all that horrid
gnawing of our insides with a good bite and sup? But--I say, Master
Nic, what did you do with that bacon and bread?"
Nic looked sharply up at Pete, and the latter uttered a dismal groan.
The bread and bacon had gone, neither knew where, in the struggle, and
the landing and encounter had all been for nothing.
"Not quite," Nic said later on. They had learned how much gentle
compassion existed for the poor white slaves, even in a district where
the sight of them was so common.
"P'raps so, Master Nic; but I'd give all the compassion in the world
just now for a zlice of that bacon and a hunk of bread. What's to be
done now, zir?"
"Row, Pete, row; and let's try and forget our hunger in the knowledge
that we are so far free."
"Right, zir; we will. But what about that treacherous hound? Think
he's got a boat?"
"Sure to have," replied Nic.
"Then he'll come after as zoon as he can get help; and if he do--Well, I
should be sorry to hurt him, on account of them as was kind to us; but
if he does ketch it, mind, Master Nic, it's his fault and not mine."
There was no more talking, for both felt morose and weak, their growing
sense of hunger making them more and more silent and disinclined to
speak.
Still, fortune favoured them to a certain extent, for there had been
rain somewhere inland, and the stream ran as if it were in flood higher
up, so that their rate of progress was swift.
As the hours went on and there was no sign of pursuit--no enemies who
had made a short cut to the river-bank waiting to fire at them from
among the trees--the fugitives grew more and more confident; and when at
last they reached another swamp, the alligators appeared to be less
monstrous and the gloomy place lost half its forbidding aspect.
At last, after endless difficulties, and nearly starved, the tidal part
of the river was reached, and, to the delight of both, they found that
they had hit exactly the right moment, for the tide was at its height,
and stood as if waiting to bear them onward towards the sea.
Excitement had kept off all thought of food; but when, after a long
journey, they approached the straggling town at nightfall and saw the
twinkling lights, an intense desire seized upon both to land as soon as
possible and satisfy their needs.
"You see, we lost everything, Master Nic, in that struggle. What you
looking at, zir?"
"You, Pete. I was thinking."
"What about, zir?"
"About this place. If we land we must go to some house for food; and
when we two half-naked, miserable, starved wretches have obtained what
we want we shall be asked to pay."
"My word!" gasped Pete, ceasing to row. "I never thought of that. And
we aren't got any money."
"Not a coin."
"And they'd want it here just the same as they would at home, though it
is a foreign country?"
"Of course."
"Then I tell you what, Master Nic," said Pete after a long pause; "we
must go straight to zomebody and tell 'em how we've been zarved, and ask
him to help us."
"We should have to tell them everything, Pete."
"Of course, zir; downright honest."
"And who would believe us at a place like this, where we know that poor
wretches are brought to go up to the plantations?"
"Oh, hark at him!" sighed Pete. "And I'd been thinking our troubles
were over, and we'd got nothing to do but get plenty to eat and a good
ship to take us home. You're right, zir; it would be as mad as March
hares to go ashore. They'd put us in prison and keep us there till old
Zaunders come again with his dogs and guns and niggers to take us back;
and when we got to the plantation it would be the lash and short
commons, and the hoe again out in the hot sun."
"Yes, Pete," said Nic sadly; "that is what I fear."
"And you're a deal longer-headed than me, master. It's going and giving
ourselves up for the sake of a good dinner. Master Nic!"
"Yes, Pete."
"Just buckle your belt a bit tighter, two or three holes, like this.
That's the way. Now then, take hold of your oar again. We can hold out
another day or two on what we can find, while we coast along till we see
a ship outward bound somewhere. Sure to be lots. Then we'll row till
they see us and pick us up. They won't bring us back, that's for
sartain, but to the port they're going to; and of course they can't
starve us. Then they'll hand us over to a judge o' some kind, and as
soon as he hears your story you'll be all right; and--and--"
"Yes, Pete?"
"I know I've been a bad un; Master Nic; but I'm going to turn over a new
leaf, zir, and never meddle wi' the zalmon again. You'll put in a good
word for a poor fellow, won't you?"
"A good word for you--for one who has been ready to risk his life again
and again to help me? Pete, we have been brothers in our great
misfortune, and we must hold together, come what may."
"Then take a good grip of your oar, Master Nic, and let's forget being
empty by taking our fill of work. Pull away, my lad, right out, and I
dessay the tide'll run us along the shore, as it does at home. When the
day comes again we shall zoon zee a zhip. We can't give up now.
Ready?"
"Yes."
"Then pull."
And in their desperate strait, feeling as they did that they would
starve sooner than go back to slavery, those two bent to their oars in
the darkness that closed them in, and rowed on with the swift tide. The
lights on the shore grew fainter, the tide swifter, and the water became
rough; but they rowed on, hungry, exhausted: on and on, ignorant of the
set of the tides, of the trend of the coast, and without a drop of fresh
water to satisfy their thirst. A mad, mad attempt; but it was for
liberty--for all that man holds dear. What wonder that when the day
dawned both had sunk forward over their oars and were sleeping heavily,
to wake at last with the southern sun beating down upon their heads, and
that they gazed at each other in a half-delirious, stupefied way,
wondering what had happened and where they were.
There was a faint appearance as of a cloud low down on the water
far-away, but no cloud overhead, nothing but the burning, blistering sun
to send a fierce energy through Nic's veins, which made him keep calling
wildly upon Pete to row, row hard, before they were overtaken and
dragged back to a white slave's life.
Pete's eyes were staring fiercely, and looked bloodshot, while his
throat was hot and dry, his brain felt as if on fire; but at every order
from Nic he bent down over his oar and pulled and pulled, till his
strokes grew more and more wild, and at last, as he made one more
desperate than ever, he did not dip the blade, but fell backward from
the thwart. Then, after vainly trying to pull with both oars himself,
Nic turned to face his companion in misfortune, wondering in his
delirium why he was there.
The sun went down like a ball of fire on his left, and directly after,
as it seemed, rose like a ball of fire on his right. It was that, he
felt, which caused all his suffering, and in his rage and indignation he
turned upon it fiercely, and then bent down to lap up the sparkling
water which tempted him and seemed to promise to allay his awful thirst.
He reached down and dipped his hand, but the attitude seemed to send the
blood like molten lead running to his brain, and with a weary groan he
fell sidewise and rolled over in the bottom of the boat.