THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM.
"Take the helm, Cyd, and mind how you steer!" said Dan, with
earnestness, as he rose from his seat, and seized one of the guns.
"Hossifus!" exclaimed Cyd, aghast at the thought. "Wha--wha--wha----"
"Take the helm!" repeated the resolute skipper, with a decision which
left no alternative for the boy.
"Possifus! Dis chile don't want to set dar, and be shooted."
"There is no more danger there than there is any where else. Take your
place, and don't be a coward. If you want to be free, you must fight for
it now."
"Golly! Dis nigger ain't afeered, but Cyd don't want to be shooted, kase
you can't do widout Cyd."
But the trembling foremast hand took his place at the tiller. He
continued to mutter to himself, as though he was repelling the charge of
cowardice which had been fastened upon him.
"Come, Lily, you must go into your cabin now," added Dan, tenderly, as
he turned to Lily. "This is no place for you."
"O, I'm not afraid of the guns, Dan; only of the slave-hunters, and I
cannot hide myself from them."
"You may escape if you stay in the cabin, and you can do no good here. I
shall feel better to know that you are in a place of safety."
"I'm not afraid, Dan; really, I am not," replied she, earnestly.
"But you are in our way here, Lily. Do go into your cabin, and lie down
in your berth."
"I will if I am in the way."
"If we have to fight, it will be right here, and I am determined to
resist to the last."
"I will go;" and Dan led her to the door of her cabin.
She entered, and threw herself upon the cushions of the berth, and Dan,
satisfied that she was in a place of comparative safety, turned his
attention to the defence of his party.
"Can you handle a gun?" said he, turning to Quin, who appeared to be as
cool and resolute as the skipper.
"Well, I done shoot some," replied Quin.
"Take a gun, then."
"Wha--wha--wha----" gasped Cyd.
"Silence, Cyd! Keep both eyes on the sails, or I'll put a bullet through
your head. I didn't expect you would be a coward at such a time as
this."
"Dis chile ain't a coward," answered Cyd, rising from his seat.
"Sit down, and mind your helm then!"
"Give me de gun, and I'll show you Cyd ain't no coward, no how."
"You never fired a gun in your life. You would be more likely to shoot
yourself than any body else. Mind your helm; that's all we want of you."
"Possifus! Dis chile ain't no coward, no how," growled Cyd, as he cast
his eyes at the sails. "Fire away dar, and show dese folks Cyd's no
coward!"
"Gwine to fire into dem folks in de boat?" asked Quin.
"I am, if occasion requires," replied Dan, as he discharged the gun he
held in his hand in the direction of the pursuers. "But I want to let
them know that we are armed, and able to give as good as they send. I
don't want to kill any of them if I can help it."
"I don't mind killin ob 'em; dat's what dey done do to me if dey gits a
chance."
"Stop your boat!" shouted one of the men again; and it was evident, from
the tones of the speaker, that the report of the gun from the Isabel was
not altogether favorable to the views of the pursuers.
Dan made no reply, but loaded up his gun for further use.
"Stop your boat, or we'll fire into you again," shouted the speaker.
"If you do you will get as good as you send," answered Dan, as he put
the cap upon his piece.
The reply was followed by another shot from the slave-hunters; but the
ball whistled far above the heads of the fugitives. Dan took deliberate
aim at the boat, and fired, ordering Quin to do the same. So far as
they could discover, neither of the shots took effect. From this time
both parties kept up an occasional firing; but as the night was so dark,
and the motion of the boats not favorable to a steady aim, no one in the
Isabel was hit, and Dan and his companion were not aware of any
different result to the other boat.
Cyd maintained his position at the helm with the steadiness of an old
salt who had stood at the wheel in a hundred battles; and Dan,
witnessing his improved demeanor, began to think his singular conduct
had been the result of excitement rather than of timidity.
But one thing was painfully evident to all on board of the
schooner--that the boat was gaining upon her, and that the wind was
gradually dying out. There was no hope for them except in their own
right arms. They must fight for liberty, fight for the rights which they
had boldly reässumed. Dan and Quin were fully determined upon this
course, and if they could bring Cyd up to a sense of duty on this trying
emergency, there would be some chance of success.
As it was, the odds were against them. The pursuers were probably men
accustomed to the use of arms, while all in the Isabel were, to say the
least, very indifferent marksmen. Hitherto, they had fired at a dark
mass on the water, for they could not distinguish the enemy in the gloom
of the night, and the pursuers had been subject to the same
disadvantage. A nearer approach to each other of the contending parties,
would enable both to obtain a more accurate aim, and the work of death
could not be much longer postponed.
"De wind's clean gone," said Cyd, as the heavy sails of the Isabel began
to flap idly in the brails.
"Cyd, you must fight!" added Dan, earnestly.
"Possifus!" exclaimed Cyd, rising and seizing a boat-hook that lay on
the quarter. "Dis chile will fight, for sartin."
"Good, Cyd! You are a brave fellow! You deserve to be free, and you
shall be."
"Hossifus! Don't tell Cyd he's a coward, kase he ain't no such ting, no
how."
"I didn't mean that, Cyd; and I take it all back," added Dan. "The boat
has lost her headway now. They will be upon us in a moment or two.
Stand firm, Cyd, and break the head of any man that attempts to get into
the boat."
"Yes, sar! Dat's jus what I'se gwine to do. I'll broke de head ob any
nigger-hunter dat's gwine to come in dis boat, for sartin."
"Now, stoop down both of you, and let them fire over our heads as they
come up."
Dan crouched down in the bottom of the Isabel, with the gun ready for
use when the decisive moment should arrive; Quin and Cyd did the same,
and the intrepid skipper proceeded to give them such instructions for
repelling the assault as the occasion required. All of them were to keep
their places till the pursuers were close alongside, when the four guns,
which were ready for use, were to be discharged. They hoped this would
be sufficient to drive them off. If it should not, a fifty-six pound
weight, taken from the ballast in the run, was to be pitched into the
boat, as she came alongside, which would break out a hole in its bottom,
and sink it before the enemy could get on board; Cyd was then to do duty
with his boat-hook, and the others with similar weapons.
The slave-hunters showed some hesitation in boarding the schooner. The
guns which had been fired from her had undoubtedly inspired them with a
proper respect for those on board of her. The Isabel lay with her sails
hanging loosely from the gaffs for half an hour, and still the enemy did
not come up to her.
"We's gwine to hab a shower," said Quin.
"And a squall too, I'm afraid," added Dan, as he cast his eyes anxiously
over the rail, to observe a pile of dense black clouds, which had
suddenly rolled up the midnight sky.
"Whar's de boat?" asked Cyd.
"She lies off here only a little way from us. If she will only keep
still till we can get a breeze, we shall be all right."
"Let 'em come on; dis chile's all ready for 'em," replied Cyd.
"Have you got over being scared?"
"Never was skeered."
"You said you were."
"Cyd's only jokin den. I done feel so kinder stirred up. I done want to
holler--make de nigger feel good."
"Hush! They are coming!" exclaimed Dan, whose quick eye detected a
stealthy movement on the part of the boat.
"Hallo! In the boat, thar," shouted the slave-hunter.
"Well. What do you want?"
"We're go'n to come on board of yer."
"No, you are not. You are all dead men if you attempt it."
"What do you want to shoot us fur? We ain't a go'n to hurt yer."
"You fired first, you infernal chicken thieves! We know what you are,"
replied Dan, who thought it best to class them with these
depredators--men who frequent the western and southern rivers,
plundering boats or houses, as opportunity presents.
"We ain't no chicken thieves."
"Keep off. We know you," repeated Dan.
This conversation was followed by another pause, during which the
careful skipper had another opportunity to examine the weather
indications. They were decidedly unfavorable. It was probable that a
squall, if not a tornado, would soon burst upon them, and he deemed it
prudent, even at the risk of being shot, to haul down the jib-topsail,
the staysail, and the gaff-topsails. This he succeeded in doing; but he
had scarcely finished the job, without giving himself time to stow the
extra sails, before he saw the boat of the pursuers dashing rapidly
towards the Isabel. The slave-hunters had at last made up their minds
what to do. They meant to risk the encounter.
Just then a sharp flash of lightning illumined the lake, followed by the
muttering thunder. A few fitful flashes of lightning had before glared
on the gloomy scene; but now it gleamed fiercely from the sombre clouds,
and the heavy thunder rolled an almost incessant peal.
"Ready! Ready, now!" said Dan, earnestly, as he sighted his gun at the
trio in the boat, which the lightning plainly revealed to him.
"All ready," replied Quin.
"Now give it to them," said Dan, as he discharged his gun, and grasped
another.
Quin did the same. The pursuers' boat was not more than ten rods from
them, but, from the want of skill in the marksmen, the discharge proved
harmless.
"Put in! Put in!" yelled one of the slave-hunters. "Never mind their
firing. They can't hit nothing."
Dan and Quin fired again.
"I'm hit!" roared one of the enemy, with a horrible oath. "Don't go no
furder."
"Keep her a goin!" replied another. "We'll fix 'em in a minute now."
The boat dashed up towards the Isabel; but Dan, as soon as he had fired,
leaped from his place, and seizing the fifty-six pound weight, plumped
it full into the bottom of the boat. The fugitives heard the pine boards
crash, as the weight broke its way through, and went to the bottom of
the lake.
"Stand by, now!" shouted Dan, as he seized his club, and dealt a heavy
blow upon the head of the slave-hunter who was in the act of leaping on
board the schooner.
"We're sinkin!" cried another of them; and the gunwale of the bateau in
which they sailed was nearly submerged.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM. Page 162.]
They had no time to act upon the aggressive; it was all they could do to
secure their own safety. Just then, the expected squall struck the
Isabel, and though Dan had before cast off all the sheets, she careened
over till the water flowed into the standing room. Her watchful skipper
sprung to the helm, and in an instant she righted partially, and darted
forward like a steed pricked with the spur.
"We are safe!" exclaimed Dan, as Lily rushed from her cabin, startled by
the exciting events which had just transpired.