THE FATE OF THE SLAVE-HUNTERS.
"Haul down the foresail, Cyd!" shouted Dan, as the Isabel gathered way,
and forged ahead. "Be quick, but be careful of yourself."
With the assistance of Quin, Cyd got the foresail in, though it was not
without a deal of hard tugging, for the wind now blew a fierce gale. As
soon as sail was thus reduced, the sheets of the jib and mainsail were
secured, and the schooner lay down to her work, dashing through the
water at a furious rate.
"We are all right now, Lily," said Dan. "Go into your cabin again, or
you will be blown away."
"Were any of you hurt in the fight?" asked she, as loud as she could
scream, for the wind howled fearfully through the rigging of the
schooner.
"No, we are all well and hearty. Go to the cabin, Lily."
She returned to her place of security, and seemed to be satisfied that
the hour of peril had passed, for the thunder and the lightning, the
dashing waves and the roaring wind, had no terrors compared with those
produced by the presence of the slave-hunters.
The Isabel labored fearfully in the heavy squall, and it was only by the
exercise of all his skill that Dan could keep her right side up. He was
obliged, as the gusts of wind struck her, to ease off the sheets, and to
luff her up. By the glare of the blinding lightning he obtained the
position of the boat in the lake, or he might have run her on shore,
and, with the beautiful craft, wrecked all the hopes of his party.
"Here, Cyd and Quin, stand by to reef this mainsail! We can't stand this
long," said Dan, as he threw the Isabel up into the wind.
"Possifus!" yelled Cyd, above the howling of the tempest. "We all go to
de bottom, for sartin."
"No, we won't; stand by, and work lively. Let go the peak halyards,"
replied he, as he cast off the throat halyards, on the other side. "Haul
down the sail as fast as you can, Quin."
With the jib still drawing full, the Isabel continued steadily on her
course, while Dan and Cyd put a double reef in the mainsail, Quin
standing at the helm in the mean time, and acting under the direction of
the skipper.
"Now, up with it," added Dan, when the reef-points were all taken up.
The mainsail was hoisted, and again the Isabel dashed madly on her
course, for she had now all the sail she could carry in that fierce
blow. Dan stood at the helm, with his eyes measuring the distances, as
the vivid lightning revealed the bearings of the shores. Cyd was ordered
to the forecastle to keep a sharp lookout ahead, while Quin was directed
to bale out the boat, for at least a hogshead of water had poured in
over the side when the flaw struck her.
The wind came in heavy gusts, each one of which threatened to "knock
down" the Isabel; and if her skipper had not been a thorough boatman,
such must have been her fate. By skilfully meeting the flaws as they
struck her, he prevented her from capsizing. Under ordinary
circumstances he would have deemed it highly imprudent to carry any
sail, and would have anchored the boat with a long cable; but this was
the battle of Freedom, and success was worth any risk and any peril
which it might require.
The tempest, however, was of short duration. When the rain began to pour
in torrents, the gale subsided. The reefs were shaken out, and, finally,
the foresail was set again. The wind continued to blow pretty fresh, but
all danger was at an end.
"What you 'pose come ob dem men?" asked Quin, as he finished his task of
baling out the boat.
"I don't know; but I feel confident that not all of them are able to
tell what has happened to them."
"One of them was hit wid de shot," added Quin.
"And I struck one over the head with a fender."
"Dem two mus be gone killed dead for sure," said Quin, with solemn
earnestness.
"Of course it was not possible for them to get ashore, for their boat
was stove all to pieces. Do you know them, Quin?"
"Yes, sar; dey's all nigger-hunters."
"Could they swim?"
"I dunno; but I s'peck dey could."
"It would not make much difference whether they could or not. The wind
blew a hurricane for a few moments."
"Quin tinks dey must be all dead," replied the man, shaking his head.
"I'm afraid they are; but it was not our fault. If I thought they were,
I would not go down the lake any farther," added Dan, musing.
"I feels almost sartin dey's gone to dar reward--'may de good Lo'd hab
mercy on dar sinful souls.'"
Dan considered the question for a time in silence, and finally
determined to put the boat about, and head her for his destination at
the north-westerly corner of the lake. The rain still came down in
torrents; but as all on deck were provided with rubber coats, belonging
to the boat, which had been provided for the use of the planter and his
guests on board, they did not suffer, and were not even very
uncomfortable. But if they had been, it would not have been regarded as
a serious matter, amid the fierce excitements of that eventful night.
The storm was nothing more than one of those sudden showers which come
up so unexpectedly at the south. We once passed through a tornado in
Louisiana, which came in a shower that gathered upon a blue sky in less
than half an hour. It tore up tall trees as though they had been
cornstalks, and rolled up the Mississippi so that it looked like a
boiling caldron. In half an hour more the sun was shining gayly on the
scene of devastation, as though Nature had no terrors in her laboratory
of forces.
In an hour after the exciting scene on the lake, the Isabel had a gentle
breeze and fair weather. Cyd still maintained his position on the
forecastle, and Lily once more ventured into the standing room. Dan gave
her a minute account of the affray with the slave-hunters, and concluded
by stating his belief that all three of them had been drowned in the
lake.
Lily shuddered at the thought; for the taking of a human life, even in
defence of the freedom which she valued more highly than life itself,
seemed a terrible thing to her gentle heart.
"Perhaps they are not dead," said she.
"Perhaps not; but it is hardly possible that they could have swum
ashore. We were at least three miles from the land, and their boat was
all stove to pieces."
"Dey might hab hold on to de boat," suggested Quin.
"But there was an awful sea for a few moments. Why, the water dashed
clean over our decks," added Dan. "One of them may have saved himself,
but I am confident the other two must have been lost."
"Hi, Dan!" shouted Cyd, from his position at the heel of the bowsprit.
"What is it, Cyd?"
"Dar's someting ober dar," added Cyd, pointing over to leeward, as he
walked aft.
"What is it?"
"Cyd tinks it's de boat ob de slabe-hunters."
"Perhaps it is," said Dan, musing. "And our wounded or dying enemies may
be clinging to it. Shall we save them?"
"Hossifus! Dey kill us ef we does," exclaimed Cyd.
"'Lub your enemies,'" said Quin, piously. "Let us sabe dem if we can. We
kin tie dar hands and fotch 'em ober dar."
"I don't think they are there."
"We must save their lives," added the gentle Lily.
"And perhaps lose our own; but I will overhaul the boat, to satisfy
myself whether the men were lost or not," said Dan, as he let out the
main sheet, and put up the helm. "Stand by with the boat-hook, Cyd."
In a few moments the Isabel had run up to the wreck of the boat, and Cyd
grappled it with the boat-hook. There were no men clinging to it, but in
the bottom of the boat, covered over with water, lay the body of one of
the slave-hunters. It was probably the one who had been shot. He had not
been killed at once, for he had spoken after he was hit; it looked as
though he had been drowned in the bottom of the boat where he lay.
The fugitives were filled with horror at this discovery. Poor Lily had
nearly fainted, and if Cyd had been shot himself, he could hardly have
made a stronger demonstration. Quin uttered many pious ejaculations,
showing that he had, from his heart, forgiven this man, who, an hour
before, had thirsted for his blood. Dan, though not less impressed than
his companions, was calm and resolute.
"This body may betray us," said he. "We must sink it in the lake."
"Ugh!" exclaimed Cyd, with a thrill of horror.
"We have no time to spare," added Dan, briskly. "Bring up another
fifty-six, Quin."
The weight was brought up and tied to the corpse of the slave-hunter, as
it lay in the boat. Dan then ordered his companions to tip the boat
over; but Quin, asking for a moment's delay, threw himself upon his
knees, and commenced an earnest prayer in behalf of the deceased,
supplicating forgiveness for his bloodthirsty enemy. Dan listened
reverently to the prayer, while Lily sobbed as though the departed
slave-hunter had been her dearest friend, instead of the bitter foe of
her race.
The service was ended; the boat was careened till the body rolled out,
and disappeared in the depths of the lake.
"May de good Lo'd hab mercy on his poor, sinful soul, for de lub of
Jesus' sake!" exclaimed Quin, as the corpse sank to its resting-place.
"Make fast the boat to that cleat on the quarter, Cyd," said Dan, as he
hauled aft the sheets, and put his helm down.
Cyd obeyed, and the Isabel filled away upon her course again. Lily was
calmer now, but she was still much impressed by the solemn and awful
scene of which she had just been a witness.
"It's all over now, Lily. Don't think any more about it," said Dan, in
soothing tones.
"It is terrible--isn't it, Dan?" replied she, with a shudder.
"It is, Lily; but there was no help for it. All that we have done was in
self-defence."
"But it is awful to think of killing them."
"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 shore
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 shore. She was
running up one of the tributaries of the lake.
Presently the creek was less than thirty feet wide; and having passed
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 shore.