"And we haven"t found the boat, my lad. But here"s a little bit of a tool here I"ve got for you at last. Better one than mine. One of the blacks had been cutting up zome meat with it yesterday, and left it out on the bench--forgetted all about it--they"re good ones at forgetting; and zo I scrambled back and got hold of it, sharpened it up at the point, and made a wooden sheath for it, so as you can wear it in your belt under your shirt."
"A knife!" whispered Nic excitedly as Pete thrust the weapon into his hand. "No; I don"t want to shed blood."
"I didn"t say it was to kill men with, did I? S"pose one of them dogs had you by the throat, wouldn"t it be useful then? or to kill a deer out in the woods? or skin a "possum? Might even be useful to stick into a "gator"s throat. Better take it, master."
Nic"s hand closed upon the handle of the keen blade, and he transferred it to his belt; when, as the hard sheath pressed against his side, he felt that, after all, it was one step towards liberty.
The next morning Pete told him that he had had another good hunt by the river-side, going as far as he dared, but without result.
"And "twix" you and me, Master Nic, I suppose it"s being a bit of a coward, but I dursen"t go no more. I aren"t afraid o" things you can see; but when you"re down by the water o" nights listening to the strange birds making queer noises, and the big bats whuzzing round you, to say nothing of the "gators walloping about at the edge, and other gashly things zeeming to be lying wait for you, it"s a bit too much for me."
"It must be very nervous work, Pete."
"Last night about settled me that we must go right up-country or through the woods, for I trod on a big snake, and felt it twissen round my leg.
Ugh! I don"t mind a conger, because, even if he bites you, it"s on"y a bite, and it gets well; but a snake! Why, they tell me--leastwise one of the blacks did--as a bite from one of the rattlesnakes"ll finish you off in "bout an hour."
"But you were not bitten?"
"S"pose not, and I"ve been thinking since I must ha" trod on the gashly thing"s head. Anyhow it did scare me, and I mean to chop every one I zee while I"m hoeing. I have killed four since we"ve been here."
"You must not try it again, Pete," said Nic.
"Then we shall have to take to the woods, master, for I don"t zee any chance o" getting the boat."
That day, while the two prisoners were hoeing together, the settler came round, stood watching them for a time, and then came nearer and examined their work, saw nothing to complain of, but still being dissatisfied, he turned upon Pete.
"Here, you get chattering too much with this lad," he cried; "be off across to the long corn-field behind the house and join that gang. Work with them, and send black Jupe here to take your place."
"Yes, master," said Pete quietly; and as he shouldered his hoe and the settler walked away, he made an offer at him with the hoe, when one of the dogs growled savagely.
Suspicious of danger, the settler turned sharply, to see Pete slouching away with his eyes on the ground; so, after an angry word or two at the dog, the master went on again, leaving Nic hoeing away, thinking how dreary the days would pa.s.s if he were to have no better companionship than that of the black.
Half-an-hour pa.s.sed before the slave came slowly along the row Nic was hoeing--for the waving growth completely shut them from sight--and upon reaching his fellow-prisoner"s side he made a few sc.r.a.pes with his hoe and then stopped, with his black face shining as he showed his teeth.
"You had better go on with your work," said Nic quietly; "the master will be back."
"Not a day, sah," said the black. "Him going get boat and go up ribber "long o" Ma.s.sa Saunder."
Nic looked at the man sharply as he uttered the word _boat_. Wouldn"t it be possible to hear from him where the boat was kept?
"Berry hot. Take four boy row de boat, and tell Sam and Zerks load de gun and shoot ebbery white body who done work."
"Ah!" said Nic.
"Dat so, sah," said the man, laughing. "No shoot black fellow."
He said no more, but went on chopping away in the hot sunshine far faster than Nic could manage, and the intense heat did not seem to affect him. For it was so hot that the prisoner felt exhausted, early as it was in the day, the tall growth around keeping off the breeze.
But he worked away, with the perspiration streaming down his face, thinking what an opportunity this would be for taking to the woods or the open country, but with his heart sinking as he dwelt upon the possibility of Humpy Dee and the others fighting against such a plan from pure malice. And besides, Pete was not there to discuss the matter. There were the armed blacks, too, and the dogs.
Nic went to the end of his row, turned, and worked away back, forgetful of his black companion, till he was half-way along the return row, when a peculiar sound startled him, and stepping aside among the canes, his heart gave a big throb, for the black seemed to have fallen from exhaustion. The next minute he smiled, for he realised that the man was fast asleep.
And how hot it was! Nic"s throat was dry, his tongue parched, while only some three hundred yards from where he toiled there was the green band of cane and reed jungle, and just beyond that the bright, cool waters of the river.
Oh, if he could only be where he could lie down and take one long, deep draught!
The thought of it increased his thirst.
Well, why not? The black had shown him that there was no danger. Their tyrants had started in the boat by now, or the idle rascal would not have lain down so coolly to sleep, and this terrible thirst--
"Oh, I must go and have a drink," muttered Nic wearily; and then, laying down his hoe, he walked swiftly to the end of the row, turned at right angles along by the ditch which divided the field from the next field, and, satisfied that he could not be seen from the house, kept on and on, startled more than once by the rustle of a gliding snake, till the narrow patch of jungle was reached, and he plunged into it, to force his way along to the edge of the river.
The reeds and dense water-growth ended suddenly, and he was about to peer out, up and down, to make sure that he was not seen, thinking the while of how easy escape seemed, when he drew back and stood watching with starting eyes.
But it was not at the alligator six feet long which lay between him and the gliding river, nor yet at that other, a dozen yards away, sunning itself at the surface of the water; but at the black woolly head of a swimmer nearly at the other side, making easily and well for the mouth of an overhung creek nearly opposite to where Nic crouched, and quite regardless of the dangerous reptiles which might be near.
The feeling of thirst died out as Nic watched, seeing that there was a way of escape after all by the river; for if that man dared trust himself to swim in open daylight to the other side, surely he and Pete might venture, even if the place did swarm with reptiles?
Nic"s heart beat with a strange feeling of satisfaction. Here, then, was one of his unfortunate companions taking advantage of the master"s absence to escape. Why was not Pete there to join him, and they might all get away together?
In another minute Nic would have been on his way back to try and get speech with Pete, and tell him what he had seen. He might, he thought, elude Samson"s watchfulness, when, to his astonishment, the man reached the farther sh.o.r.e, stepped out, and shook himself, when Nic felt that he must be dreaming, for it was Samson himself.
The next minute Nic saw him plunge into the thick growth overhanging the narrow creek and disappear.
"Left his musket behind because he felt doubtful about getting it across," thought Nic, and once more he was about to hurry back, when a strange rustling sound caught his ear, followed by the rattle as of a pole; and directly after the mystery of the boat"s hiding-place was laid bare, for it glided out from among the waving canes, and there was Samson standing upright, dipping the pole first on one side, then on the other, sending the boat across as it glided down with the stream, pa.s.sed the watcher, and evidently was being directed for the other creek.
"Poor old Pete, how glad he"ll be!" thought Nic. "That"s it, plain enough; kept over there because they think no one would dare to swim across; but we dare."
"Dare we?" said Nic to himself the next minute, as he saw an unusually large alligator make a swirl in the water and dart by; and he shuddered as the thought occurred to him that, though the reptiles might not touch the blacks, with a white man it might mean something very different.
"Ugh! you little beast," he muttered, as there was a rustle in the moist patch of jungle, and he caught sight of the loathsome blunt muzzle of what looked like a monstrous eft staring hard at him, not a couple of yards distant.
A quick movement sent the reptile scuffling away; then there was a splash, and forgetful entirely of his thirst, Nic hurried back, feeling a lingering doubt as to whether the settler or his overseer might not have been to the field during his absence, as they were certainly not gone.
But upon reaching the place where he had left his hoe, there it lay with the handle too hot to hold, and the slave close at hand, shining and happy, fast asleep, with his mouth open, and the red lips attracting the flies, as if it were some huge ugly red blossom from which they might sip.
That day seemed as if it would never come to an end. But at sunset the conch sh.e.l.l was blown, and the black started up, just as Nic straightened his weary back, and came slowly towards him down the row he had hoed.
"Um tink um been fa.s.s "sleep, sah," said the black, grinning. "You tell Ma.s.s" Saunder? No, you not tell um, and me shut de eye nex" time you go "sleep."
"I shan"t tell tales," said Nic good-humouredly. "But I say, do you ever think about running away?"
"Run away? What for? No use run away. Set dogs to catch you "gain.
An" if dogs not catch um, where run to? Plantations all alike."
"To you," thought Nic. "Yes; where could he run to--back to Africa?
What then? Only to be caught and sold again. Poor wretch! Worse off than I. There is no pleasant Devon for him to reach, as we must and will reach it some day. Yes, there are slaves far worse off than I.
What can the dear old dad have thought when he found me gone? There is only one answer to that," said Nic, with a weary sigh--"that I was drowned in the pool struggle and swept out to sea."