"Only what little Pete told me; the second agent is supposed to be a preacher in Beardstown."
She asked no further questions, and after a moment turned away, resting back against the edge of the c.o.c.kpit with chin cupped in the hollow of her hand. The profile of her face was clearly defined by the starlight reflected by the river, and I found it hard to withdraw my eyes. A movement by the negro attracted my attention.
"There is a small creek about four miles above the Landing, Sam," I said shortly. "Do you think you can find it?"
"On de Missouri side, sah? Ah reckon Ah cud."
CHAPTER XIV
THE DAWN OF DEEPER INTEREST
It tested his skill as a boatman to locate the exact spot sought amid that gloom, yet he finally attained to it closely enough so I was able to get ash.o.r.e, wading nearly thigh deep in water and mud, but only to learn that the boat, which I had provisioned earlier in the evening, had disappeared from its moorings. No trace of it could be found in the darkness, although I devoted several minutes to the search. To my mind this was positive evidence that Pete had returned, accompanied by the two frightened women, and that, finally despairing of my arrival, had departed with them up the river. In all probability we would overhaul the party before morning, certainly before they could attain the mouth of the Illinois. Their heavy rowboat would be compelled to creep along close in sh.o.r.e to escape the grasp of the current, while our engine gave us every advantage. I made my way back to the keel-boat with this information, and the laboring engine began to chug even while I was briefly explaining the situation to Rene. She listened almost wearily, asking but few questions, and both of us soon lapsed into silence. A little later she had pillowed her head on her arms and apparently had fallen asleep.
I must have dozed, myself, as the hours pa.s.sed, although hardly aware of doing so. The soft, continuous chugging of the engine, the swash of water alongside, the ceaseless sweep of the current, and the dark gloom of the shadows through which we struggled, all combined to produce drowsiness. I know my eyes were closed several times, and at last they opened to a realization that gray, sickly dawn rested upon the river surface. It was faint and dim, a promise more than a realization of approaching day, yet already sufficient to afford me view of the sh.o.r.e at our right, and to reveal the outlines of a sharp point of land ahead jutting into the stream. The mist rising from off the water in vaporous clouds obscured all else, rendering the scene weird and unfamiliar. It was, indeed, a desolate view, the near-by land low, and without verdure, in many places overflowed, and the river itself sullen and angry. Only that distant point appeared clearly defined and real, with the slowly brightening sky beyond. I endeavored to arouse myself from stupor, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Rene had changed her posture, but still slumbered, with face completely concealed in her arms; but Sam was wide awake, and turned toward me grinning at my first movement. He had a broad, good-humored face, and a row of prominent teeth, slightly shadowed by a very thin moustache. Instinctively, I liked the fellow on sight--he appeared both intelligent and trustworthy.
"Daylight, is it?" I said, speaking low so as not to awaken the girl.
"I must have been asleep."
"Yas, sah; yer"s bin a noddin" fer de las" hour. Ah wus "bout ter stir yer up, sah, fer Ah reckon as how we"s mos" dar."
"Most where?" staring about incredulously. "Oh, yes, Ra.s.suer Creek.
Have we made that distance already?"
Sam"s teeth glittered in another expanding of his mouth.
"Wal", we"s bin a goin" et a mighty good gait, sah. She ain"t done fooled none on me all dis night," his hand laid lovingly on the engine.
"Nebber kicked up no row o" no kind--just chug, chug, chug right "long.
"Pears like she sorter know"d dis n.i.g.g.e.r hed ter git away. Enyhow, we bin movin" lon" now right smart fer "bout four hours, an" Ra.s.suer Creek am just "round dat p"int yonder--Ah"s mighty sure ob dat, sah."
He was right, but it was broad daylight when we reached there, the eastern sky a glorious crimson, and the girl sitting up, staring at the brilliant coloring as though it pictured to her the opening of a new world. I was too busily engaged helping Sam at the wheel, for the swirl of the current about the headland required all our strength to combat it, and eagerly scanning the irregular sh.o.r.e line, to observe her closely in the revealing light; yet I knew that she had studied us both attentively from beneath her long lashes, before turning her head away.
Rounding the headland brought us immediately into a new country, the river bank high and firm, a bank of rather vivid yellow clay, with trees thickly covering the rising ground beyond. The pa.s.sage of a few hundred yards revealed the mouth of Ra.s.suer Creek, a narrow but sluggish stream, so crooked and encroached upon by the woods as to be practically invisible from the center of the river. The water was not deep, yet fortunately proved sufficiently so for our purpose, although we were obliged to both pole and paddle the boat upward against the slow current, and it required an hour of hard labor to place the craft safely beyond the first bend where it might lie thoroughly concealed by the intervening fringe of trees. Here we made fast to the bank.
I a.s.sisted Rene ash.o.r.e, and aided her to climb to a higher level, carpeted with gra.s.s. The broad river was invisible, but we could look directly down upon the boat, where Sam was already busily rummaging through the lockers, in search of something to eat. He came ash.o.r.e presently bearing some corn pone, and a goodly portion of jerked beef.
Deciding it would be better not to attempt a fire, we divided this, and made the best meal possible, meanwhile discussing the situation anew, and planning what to do next. The negro, seated at one side alone upon the gra.s.s, said little, beyond replying to my questions, yet scarcely once removed his eyes from the girl"s face. He seemed unable to grasp the thought that she was actually of his race, a runaway slave, or permit his tongue to utter any words of equality. Indeed, I could not prevent my own glance from being constantly attracted in her direction, also. Whatever had been her mental strain and anguish, the long hours of the night had in no marked degree diminished her beauty. To me she appeared even younger, and more attractive than in the dim glare of the lamplight the evening before; and this in spite of a weariness in her eyes, and the la.s.situde of her manner. She spoke but little, compelling herself to eat, and a.s.suming a cheerfulness I was sure she was far from feeling. It was clearly evident her thoughts were elsewhere, and finally the conviction came to me, that, more than all else, she desired to be alone. My eyes sought the outlines of the boat lying in the stream below.
"What is there forward of the c.o.c.kpit, Sam?" I questioned. "Beneath the deck, I mean; there seem to be several portholes."
"A cabin, sah; "tain"t so awful big, but Ma.s.sa Donaldson he uster sleep dar off an" on."
"The young lady could rest there then?"
"Sure she cud. "Twas all fixed up fine afore we lef Saint Louee.
Ah"ll show yer de way, Missus."
She rose to her feet rather eagerly, and stood with one hand resting against the trunk of a small tree. Her eyes met mine, and endeavored a smile.
"I thank you for thinking of that," she said gratefully. "I--I really am tired, and--and it will be rest just to be alone. You--you do not mind if I go?"
"Certainly not. There is nothing for any of us to do, but just take things easy until night."
"And then we are to go on, up the river?"
"Yes, unless, of course, something should occur during the day to change our plan. Meanwhile Sam and I will take turns on guard, while you can remain undisturbed."
She gave me her hand simply, without so much as a thought of any social difference between us, and I bowed low as I accepted it, equally oblivious. Yet the realization came to her even as our fingers met, a sudden dash of red flaming into her cheeks, and her eyes falling before mine.
"Oh, I forgot!" she exclaimed, drawing away. "It is so hard to remember."
"I beg you not to try. I have but one aim--to serve you to the best of my ability. Let me do it in my own way."
"Your own way?"
"Yes, the way of a gentleman, the way of a friend. You can look into my face now by daylight. Please look; am I unworthy to be trusted?"
She did not answer at once, or even seem to hear my question, yet slowly her downcast eyes lifted, until she gazed frankly into my own.
Beneath the shading lashes they were wistful, pleading, yet steadfastly brave.
"I am at your mercy, Lieutenant Knox," she said quietly. "I must trust you--and I do. Yes, you may serve me in your own way. We--we cannot seem to play a part very well, either of us, so, perhaps, it will be easier just to be natural."
I watched the two as they went down the steep bank together, and Sam helped her over the rail into the c.o.c.kpit. The narrow entrance leading into the cabin forward was to the right of the engine, and she disappeared through the sliding door without so much as glancing upward toward where I remained standing. The negro left the door open, and returned slowly, clambering up the bank.
""Cuse me, sah," he said clumsily, as he paused before me, rubbing his head, his eyes wandering below. "Did Ah hear right whut yer sed las"
night, "bout how dat young woman was a n.i.g.g.e.r, a runaway frum Ma.s.sa Kirby? "Pears like Ah don"t just seem fer ter git dat right in my head, sah."
"That is the truth, Sam, although it appears quite as impossible to me as to you. She is a natural lady, and worthy of all respect--a beautiful girl, with no outward sign that she is not wholly white--yet she has the blood of your race in her veins, and is legally a slave."
"Lordy, an she nebber know"d it till just now?"
"No; I can only wonder at her meeting the truth as she does. Perhaps I had better tell you the story--it is very brief. She is the illegitimate daughter of a son of the late Judge Beaucaire, and a slave mother known as Delia, a quadroon woman. The boy disappeared years ago, before she was born, and is probably dead, and she has been brought up, and educated exactly as if she was the Judge"s own child.
She has never known otherwise, until those men came to the house the other night."
"An"--an" de ol" Jedge, he nebber done set her free?"
"No; nor the mother. I do not know why, only that it is a fact."
"An" now she done b"long ter dis yere Ma.s.sa Kirby?"
"Yes, he won all the Beaucaire property, including the slaves, in a poker game on the river, the night Beaucaire died."
"Ah done heered all "bout dat, sah. An" yer nebber know"d dis yere girl afore et all?"
"No, I never even saw her. I chanced to hear the story, and went to the house to warn them, as no one else would. I was too late, and no other course was left but to help her escape. That is the whole of it."
He asked several other questions, but at last appeared satisfied, and after that we discussed the guard duty of the day, both agreeing it would not be safe for us to permit any possible pursuit to pa.s.s by us up the river unseen. Sam professed himself as unwearied by the night"s work, and willing to stand the first watch; and my eyes followed his movements as he scrambled across the intervening ravine, and disappeared within a fringe of woods bordering the sh.o.r.e of the river.