Sybil smiled and shook her head.
They were armed with a pa.s.s such as colored people were required to have from their masters to show to the authorities before they could be permitted to travel.
Our fugitives were not now going to Norfolk, where their story and their persons were too well known; but to Baltimore, where they were perfect strangers. So their pa.s.s was to this effect:
PENDLETON PARK, } Near Blackville, Dec. 15th, 18--.}
"To all whom it may concern: This is to certify that my man Caesar, with his wife Dinah, are permitted to go from this place to Baltimore to return between this date and the first of next March.
"CLEMENT PENDLETON."
This was designed to protect the supposed darkies until they should reach the Monumental City, where they were to take the first opportunity of throwing off their disguises and embarking under another name in the first outward bound ship for a foreign port.
Provided with this protection, and with a well-filled old knapsack that "Caesar" slung over his shoulders, and with a well-stuffed old carpet bag that "Dinah" carried in her hand, the fugitive couple took a long last leave of their friend, and entered the farm wagon, by which Joe was to drive them to the hamlet of Upton, to meet the night coach for Baltimore.
The night was very dark; they could scarcely see each other"s faces, much less the road before them.
"Marster," said Joe, in his extreme anxiety, "I hopes you"ll pardon the liberty, sir; but has you thought to take money enough for you and the missis?"
"Plenty, Joe! Pendleton, Heaven bless him, has seen to all that," smiled Mr. Berners.
"And, Marster, sir, I hopes as you"ve made some "rangements as how we may hear from you when you gets over yonder."
"Certainly, Joe. A correspondence that will be both sure and secret has been contrived between the captain and myself."
"And, Missis," said Joe, turning weepingly towards his lady, "when you"re over yonder, don"t forget poor Joe; but send for him as soon as ever you can."
"Indeed I will, Joe," promised Sybil.
"And, missis! please don"t let little Nelly forget me, neither. I love that little thing like a child!"
"Nelly will not forget you, Joe."
And the little dog, that Sybil had insisted on taking with her, even at the risk of its being recognized as hers, now jumped up from her place at her mistress" feet, and ran and licked Joe"s face, as if to a.s.sure him of her continued love.
At which, for the first time, Joe burst out crying, and sobbed hard.
"Come, my man, prove your devotion to your mistress by deeds, not tears!
Drive fast, or we will miss the coach," Lyon Berners advised.
Joe wiped his eyes with the cuff of his coat, and whipped up his horses, and they rattled over the rocky road for an hour or more before they reached the little hamlet, where they were to wait for the coach. It was very late, and all Upton was asleep, with the exception of the hostlers at the stable, where the coach stopped to change horses. Here Joe drew up his wagon, but his pa.s.sengers retained their seats while waiting for the coming of the stage-coach. They had not waited more than five minutes, when they heard the guard"s warning horn blow, and the huge vehicle rumble down the street, and pull up before the stable door.
Very quickly the tired horses, were taken out and led away to rest, and the fresh ones brought forth.
Meanwhile Lyon Berners alighted, and spoke to the agent, to take places for himself and his wife.
"Show your pa.s.s, my man! show your pa.s.s! We can"t take you without a pa.s.s. How do we know but you are running away?" objected the agent.
Lyon Berners smiled bitterly to think how near the man had inadvertently approached the truth. He handed up the pa.s.s, which the agent carefully examined before he returned it, saying:
"Yes, that"s all right; but you and the girl will have to get up on top, there. We can"t have any darkies inside, you know. And in fact, if we could, there"s no room, you see; the inside is full."
"Caesar" helped "Dinah" up on the top of the coach, and then climbed after her. Joe handed up the little dog; and was about to take a dangerously affecting leave of his beloved master and mistress, when luckily the coachman cracked his whip and the horses started.
Joe watched it out of sight, and then got into his seat on the wagon, and drove back to Pendleton Park, the most disconsolate darkey under the sun.
Meanwhile the flying pair pursued their journey, almost happy, because at length they were together.
Soon after sunrise the next morning the stage reached the station at which it was to breakfast. Not wishing to subject their disguise to the too prying eyes of strangers in broad daylight, they took the provisions that they had brought along, and went apart in the woods to eat them, after which they resumed their places on the top of the coach, in time for its starting.
At noon, when the coach stopped to dine, they went apart again to satisfy their hunger.
It was not until night, when they reached an obscure road-side inn, that they dared to enter a house or ask for a cup of tea. Being "darkies,"
they were sent to the kitchen, where they were regaled with a very hot pot of the beverage that "cheers but not inebriates."
Here also, as they had to change coaches, they were required to show their pa.s.s before they could be permitted to take their uncomfortable seats on the top of the vehicle to continue their journey.
They travelled both by day and night, never giving themselves any rest.
The policy of the first day was continued to the end of their journey.
They always took their meals apart from other people during the broad daylight, denying themselves the comfort of a cup of tea or coffee until night, when, in some dimly lighted country kitchen, they could safely indulge in that refreshment.
At the end of the third day they arrived at Baltimore.
It was just nightfall when they reached the inn where the stage stopped.
They alighted, with knapsack, carpet bag, and dog, and found themselves on the sidewalk of a crowded street.
"This way," whispered Lyon Berners to his wife, as he turned into a by-street. "Sybil," he continued, when they felt themselves comparatively alone in the less thronged thoroughfare--"Sybil, if we are to drop our disguises here, we must do so before we enter any inn, because we should have no opportunity afterwards, without detection."
And relieving her of the carpet bag and carrying that as well as the knapsack, he led her by a long walk to the woods on the outskirts of the city, where, by the side of a clear stream, they washed the dye from their faces and hands, and then changed their upper garments. Their knapsack contained every requisite for a decent toilet; and so, in something less than half an hour, they had transformed themselves back again from plain, respectable darkies, to plain, respectable whites; and "Caesar" and "Dinah" became in their next phase, the Reverend Mr. and Mrs. Martin. The only thing that could not be changed was the color of Lyon"s hair, which, having been dyed black, must remain black until time and growth should restore its natural color.
As the Reverend Mr. and Mrs. Martin, they walked back to the city. At the first hack stand "Mr. Martin" called a carriage, placed "Mrs.
Martin," with her pet dog, knapsack, and carpet bag in it, entered and took a seat by her side, and told the hackman to drive to the best hotel.
"For it is our policy now to go boldly to the best," he said, as he took Sybil"s hands, cold from her outdoor toilet, into his and tried to warm them.
They were driven to the "Calvert House," where Mr. Berners registered their names as the Reverend Isaiah Martin and wife; and where they were received with the respect due to the cloth, and shown to a handsome room on the first floor, which was cheerfully lighted by a chandelier, and warmed by a bright coal fire in the grate.
Here poor Sybil enjoyed the first real repose she had seen since the commencement of her flight. Here Lyon ordered a comfortable and even luxurious supper; and the fugitive pair supped together in peace and safety.
Although it was late when the table was cleared, Lyon felt that no time was to be lost before he should make inquiries about the outward bound ships. So having ordered the morning and evening papers to be brought to their room, he first examined the shipping advertis.e.m.e.nts, and finding that the "Energy," Captain Strong, was to sail for Havre on the next day but one, taking pa.s.sengers as well as freight, he put on his hat, and leaving Sybil to amuse herself with the newspapers during his absence, he left the hotel to see the shipping agent.
A strange sense of peace and safety had fallen upon Sybil, and she sat there before her cheerful fire reading the news of the day, and occasionally contrasting her situation now, in the finest room of a large and crowded hotel, with her position but a few days before in the Robbers" Cave. The time pa.s.sed pleasantly enough until the return of Mr.
Berners.
He entered very cheerfully, telling her that he had engaged a cabin pa.s.sage in the "Energy," which would sail on the day after to-morrow, and that they must be on board the next afternoon.
Sybil was delighted to hear this. Visions of perfect freedom, and of foreign travel with her beloved Lyon, flitted before her imagination.