In a couple of hours the Isabel reached the narrow outlet of the lake.
Thus far, the south-westerly wind had enabled her to run with a free sheet; but at this point the course changed, and Dan found that he should be compelled to beat dead to windward in order to reach his destination. Then he wished he had not started; but up the creek he had been unable to determine from what direction the light breeze came, and had decided the question to the best of his ability.
Though he had no reason to reproach himself for his want of care, the situation was none the less difficult or trying on that account. But there was one compensating advantage: as he pa.s.sed through the narrow outlet of the lake, the broad surface of the Chetemache was before him.
It was forty miles long by ten miles wide, and afforded him abundant s.p.a.ce in which to work the boat. And in this open sea the wind came un.o.bstructed to his sails.
The course of the Isabel, on her first tack, lay close to the eastern sh.o.r.e of the lake. The boat moved very slowly through the water, and Lily and Cyd sat by the side of the skipper, talking in low tones of the future, with its hopes and its trials, its joys and its dangers.
Suddenly they heard a crackling sound in the cane-brake near them; then came from a greater distance the bay of bloodhounds. There was no mistaking these sounds; and for an hour they listened in almost breathless anxiety to these appalling indications of a slave-hunt.
The yelp of the dogs came nearer and nearer; but they had lost the sounds which indicated the presence of the hunted fugitive.
"Gossifus!" whispered Cyd, for he had been forbidden to speak a loud word. "Where you "pose de n.i.g.g.e.r dem dogs is chasin" is?"
"I don"t know. I pray that he may escape," replied Dan.
"Can"t you help him?" asked Lily, whose frame shook with terror, as her fancy pictured the terrible scene which she had so often heard described.
A splash in the water a hundred yards astern of the Isabel now attracted the attention of the party.
"Can"t you help him?" repeated Lily, in trembling tones.
"It will not be safe for us to show ourselves, for the human bloodhounds are not far off."
"Do help him if you can. Save him from those terrible dogs!" pleaded Lily.
"He will swim to that island," said Dan. "Perhaps the dogs will not catch him."
"Yes, they will."
"Yes, dey will. Dey done leap in de water. Dar dey go!" added Cyd, as they listened to the splashes as the brutes sprang into the lake.
"Save him! Save him, Dan!" cried Lily.
"It may cost us our lives and our liberty," replied Dan.
"No matter. Let us die if we can save the poor man from the fangs of the bloodhounds."
"I will, Lily," replied Dan, as he put the Isabel about, and headed towards the small island, about half a mile from the sh.o.r.e. "Take the helm, Cyd," continued he, as he left his post at the tiller, and rushed into the cabin.
He returned in a moment with two fowling-pieces in his hands, and proceeded to load them. By this time the panting fugitive was distinctly seen, closely pursued by the dogs.
CHAPTER XII.
QUIN, THE RUNAWAY.
Dan had loaded the fowling-pieces with buckshot. Though not a good marksman, he had some experience in the use of arms, and felt fully competent to cut off the bloodhounds before they could pounce upon their human prey. Leaving Cyd at the helm, he went forward and stationed himself at the heel of the bowsprit.
The dogs were better swimmers than the fugitive, and were rapidly gaining upon him, for the poor creature"s limbs seemed to be partially paralyzed by the appalling danger that menaced him. The Isabel was approaching the scene of this exciting race with a rapidity which promised soon to terminate the affair.
Dan immediately obtained a correct idea of the relative positions of the dog and the man. His object was to run the boat between them, and thus cut off the savage beasts from their prey.
"Luff a little, Cyd," said he.
"Luff "em "tis," replied the helmsman, who was boatman enough to understand the nautical phrase, and even to handle the craft under the direction of a more skilful skipper.
"Steady as she is."
"See here, Dan. Is you gwine to shoot?" asked Cyd.
"Certainly I am. What do you suppose I got the guns for?"
"Possifus! What you gwine to shoot?"
"The dogs, of course. Luff a little--luff! You are letting her fall off."
"Luff "em "tis. See here, Dan. You be mighty keerful you don"t hit de n.i.g.g.e.r."
"Silence, now, and mind your helm! You are steering wild."
Cyd had so far improved in the cultivation of the quality of obedience on shipboard, that he did not speak again, but he was fearfully excited by the stirring scene which was transpiring near him. Dan was not less moved, though his cool determination produced a different manifestation of his feelings. He was conscious of the danger to which his interference in the hunt subjected him. There were probably several slave-hunters on the track of the fugitive. The Isabel would be seen by them, and possibly be recognized, which would certainly bring pursuers upon her track.
But it was not in his nature to permit his suffering fellow-creature, in this unequal strife, to be conquered by his human and brute antagonists.
The appeal of the gentle Lily had been addressed to a sympathizing heart, and he entered with all his soul upon the task of saving the slave from the fangs of his pursuers.
The Isabel had now come within a few yards of the dogs and their prey.
The time for action had come. Dan was fully sensible of the great crime, as the southern slave law regarded it, of shooting a "n.i.g.g.e.r dog;" but with a steady hand, though his heart bounded with exciting emotions, he raised the gun to his shoulder, and taking deliberate aim at the nearest hound, he fired. The brute gave a deep yell, and for some time continued to splash about in the water.
"Don"t shoot me, ma.s.sa! Don"t shoot me, and I"ll gib myself up," cried the fugitive, who seemed to have heard the report of the gun, without observing the effect which the shot had produced.
"I mean to save you," replied Dan, as he levelled the gun at another of the dogs; but this time he missed his aim, and the hound continued to swim towards the negro.
"Luff a little more," said Dan to Cyd, as the boat came between the man and the dogs.
"Luff "em "tis."
As the boat now divided the dogs from their prey, Dan did not again load the guns; but seizing the boat-hook, he gave the foremost hound a knock on the head, which caused him to retreat, howling with pain.
"Swim this way," cried Dan to the negro. "I will save you."
"Yes, sar," gasped the negro, whose breath was nearly exhausted by the hard struggle through which he had just pa.s.sed.
As the Isabel luffed up, the fugitive came alongside, and Dan a.s.sisted him to climb upon the deck.
"O Lord!" groaned he, as he threw himself at full length upon the forecastle.
"Poor fellow!" sighed Lily, who ran forward to see the sufferer as soon as he was hauled on board. "What can we do for him?"