“I have said,” resumed Arrison, “that it won’t do for you to rescue Miss Aylesford at once: for then you’ll have no excuse for not taking her back to Sweetwater. I’ll put her in a boat and carry her down the river, making her believe my intention is to throw pursuit off our trail. In this way I’ll conduct her to the vicinity of the Neck, if not past it; the exact point will depend on yourself. You’ll of course be on the watch. Having gone ahead, you’ll know where to look for me, for you’ll have found out how far his Majesty’s pickets extend; and you’ll naturally wish to attack me before I get within the lines, as otherwise the lady might see that I was really taking her to the British, instead of to the woods, and was your confederate.”
Aylesford nodded approvingly, as Arrison paused for an opinion, on which the latter proceeded.
“It will be easy for you to get together a half dozen stout fellows, followers of the royal forces, with which you’ll put yourself in communication at once. I’ll time my arrival so as to reach your neighborhood about dusk. You’ll know my boat by seeing me in the stern sheets. You must shoot out from under the bank of the meadow, where you’ve been hid, and, with a cheer, dash right on us. We’ll have our cue, and pretend to be taken by surprise. You’ll board us, after a few guns are fired, which we’ll take care, on both sides, shall be without shot. To seize your cousin, transfer her to your boat, and sweep away as fast as the tide and four oars can take you, needn’t be but the work of a moment. Some of us will, meantime, have leaped overboard, the better to carry out the farce; for we can easily swim back to our boat, or make the shore, where our comrades will pick us up. By this little bit of stratagem,” he continued, with a hearty laugh at his own cunning, “you’ll get the credit of having saved your cousin from blood-thirsty villains; and if that don’t trump this Major Gordon’s claims, call me a fool. Curse me,” he added, as he filled his glass, and laughed till the tears ran out of his eyes, “I ought to have been a writer of plays, as I might have been, I suppose, if I’d stayed in Dublin; I think I can fix off a plot as well as old Shakespeare himself.”
“It’s certainly a capital plan,” answered Aylesford, even his disgust now gone, so certain seemed the result. “If it succeeds, I’ll make you a gentleman for life.”
“Succeed? It must succeed. Come, cheer up, sir. Faint heart never won fair lady. Gad, I’m bound to have it succeed, if only to make me a gentleman again; a thing I was born for, but missed by my cursed stupidity.”
“You’ve often hinted at that,” said Aylesford, “and it’s easy to see you’ve had a good education. How did you ever come to seek your fortune as an ostler in the colonies?”
“Some other time, maybe, I’ll tell you,” answered Arrison, his gayety giving way to gloom. “It’s enough for to-day, that I became an ostler because I knew more about horses than anything else.”
And gleams of dignity broke through even his imbruted face, and exhibited themselves in his manner as he spoke.
“Of course,” resumed Aylesford, in an ironical tone, “I’ll find it impossible to carry Kate anywhere else than down the river, right into the heart of the British squadron, where the royal commander, also of course, will retain us. My cousin, as an heiress, will be too valuable a prize to be parted with, and her desire to return, if she urges it, will be civilly, but resolutely resisted by his Majesty’s officer. Besides, we will tell her that it would be madness, after her narrow escape, for her to go back to so disturbed a region, and one also which is about to become the theatre of incessant skirmishes. It’s a capital plan, most capital,” said Aylesford, gleefully. “You have a genius for scheming, Arrison. I’ll do my part, and engage that, to-morrow, Kate shall ride out alone. Let me see. She’ll take the road through the cedar-swamp, towards Herman’s. I think I can manage that. You know the way, don’t you. Be there early. If, by any accident, she fails you to-morrow, then be there every day till she passes.”
“I’ll wait near the spring,” said Arrison, rising, as he perceived Aylesford prepare to go. “In going down the bank of the river, I’ll take the other side. You’ll be ready below, will you?”