For some time the attention of Walter had been attracted by a stone building of moderate size, of which no use seemed to be made as a storehouse, the windows of which were some feet from the ground and grated. He noticed a negro, a body servant of the planter, go in there about meal times with something in a basket, and thought it must be the place where Peterson was confined.
Access was difficult, even to the outside, in the night, as a negro called Jean Baptiste, and in whom great confidence was placed, kept the night watch before it. Walter made the acquaintance of Jean, which was not at all difficult, as the negro was delighted with the notice of both him and Ned. Nothing, however, came of it for some days.
At length Walter, being at work with Ned on the frame of the overseer's house, and thus brought above the level of the grates in the building which had been so long the object of intense curiosity, thought, as he looked towards it, he perceived something moving behind the grates, although the distance was too great to determine its character.
But the very possibility that Peterson was confined there made Walter's heart leap to his throat. He looked around. Below were Sewall, Dick, and three negro assistants. He made a signal to Ned, and directed his attention to the place, and received a nod of intelligence.
Every few moments that afternoon their eyes were fastened on those grates. As the sun declined, the rays, falling on the apertures, made them quite confident that they saw a human figure pacing back and forth. It seemed to Walter and Ned as though the sun would never, never set that night.
The moment they reached the vessel the announcement was made. Walter, Ned, and Dick began to devise methods to ascertain whether their suspicions were well founded.
"If you want to know, and can't see," said Lancaster, who stood listening in silence, "why don't you take the glass? That's what they have 'em for."
"What precious fools we are," said Walter, "looking and longing all the afternoon, and couldn't think of that!"
Within a short distance of the frame they had been at work upon, rose the high ground, forming the point that separated the two coves. In the evening, Walter hid the glass among some bushes on the side of the ascent, and while the rest were at breakfast the next morning, he and Ned repaired to the spot.
Walter put the glass to his eye, and was rewarded by seeing the well-known features of his black friend pressed against the grates.