"Ah!" she said, "I cannot forget how you got it—how you attacked twelve men to save me!"
"Still less can I forget, Miss Kingston, how you, a young girl, confronted death rather than say a word that would place me in their power."
"That was quite different, Mr. Wingfield. My own honor was pledged not to betray you, who had trusted me."
"Well, we will cry quits for the present, Miss Kingston; or, rather, we will be content to remain for the present in each other's debt."
A quarter of an hour's walking brought them to the river.
"Now," Lucy said, "we must make our way about ten yards through these bushes to the right."
With some difficulty they passed through the thick screen of bushes, the girl still leading the way.
"Here it is," she said; "I have my hand upon it." Vincent was soon beside her, and the negroes quickly joined them.
"There are no oars in the boat," Vincent said, feeling along the seat.
"Oh! I forgot! They are stowed away behind the bushes on the right; they were taken out, so that if the Yankees found the boat it would be of no use to them."