"Oh, there is no fear, Sir Richard," said Jenny. "They have all gone the other way; besides, they tell me a number of them ran away with buck-shot in their skins, and they'll be a long time before they come back again, I reckon. Why, the road all the way to Jerusalem 's quite clear now."
"I wish I could believe it so, Jenny," I answered; "for I want to take Miss Davenport there as soon as possible. But I understand there are some thirty or forty in the band; and though I would defend her to the last, I should soon be overpowered by such a number."
"Ay," answered Jenny, "there were sixty of them this morning--I counted them myself; but there are not so many now. They have begun to melt away, and there will soon not be twenty of them left together, unless there are others coming up that I don't know about. But you can soon satisfy yourself, Sir Richard; for if you just walk along, keeping in the inside of the woods, with the sun a little bit to your right, at the end of about half an hour you will come upon the high road; and if you see no trace of them between this and that, you may be sure that it's all clear. They won't venture on the high road in a hurry again; for the gentlemen are all assembling at the town, and are too many for them. I'll go with you, if you like, and show you the way. I'm not afraid. Indeed I should have gone to Jerusalem myself, only it's not pleasant for us poor creatures. The gentlemen take us up because we are black, and the niggers kill us, because they say we are yellow; so what are we to do?"
"Let us go on, Richard," said Bessy. "I do not think there will be much danger." A moment's thought, however, made me resolve, before I took her with me, to reconnoitre the country in front by myself. It was evident that Jenny's information, like that of the mulatto girl, Minerva, was merely upon hearsay; and I did not choose to risk the life of one very dear to me upon the strength of vague rumours. Besides, Bessy had now with her one on whom she could depend, and who, in some respects, might be more serviceable to her than even I could be. Jenny, in all probability, knew all the paths and by-roads in a country in which she had been born and brought up. She knew the customs and ways of the people, and could judge of their movements and their purposes much better than I could do. She was, moreover, a very stout, powerful woman, and did not seem to lack courage or decision; all very serviceable qualities of body and mind in the circumstances wherein we were placed.
"I will go on, dear Bessy," I said, "and see what I can discover for a mile or so in advance. I will return as soon as I have satisfied myself that the way is clear. In the meantime, you stay here with Jenny till I come back, unless you find some cause for apprehension. In case you are obliged to leave the place, tear up a handkerchief, or this paper, in which the biscuits were wrapped, and drop the pieces on the way. You had better keep these two pistols with you. The sound will reach me a long way, and would, I suspect, frighten these scoundrels more than the shot."
"Oh, give me one of them, Sir Richard," said Jenny; "I'll shoot 'em if they come here, and then break their skulls with the hammer like a cleaver."
"Here is a bigger one, Jenny," I said, giving one of the larger pistols I had found at Mr. Travis's. "You will protect your young mistress, I know, Jenny. Dearest Bessy, you are not afraid to stay till I come back?"
"No," she answered, faintly; and then added, "I would rather go with you, Richard; but I will not embarrass you, and perhaps you judge best; only do not be long, dear Richard; for I shall be fearful for you till you return." I took a step or two forward; but then my heart smote me for a piece of selfish forgetfulness; and, returning, I inquired of Jenny whether she had seen anything of my poor servant Zed.
"No, I have not, sir," replied the woman. "Poor old man, I don't think they would hurt him: he was as black as any of them. Oh, he must certainly be safe; for I should have found him somewhere lying about if they had killed him. Besides, what should they kill him for?" I explained to her how he had devoted himself to give Bessy and myself time to escape. But she still retained the same opinion; asserting that he must have got away before the door into Bessy's room from the corridor had been broken down. Thus she forced me to be satisfied. I walked away again towards the south-west.