“How are we to get him out secretly?”
“That is for us to decide. My brother will aid us so far as may be possible; but he must not take the chances of being known in the business. What does old Silas say?”
“No more than that he’ll have a boat alongside at midnight. That is to be the extent of his work, as I understand it.”
“How can it be done?” Alec said, half to himself, and it was beyond me to answer the question.
In silence we two sat on the rail with eyes fixed upon the deck, trying to puzzle out what would have perplexed older heads than were on our shoulders.
CHAPTER XIII.
CRUISING.
It lacked half an hour of midnight when I saw dimly in the gloom the outlines of a man in a boat on the port side of the brig, and knew that old Silas had fulfilled his promise.
Alec and I had moved restlessly to and fro during the evening, sometimes walking together, and again separating for a time, as if courting loneliness; but without having arrived at any decision regarding a method by which the traitor could be secretly released.
We had formed plans in plenty; but on discussing them some fatal defect was presented, and midnight was like to find us still undecided as to how the work might be performed.
“We will trust to chances,” Alec said finally, after old Silas had made his boat fast and clambered up on the brig’s rail, where he seated himself. “It is not possible to figure out every detail beyond liability of failure, and we can only hold ourselves in readiness for whatever may happen.”