"Hurry up, Sim!" I called to my file-leader. "We have no time to lose."
"Won't Captain Fishley come after us?" asked Flora, as Sim quickened his pace.
"He will if he knows where to come; but the swamp will be the last place in the world where any one would think of looking for us. Before morning we shall be miles away. Don't be alarmed, Flora."
"I am not alarmed. I feel ever so much better than I did when I thought of meeting Mrs. Fishley again. Do you think it is right for us to do this, Buckland?"
"Right! Of course it is. I don't know of any reason why we should stay with Captain Fishley and his wife, to be kicked and cuffed by them any longer."
Flora was thoughtful; but I knew she would not have come with me if she had believed it was wrong to do so. We were all silent till we reached the verge of the swamp, where the small raft lay. We unloaded the wheelbarrow, and Sim went back for the rest of the articles. I placed my sister's bed on the raft, and taking her in my arms, I laid her upon it, and covered her with blankets, that the night air might not injure her. I then pushed the raft over to the branch of the creek.
"Is that the raft?" exclaimed Flora, as I pointed it out to her.
"That's it; and I am sure you will be happier on board of it than at Fishley's."
"The house looks real nice! There is the stove-pipe. You have one glass window."
"Yes; that is in your room," I replied, as I ran the tender alongside the great raft.