"No man shall stand between me and freedom. I would shoot him or any other man, if it were necessary to secure our safety."
"Gossifus! Shoot Massa Raybone!" exclaimed Cyd.
"I hope we shall not be obliged to fire upon any man; but I shall do so, and you must do the same, Cyd, if we are in danger of being captured."
"Do any ting you say, Dan," replied Cyd whose mind readily settled upon any policy adopted by his leader.
"Now, Lily, you had better turn in, as Midshipman Raybone used to say. You must sleep while you can, for you may have no rest again for several days."
"I'm not sleepy; but you are going to have a very hard time. When we get out to sea we shall have to run all the time—shall we not?"
"Yes—night and day."
"Then when will you sleep?"
"Cyd and I must sleep by turns. We shall get along very well if the weather is only good."
About eleven o'clock both Lily and Cyd retired to their berths, leaving Dan alone on deck. The wind held fair till about three o'clock in the morning, at which time the Isabel was within ten miles of the outlet of the lake. It was too dark for the careful skipper to discover the nature of the shore, and he was waiting for a little daylight to enable him to find a suitable place to lie up during the next day. The boat was fully three miles from either shore, when the wind suddenly died out. Directly ahead, there were several small islands, but they were farther off than the main shore.