With Axe and Rifle

by William Henry Giles Kingston

“No, no, me go with massa!” she exclaimed.

As she might be useful, Mr Tidey agreed to her going. We hurried back once more to the canoe, and, lifting in Rose, placed her in the bows near the head of our prisoner, in a position which would enable her speedily to tighten his gag, should he attempt to cry out. We then, taking the paddles, commenced our voyage, I sitting in the bows, Mr Tidey in the stern. We paddled in towards every opening which was likely to afford a spot for camping, but no object could we see besides the tall trees rising up above the water. We had gone some distance, and I had begun to fear that those we were in search of had moved off from the shores of the lake, and that we might have a long march to come up with them, should we discover the direction they had taken, when I perceived a more ruddy tint on the surface of the lake than that reflected by the silvery moon.

“There must be a fire somewhere near the shore,” I whispered, “people are encamped there, depend upon it; how shall we proceed?”

“We will land close in here, and then try to steal upon them unobserved, so as to reconnoitre them first. If there are too many people to master, we must wait until some of the party fall asleep, and then try to surprise them. One at least is sure to be on guard; we must knock him over and then spring on the rest. We shall be able to judge better when we ascertain how matters stand,” observed the Dominie.

As he spoke he turned the head of the canoe to the shore, which we soon reached. Rose had crammed the handkerchief tight down into the mouth of the prisoner, or he would to a certainty have betrayed us. Even now I was afraid that we might have been seen, but no hail reached us. Making as little noise as possible with our paddles, we soon reached the beach, and, making a sign for Rose not to follow us, we landed, leaving her in charge of the canoe. We both crept forward as cautiously as any Indians could have done. As we approached the fire we heard the sound of voices, and by getting a little nearer we could hear what was said.

“I wonder that fellow Jowl hasn’t found us out yet,” observed one of the speakers; “we shall have a long tramp for it if he doesn’t appear very soon, and the captain and his people will be down upon us. Now that we’ve got the black, I wish that we had let the girls alone, they’ll only cause trouble, for old Bracher won’t know what to do with them.”

“We’d better leave them, then, to shift for themselves, they’ll find their way home somehow or other; it matters little to us if they don’t,” answered another.

“But they’ll betray the whereabouts of our train to the captain, and he’ll be after us with his people and demand satisfaction. If he proves the strongest, he’ll carry off the black, about whom we have had all this trouble, into the bargain,” observed the first.

“If he comes at all, it will give old Bracher an opportunity of shooting him, that’s what they’d like to do better than anything else,” remarked a third.

The men continued talking on the same subject, but they had said enough as to the girls being carried off. From it I gathered that Mr Bracher was travelling eastward with a waggon train, probably having failed in the west, and that, finding himself in the neighbourhood of our new location, he had despatched a party to try and recapture Dio, but that meeting Kathleen and Lily, they had made prisoners of them with the intention of keeping them as hostages until the slave was delivered up. I also ascertained that Dio had fallen into their hands, and that consequently my sister and Lily were of less value in their sight than would otherwise have been the case.