of the
intended outbreak, and had given his mother the information which she
had sent to her master and mistress.

Quashie, having had a good supper, declared that he should be ready to
set out that night if required; but as it was hoped that during the next
day a plan might be organised more effectually to help their friends
than could be then done, it was agreed that it would be better to wait
till the following evening. From Jack's report they were at present, at
all events, in no distress, and were likely to hold out against any
attack.

Another night went by, and the next morning Jack and his companions
expressed their wish to set off again to ascertain how their friends at
Bellevue were getting on; but Mr Pemberton would not allow them to go.
The risk, he said, was far too great for the advantage to be obtained.
They could render no assistance, and would run a great chance of falling
into the hands of the rebels and being put to death. In the course of
the day, he hoped that Major Malcolm, with some troops, or at all events
a body of militia, would appear, and that their first task would be to
attack the rebels besieging Bellevue and relieve their friends. In that
case, it would not be safe to leave Walton without a garrison, as the
fugitives, if they found it unguarded as they made their way to the
mountains, would to a certainty in revenge destroy it. "We must wait
patiently till the evening, and then Quashie shall go and bring us word
what they are about," he added. He spoke with more confidence perhaps
than he felt, yet on one point he had made up his mind, that he would
not allow his son to run the risk of losing his life.

The day drew drearily on. The feelings of the ruined inmates of the
mansion can better be imagined than described. Their friends
slaughtered, their crops and houses destroyed, and their slaves (the
most valuable part of their possessions) in revolt, and, if not killed,
possibly never again to be reclaimed--what the future had in store for
them no one could say. The more confident asserted that the rebellion
would quickly be quelled, but others thought that the slaves, joined by
the maroons and other free coloured and black people, might overrun the
country, and compel all the whites who might escape slaughter to quit it
for ever.

Mr Pemberton laughed at such a notion. "Depend on it, as soon as the
troops and militia can be collected, the slaves will fly from them as
chaff b