es, her father's bodyservant, who was devoted to
her, had been whipped almost to death, and she dared make no
further attempt, for the sake of the poor black people.

Dick Cludde had come up from Spanish Town, she told me, and
crushing down her repugnance to meet him, she had besought him to
interpose. He had seemed troubled, and had gone away, as she
thought, to plead with Vetch, but she had not seen him again. It
was after that that she had heard of my imprisonment. She thanked
me for coming to help her; she knew that was my purpose; had I not
helped her before? and she prayed that I might find some means of
escaping, so that I might take her away and save her from the
wicked man who had her in his power.

I ground my teeth as I read all this, and vowed that if I could but
get free I would wreak a vengeance on Vetch that he would not
easily forget. But the knowledge of my impotence wrought me to a
pitch of fury that for a time almost bereft me of my senses, and I
could only rage and fume in desperate misery. My guardians, when
they came in to attend to my wants, seemed to be conscious of my
state of mind; they eyed me with suspicion, and the man at the door
took up his musket ostentatiously, though neither said a word to
me.

After a time my passion subsided, and with recovered calmness I saw
that my only chance of doing anything for Lucy depended on my
patience and self restraint. I waited eagerly for night. The negro
had said that he would come again, and this could only mean that
Lucy had some hope of our being able between us to devise some
means of escape. The man ran a great risk; if the buccaneers heard
us speaking they would discover him, and then all hope would be
lost. Fervently as I longed to hear his voice again, I was consumed
with anxiety lest he should come too soon, or that by some
accident, some incautious movement, he might reveal his presence.

The day passed and when I went to bed I lay in restless impatience,
straining my ears to catch the slightest whisper, and starting up
several times in the belief that I heard him. At last, when all was
silent save for the heavy breathing of the men outside the door, I
caught the faint sound made by the pushing of the tube (a length of
sugar cane, as I afterwards learned) through the hole he had bored
in the double floor. I stole noiselessly out of bed, and crept
cautiously to the place beneath it.

"Is that you, Moses?" I whispered.

"Yes, massa, me'