he
wagons would return on Friday, either empty, or with loads of salt
fish, which formed the staple of the negro's food. I asked what men
would accompany the convoy, and learned that the wagoners were
negroes, and that one or two white men would be in charge.

This information threw a ray of hope upon my dark forebodings. If
we could but win to a position where the returning convoy might be
intercepted, I made no doubt we could overpower the white
men--overseers of the plantations; as to the negro drivers, I held
them of little account. There was one possible danger: that the
customary escort might be augmented by some of Vetch's buccaneers.
But I saw no likelihood of this, for however careful Vetch might be
in his watch over Mistress Lucy, he would have no reason to be
specially vigilant over the conduct of the ordinary operations of
the estate.

The question was, could we by any means come unobserved at a place
where the wagons could be intercepted? I put it to Uncle Moses, who
answered me readily enough, not seeing the drift of it. If we
crossed the swamp, and retraced our way through the forest, we
could skirt the whole length of the plantation without fear of
being discovered until we arrived within a very short distance of
the road to Spanish Town. We should then have to cross the road in
the open, but having crossed it, we should come in less than a
furlong to another clump of woodland, and passing through this,
avoiding the plantain groves which filled that portion of the
estate, we should reach the rough track leading to Dry Harbor, at a
point about three miles from the big house. 'Twas a round in all of
some twenty-five miles, and, as Uncle Moses assured me, if we were
reasonably cautious we should run no risks save at the crossing of
the road.

In great elation of spirit I now took into consultation Cludde with
Uncle Moses, Noah, and Jacob, all of whom I felt I could trust,
because all had suffered. I told them what I proposed, and whether
it was the story I had told of the wondrous good fortune that had
befallen me through the crown piece, or whether their own native
courage and their thirst for revenge influenced them, I know not;
but certain it is that the negroes agreed at once to follow my
lead.

Considering then how the rest of my party should be made up, I
decided, with the assent of Uncle Moses, to take only two more men,
these being all who had fled from the Cludde estate. I thought it
better