length. He had leapt over the
rail of the veranda, and I halted for a moment, supposing that he
must at least twist his ankles after a fall of some fifteen feet.
But I was amazed to see him swarming down one of the pillars that
supported the veranda.

I followed him in desperate haste, but the fellow was always very
light and nimble, and the fear of death lent him a marvelous new
agility. My heavier frame was slower in descending; yet I could not
have been much more than fifteen seconds behind him; but he had
vanished. There were bushes and palms growing to within a few feet
of the house. I ran among them, but could not hear his footsteps,
nor had I any means of judging of the direction of his flight. Mad
with disappointment, I rushed blindly on, and in a moment collided
with a man, whom seizing, I knew by the howl he emitted, no less
than by the feel of his bare skin, that I had laid hands on a
negro.

"Which way did he run?" I cried, shaking the man in my hot
impatience.

"Oh, Massa, I dunno nuffin'," said the trembling wretch.

I hurled him aside and sped off again, very soon encountering other
negroes, who in spite of their dread of the dark, had been drawn
from their huts, I doubt not, by the noise of the altercation.

"Where is your mistress?" I asked one of them.

He could tell me nothing. I asked the same question of another man
whom I met within a few yards.

"I see Missy going to Massa Wilkins' house," he said. "Two men take
her."

Wilkins was, I knew, the name of the principal overseer. Uncle
Moses coming up with me, I bade him lead me at once to Mr. Wilkins'
house. We ran on as fast as our legs could carry us, the other
negroes shuffling along behind, uttering cries and yells which
angered me beyond endurance. We had come some distance in the wrong
direction, and I fumed in vain and bitter rage at the loss of time.

Coming into the road that led to the house I heard the sound of
galloping horses, and though I continued to run until I was
breathless and dripping with sweat I knew I was too late. The thud
of the hoofs grew fainter and fainter. Without doubt Vetch had
seized Mistress Lucy, and was hurrying her away; the villain had
baffled me; Lucy, snatched from me, was hopelessly beyond my reach.

Chapter 28: I Cut The Enemy's Cables.

At the door of the overseer's house stood Patty, Mistress Lucy's
old nurse, wringing her hands and weeping bitterly. She told me
through her tears that V