"I don't know! I don't know!" answered her father in an agonised tone
of voice.

We followed the track of the blacks, which was distinctly marked by the
plants and canes being trampled down where they had gone across the
garden and plantation, and continued on for some distance. No other
trace of Tom or Lucy could we discover. We had to proceed cautiously,
as at any time we might come suddenly upon a party of them, when we
might find it very difficult to escape. We were, however, both
well-armed, with muskets in our hands, braces of pistols in our belts,
and swords by our sides, so that we hoped, should we fall in with any
enemies, to keep them at bay while we retreated. We looked round on
either side, in the expectation of seeing something else that either
Lucy or Tom might have dropped; but sometimes I could not help fearing
that they might have been killed, and that we should come upon their
dead bodies. Still I tried to put away the thought from me, as it was
too dreadful I suspect the same idea occurred to Mr Talboys, who looked
stern and determined, and seldom spoke, while his eye was ranging round,
far and near. We were going in the direction we fancied the blacks had
taken. Mr Talboys was of opinion that, finding they could not succeed
in destroying Belmont, they had gone off to attack some other house and
ravage the plantations. We were making our way across the country
instead of along the high road, where the blacks might have discovered
us at a distance; but sometimes the foliage was so thick that we could
not see a dozen yards ahead. This had its advantages and its
disadvantages. It was evidently the line which the party of blacks who
had nearly surprised us had followed. Now and then we got close to the
high road, and we were able, while still keeping under shelter
ourselves, to look along it either way.

"The rebels have not, I suspect, gone off altogether, and we may not be
far from them now," whispered Mr Talboys. "Be very cautious; keep
under cover as much as you can, and avoid making any rustling among the
branches."

We had moved on scarcely a dozen paces after this, when suddenly a
number of black heads appeared above the bushes close in front of us.
The white eyes of the negroes, as they caught sight of us, showed that
they were more astonished than we were at the sudden encounter.
Exclamations of surprise escaped from their lips.

"On, lads," shouted Mr Talboys at the top of his v