bush was. Indeed, Dyck saw a
bush move, and had a glimpse of a black, hideous face which quickly
disappeared. Dyck's imperturbable coolness kept them steady. They even
gossiped of idle things loud enough for the hidden Maroons to hear.
No face showed suspicion or alarm, as they passed, while all felt the
presence of many men in the underbrush. Only when they had passed the
place, did they realize the fulness of the danger through which they
had gone. Dyck talked to them presently without turning round, for that
might have roused suspicion, and while they were out of danger now,
there was the future and Dyck's plan which he now unfolded.

"They'll come down into the open before it's dark," he said quietly,
"and when they do that, we'll have 'em. They've no chance to ambush
in the cane-fields now. We'll get them in the open, and wipe them out.
Don't look round. Keep steady, and we'll ride a little more quickly
soon."

A little later they cantered to the front door of the Salem homestead.

The first face they saw there was that of Darius Boland. It had a look
of trouble. Dyck explained. "We thought you might not have heard of the
rise of the Maroons. We have no ladies at Enniskillen. We prepared, and
we're safe enough there, as things are. Your ladies must go at once to
Spanish Town, unless--"

"Unless they stay here! Well, they would not be unwise, for though the
slaves under the old management might have joined the Maroons, they will
not do so now. We have got them that far. But, Mr. Calhoun, the ladies
aren't here. They rode away into the hills this morning, and they've not
come back.

"I was just sending a search party for them. I did not know of the rise
of the Maroons."

"In what direction did they go?" asked Dyck with anxiety, though his
tone was even.

Darius Boland pointed. "They went slightly northwest, and if they go as
I think they meant to do, they would come back the way you came in."

"They were armed?" Dyck asked sharply.

"Yes, they were armed," was the reply. "Miss Llyn had a small pistol.
She learned to carry one in Virginia, and she has done so ever since we
came here."

"Listen, Boland," said Dyck with anxiety. "Up there in the hills by
which we came are Maroons hidden, and they will invade this place
to-night. We were ready to fight them, of course, as we came, but it's
a risky business, and we wanted to get them all if possible. We couldn't
if we had charged them there, for they were wel