n order so to do. "There is
one chance in an hundred that we might get past the guards during the
tempest; but none whatsoever that we shall succeed in making our way by
water, for before we can lay hands on a boat we shall be overpowered."

Luckily I did not dare slacken speed; fortunate was it indeed that Hiram
had his way in the matter, and that he urged us on even while we were
putting forth every effort. Had I been given command at that moment,
then it is almost the same as certain we had been taken before another
night came; but, thanks to the son of that good woman who fed us when we
were hungry, the seemingly impossible was accomplished.

So rapid were our movements from the very beginning of the attempt at
rescue, that the thunder tempest was hardly grown to its height before
we gained the water front at Long wharf, and there to my amazement we
met no one; indeed, we might almost have touched shoulders with a dozen
and yet not been able to see them because of the darkness and the
seemingly unbroken sheets of water which descended.

Now it was that Hiram took the lead, as if fearful lest our courage
might fail us, and wading waist-deep into the water alongside the wharf,
he came upon a small boat which was made fast stem and stern.

We followed close at his heels, not because of belittling the danger;
but because there was no other course. The peril would have been greater
had we attempted to beat a retreat, and since it seemed to me that
capture was absolutely certain, we might as well go one way as another.

Hiram had not stopped to unmoor the boat; but taking from his pocket a
knife, slashed here and there at the hawsers until she was adrift, and
the wind, driving from the south in furious gusts, sent her whirling in
the direction of Hudson's point as if impelled by a dozen pairs of oars.

It was only by the merest accident that we lads succeeded in getting
aboard, for Hiram was like a fury unchained, giving no heed to anything
whatsoever save that goal which he had set before him. I only know that
Archie and I had been swept off our feet by the waves when the craft
whirled past us, yet we contrived to clutch the gunwale and were
dragged, as it seemed to me, an hundred yards before succeeding in
clambering aboard.

Then it was my heart sank, for hurriedly looking around as best I could
in the darkness I made out but three forms, and cried in my fear and
agony:

"We have freed Archie only to leave Harv