owever, was still there, not yet dormant,
but merely torpid from a surfeit of despair; and the man in him promptly
shook off that torpidity and awoke at the first words Blood spoke to him
that night--awoke and wept.

"Escape?" he panted. "O God!" He took his head in his hands, and fell to
sobbing like a child.

"Sh! Steady now! Steady!" Blood admonished him in a whisper, alarmed by
the lad's blubbering. He crossed to Pitt's side, and set a restraining
hand upon his shoulder. "For God's sake, command yourself. If we're
overheard we shall both be flogged for this."

Among the privileges enjoyed by Blood was that of a hut to himself, and
they were alone in this. But, after all, it was built of wattles thinly
plastered with mud, and its door was composed of bamboos, through which
sound passed very easily. Though the stockade was locked for the night,
and all within it asleep by now--it was after midnight--yet a prowling
overseer was not impossible, and a sound of voices must lead to
discovery. Pitt realized this, and controlled his outburst of emotion.

Sitting close thereafter they talked in whispers for an hour or more,
and all the while those dulled wits of Pitt's were sharpening themselves
anew upon this precious whetstone of hope. They would need to recruit
others into their enterprise, a half-dozen at least, a half-score if
possible, but no more than that. They must pick the best out of that
score of survivors of the Monmouth men that Colonel Bishop had acquired.
Men who understood the sea were desirable. But of these there were only
two in that unfortunate gang, and their knowledge was none too full.
They were Hagthorpe, a gentleman who had served in the Royal Navy, and
Nicholas Dyke, who had been a petty officer in the late king's time, and
there was another who had been a gunner, a man named Ogle.

It was agreed before they parted that Pitt should begin with these three
and then proceed to recruit some six or eight others. He was to move
with the utmost caution, sounding his men very carefully before making
anything in the nature of a disclosure, and even then avoid rendering
that disclosure so full that its betrayal might frustrate the plans
which as yet had to be worked out in detail. Labouring with them in
the plantations, Pitt would not want for opportunities of broaching the
matter to his fellow-slaves.

"Caution above everything," was Blood's last recommendation to him at
parting. "Who goes slowly, goes