anter's mansion. No doubt he thought their experience was
poetical and pretty, compared with his own, for his flight had been a
death struggle with famine and flood, with man and brute.

In the mean time, the Isabel had run the dogs out of sight, and the
waters in the direction from which she had just come were as still as
death. No doubt the lake would be scoured in search of the fugitive; but
for the present the party seemed to be secure from pursuit.

The boat was now approaching the northern shore of the lake, and it
became necessary to tack. The wind held steady, but light; and Dan had
but small hopes of being able to reach his destination before daylight.
When every thing was made snug on the other tack, and there seemed to be
no present danger ahead or astern, Cyd conducted Quin to one of the
forward berths, and he turned in for the night. The runaway was
evidently a very pious slave, and the young fugitives listened with
reverend interest to the long prayer he offered up before he retired. It
was a paean of thanksgiving for his escape from the fangs of the
slave-hunters. It was homely speech, but it was earnest and sincere, and
those who listened were deeply impressed by its fervid simplicity.

Dan and Lily sat alone in the stern of the boat, for Cyd had been
permitted to turn in with the runaway. They talked of freedom and the
future for an hour, and then they were started by the sound of oars in
the distance. The slave-hunters were on their track.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE NIGHT CHASE ON THE LAKE.

Though the Isabel carried all her extra sails, the wind was so light
that she made very little progress through the water, and the sound of
oars which indicated the approach of a boat was appalling to Dan. There
could be no doubt that it contained the slave-hunters in pursuit of
Quin; and the fate of the whole party seemed to be linked with that of
the slave, who was sleeping in happy security in the cabin.

The schooner was close-hauled, and sailing as near the wind as she
could; but Dan, as soon as he realized the peril of the situation, gave
the boat a couple of points, which sensibly increased her speed. When he
first heard the pursuer's boat, it was just abeam of the Isabel. His
present course, therefore, carried him nearer to the boat for a time,
but it was not safe to permit her to get to the windward of the Isabel,
in that light breeze.

Dan was satisfied that, if he had been in the four-oar boat w