done drownded.
De good Lo'd strike 'em down jus like he did de 'Gyptians in de Red Sea,
in de midst ob dar wickedness. We didn't kill 'em, Missy Lily."

"That's it, Lily," added Dan, indorsing the explanation, though the
religious aspect of the case was not so strongly impressed upon his mind
as upon that of his pious companion.

"We might have saved them," continued the gentle-hearted girl, who
derived but little consolation from the words of Quin. "You might have
taken them on board when the squall came."

"Why, Lily, I had just smashed their boat with my own hands, and I
wasn't going to put my head into the lion's mouth. It is best as it is,
Lily. The death of these men will remove all danger from our path, for
no one has seen us except them."

"But how awful!" sighed she.

"I told you, Lily, before we started, that terrible things might happen
to us. You shall be free; let this thought comfort you."

But it did not comfort her, and she continued to bewail the catastrophe
that had befallen the slave-hunters till the attention of her companions
was called to the position of the Isabel.

"Dar's land on de bof sides of us," called Cyd, who had again been
stationed at the heel of the bowsprit to act as lookout man.

"All right! I see it," responded Dan. "Quin, let go the foresail
halyards. How does it look ahead, Cyd?"

"Dark as de back of dis chile's hand."

"Look out sharp!"

"Do dat, for sartin."

The Isabel continued slowly on her course, for the woods on the shore
now began to shelter the sails from the full force of the wind. The
corner of the lake grew narrower with every moment she advanced, till
the boat was not more than a couple of rods from either shore. She was
running up one of the tributaries of the lake.

Presently the creek was less than thirty feet wide; and having passed
round a bend so as to hide her from the open lake, Dan ordered his
companions to make fast to a tree, as he ran her up to the shore.

CHAPTER XVI.

IN THE SWAMP.

The place where the Isabel had been moored was in the midst of a gloomy
and extensive swamp. Though Dan had never been here before, he had heard
of the region, and from the first had determined to conceal his party
within its deep and almost impenetrable morasses. The swamp was about
fifteen miles in extent from north to south, and ten from east to west.
It was full of bayous and lagoons, and inhabited only by herons,
alligators, and other wild a