the young fugitives
commenced the voyage to the Gulf. It was seventy miles from the camp,
and it was absolutely necessary that the trip should be performed by
night, for the lake, at the season of high water, was navigable for
small steamers, which, with other craft, occasionally passed over its
turbid tide. In the passage down, they were liable to meet some of
these boats; and though the search for the runaways had long since
ceased, the Isabel might be recognized, and the mystery of her singular
disappearance explained.

Dan was determined to be very cautious, and to expose his party to no
risks which could possibly be avoided. The voyage was perilous enough at
best, and he was not disposed to trifle with the good fortune which had
thus far attended the expedition. He knew nothing of the navigation of
the lake, or of the Atchafalaya River, through which he must pass to the
Gulf of Mexico. He was therefore exposed to many perils. The boat might
get aground at a perilous point, which might expose them to an
examination from some inquisitive slaveholder. He might be stopped by a
steamer, or overhauled by a boat, and the fugitives taken into custody
because they could not give a good account of themselves.

Then, if he succeeded in reaching the Gulf, he knew that a day's sail at
the most would take him out of sight of land; and he had nothing but a
small compass and a map of the coast of Texas and Louisiana to guide
him. He had no expectation of being able to reach the free North in the
Isabel. He depended upon being picked up by some vessel bound to New
York or Philadelphia; and he had read the newspapers and listened to the
conversation of his master and his guests enough to know that
shipmasters were very cautious about carrying slaves to the North. But
he had made his plans, and hoped he should be able to overcome even this
most formidable difficulty.

To contend against all these adverse circumstances, he had a good boat,
though she was not fully adapted to a sea voyage. With her light draught
she had but a slight hold on the water; yet Dan was an excellent
boatman, and trusted in his skill to overcome the deficiencies of his
vessel. The Isabel was well provisioned for at least a month; and if the
weather was even tolerably favorable, he felt confident that he should
be able to contend successfully against the elements. At any rate he
feared the ocean, storm, and distance less than the insatiate
slave-hunters of t