ow de boat overboard?"

"Yes; over with it, if you can."

Cyd took a boat-hook, and pried up the bateau, and after much labor
succeeded in getting it over the side, though he had nearly gone with
it, when a big sea, swooping over the deck, finished his work. The
effect of the step was instantly apparent in the working of the Isabel.
She no longer scooped up the seas, but rode over them. Before night it
began to rain, and the gale increased in violence. The bonnet had been
taken off the jib, and a reef put in the mainsail; but she could not
much longer carry this sail, and at dark she was put under a
close-reefed foresail.

Poor Lily was obliged to remain in the cabin, and she was very much
alarmed at the roaring of the waves and the terrible pitching of the
schooner; but Dan often assured her that there was no danger; that the
Isabel was behaving splendidly. During that long, tempestuous night,
there was no sleep for the fugitives. Dan did not leave the helm, and
Cyd stood by to obey the orders of the skipper. At midnight the gale
began to moderate, but the sea still ran high.

The sun rose bright and clear on the following morning. The wind had
subsided to a gentle breeze, and the Isabel moved slowly along over the
rolling waves. Cyd and Lily went to sleep after breakfast, and Dan still
maintained his position at the helm, which he had not left for fourteen
hours. He was nearly exhausted; but so was Cyd, and he was afraid the
latter would drop asleep if he left the boat in his care.

While he sat by the tiller, dreaming of the future, and struggling to
keep awake, he discovered a sail far to the southward of him. The sight
roused him from his lethargy, for he had not seen any thing that looked
like a vessel since the day he parted with Colonel Raybone. He was wide
awake; and laying his course so as to intercept the vessel, he waited
patiently till the winds wafted her within hailing distance.

It was two hours before he could clearly make her out, for the wind was
very light. She was a bark, and Dan could only hope that she was not
bound to any port in the slave states. He had a very good knowledge of
geography, and after calculating the position of the Isabel, he
concluded that the bark could not have come from any southern city.

"Sail ho!" shouted he, when he was within half a mile of the bark.

"What's the matter?" called Lily, roused from her slumbers by the shout.

"Come on deck. We are close by a vessel