but at last I succeeded in passing the most serious part,
and soon gained the summit of the cliff in safety, where I immediately
fell on my knees and returned thanks for my deliverance.

I had passed nearly an hour in the trying adventure which I have just
related, and feeling that my companions would naturally begin soon to be
anxious about me, I started for our rendezvous, which I reached in
little more than an hour and a half. Here I found Jack seated alone
beside a stream of water, from which he occasionally lifted a little in
the hollow of his hand and drank greedily.

"Ah, Ralph, my boy!" he exclaimed joyfully as I came up, "I'm glad
you've come. I had begun to fear that you must have been captured. Ay,
drink, lad! You seem warm enough, though I scarcely think you can be
much more so than I am. What a run we have had, to be sure! But, what,
Ralph--your clothes are much torn, and your face and hands are
scratched. Why, you must have got among thorns. Not badly hurt, I
trust?"

"Oh no; nothing to speak of. I have, however, had a narrow escape. But
before I speak of that, what of Peterkin?"

"I don't know," replied Jack, with an anxious expression; "and to say
truth, I begin to feel uneasy about him, for he ought to have been here
almost as soon as myself."

"How so? Did you, then, run together?"

"Latterly we did. At first we separated, and I knew not what had become
either of him or you. The fact is, I had enough to do to look out for
myself, for a dozen of rascally niggers kept close upon my heels and
tried my powers of running somewhat; so I took to the thick wood and
made a detour, to throw them off the scent. All at once I heard a
smashing of the bushes right in front of me, and before I knew what I
was about, Peterkin bounced through the underwood and almost plunged
into my arms. We both gave an involuntary yell of alarm.

"`There's two of 'em right on my heels,' said he in a gasp, as he dashed
off again. `Come along with me, Jack.'

"I followed as fast as I could, and we crossed an open plain together,
when I looked over my shoulder, and saw that all the other fellows had
given up the chase except the two mentioned by Peterkin. These kept on
after us, and somehow or other we got separated again, just after
re-entering the wood on the other side of the plain. Of course I ran
on, expecting to see my companion every minute. Finally I came to the
rendezvous, and here I found that the