t?" pointing at me with his chin, as I lay huddled up on
the floor.

"Yes, sar, it am," answered Caesar curtly, in a tone of voice which was
evidently intended to cut short all further conversation. "An' now,
Peter," he continued, "if you has finished yo' supper we better be
movin'. Nebber mind about puttin' de t'ings away; de ole 'oman will see
to dat when she comes home in de mornin'. Now den, Peter, you take hold
ob de genterman's legs, and help me to carry him out; does you hear?"

Peter the Silent grunted an affirmative, stooping as he did so and
seizing my legs, while Caesar raised me by the shoulders in his powerful
arms, remarking, as he did so--

"Massa Courtenay, jus' listen to me, if you please, sah. We am goin' to
take you for a nice, pleasant lilly dribe in a cart, and I am goin' to
sit on you, so dat you may not fall out. Now I still has my knife wid
me, and if I feels you begin to struggle, I shall be under de mos'
painful necessity ob drivin' it into you to keep you quiet; so I hope
dat you will lie most particular still durin' yo' little journey. You
sabbe?"

I nodded my head.

"Dat's all right, den," resumed Caesar. "Now, Peter up wid him, and
away we goes."

And therewith the two black rascals raised me carefully, and carrying me
into the open, placed me in a mule cart, covered me with a thick layer
of green forage, and--Caesar coolly carrying out his threat to sit upon
me--drove away.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

IN THE POWER OF THE ENEMY.

Our drive was a most unpleasant one for me, for the cart had no springs,
and the boy Moses, like Jehu, drove furiously. It fortunately lasted
only some five-and-twenty minutes or so, however; and at the end of that
period we pulled up on what I guessed, from the running of the vehicle
and the sound of rippling water, to be a sandy beach. My conjecture
proved to be correct, for when presently I was hauled out from
underneath the forage, and stood upon my feet, more dead than alive, I
found that we were on the margin of a tiny creek or cove, about three-
quarters of a mile to the westward of the outskirts of Kingston. A
small canoe lay hauled up on the sand, and in the bottom of this craft I
was carefully deposited; after which she was run down into the water,
when Caesar and Peter sprang lightly into her, giving her a final shove
to seaward as they did so, and paddled away, leaving Moses and his cart
to make the best of their way back to the town.