ere," said the man. "Sit ye down on the corn-husks
there. My gal will soon be back with the water; and I wouldn't be long,
if I were you, in case Master Saunders should come down the river, for
when he asked me if you two was here I couldn't tell a lie about it,
could I?"

"No," growled Pete. "That would be a pity."

"Ay; it would. But he'd know you was both here by the boat. Where did
you tie it up?"

"Just at the bottom there, by the trees," said Nic, to whom these words
were addressed.

"Ah, 'tis the best place," said the man, halting by the door, and
standing aside to make room for the young men to pass. "In with you.
It's better than being in the hot sun. Seems a bit dark; but it's
cooler to have your dinner there. Well," he continued, "why don't you
go in? The dogs are not here."

"Because it looks like a trap, sir," said Nic firmly. "Do you want to
shut us up there, and keep us prisoners till your neighbour comes?"

"Yes, I do," cried the planter fiercely as he stepped back, and with one
motion brought down and cocked his piece, which he presented at the
young man's breast. "In with you both, or I'll shoot you like dogs!"

He raised his gun to his shoulder and drew the trigger; but it was too
late. Nic had sprung forward, striking up the barrel; and, as the
mother and daughter shrieked aloud from the house door, there was a
sharp report, which set the dogs baying furiously from the shed in which
they were fastened.

A short struggle followed, in which the gun was wrested from the
planter's hands by Nic, and the next moment Pete had joined in the fray,
securing the planter's arms, and then with Nic's help he was dragged and
thrown into the great barn. Then the door was banged to and fastened
with the bar; and the prisoner began to call and threaten what he would
do if his people did not let loose the dogs.

What followed would have seemed almost comic to a spectator, for the two
women came hurrying up with their fingers stuck in their ears.

"Run--run to your boat!" they whispered. "We can't hear what he says
now, but we must soon, and then we shall be obliged to let out the
dogs."

"Oh, mother!" cried the girl, "the blacks will be here directly."

"Yes, yes," cried the elder woman, who somehow seemed to have heard
that. "Run, then, run, and get away before it is too late."

"God bless you both for what you have done for us!" cried Nic. "I pray
that you may not get into more trouble