ushed into the outer house with glaring eyes, shouting
that the English girl could not be found.

"Not in de house?" cried Peter, starting up in wild excitement.

"No--nowhar in de house!"

"To de gardin, quick!" shouted Peter, leading the way, while Ben-Ahmed
himself, with undignified haste, joined in the pursuit.

Lanterns were lighted, and were soon flitting like fireflies all over
the garden, but no trace of the fugitive was found. Peter entered into
the search with profound interest, being as yet utterly ignorant of the
method of escape devised by his sister. Suddenly one of the slaves
discovered it. A pile of empty casks, laid against the wall in the form
of a giant staircase, showed how Hester had climbed, and a crushed bush
on the other side testified to her mode of descent.

Ben-Ahmed and Peter ran up to the spot together. "Dey can't hab gone
far, massa. You want de horses, eh?" asked the latter.

"Yes. Two horses, quick!"

Peter went off to the stables in hot haste, remarking as he ran--

"_What_ a hyperkrite I is, to be sure!"

CHAPTER NINE.

HESTER INTRODUCED TO A NEW HOME AND NEW FRIENDS UNDER PECULIAR
CIRCUMSTANCES, AND A NEW NAME.

Long before their flight was discovered Hester Sommers and Dinah had
penetrated into a dense thicket, where the negress proceeded to produce
a wonderful metamorphosis.

"Now, my dear," she said, hastily undoing a large bundle which she
carried, while Hester, panting and terrified, sat down on the grass
beside her, "don't you be frighted. I's your fri'nd. I's Dinah, de
sister ob Peter de Great, an' de fri'nd also ob Geo'ge. So you make
your mind easy."

"My mind is quite easy," said Hester; "and even if you were not Peter's
sister, I'd trust you, because of the tone of your kind voice. But who
is Geo'ge?"

Dinah opened her eyes very wide at this question, for Peter had already
enlightened her mind a little as to the middy's feelings towards Hester.

"You not know Geo'ge?" she asked.

"Never heard of him before, Dinah."

"Geo'ge Foster?"

"Oh, I understand! It was your way of pronouncing his name that puzzled
me," returned the girl, with a faint smile. "I'm glad you are his
friend, too, poor fellow!"

"Well, you _is_ a babby!" exclaimed Dinah, who had been mixing up what
appeared to be black paint in a wooden bowl. "Now, look yar, don't you
be frighted. It's a matter ob life an' deaf, you know, but _I's_ your
fri'nd! Jest you do zackly