The Liberty Boys Running the Blockade Part 6

"You know him, do you, Fletch?" asked Hughson.

"Yes, I know him. I didn't know he was d.i.c.k Slater, but I know him, and I've got a grudge against him and I'm going to settle it. You was counting on taking him to the general, I suppose?"

"Yes, but get him out of the way. Some one might come in."

d.i.c.k was taken into a rear room where there was not much light and bound hand and foot. At length he heard footsteps in the pa.s.sage outside, and then the door was opened and two men came in, followed by a boy carrying a lantern in his hand. The men picked d.i.c.k up and carried him out, but not before he had seen the boy's face, and the boy had seen him and had given him a swift look of intelligence. The boy was the one he had befriended, and however he happened to be here, whether he was leagued with these evil men or not, d.i.c.k knew that he would help him. The boy went ahead, down a flight of stairs to a damp cellar, and along a pa.s.sage to some place where there was a damp smell and foul odors from the swamps along the river.

"Set him down, Bill," said one of the men, and d.i.c.k was placed on the ground on his back.

"Go after the bag, Tom," one man said, "or send your pop and the rest here."

"Won't do it!" said the boy. "Dad will beat me. Go yourself. I will watch him."

"Go on, Jeb."

"Go yourself, or come along. Tom ain't used to these things, and the old man will lick him, too. Knows you're here, does he, boy?"

"No, he don't. Safest place for me is the grog shop when he has no money, 'cause he won't come there."

"He'll be here all right, then," with a laugh. "He wouldn't miss seein'

the rebel chucked into the water. Come on, Bill. Here, give us your lantern, Tom."

"All right," and d.i.c.k knew by the gathering shadows that the men were going away.

Then the boy suddenly kneeled at his side and said in a hoa.r.s.e whisper and with great excitement:

"I found out where you was, Captain, and made up my mind to save you.

I've got a knife and will cut the ropes. Wish I had the lantern. Never mind, I can feel. Can you roll over?"

"Yes, I guess so," but at that moment there were other footsteps and more lights and hoa.r.s.e voices.

"Never mind, Captain, I'll do it yet!" hissed the boy. "I'll do it if I have to kill dad and the lot of 'em."

Then the spy, the boy's father, the landlord, and the men who had brought d.i.c.k to the place, came up and the boy slunk back into the darkness and awaited his time.

"Got the bag there, Bill?"

"Yes; here it is."

Two of the men picked d.i.c.k up, while another held the sack open and drew it over his feet. The boy came up, and d.i.c.k felt a keen bladed knife put between his hands and for an instant saw the face of the boy.

"Here, get out of the way!"

"Hold him steady, Jeb!"

"Don't be so long there with that sack!"

"Hurry up, there, he's as heavy as lead!"

The sack was drawn up over d.i.c.k's head and tied tight with a stout rope, the men then carrying him between them to the end of the pa.s.sage and up some steps. One or two tested the rope to see that it was all right and then the men holding d.i.c.k gave the sack a swing or two and cast it well out upon the water, where it struck with a splash and then sank. d.i.c.k could hold his breath for nearly two minutes and he knew that he would not need all that. While the men were swinging him he clutched the handle of the knife, turned the blade down and began to cut through the sack. When he began to sink he moved his hands toward his head and cut a straight gash in the sack. Then he moved his hands the other way and began to kick vigorously, so as to loosen the sack. Then, as he began to think he could hold his breath no longer, he felt himself rising, the sack fell away from him, and in a few moments he shot up to the surface alongside some huge object which he recognized as the hull of a vessel.

Then he lay on his back and floated, and, holding the knife in his teeth, cut the cords that bound his wrists and his hands were free.

Swimming noiselessly alongside the vessel, which was anch.o.r.ed in the river, he reached the fore chains. He was now free to use both hands and feet, and the next thing to do was to get to sh.o.r.e. He had his knife which Tom had given him and this he resolved to keep till he was safely out of all his dangers. Making his way around the anch.o.r.ed vessel, he set out for sh.o.r.e, guided by the few lights along the water and in the taverns. Suddenly he heard the sound of oars and then of voices.

"How did he get hold of a knife?" asked Hughson.

"I dunno, but he'll have to float and we ought to find him," replied Jeb.

The sack had been drawn ash.o.r.e, and the slash in it discovered and now the men were trying to find d.i.c.k. The boat was coming directly toward him, and in a few moments he could distinguish its outlines dimly and see the forms of three men in it rowing directly toward him. Then he sank well down and swam right under the boat, coming up a yard or so beyond it as it went on toward the middle of the river.

CHAPTER VIII.--Tom's Defiance.

"Hallo! there's some one swimming in the river!" cried the spy.

"So it is," growled Jeb. "h.e.l.lo there!"

"Put about," muttered Fletch. "It's the rebel. He can float. We must get after him."

d.i.c.k swam on, the boat putting about, and now the light of a lantern was s.h.i.+ning over the waters.

"Ha! there he is!"

"Shoot the rebel, no one will hear!"

"Yes, we've got to get him!"

Crack! There was a report, but d.i.c.k had just sunk under water and was unhurt. On came the boat, d.i.c.k rising just astern of it. In a moment he seized the gunwale and swung the boat around with all his might, at the same time tipping it at one side. There was a cry of alarm, and then some one cried from the s.h.i.+p d.i.c.k had seen:

"Get away from here, you water rats, or you'll get a shot or two in your gullets that you won't like."

There was a sudden splash, and d.i.c.k knew that some one had fallen into the river from the boat. He had released it, and was now making his way toward the wharf at good speed. There were more outcries from the river, but d.i.c.k could not see the lantern now, and judged that it had fallen overboard. The inability of the men to see d.i.c.k worked for his safety now, and he swam on to the wharf at a good rate. Nearing it, he heard the boy Tom say in a cautious voice:

"Who is that?"

"It is I, Tom, thanks to you," said d.i.c.k. "Without that knife I should have been drowned."

"Come this way, Captain," added the boy. "Do you see me?"

"No, but I know where you are."

d.i.c.k swam toward the boy and was helped by him to land.

"You saved me from a thras.h.i.+ng, and you saved the money I had for my mother," the boy said. "But for that he would have got it, and mother and the little children would have had nothing to eat."

"You earn money for your mother and the children, do you?" asked d.i.c.k, interested.

"Yes, sometimes quite a good deal, but I have to be careful about it, for if he finds out that I have it, he takes it away and then we have to go without. I have to lie to save it often. Is that very wicked, Captain?"