Mass' George

Very soon after I was in the boat, stooping to take an oar, and gazing at the stern, where the man lay as if dead, and the boy, whose bonds had been secured to the thwart, lay glaring at me viciously, and had taken hold of the edge of the boat in his white teeth; and directly after, as we rowed away from the floating horror upon whose deck we had so lately stood, there came the regular beat of oars, and I saw Colonel Preston's boat, which had evidently been ash.o.r.e with one load, coming back for the other poor wretches and their owner.

"Why, hang me!" said a voice, evidently not intended for our ears, "if that puritanical Captain Bruton hasn't been buying n.i.g.g.e.rs too."

The calm water bears sound to a great distance.

I saw my father wince a little, and he turned to me bending down, so that his lips were pretty close to my ear.

"Yes," he said, "Captain Bruton has been buying n.i.g.g.e.rs too."

"No, no, father," I said, looking up; "one of them is mine."

"And what are you going to do with him?" he said, slowly, as his eyes seemed to search mine.

"Do with him, father?" I said, promptly. "Let him go."

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

Our first task on getting out of the main river and up our stream to the landing-place where the boat was made fast, was to get the boy ash.o.r.e, and it proved to be no light task; coaxing and threats were received in the same spirit--for of course he could not comprehend a word. All he seemed to realise was that he was in the hands of his enemies; and that if he could get a chance, he ought to bite those hands.

"You'll have to be careful, Morgan," I said, as our man stooped down to unfasten the rope which held the boy to the thwart.

"Careful? What for, Master George? Think I should break him?"

"No; he bites."

"Oh, he won't bite me," said Morgan, confidently. "Like to catch him at it."

He had his wish, for the boy swung himself round and set his teeth hard in Morgan's leg.

"Oh! Well, he is hungry, and no mistake," said Morgan, freeing himself by giving the boy's head a sharp thrust.

"Has he bitten you?" said my father.

"Well, he have, and he haven't, sir. Breeches was a bit too tough for him, but he has nipped me finely. Wonderful power in his jaw. No, no, Master George, don't you touch him; he'll have to go in the copper first. Ah, would you! Why, he's like a fish, only he arn't hooked."

For the boy had made a dash for liberty, and it was only after a severe struggle that he was held down, and this time I was the sufferer; for, as I helped to keep him from springing overboard, he swung his head round and fixed his teeth in my left arm in a pinch that seemed to be scooping out a circular piece of flesh.

"Well, he is a warmint, and no mistake. Let go, will you, sir?"

"Don't strike the boy," said my father. "Let me get hold of

The boy saw the hand coming and wrenched himself away, seeming to take a piece of my arm with him, and leaving me throbbing with agonising pain, and feeling as if I must yell out and sob and cry.

"Well done, George!" said my father, pressing my shoulder in a firm grip. "That's brave; always try and bear pain like a man."

"But it hurts horribly," I said, with my eyes full of tears.

"I know it does, my lad, but noise will not ease the pang.--Now, Morgan, you had better fetch another rope and bind him well."

"S'pose I had, sir. I'd take hold of him and carry him ash.o.r.e, but he'd have his teeth into me directly. S'pose people don't go mad after being bit by boys? On'y feel mad, eh, Master George?"

I nodded, for I could not trust myself to speak, and I stood looking on as the boy was held back in the bottom of the boat, with my father's foot upon his breast.

"Shall I fetch a rope, sir? Can you hold him?"

"Yes, I think so. We can manage him between us."

Morgan leaped ash.o.r.e, and he was about to go up to the house, when a rush and scramble brought him back, for the boy was struggling like an eel; and how he managed I do not know, but he wriggled from beneath my father's foot, pa.s.sed under the thwart, and, as I tried to stop him, threw me backwards, and was over the side with a splash and beneath the stream.

As I uttered a cry of horror I saw the boy's woolly head appear for a moment above the surface, and then go down, weighted as he was by the shackles on his ankles; and, as I gazed, I nearly went after him, the boat gave such a lunge, but I saved myself, and found that it was caused by Morgan leaping back rope in hand, after unfastening the moorings, and it was well he did so, sending the boat well off into the stream, floating after our purchase.

"See him?" cried my father, eagerly, as he threw off hat and coat ready to dive in.

"Not yet, sir," said Morgan, standing ready with the boat-hook.

"I would not have him drowned for five hundred pounds," cried my father.

"No, no, George, my boy, you must not go after him; his struggles would drown you both."

"Don't see him, sir. Big alligator hasn't got him, has it?"

"Don't talk like that, man," cried my father, with a shudder; "but you ought to be able to see him in this clear water."

"I see him!" I cried, excitedly; "give me the boat-hook."

It was pa.s.sed to me, and after a couple of misses, I felt the hook take hold, drew up gently, and as I hauled in, we found that the boy was coming up feet first, the iron having pa.s.sed between the ring of the shackle and the boy's ankle.

"Steady, my lad, steady!" cried Morgan, as I drew the boy nearer, and the next minute he was seized and drawn into the boat, feeble and helpless now, half dead, and making no further attempt to escape as the boat was paddled back toward the landing-place.

"That's quieted him a bit anyhow, sir," said Morgan. "Won't take his clothes long to dry, Master George, will it?"

"Poor fellow! He has been so ill-used," said my father, "that he thinks we mean to do him harm."

"Oh, we'll soon teach him better, sir," replied Morgan, as I laid my hand on the boy's side to feel if his heart was beating. "Oh, he arn't drowned, sir, and the wash 'll do him no end of good. Here we are!"

He leaped out, made the boat fast, and then, coming back, was about to carry the boy ash.o.r.e; but my father had forestalled him, and stepped out with the boy in his arms, laying him gently down on the gra.s.s, and then looking wonderingly at Morgan, who had followed, and knelt down to pa.s.s a rope through the shackle and make it fast to a ring-bolt used for mooring the boat, and driven into one of the tree-trunks close to the water.

"Not necessary," said my father.

"Begging your pardon, sir, he'll come to and be off while we're busy perhaps. Now about the man; I'm rather 'fraid about him."

"We must get him ash.o.r.e," said my father; and after securing the boat parallel with the log which formed the bottom of the landing-place, they managed to get the poor creature, who was quite an inert ma.s.s, out upon the bank, and then, after placing one of the bottom-boards of the boat under his back, I joined in, and we dragged him right up to where the boy lay insensible.

"I'm afraid we are too late," said my father, as he felt the black's pulse.

"Yes, sir, you've threw good money away here," said Morgan; "he'll never do a stroke of work for us, but thank you kindly for meaning help all the same, and I must try what I can do with the boy."

"Is he dead, father?" I whispered, in an awe-stricken tone.