“A free negress, who had been employed by Amos Shrunk.  She was the other prisoner on the keel-boat when you were captured, kept locked below in the cabin.  Surely you knew there was another woman taken aboard the Adventurer?”

“Yes, but we never spoke; she was below, and they kept me on deck.  How could she know who I was?”

“She did not.  Only she was positive that you could not be Rene Beaucaire, because she knew that Rene, in company with her mother, had departed from Shrunk’s cabin before those raiders came.  The two had already started for Beardstown.”

She sat upright, all lassitude gone from her body, leaning eagerly toward me, her eyes alight with interest.

“Gone!  Rene escaped them!” she exclaimed, her voice choking, “Oh, tell me that again.  Was the girl sure?”

“Quite sure; she had cooked them breakfast and talked with Rene afterwards.  She saw and spoke with both the women before they left in a wagon.  They were on the Underground, bound for Canada, and safety.”

“Thank God!  Oh, I thank God!” Her face sank until it was concealed within her hands.  When it lifted again the eyes were brimming with tears.

“I am so glad—­so glad,” she said simply.  “Now I am strong enough to hear the rest, Lieutenant Knox.  You must tell me.”

“There is not so much to tell, that I am cock-sure about.”  I began slowly.  “Kirby had you securely hidden away somewhere on the second deck, while this Clark girl had been locked into a stateroom above.  I possessed such a growth of beard and was altogether so disreputable looking as to be mistaken for a roustabout by the boat’s officers, who set me at work to earn my passage.  In this way I managed to talk with Elsie, but failed to locate your quarters.  The only glimpse I gained of you was when you were being taken ashore.  Then I followed, and a little later succeeded in getting you out of Kirby’s hands.  That is about all.”

“Oh, no, it is not—­you—­you came too late.”

“Too late!  Perhaps I may know what you mean.”

“Do you?  Surely not to blame me!  I—­I wish to tell you, Lieutenant Knox, but—­but I scarcely know how.  It is all so dim, indistinct in my own mind—­and yet I remember.  I am trying so hard to recall how it all happened, but nothing remains clear in my mind.  Have I been drugged?”

“Without question.  We have been riding all night and you were strapped to your horse.  Probably you have no recollection of this?”

She shook her head in bewilderment, gazing about as though noting the strange surroundings for the first time.