It ought not to prove difficult to baffle Kirby for that short distance, and then we would be free to return, and no one could prove any charge against us.
Indeed it was my purpose to immediately proceed down the river on my furlough, and probably it would never so much as be suspected that the negro had been away.

Ever since my boyhood I had listened to stories concerning the operation of Underground Railroads by means of which slaves were assisted to freedom, and now felt no hesitancy in confiding these two women to the care of their operators.

The only important fact fronting us was that we must act quickly, before Kirby and his aides, armed with legal authority, could return--this very night.
"Pete," I said shortly, my tone unconsciously one of authority, "we must be out of here before daylight, and safely hidden somewhere up the river.

The first thing to be done, and the hardest, is to explain to those women the situation, and persuade them to accompany us.

They may not believe my story; that was why I was so anxious to have Haines go to the house.