Within The Enemy's Lines by Oliver Optic (beach books txt) 📖

to escape."

"I can't make any promises, uncle."

"I will do the best I can to have your condition improved, and see that you have a better diet, if I send your food from a hotel."

"You are very kind, uncle, and I know that you will do all that your duty will permit you to do for me."

"But I shall live in fear and trembling if I leave you without your promise to refrain from daring exploits. Just consider, my dear boy; you 317 are in the fourth story of this warehouse, and the guard-room is below you. You have really no chance at all of success, and a fall or a shot may kill or disable you for life."

"I do not say that I shall try to escape, uncle."

"And you do not say that you will not try to escape."

For half an hour longer Colonel Passford endeavored to induce his nephew to give the desired promise; but he remained obstinate to the end; and his uncle was compelled to leave him, to enter upon the fear and trembling in which he was to live while his enterprising nephew remained a prisoner. But he promised to call upon him every day, and to write to his wife and daughter to return at once.

"I think I shall not wait for him to call," said Christy to Flint, as soon as he had gone.

"Do you expect to get out of this place, Mr. Passford?" asked the master's mate, with lively interest.

"This very night!" replied Christy, in an energetic whisper, as he put his finger on his lips to indicate that nothing more was to be said on the subject.

318 The second lieutenant of the Bellevite had not been confined in the warehouse three days without considering his chances of escape, and the means of accomplishing such a purpose. He had looked the building over with the greatest care. The room the prisoners occupied was next to the roof. The rear windows opened upon a narrow alley, and he had ascertained by looking out at them that the warehouse was one of a long block. He had been in Mobile a great deal while the family were visiting at Glenfield, and he had been careful to notice the location when he was conducted to it with the others.

At the end of the loft next to the main street were thirty or forty other prisoners, with whom Christy and Flint had been on good terms, though they belonged to the army, and seemed to be inclined to keep by themselves. They had been exhausted by hard service, and they had nothing to do but eat and sleep, though the former occupation did not occupy any great amount of their spare time. But as soon as it was fairly dark, they stretched themselves on their beds of vines and weeds, and most of them were soon asleep.

The evening that followed the day on which 319 Colonel Passford visited his nephew was dark, foggy, rainy, and as gloomy as even a blockade runner might ask. Christy seated himself under one of the rear windows of the loft, which appeared to have been intended only for storage, and was only from seven to eight feet between studs. Flint placed himself at the side of his companion, as he was requested to do.

"This is just the kind of a night we want," said Christy, in a whisper, for he could hear the tramp of a sentinel outside the door of the loft.

"I should as soon think of getting out if we were buried a hundred feet under ground as to think of getting out of this place," replied Flint, who was hardly as enterprising as his officer, though he was always ready to follow when he was well led. "There is a guard at the door, Mr. Passford."

"He may stay there; we don't want anything of him," replied Christy.

"I see no other way out of this den, unless we jump down into the street; but I will follow you, sir, if I fall a hundred feet in doing it," protested the master's mate.

"You shall not fall six inches, and you will 320 have no opportunity to do so. But if you are all ready to follow my lead, we may as well begin at once," added Christy, who had expected that it would require some persuasion to induce his companion to join him.

The first thing the midshipman did was to take off his shoes, and to require Flint to do the same. With these in their hands, Christy paced off twenty steps, which brought him, according to a calculation he had made in the daylight, under a scuttle that led to the roof of the warehouse. Stationing the master's mate as a mark, he laid off five paces at right angles with the first line from the party-wall. It was as dark as Egypt, and the scuttle could not be seen; but the operator had located it mathematically, and was confident as to its position. Flint was planted under the opening, with the shoes of both at his side.

The master's mate was nearly six feet in his stocking feet as he stood, and Christy whispered to him the next thing in his scheme. With the aid of his willing assistant, the midshipman was mounted on the shoulders of the former, where he stood up like an athlete in the gloom, though he almost instantly obtained a hold above with his 321 hands. He unfastened the scuttle, and slid it off the aperture with the greatest care. Then he drew himself up with his strong hands, and was on the roof. Then Flint passed up the shoes, as he reached down for them. Seating himself on one side of the frame, he braced his feet against the other side, and grasped the hands of the mate. It did not work.

322 CHAPTER XXIX THE NEW MATE OF THE COTTON SCHOONER

Christy had given himself credit for more physical strength, or Flint for less weight, than the circumstances warranted, and found that he could not draw up his companion as he intended. He made several efforts to accomplish his purpose, but he failed every time. The fear of making a noise cramped his efforts to some extent.

"Let go, Mr. Passford," whispered Flint, when he realized that his avoirdupois was too much for the young officer. "I will get that box, and then I can manage it myself."

"All right; but don't make a particle of noise," added Christy.

It required some time for the mate to find the box in the darkness, but he had it in position at last, standing upon one end. Mounting it, he found that his head was on a level with the roof, and he could easily draw himself up; but he did not do so at once.

323 "What are you waiting for, Flint?" asked Christy, rather impatiently.

"If I leave the box where it is, the guard will see where we have gone when they inspect the prison at ten o'clock," replied Flint.

"That's so; I did not have the box in my plan, and that would tell the guard where to look for us," replied Christy. "We must make a line, and haul it up after you."

"Here are two big handkerchiefs," added Flint, as he removed his neck-cloth, and passed up his pocket handkerchief with it.

Christy tied the handkerchiefs together with great care, adding two more of his own to the length, which he thought would reach the box, Flint made it fast to the broken end of a board on the side, and then, without the least difficulty or noise, sprang lightly to the roof of the warehouse. With the aid of his companion, Christy drew up the box, careful that it should not strike against the frame of the scuttle. The door was closed, though of course they were unable to hook it on the inside, as they had found it; but the guard were not likely to notice that it was not fastened before morning.

324 "What next, Mr. Passford?" asked the master's mate, after they had rested for a few minutes from their labors, though they had not been very arduous.

"The next thing is to get down into the street, where we shall be as safe as though we were as patriotic, over the left, as my Uncle Homer. The burden of the work is done, but I hope we shall be able to kill two birds with one stone," replied Christy, though his meaning was mysterious to his companion.

"It don't seem to me that we are much better off than we were in the loft," suggested the mate.

"I believe we are, though I don't think we had better indulge in any long speeches just now. We have a favorable night, and we must make the best of it. I don't intend to be seen in this town in the morning, but we have the whole night before us."

"There will be a lively time looking for us to-morrow, for I don't think they will be willing that you should get off, though it won't make much difference to them about me."

"They would not be willing to part with you, my friend."

325 "But you made yourself rather noted in helping the Bellevite out last May, and they will have a history of the loss of the Teaser in the newspapers in due time, if they have not had it already; and they will not like it a bit when they find that you have stepped out."

"They are welcome to their own reflections," replied the lieutenant.

"And they will send a searching party out to your uncle's estate at Glenfield; but of course we shall not go near there," said Flint.

"That is just where I am going," replied Christy, decidedly, "for that is where I expect to kill one of the birds with the stone I fire. But we had better be moving, for we have a long tramp before us."

The midshipman led the way, and though the roof, which was nearly flat, was wet with the falling rain, they walked, still in their stockinged feet, to the farther end of the block. Neither of them wore his uniform, as they remained as they had dressed for the duty they were to do on board of the Teaser. This was a point in their favor in the course they were to pursue, for their uniform would have betrayed them as soon as they were seen.

326 Before they reached the end of the block of warehouses, they had found and tried all the scuttles on the roof, but they had not discovered one which had been left unfastened. At the last one this became a serious question. The scuttle at the end warehouse was securely hooked on the inside; but neither of the pair felt discouraged at this circumstance. Looking about them they found a piece of joist about ten feet long, which might have been left there when the building was finished. Christy examined the scuttle with the greatest care, to determine on which side the hooks were placed.

While he was doing this, Flint detached a couple of bricks from the party-wall, which were used as a fulcrum for the lever, made of the joist. The building was not inhabited, and there was little to be feared at that height above the street from any noise they might make. Flint sat down on the end of the lever, and the scuttle flew up at once, the staple drawn out of the wood.

The master's mate was the first to enter; and he "hung off" to the floor below. Then he assisted Christy to descend, and to close the scuttle after him. Acting upon their belief that all the warehouses 327 were constructed on the same plan, they easily found the door by which they reached the staircase. On the lower floor, they opened a window and passed out into the alley in the rear of the building. They were on the ground, and Christy soon ascertained where he was. He made his way to a wharf where he was fortunate enough to find a boat.

This locality seemed to be entirely deserted, and there was no one to challenge them, and no one appeared to take any notice of them on the way. It was not yet nine o'clock, and many stores were open, one of which they entered and bought a cooked ham and a large supply of bread. The woman in charge asked no questions, though Christy talked about a fishing trip to blind her. The boat they found was a very good one, and as it was the property of the enemy, Christy had no scruples in regard to confiscating