It would not be safe to lug the rope through the streets in the daytime, lest some over officious person should insist on knowing what we proposed to do with it. We would be forced to take a long walk in order to fetch it; but that was of little consequence compared with the additional security such a plan seemed to afford. Then we separated, Captain Hanaford agreeing to be at the smoke-house within an hour, and when Jerry and I went over the side of the pungy it was with lighter hearts than when we came on board. It is true that the most dangerous portion of the undertaking was yet to be performed; but everything had turned so favorably for us since we set out in search of Darius, that we could not but feel a wonderful degree of courage regarding the remainder of the task. Jerry was so well pleased that he would have talked about what we were to do even on the street; but I insisted that we should hold our peace until it was impossible any one could overhear us, and in silence we made our way toward the place of refuge. It is needless for me to attempt to describe the joy of our comrades when we told them of the friend we had met, and the plans which had been laid. My father showed plainly by his face the relief of mind because of the possibility that he might have different quarters. "I haven't grumbled, because I knew you lads had about all you could stagger under," he said when we told him that Captain Hanaford was bent on trying to get him aboard the pungy. "I can't stay in this place very much longer, without taking big chances of going under, for the wound needs careful attention; but if I can be with Bob Hanaford everything will come around shipshape, because he knows by experience what a gunshot hurt is like." "Do you think it will be possible to keep on your feet for such a long distance?" I asked anxiously, because until this moment I supposed my father was getting on as comfortably as a man in his condition could reasonably expect. "I'll manage that part of it, lad; the knowledge of what is to be gained will keep me up." Well, there is no good reason why I should try to set down all we said while waiting for the owner of the pungy, and when he finally arrived, having had little or no difficulty in finding the smoke-house, it was as if a great and beneficial change was immediately apparent. The captain's first act was to rebandage my father's wound, Jerry getting him a supply of fresh water from the well at the ruins of the tavern, and when that was done he set about making arrangements for our moving, taking upon himself the entire direction of affairs, much to my relief. His first act was to explain to Jim, Dody and Josiah the location of the pungy, sending them off at once, with explicit directions as to the streets through which they should pass. The lads were to go into the cuddy without loitering on deck, and keep the hatch closed and bolted until his arrival.