She next sprang out, secured the boat to a post, and began to climb the steep bank, that was thickly covered with a growth of pines, from which the place took its name. Here danger of another and more appalling form threatened her. Fugitive slaves, than whom a more dangerous banditti can nowhere be found, were known to infest this coast, where by day they hid in caves and holes, and by night prowled about like wild beasts in search of food or prey. More than to meet the wildcat or the wolf, that were not yet banished from these woods, the maiden dreaded to encounter one of these famished and desperate human beasts! Lifting her heart in prayer to God for assistance, she passed courageously on her dark and dangerous way; starting at the sound of her own light footsteps upon some crackling, fallen branch, and holding her breath at the slight noise made by the moving of a rabbit or a bird in the foliage. At last she reached the summit of the wooded hill, and came out of the pine thicket on to the meadow. Then there was a fence to climb, a field to cross, and a gate to open before she reached the wooded lawn fronting the house. There the last peril, that of the watchdogs, awaited her. One mastiff barked furiously as she approached the gate; as she opened it, the whole pack broke in full cry upon her. She paused and stood still, holding out one hand, and saying, gently: “Why, Ponto! Why, Fido! What is the matter, good boys?” The two foremost recognized and fawned upon her, and under their protection, as it were, she walked on through the excited pack, that, one by one, dropped gently under her influence, and walked quietly by her side. So she reached the front of the house, passed up the piazza, and rang the bell. Peal upon peal she rung before she could make any one in that quiet house hear. At last, however, an upper window was thrown up, and the voice of Dr. Hartley asked: “Who’s there?” “It is I, Dr. Hartley. It is I, Margaret Helmstedt! come to you on a matter of life and death!” “You! You, Margaret! You, at this hour! I am lost in wonder!” “Oh, come down, quickly, quickly, or it will be too late!” Evidently believing this to be an imminent necessity for his professional services, the doctor drew in his head, let down the window, hastily donned his apparel, and came down to admit his visitor. Leading her into the sitting-room, he said: “Now, my dear, who is ill? And what, in the name of all the saints, was the necessity of your coming out at this time of night with the messenger?” “Dr. Hartley, look at me well. I came with no messenger. I left the island at midnight, and crossed the bay, and came up the river alone.” “Good Heaven, Miss Helmstedt! Margaret! what is it you tell me? What has happened?” he asked, terrified at the strange words and the ghastly looks of the girl.