“Ay, an’ he knows that we’re here to do whatsoever we may; but sends word that you lads are not to take any chances on his account; he’d rather stay where he is, though we know full well the quarters are anythin’ different from comfortable, than have you come to grief.” To this I could make no reply, for my heart was too full. It was like the dear fellow to think of others rather than himself, though if the positions were reversed he would have taken any chance, whatever the peril, in the hope of lending us a hand. “What about your friend?” Sam asked. “Is there hope he might be willin’ to help us if we see any kind of a show to free Abel?” “Ay, lad, Barney is fast comin’ ’round to my way of thinkin’ about you colonists who refuse to obey the king, an’ declares that when the war is ended, whichever way the matter turns, he’ll stay in this country if so be his term of enlistment has expired. Now I don’t want to raise any hopes that may be dashed, therefore you must take the statement with many grains of salt when I say that Barney has a scheme in your behalf, though the odds are as ten to one against its workin’ our way.” “If it was an hundred to one we’d try it!” I cried, speaking incautiously loud. “What is it?” “Remember that it’s only a bare chance, an everythin’ must work our way else it is useless,” Seth Hartley replied as if unwilling to give the information lest we should build too many hopes upon it. “As you must know, it is wickedly hot in the hold of the ship, where are stowed more than two hundred of your people. Beginnin’ with last night, squad after squad of the prisoners has been allowed to come on deck for an hour at a time lest they die faster than would be possible to bury ’em. By shiftin’ off with one of his mates, Barney can be on duty when we are ready to do our part of it, an’ declares that if your man has enough of nerve, he may be able to slip away, though it would be certain death if he was caught tryin’ to do the trick.” “Tell it all,” I said impatiently. “Abel Grant has nerve enough for any venture however desperate, an’ you need not fear to frighten us who have been standin’ within the shadow of death since the moment we landed on this island.”