"You know the shape of the letter A?" "I do." "Well, that boat has been running up one leg of the A, and I have been running up the other; so, you see, we must be coming nearer together. I had to run this way in order to use the wind to the best advantage." "But you will come together in this way in a few moments." "No; we are as near now as we can be, unless that boat sails faster than we do. I shall continue to sail in a straight line, but I shall get ahead of the other if she does not change her course. She cannot cut me out now, at any rate." Probably Lily was willing to talk of this subject to banish more painful thoughts from her mind, though it is not likely that she clearly comprehended the tactics of the skipper of the Isabel. "Don't you think I had better call Cyd and Quin?" asked she, after she had again glanced at the position of the pursuing boat. "No, let them sleep. We will not call them till it is necessary to do so," replied Dan. "Do you think we can escape them?" asked she, anxiously. "I cannot tell, Lily. I hope so. It depends entirely upon the wind. If the breeze should die out, of course we could make no progress at all." "Do you think the wind will die out?" said she, nervously. "I can't tell, Lily. I hope not, I pray not." "Suppose it should die out, Dan?" added she, moving up nearer to the skipper. "If we lose the wind there is nothing to prevent the boat from overtaking us at once." "O, dear!" shuddered Lily, moving up still nearer to him who was her only earthly protector. "Why do you tremble so, Lily?" asked Dan, as he took her hand and pressed it in his own, perhaps thinking that he might thus impart to her some of his own steadiness. "Because I am so terribly frightened," replied she, with quivering lips. "I would rather die than be taken; and I have been thinking that I would throw myself into the lake if the boat catches us." "You shall not be taken, Lily," said Dan, his lips compressed, and his teeth tightly closed, evincing the determination with which he had resolved to meet the slave-hunters, if they attempted to lay their polluting hands upon the gentle girl by his side. "What can you do against such men as those?" "I can fight, Lily; I would do so to save myself, but more to save you." "O Heaven! If I should be taken! What would become of me?" "No, no, Lily: don't take on so," said Dan, as he passed his arm around her waist--a familiarity in which he had never before indulged, but which was done only as a father clasps his child--to inspire her with more confidence, to assure her that she was in the care of one who was able and willing to save her from the dreadful fate that impended. "I wish I could be brave as you are, Dan," said she, confidingly; for the expedient of her devoted friend seemed not to be without some effect. "You don't appear to be at all alarmed." "Because I have firmly resolved not to be taken myself, and not to let you be taken." "I suppose they only want Quin."