Before I reached
the house I was met by Cludde and Punchard, who had laid the
captured buccaneers in pound. I rapidly acquainted them with what
had happened, and was going on to the stables to find horses when
one of the negroes told me that there was none there, the only
saddle horses being those which were now carrying Vetch and his
companions to the coast. But the wagons were still where we had
left them; in the excitement of the past half hour they had been
forgotten. The horses were draught horses, and did not promise good
speed, but we had no others; and I cried to the men to unyoke the
teams, while I ran to the kitchen for a weapon.
I seized a couple of the buccaneers' cutlasses, and hastening back,
gave one to Cludde. We had no time for saddling up; throwing
ourselves on the horses' bare backs, we set off with Punchard and
Uncle Moses along the road, urging the beasts to a pace which I
feared they could not long keep up.
As we drew near to the place of our ambush I remembered the
overseers we had left tied up there in the wood, and their horses
which we had tethered. Bidding Punchard and the negroes ride on, I
flung myself from the back of my sweating steed, ran into the wood,
and soon returned with the saddle horses. Within three minutes of
our halt Cludde and I were galloping on, at a pace which soon
outstripped our more heavily mounted companions. Vetch had had but
ten or fifteen minutes' start of us, and his horse carrying a
double burden, I hoped we should overtake him before he could
convey Mistress Lucy aboard his brig.
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