University of Virginia Library

5. CHAPTER V.

The young naval officer, Gordon Hay, thus
commenced his narration of the part he had
borne in the plan which had been in contemplation
for the release of Ogilvie's father,
provided all appeals to the Executive failed.

`After I quitted the presence of the governor,'
said Gordon, `I was satisfied that there
remained no other course for me to pursue,
than to take the steps we had proposed, and
for which you purchased and prepared this
shallop. At first, I hardly knew how to act,
as it was not safe to trust any one with my
purposes. If I could have taken Bella into
my confidence, she has so much spirit and
courage that by her aid I could have effected
anything.'

`I am sorry that she is so hostile to me,'
said Ogilvie, sadly. `My destiny is a hard
one, Gordon, to be rejected without any fault
of my own!'

`I sympathize with you, Ogilvie. Upon
reaching home, I shut myself up in my room,
to think out the best way to proceed, now
that there was no other alternative left but
immediate action. At length I formed my
plan, and, sitting down and writing you the
note which you received, I despatched it,
and then left the house. Without stopping
any where, I took my way to the prison, and,
with as much precaution as I could use, I
made a thorough survey of its exterior. The
result was, I satisfied myself that it would be
impossible for your father to escape by any
other means than by stratagem. If files
could be conveyed to him, and he could open
the bars of his cell, he could not descend to
the ground without ropes; and, as he is a
large, heavy man, I am sure he could not get
through the small window of his apartment.
Of this, I felt very certain, and therefore
abandoned the idea I had conceived of carrying
to him in a loaf of bread, a file.'

`Could you have bribed the baker?'

`I have little doubt of it—I was in his shop
two or three times, and sounded him so far
as to lead me to believe that prompt and
large money at the proper moment, would
secure him on our side. But the height of
the walls, and the constant guard in the prison,
led me, after a close inspection, to abandon
this project.'

`And for what other?' demanded Hugh,
with deep interest. `I begin to fear that we
may fail, after all.'

`No, do not doubt! My next plan thought
of, was to obtain the keys, and so penetrate
to the cell, and release him.'

`This will be impossible. Since you have
abandoned the project which I depended on,
of getting a file to him by which he could
open his window, I begin to tremble!'

`Yet this last plan, if we had proper assistance,

is feasible. There is an office
which opens to the street, where the keeper
is usually seated, reading or writing, and to
which every body has access. When I looked
in, I noticed that the door which led to
the galleries on which the cells were, was
open. He was seated in it, reading a newspaper,
with his foot against the post. I could
see over his head, into the very heart of the
prison-court, and got a glimpse of the galleries
that run around the lockups. Upon a
nail, within reach of his hand, was a large
ring of keys, and two enormous single keys,
bright with use. I knew that these were the
keys which could open a way to your father's
cell.'

`He was alone! alone say you?' cried Hugh,
`Then I see how it can be done. If all other
means fail, I will have those keys if I have
to grapple with the keeper for their possession.'

`There is no need to risk everything so
rashly,' answered his friend, quietly. `While
I was looking in, a young woman, who was
passing with strawberries in a basket, stopped
and asked him if he would buy any. He
laid the paper on his knee, and said to her—

“`Come in, and let me see them.”

“`I'm afeared to go in a jail,” she answered
timidly, drawing back. But he bade her
enter, which she did do, and stood looking
round her, alarmed, while he ate two or three
of the strawberries, to try them. He seemed
satisfied with them and with the price, and
said to her—

“`Take them through that door, and the
women-folks will measure out what they
want.” And he pointed through the open
door, and along a platform that led to the
domestic offices of the prison. The girl
would have declined, but he bade her go as
he directed, and I saw her disappear in the
interior. But fearing I should attract the attention
of the keeper by my inquisitiveness,
though I disguised it under the appearance
of looking at a pair of fine horses that stood
harnessed to a dray opposite, I walked on.—
But I had seen enough to satisfy my own
mind that the only way to release and save
your father from execution, is by possessing
yourself of those keys.'

`I will do it with my life!'

`No—there is no need of risking your life,
or, by exposing yourself to arrest, defeating
the object to which you are devoting yourself.
If you should fail, and be taken up,
your father would, nevertheless, die!'

`True—you are always cooler and calmer
than I am. Let me hear what you think of
doing.'

`Finding some person who will be willing
to play the part of a strawberry girl, and who,
at the same time, will have art enough to engage
the keeper's attention, while you possess
yourself of the ring of keys, placing
another that looks precisely like it, in its
place, which I have provided at an old iron
shop to-day. I am satisfied that merely to
the eye, which is all we shall want, the deception
will be complete.'

`But, my dear Gordon, what good will the
keys do, if I get them into my hands? How
shall I, in open day, go unlocking the doors
of the prison, till I reach my father's cell!—
and how bring him forth in the face of the
keeper!'

`You shall hear my whole plan, and then
judge. As I said, our first step will be to
find some young person who will act the
strawberry-girl. The one I saw yesterday
was too awkward and fearful, even could she
be bribed. In a word, we must have some
young woman who is intelligent, courageous,
and has wit enough to engage the keeper's
attention; for he is a fat, jolly looking personage,
and I know has an eye to a pretty
face. Bella, if she would act with us, would
captivate him at once.'

`Dear Bella! if she would, I would hardly
consent to her placing herself in such danger
as detection would lead to.'

`I should not fear for her. If it were I
who was in prison, she would succeed in getting
me at liberty, I am confident.'

`Would to Heaven she would co-operate
with us! Who can you get? Who do you
know, that is young and pretty, and who
would be able to carry out her part?'

`I know no one positively, whom we could
both trust, and whose sagacity we could depend
upon.'

`Nor do I.' But you have not told me
what she is to do as a strawberry girl. How
can she aid me? Am I to act a part too?'
asked Hugh, a little bewildered.

`Yes. You are to follow her in, dressed
as a mechanic, with a box of tools in your
hand, and say that you want her to take what
strawberries she don't sell, to your home, for
your wife. You will make some noise with
the jingle of iron in your box, so as to throw
the keeper off his guard, should he hear any
noise you make in taking the false keys from
your box and removing the real ones from
the peg into it.'

`Very well, so far is well; but this depends
on the charms and wit of the strawberry girl
to throw dirt into the keeper's eyes. It will
be impossible to get such an one.'

`Of that I am not so sure. But to-morrow
will show!'

`And you have seen none yet?'

`No—I waited till you come. But I have
one in my mind now, that possibly may be
persuaded, if well paid, to take part with us.
But this is to be yet ascertained. I have not,
I confess, even seen her, and don't know
that she would at all answer to carry out so
bold a plan, even should she consent.'

`But suppose I got possession of the keys
—what should I do with them? Wait till
night? By that time they would be missed.'

`No—you will act at once. I shall provide
the strawberry girl, whoever acts this
part, with a very costly bottle of perfumed
ether. She shall pretend she found it, and
hand it to the keeper, who, I see, has a covetous
eye, and he will readily grasp it and
claim it, or I am greatly mistaken. If he
does not, she shall manage to make him inhale
it; and I give you my word, that if he
but snuff the subtle fluid once up his nostrils,
he will, in a moment after, be as unconscious
of terrestrial things as you could wish. It
shall be her part to continue to apply it to his
nose, while you are applying the keys to the
wards which separate you from your father.
At the door of the jail you will have a carriage
in readiness into which to place him;
and if your horses are fleet, you will, ere
long, have your father as safe on board the
shallop as we now are.'

`Your plan is an excellent one, Gordon,
save that it ought to be carried out at night.
The jail office is never closed until nine
o'clock, that I know; as, when I have visited
my father, before his trial, I have staid in his
cell till within a few minutes before, when
the keeper would come for me, saying it was
time to lock up for the night. Would it do
to have a strawberry girl go about selling at
night?'

`No—hardly—without exciting suspicion.
I have it—she shall be a flower-girl. She
shall sell boquets, as I have seen the young
quadroons do evenings, in New Orleans.—
You are right, if it could be carried through
after night; but I was not aware that the office
was kept open so late.'

`Yes, till the bell rings nine.'

`Then it shall be done at night.'

`You are sure about this ether?'

`Yes, it is infalliable. All that is now
wanted is some young woman who would enter
fully into our plans. A young girl going
in to sell flowers would excite no suspicion.'

`But how will it be with me as a carpenter,
with my box? One of my assumed profession
would hardly want flowers for my
wife.'

`You could say your wife's cousin was to
be married, and this would be excuse enough.
This plan, on the whole, is the only one that
I can frame that gives us any hope of success.
It is an important one, and the favorable
result will depend on many circumstances
which we cannot contrive. In a great
measure, we shall have to be governed by

what passes at the moment, in carrying it out.'

`Yes, and I am prepared to run all the
risks, if possibly I might save my father from
the doom that is before him. Unless this
succeeds he will perish within three days on
the gallows!'

`Yes—to-day is Wednesday; on Friday he
is to be executed.'

`Say not he is to be, Gordon,' said Hugh,
with a flushed cheek. `Never! never shall
my father die upon a gallows, if I have to
drive my knife into his heart when he is on
his way to it! No, no! I have sworn that I
will rescue him or die in the attempt. Who
is this young woman you think can be gained
over to be a party to our plan?'

`It is yet doubtful—as I have never seen
nor spoken with her.'

`Then what grounds have you for hoping
to secure her services?'

`Her poverty!'

`She shall be well rewarded. Is she intelligent
and courageous?—has she a pretty
face to ensnare the eye of the keeper, as well
as wit to captivate his attention? This is all
necessary, you know.'

`I cannot tell. I am going to see her early
to-morrow morning. I will tell you all I
know about her. While I was waiting for
you upon the pier, walking up and down, and
almost given up the hopes of seeing you approaching,
I saw a man standing near me,
who seemed to be watching my movements;
for, on discovering that I saw him, he started
to fly up the wharf. Fearing he might be a
spy, sent by some one who might suspect my
purposes. I sprang forward and seized him.
He proved to be a negro, and I found that
his business there was to ascertain if the old
house at the end of the wharf, had suffered
by the storm,—there living in it, as he said,
an old, crippled sea-captain and his daughter.
He said he had once sailed with the captain
as steward, and been wrecked with him four
or five years ago. The captain had his leg
broke at the time of the wreck, and the negro
saved his life. It would appear that the
owners accused the captain of neglect of duty,
and refused to give him another vessel—
which preyed so upon his health and spirits
that he has never yet perfectly recovered the
use of his limbs; and, in the meanwhile, neglected
and forgotten by the world, he has
been reduced to poverty, lives in that old
wreck, the Ridgely House, I suppose rent
free, and is supported by his daughter, a
young girl of eighteen.'

`This you learned from the negro.'

`Yes; and he gave me their history so
feelingly that I was deeply moved by it.—
Moreover, he showed his goodness of heart
and their exceeding poverty, by saying that
he was looking for a vessel to go to sea in,
that he might get his month's advance and
make a present of it to Missy Jenny, as he
called the young girl, to buy a bonnet and
dresses! I liked the negro so well that I
engaged him at once for you, and to-morrow
at eight he is to meet me at the Two Anchors.
He is honest and daring, and he will
evidently make you a valuable hand.'

`This young person can be gained over
if money has any power over poverty,' said
Hugh. `I hope that she can and—'

`I mean to go and see her in the morning
in company with the negro Cæsar, who seems
to have taken upon himself to be their protector.'

`Is Cæsar the name of the black?'

`Yes.'

`I once saved a young fellow of that name
from a shark in Havana, as our frigate lay
there,' said Hugh. `But, as half the negroes
are Cæsars, it is little likely to be he. But,
should it be, he will be of great value to us,
as we can trust him fully. But it is not likely
at all that it is he. Now, as all depends, if
we hold to this plan, upon securing the services
of this captain's daughter, I hope you
will prevail upon her.'

`I hope so. But there is one young girl,
if I knew where to find her, whom I could
induce to enter heart and hand, into our plot,'
said Gordon, with confidence.