At length points of light began to show through chinks in the
logs. Hannibal roused and sat up, rubbing his eyes with the
backs of his hands.
"Wasn't you able to sleep none?" he inquired. Betty shook her
head. He looked at her with an expression of troubled concern.
"How soon do you reckon the judge will know?" he asked.
"Very soon now, dear." Hannibal was greatly consoled by this
opinion.
"Miss Betty, he will love to find us--"
"Hark! What was that?" for Betty had caught the distant splash
of oars. Hannibal found a chink in the logs through which by
dint of much squinting he secured a partial view of the bayou.
"They're fetching up a keel boat to the shore, Miss Betty--it's a
whooper!" he announced. Betty's heart sank, she never doubted
the purpose for which that boat was brought into the bayou, or
that it nearly concerned herself.
Half an hour later Mrs. Hicks appeared with their breakfast. It
was in vain that Betty attempted to engage her in conversation,
either she cherished some personal feeling of dislike for her
prisoner, or else the situation in which she herself was placed
had little to recommend it, even to her dull mind, and her
dissatisfaction was expressed in her attitude toward the girl.
Betty passed the long hours of morning in dreary speculation
concerning what was happening at Belle Plain. In the end she
realized that the day could go by and her absence occasion no
alarm; Steve might reasonably suppose George had driven her into
Raleigh or to the Bowens' and that she had kept the carriage.
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