Page:Rowland--In the shadow.djvu/306

 once," said Manning in a hard voice. "I think it probable that they will do so."

"Do you think that it will take you very long to find Dessalines, Dr. Leyden?" asked Virginia.

"No, Miss Moultrie, not if he is still in the swamp, which I think probable. It may take me some time, however, to induce in him a condition of mind which will fit him to come out; it is this which I fear."

"What do you mean?" asked Manning.

"I mean that his present mental condition might be such as to endanger his safety. In that case I shall leave him there for a few days in the hope that food, rest, and the assurance of safety may have a quieting influence. By reporting no success, the search will be abandoned. It will then be easy to get him out. The next step is to get him out of the country."

"Can you not call upon the governor of the State for military protection?" asked Giles.

"Yes; if we wished to have him tried," said Manning. "If he has killed this man, as seems probable, it would be all up with him before a Carolina jury."

"Since we are all to become aiders and abetters in his escape," said Leyden, "let us do it thoroughly. He may be kept here in the house until the excitement has subsided, after which we can take him secretly to Charleston and put him aboard an outward-bound British tramp steamer. It will not be difficult to prevail upon the captain to earn a couple of hundred of dollars."

Manning frowned. He possessed in full the pride of his race, and furtive methods were hard to swallow; it would have been more to his taste to have surrounded Dessalines with a few armed white men of his choosing, 296