“They know nothing about me,” Gervase said; “only Colonel Walker and myself are in the secret. If I fail----”
“Tut, man, ye´ll not fail now. I think,” she went on, looking at him admiringly, “ye could find a way in anything. You just take a rest on the bed upstairs, and I´ll watch that you´re not disturbed. They´re not bad bodies, the redcoats, and they haven´t troubled me much since I came back from Londonderry. In the evening I´ll see you farther.”
“If I only could find a boat,” Gervase said: “I could never reach the fleet by swimming now.”
“I´ve been thinking of that,” she answered; “there´s a bit of a coble lying in the cove, but the oars are gone and it must be leaky as a sieve, for it had been lying there all the summer.”
Gervase caught the idea eagerly. “Anything that will keep me afloat; I care not what it is. Mistress Graham, we´ll save the city between us.”
“There ye go,” she said, with a smile of gratified vanity. “Ye could never make the two miles in yon crazy tub, but I´ll see through the day if I can´t turn my hand to caulking her myself. I´ve seen it done and I think I can try it, but what you´ll do for oars I know not. However, the tide will help you and you´ll manage somehow, never fear. It will be a great day when ye meet Sandy in the Diamond, and tell him I helped you through.”
Throughout the day Gervase remained undisturbed in the cottage. A patrol had been stationed a little distance further along the shore, but they had not again visited the house. Two or three times he heard their shouts as they passed at a distance. Mistress Graham had kept her promise, and as well as she was able, had patched up the little boat, which she dragged into the water and left floating in the cove. By using one of the planks which had been left in the little craft as a paddle, she hoped that he would be able to make his way to the ships. All was now ready for his journey, and it only wanted the help of the darkness to allow him to set out.
It was a bright moonlight night when they went down to the beach together. There was not an air to ruffle the surface of the water, and they could see very plainly a couple of miles away the riding lights of the ships at anchor. The patrol that had been in the vicinity of the cottage during the day had apparently been withdrawn, for they had not been in sight since sundown. Gervase found the coble more than half full of water, which took him some time to bale out, and when he was ready to start he wrung the hand of the kind-hearted woman warmly. “I have no time to spare,” he said. “God reward you for all your kindness! You had better go back to the house now, for if I should be discovered it would only bring you into trouble. I hope we´ll meet under better fortune. Farewell.”