Watch and Wait or The Young Fugitives   By: Oliver Optic (1822-1897)

WOODVILLE STORIES

BY

OLIVER OPTIC

WATCH AND WAIT.

BOSTON. LEE & SHEPARD.

WATCH AND WAIT;

OR,

THE YOUNG FUGITIVES.

A Story for Young People.

BY

OLIVER OPTIC,

AUTHOR OF "THE BOAT CLUB," "ALL ABOARD," "NOW OR NEVER," "TRY AGAIN," "POOR AND PROUD," "LITTLE BY LITTLE," "RICH AND HUMBLE," "IN SCHOOL AND OUT," "THE SOLDIER BOY," "THE RIVERDALE STORY BOOKS," ETC.

BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, (SUCCESSORS TO PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO.) 1868.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by WILLIAM T. ADAMS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

ELECTROTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 4 Spring Lane.

TO

WALTER F. POPE

This Book

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY HIS UNCLE.

THE WOODVILLE STORIES.

IN SIX VOLUMES.

LIBRARY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

BY OLIVER OPTIC.

1. RICH AND HUMBLE.

2. IN SCHOOL AND OUT.

3. WATCH AND WAIT.

4. WORK AND WIN.

5. HOPE AND HAVE.

6. HASTE AND WASTE.

PREFACE.

However much the author of "WATCH AND WAIT" may sympathize with that portion of the population of our country to which the principal characters of the story belong, he is forced to acknowledge that his book was not written in the interests of the anti slavery cause. His young friends require stirring incidents of him, and the inviting field of adventure presented by the topic he has chosen was the moving spring which brought the work into existence; and if the story shall kindle any new emotion of sympathy for the oppressed and enslaved, it will have more than answered the purpose for which it was intended, and the writer will be all the more thankful for this happy influence.

As a story of exciting adventure, the writer hopes it will satisfy all his young readers; that they will love the gentle Lily, respect the manly independence of Dan, and smile at the oddities of Cyd; and that the book will confirm and increase their love of liberty and their hatred of tyranny. If the young fugitives were resolute, even to shedding the blood of the slave hunter, they had forgiving and Christian hearts, in which there was neither malice nor revenge; and in this respect, if in no other, they are worthy exemplars for the young and the old.

With this explanation, I give the third volume of the Woodville Stories into the hands of my young friends, bespeaking for it the same favor which has been bestowed upon its predecessors.

WILLIAM T. ADAMS.

DORCHESTER, August 15, 1864.

CONTENTS. PAGE

CHAP. I. The Plantation of Redlawn 11

CHAP. II. The Edith goes down to Green Point 21

CHAP. III. Master Archy receives an Unlucky Blow 31

CHAP. IV. Dandy determines to "watch and wait." 41

CHAP. V. The Tragedy at the "Dead Oak." 51

CHAP. VI. A Vision of the Promised Land 62

CHAP. VII. The Isabel is prepared for a Cruise 73

CHAP. VIII. The Departure of the Young Fugitives 84

CHAP. IX. The Fugitives reach Lake Chicot 95

CHAP. X. Breakfast on board the Isabel 107

CHAP. XI. The Bay of the Bloodhounds 117

CHAP. XII. Quin, the Runaway 128

CHAP. XIII. The Night Chase on the Lake 139

CHAP. XIV. The Battle for Freedom 152

CHAP. XV. The Fate of the Slave Hunters 164

CHAP. XVI. In the Swamp 176

CHAP. XVII. Cyd has a Bad Fit 187

CHAP. XVIII. The Affray on the Lake 199

CHAP. XIX. Lily on the Watch 211

CHAP. XX. Preparing for the Voyage 220