So soon as a large column of
smoke arose from this arrangement, the captain significantly held forth
a hand towards his assistant. A small cord was produced from the pocket
of the sergeant, and handed to the other. The refugee threw out vast
puffs of smoke, until nearly all of his head was obscured, and looked
around the building with an inquisitive eye. At length he removed the
pipe, and inhaling a draft of pure air, returned it to its domicile, and
proceeded at once to business. A heavy piece of timber lay across the
girths of the barn, but a little way from the southern door, which
opened directly upon a full view of the river, as it stretched far away
towards the bay of New York. Over this beam the refugee threw one end of
the rope, and, regaining it, joined the two parts in his hand. A small
and weak barrel, that wanted a head, the staves of which were loose, and
at one end standing apart, was left on the floor, probably as useless.
The sergeant, in obedience to a look from his officer, placed it beneath
the beam. All of these arrangements were made with composure, and they
now seemed completed to the officer's perfect satisfaction.
"Come," he said coolly to the Skinner, who, admiring the preparations,
had stood a silent spectator of their progress. He obeyed; and it was
not until he found his neckcloth removed, and hat thrown aside, that he
took the alarm.
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