"I wish I had someone to send with you to see you home safely," Mr.
Doane said, a little anxiously, as they stood together in the little
hallway. "But I am known here, and I fear everything I do is watched. So
I must trust that you will be safely cared for."
Before Sylvia could reply, and say that she was not at all afraid to go
alone, the outer door rattled as if someone were trying to push it open.
"You have been followed. Run back to the sitting-room," whispered Mr.
Doane. "I will open the door."
CHAPTER XII
ESTRALLA HELPS
Sylvia, standing just inside the door of the small room, heard the outer
door swing open. She heard Mr. Doane's sharp question, and then a
familiar wail.
"Oh! It's Estralla!" she exclaimed, and ran back to the entry.
"It's Estralla! Oh! I'm so glad!" she said.
"Don' you be skeered, Missy Sylvia," said Estralla valiantly. "Dis yere
man cyan't take you off'n sell you."
"All Estralla can think of is that somebody is going to be carried off
and sold," Sylvia said, turning to Mr. Doane, who stood by looking very
serious.
"How did you know where your little mistress was?" he questioned
gravely. For if this little darky knew of Sylvia's errand he feared that
she might tell others, and so Sylvia would have brought the message from
the fort to little purpose. The letter, which was now in Mr. Doane's
pocket, was to the Secretary of War in Washington, asking for permission
for Major Anderson to take men to Fort Sumter, before the secessionists
could occupy it.
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