The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-31

If ell goes well, Sam, We sAau - in the boat,
ON the fiver-abls to sit down,.;e doyn-oh,
delicious Aren't you tired almt to death 2"
"No, mas'r. Ohl"-
turn of the path had brough him directly
upon little encampment beside shoulder
ing fire, smell of tobaccoIand g+isky, small
rude tent of two or three. indian, ylankets tied
from branch to branch, and, in FL It of It, three
rifles and jug standing, and a FEC :ish, bloated
his head ON one hand, and his es closed, or
nearly so. with sleep or headache. dog
growled. Sam, after one inst hts stunned
pause and stare, ran of. The n,<n looked up
stupidity and wistfully at HermasSS as if trying
to collect his drunken thoughts. herman passed
him. and. <nesed on. deliberaEely, 20 coxar Sans
tell-tale fight, until he had doubled the next
turn in the path, and then followed the latter
as fast and noiselessly as his feet could carry
him, followed himself by the fellows slow thick
speech, still tingling in his ears, Goo mornin'
Say Ho, misterl Hain't l saw st. Domi-
nique's Sam?" E. fa IS 60 -
Strange to tell, Herman met Sam coming
back ''The other wayl" cried Herman,
RUM why didn't you rung"
Wiz you, sare. Not wizout J u, sare lie
nigger-catcher Eat cotched met He seed me |!
He'll shoot you! Run, run |" ltAs
They ran. The path ran through the thick
wood and coppice, in such a zig-zag, that they
could not tell whether they were pursued or
not. Two parties might have followed, without
seeing each other in it at q distance, in right
line, of very few yards. 1t was possible that
the negro hunters, thoroughly reused, might be
already stealing upon them by short cut
through the undergrowth but it was not likely,
Herman thought. The thicket-was too thick ;
and the fugitives could have heard the crashing
sound of any one tearing his way through it, even
above the noise of their footsteps and painting
breath A turn in the path showed them the
end of the path, green upland, white light, and
blue sky. The open ground, which ran up
wards for about a quarter Of mile before
them, ran down again more steeply on the
other side, as Herman remembered, for sixty
or seventy feet, and then at its edge rushed the
river. If the slave-hunters reached the crest
of this rising ground before Iehabod and his
passengers did the opposite bank, the slave
hunters could scatter death among them at
their leisure, with their rifles. IF they did not,
all was safe enough. But if they were now
following them, before Herman and Sam could
reach the river, or Ichabod have reached them,
the slave-hunters would have reached the crest
of the rising ground.
"Sam," gasped Herman, as fast as he could
speak, as they neared the opening, :" take this
trumpet; run straight on, up the bank, down
to the river Blow the trumpet; boat will
come; Jump in, go over, as soon as it touches
the bank. | must stay here, to,see that nobody
comes after you up the path. I'll come, if l
can, in time; if not, don't wait. Tell Ichabod
to come for me after dark"
"Come, come, too, for Gods sake, master ~
"No! The dogs may track you; I'm safe
enough, if YOU go. If you don't, we're lost,
both. OF, Sam, fy!"
In full faith and the instinct of obedience to
a white man, Sam few out into the sunshine
up the green bank. Herman slipped back into
the wood, beside the opening of the shady pass,
and looked, and listened, pulling down great
branch Of ash, and holding il before him, for
a screen He heard behind him Sans rece
ding footsteps; before him, a croak, chirp,
and then, he thought, distant halloo. He
saw toad hop across the path, then robin
run up it. and then man, the man, with his
/ rife. Should he FIRE? Not like an assassin, not
without warning "Halloo |" cried he; "what
are you after here.?" Id
"St Dominiques Sam. Who are you?"
"a friend if you stand A foe if you come
on. / am armed and good shot. Stand
back, at your peril
With loud whoop and halloo, the man dis
charged his rifle towards the voice, making the
bark hy about Hermans ears from the tree
above him, and rushed on in cloud of smoke
AS it cleared away, Herman fired. He seldom
missed. The man went down On the turf with
a bell in his knee, screaming at the top OF his
voice, Murder murder, murderl Help! Sam
son. JEFF, murder | :" while in breath the voice
of the wood cried again, Dsstardly villain, to
hurt poor negro Do you want to halloo all
your other two-legged hounds upon him? BE
silent. / meant to let you of. easy the first time
and did SO. Don't force meTto fire again."
There was pause. The man groaned and
rolled helplessly. The green turf grew Grim
son. Righteous Indignation began to be tenn
pered with mercy: " 1t seems to me yoAi are
losing good deal of blood. Haven't you a
belt, or handkerchief, or anything which you
could strap or tie round your leg? tight, close
above the knee"
The man mechanically fumbled in one of his
pockets, half sat up, and rolled over again.
Haven't your Take my .cravat.n Herman
took it of, made it into a bal, and threw it to
him: He only griped his leg with both hands
writing and moaning. he was faint, perhaps
irresolute, at any rate No 5ae was in sight
1t would not take a minute Ito do it for him
" Here, I'll do it for you" Herman ranout to
aid him, when, quick as a casamount the man
sprang again into a sitting posture, and at his
! face and throat, with a bowie knife, cutting,
thrustine, and darling like lightRing. Down,
down I" cried Herman, sternly his moral and
professional instincts alike outraged, as he
knocked the knife and feeling together out OF
his patients hand, with dexterous tap On the
elbow. "Don't you see your leg is spouting like
a fre-engine? There, that's right I'm "a sur
geon / won't hurt you" He hastily bound
his rose-color and gray cravat, with Claras little
stitches in it, round the coarse bloody panta-
loon, drew the charge of the mans rife, thrust
1 q. IL Al L.. - frr;of or fxro
aud put the muzzle into his hand. (" There.
Hold that. Don't let CO." Back he ran to his
covert. .-.
| Five minutes had scarcely passed since the
rencounter. No one was yet in sight. Icha.
bod and Sam had had about time to Join forces
If Herman ran now, he might be Just in season
to cross with them, while the mans comrades
if they soon came after him, would probably
stop to attend to him. If Herman ran, and the
mans comrades did not soon come after him,
and attend to him judiciously when they did
come, he must die I how unfit to die. Herman
looked towards him. He was letting the band
age loosen itself "No. Hold hard DON'T
let 60" ~ !.
goldurned tight" sF''l5
"For comfort, / know it is, but it is not for
safety. Hold hard, tell YOU. Come, be a
mani You would not lose your life rather than
bear little pain. You're a. full blooded Eel
low; but it won't do for you to bleed FIVE min
utes more as you did five minutes ago. Your
friends were coming after YOU weren't they
"Dang it, yes; but they was SO ALFRED
sleepy. They was dousing Of thar heads, to
wake they-selves up. But they've snoozed of
againl Oh, the hell, what'll do :"
"When they come, send one of them for the
| nearest surppon "a fasf as ha can 90. Make