Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-07-28
THE HUNTED MAN.

IL was q wild, rocky, hllly country
through which the path led, winding
! about among powders and scrubby trees
! now skirting the edge of rayine, now
! crossing brawling stream, and again 60
! ing straight over rugged hill.
Along this path man was walking al
! pretty rapid pace, looking neither to the
/ right nor left, but with his fierce gray
eyes fixed steadily before him. He was
of medium height, well built, with broad,
strong looking shoulders, in which there
was little stoop. His hair and beard
were of light, ashy brown, his complex
ion sallow, and his features commonplace
enough, with the exception of his eyes, in
which there was cold, cruel light. He
seemed to be well acquainted with the
country, pursuing his way without hest
tation, though occasionally he came TO a
place where another path intersected the
one he was travelling.
Walking thus, neither Stacking nor &C
celebrating his gait, he came to hill much
higher and sleeper than any he had yet
crossed. Climbing this he necessarily
went slower and with more difficulty, but
the view that greeted his eyes when he
got to the top would have we'll repaid him
for the toll Of the ascent had he been one
to appreciate the beauties of nature
Far away was range of mountains,
blue and misty in the distance. the lines
of elevation gradually sinking to the foot
hills, which seemed to roll away in great
pillows, breaking at his very feet in a
chaotic mass of rocks, trees and glancing
waters. But this traveller had no eye for
the beautiful-the distant mountains
which he stood still for moment to gaze
upon, were to him only place Of refuge,
and that distance which softened their
rugged features and lent enchantment to
them, he would gladly have dispensed
with.
With a heavy sigh, the first symptom
of WEAKNESS he had shown, he was about
to resume his journey when he suddenly
came to stand again, turning his eyes,
in which there was startled look, in the
direction whence he had come. He had
heard sound that he too well knew. 1t
was the bay of hound, just audible, far
away to the southeast. He listened in
tently. The dog did not give voice con-
tinuously, but only at intervals, and his
keen ear detected difference in the BAYS
as they came nearer: there were two dogs
running, and running over the very route
by which he had come.
He knew well what that meant He
was not deceived. He did not allow any
hopeful fancy to persuade him that those
dogs were in pursuit of any four footed
beast. 1t was man they were after-he
knew it. When the hound hunts the deer
or the wild eat his yelp is quick and joy
Gus, but when he hunts man his voice is
deep and sonorouS and breaks on the still
air like the toll of the death bell
The hunted man turned and looked at
the mountain again, and there was a great
longing in mis- fierce eyes. Alas! those blue
peakS-hoW far they were away. Then
with the activity of the panther, which he
somewhat resembled in his nature he
bounded down the slope of the hill, at the
foot Of which he plunged into swiftly
running stream.
The water was not deep, coming up to
his knees, and Wading through that he
ran hundred yards or more, and then
turning. retraced his steps. There was
mountain ash growing about twenty feet
from the stream, its wide spreading
branches reaching out some thirty feet
from the trunk. Climbing the tree, he
clambered out on one OF the branches
overhanging the water and dropped from
the end of it, wading a considerable dis
tance before landing, when he FASTENED to
the top of another hill and stopped TO lis
ten just an instant. He could hear the
dogs plainly now; they were rapidly APP
preaching.
There was a place Of refuge that he
knew OF, where no man, he thought, could
find him. No man. But there were the
dogs, whose sense of smell was more IN
erring than the intelligence of man. They
would track him TO his hiding place il
spite OF all that he might do. If he sue
ceeded in reaching this piace-it was not
far away-they could not get at him
there, but they would know that he was
near at hand. They would
know-ah, yes, the dogs would know, but
the men might think them at fault and
draw them off. There was a chance OF
that, and it Was the only chance on which
he could build nope. But come what
would, he would die game; they should
not take him alive. He had no weapon
save long bladed knife, which he drew
from its scabbard in his bosom, glancing
at lis keen edge and thrusting it back
again
He was running while these thoughts
were passing through his brain, and in a
little while he came to a ravine, the bot
tom of which he reached by successive
leaps from bowl6er to bOwlder Then hs
ran down the rayine until he came to
place where the sides where high and
A tree growing on the top
Of the cliff on one side hung over the
verge, and from its gnarled and twisted |
branches depended a stout grapevine that
reached about two-thirds of the distance /
from the top to the bottom. The man
stopped here and with much difficulty |
,lambered up until he could reach this |
vine, up which he went. hand over hand, !
Is sailor goes up rope. About twenty /
,eet from where he started he ceased (
climbing, and giving the vine a swinging .
notion, after two or three vibrations, (
disappeared, apparently into ths .
1ery face OF the rock.
The hounds came on. They lost the 1
rail at the stream. up which the fugitive /
lad waded. It delayed them little /
vhile-it was all he had expected-and (
hen they picked it up again, following it
agerly and plunging into the ravine,
heir deep voices echoing among the rocks
md making as great a clamor as though
here had been full pack engaged in the
base. Suddenly they stopped and began
o sniff about the foot Of the cliff where
he man had climbed up, holding their
leads up and baying at regular intervals
Three men now made their appearance,
eadiag their horses, which they had been
hGged TO disnount, ii order that they /
night pick their way down an almost i'm
practicable path. The dogs were trying
o crawl up the face of the rock.
Well, III be burned il tibet chap amt
lum' up TO tibet thar grapevine an gone
Up tibet like q s9urrul. said one of the