Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-06-07
THE WATERBURY EVENING DEMOCRAT JUNE 7 1888

it flashed on me that he mistook ne ill ths gloam for the relief guard; it was chance that might never come again. dropped my bucker and quickly walked away.
 Now, this was my position, l was in wood in strange, thinly settled country that did not know. had convict's stripes on my back, and not cent or a weapon in my pocket, and I knew that my absence was sure to be discovered in less than an hour, when the roll would be called. They were long chances, but death, it seemed to me, would be preferable to recapture and pun ishment. The thing was to put as much space as possible between myself and the camp before the alarm, and plunged ahead, taking southeasterly direction from the stars Ichose the thick of the wood rather than the open, for from the time passed the guard the bloodhounds had never been out of my mind an instant, and l knew tbat tho trees would seriously embar- rass the riders who follow the pack. It is generally supposed that blood hounds track and tree fugitives for hours be- fore the pursuing party comes up, but as matter of fact, the riders always aim to be right on the Hanks of the dogs. There was good deal of underbrllsh and 1t was hard progress, but excitement kept me up, and never paused until I reached clearing good six miles away, where l threw myself down and listened. The wind was still yet, the night was full of the interminable stir of the woods, the hutter of leaves, the snapping of twigs, and the scamper of some belated squirrel, and in every sound l fancied could hear the faint, far baying of the hounds. Stories had heard in camp of the savage beasts swarming over poor wretches and tearing them open as they fought came back to me, and every revolting detail leaped into horrid picturing in my mind until my scalp began to creep and sweat started out all over me like water. It had grown very dark, but dived into the woods again, thrusting my hands in front of me to keep the branches out of my eyes.
 l kept on pretty steadily all night, and when morning dawned it found me on the fringes of the wood belt, with a sparsely grown, undulating country before me. There was thicket near by; crept into it and panted there for while I was dead tired, and my feet were swollen so that my shoes seemed bursting; but could not sleep for the haunting thought Of those dogs yelping along my trail, and getting nearer and nearer. l made club from the limb of a tree, and dragged myself on. It would be tedious to rehearse the experiences of that day and the next ill detail. was weakened by punish nlent and bad food, and fatigue began to tell terribly upon me. slept in uneasy snatches, waking with a start, and took extraordinary pains to break my trail, swinging from branches of trees and jumping from stumps. My brain was so distraught and preyed upon that often stopped stock still with the agon- izing conviction that the hounds were right behind me. and at times I could make sure saw them crashing through the underbrush. On the second day, when I was half famished, l managed by great good luck to knock over rabbit, and ate some of it raw, carrying the rest with me. On the third day had as yet seen no house, but struck into disused road, which made me hopeful that there were some habitation near. I had determined to throw myself on the mercy of the first man l met.
 1t must have been about noon, while was passing through we'll wooded strip, that heard mournful note that made my hear stand still. It was no hallucination this time, but the unmistakable vail of bloodhounds that had heard often enough from their kennel in the camp. As stood there, terror stricken and thrilling, the paying sounded again, now right at hand, and an instant later, three dogs appeared over a little rise and made straight at me. There was no tree near that was large enough to bear me, so gripped my bludgeon and prepared to fight
 
 they stopped and began to fawn and wag their tails. They were hounds from the camp they wore the Lone Star collar-but it was plain they wanted to be friends even with such a poor wretch as I. Then noticed that the brutes were starved and trembling and threw them half my rabbit. By the time they devoured it I was batting their heads and they were licking my hands.
 My theory was then, and is now, that early in the chase the rest of the hounds took the wrong trail, and these three alone stuck to the right one. Their famished condition lent itself to this conclusion, at any rate. I never saw or heard of the rest of the pack or any of the guards. But soon found that blood hounds arc not to be despised as travelling companions, for I wandered aimlessly for | eigEt days longer, and. had it not been for | them, would most certainly have starved. 1 They ran down rabbits for me, and one day, by great chance or dexterity, caught wild turkey, and thus we managed to keep alive. At night time we all slept in heap, and the dogs kept me warm. Moreover, Iknew that it would be impossible for any one to sur prise me before they would give the alarm.
 On the eleventh day out 1 and my three bloodhounds walked into a COW camp, and when the good natured COW punchers heard my story and satisfied themselves that had been one of them once upon time, they un- dertook to spirit me over the state line. l hated to part with the dogs, for we had con- ceived great esteem for each other; but the cowboys kept them as loot, and, I afterward learned, sold one of them for S75 to an Eng | lsh tourist. After a couple of months of | vicissitudes made my way north, and, al though the authorities of Texas have assured me that there will be no effort made to prose cute or rearrest me, 1 have never had any craving to revisit the Lone Star state.-New | York Sun.
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