Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-06-29
4 FUGITIVE S CAPTURE
BY ROBERT IsOGGS.

Lit was Wild, ROCKY, hllly country
through which the path led. winding
about among bolders and scrubby
trees, now skirting tho edge of RAJ
vine, now crossing a brawling stream,
and again going straight over rugged
hill.
Along the path man was walking
at a pretty rapid pace, looking neither
to the right nor to the left, but with
his fierce gray eyes fixed steadily be-
fore him. He was of medium height,
we'll built, with broad strong looking
shoulders. in which there was little
stoop. His hair and beard were of a
Light, ashy brown. his complexion sal
low, and ais features commonplace
enough, with the exception of his eyes,
in which there was cold, cruel light.
He seemed to be we'll acquainted with
the country, pursuing his way without
hesitation, though occasionally he
came to place where another path
intersected the one he was travelling.
Walking thus, neither Stacking nor
accelerating his gait, he came to a 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
feet in chaotic mass, of rocks, trees,
and glancing waters But this traveller
had no eye for the beautiful-the dis
tant mountains, which he stood still for
a moment to gaze upon, were to him
only place of refuge, and that dis
tance which softened their rugged feat
ures and lent enchantment to them, he
would gladly nave dispensed with.
With heavy sigh, the first symptom
about to resume his journey when he
suddenly came to a stand again, turn
ing his eyes, i'll which there was q
startled look, in the direction whence
he had come. He had heard q sound
shat he too we'll knew. It was the bay
OF a hound, just audible, far away to
the southeast. He listened intently
The dog did not give voice contln-
uously, 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 very woll what that meant.
He WAS not deceived. He did not al
low any hopeful fancy to persuade him
that those dogs were in pursuit OF any
four-footed beast. 1t was a man they
We're after-he knew it. When the
hound hunts the deer or the wild cat
his yelp is quick and joyous, 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 aud looked
at the mountain again, and there was a
great longing in his fierce eyes. Alas /!
those blue peaks how far they we're
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 moro. 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, wad-
ing considerable distance before land
ing, when he hastcned to the top OF
another hill and stopped to listen just
an instant. He could hear the dogs
plainly now; they were rapidly APP
preaching.
There was place of refuge chat he
knew Of, where no man, he thought,
could find him. No man. But there
were the dogs, whose sense of smell
vas more unerring than the intelli-
gence of man. They would track him
to the hiding place in spite of all that
he might do. Ii he succeeded in reach.
ing this place-it was not far away =
they could not get at him there, but
they would know that he was some
whore near at hand. They would
know-ah, yes. the dogs would know,
but the men might think them at fault
and draw them of. There was a
chance Of that. and it was the only
chance on which he could build hope.
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 its keen edge
and thrusting it back again.
He was running while these thoughts
were passing through his brain. and in
a little while he camc to a ravine, the
bottom Of which lie reached by success
i've leaps from bowlder to bowlder.
Then he ran down the ravine until he
came to place where the sides were
high and precipitous. A tree growing
Oh the top of the cliff ON one side hung
over the verge; and from it's gnarled