The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-01-16

disappeared; the quagmire swallowed them
up, but it was pOwerless to efface those mys-
ferrous eftiuvia by which trained hound
tracks its prey. aud the animals kept right
on, plowlng through the dark water weeds,
toundering through the mud, swimming
lagoons. and scrambing over fallen tree
trunks, but never once hesitating in the pur-
suit. The riders followed as best they could,
skirtlng the more solid edges of the swamp
wherever practicable, but now aud then
forced into its reeesses. For long reaches
IL was impossible to see dozen yards
ahead, so rank was the tropical vegetation,
and so thick the veil of parasitical creeperS
that hung from every bough. Huge tree
trunks Garricaded the way on every hand,
and rotten effigies of what had once been
franks, through which the horses hoofs
crashed and sank into the ooZe below. A
poisonous, stagnant vapOr hung in the air
like mist, and the place was alive with ami
NAL and reptile life. Huge moccasins, the
embodiment OF repulSive death, slid away
through the slime; now and then the weeds
were thrust aside by the checkered snOut of
an alligator; mOnstrous lizards, all black
and gold, bllnked from the logs chameleOnS
scrambled up the tree-trunks, and gorgeous
spiders hung DendulOus in thousand webs.
For mile or more the party pushed its
way through this stronghold of primeval
HE, but the chances of success were grow
ing smaller. The trail was becoming faint
in the water that abounded everywhere,
and even the Captain was thinking of
abandoning the pursuit, when one of the
guards TN horseback suddenly gave loud
halloo. He had caught sight of the fugitive
dashlng across an open glade, about 200
yards away. Instantly he slipped from the
saddle and threw his rife to his shoulder,
but, quick as the movement WAS the con-
Wet had disappeared before lie could pull
the trigger Ihe best he could do was to
fire in the direction he had taken, aud pur-
suers spnrred forward to renewed exertions
at the shot. But the bird had flown; the
thcket into which he had vanished held not
even footprint.
About mile further on the riders were
unable TO urge their animals through the
swamp. 1t had become impossible to any,
thing except its denizens, or to man in
spired by fear. The dogs were at the time
little in advance, out of sight among the
water weeds, and their baying had momen-
tarily ceased. They came slowly back at the
note of the horn, and could they have
spoken, the chase might have had different
issue, for they had SEEN the fugitive where
he stood, less than 100 feet away. One of
them, in fact, had Swum right up to him,
and the exhausted negro had patted him on
the head and made friends then and there.
But the party knew nothing Of this episode
at the time, and reluctantly turned back.
Their tired mounts retraced the way through
the swamp, across the valley, and thence to
camp.
But what of Joe Johnson Left in his
natural man-trap. lie found his situation
scarcely less perlIous than it had been in the
early hours of his flight and he wandered
IN Its receSses for day and night before
he found an outlet. When he emerged at
last lie made his way to Marion County,
where he exchanged his tell-ta!e stripes for
suit of clothes stolen from a cabin. But
the news had spread among the settlers, and
on the second day he was seized and brought
back to Scuffie, with his trouble and peril
for his pains.