Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-01-12


him perhaps mile below the town.
Those who would follow him with dogs
would doubtless track him to the
river margin, then take the dogs across
and endeavor to pick up the scent some
distance below on the other side. Mark
had weighed all these circumstances,
and determined to drift down as far as
possible, land at the mouth of creek if
he could find one, enter it and swim or
walk up it in the water, thus rendering
it difficult for the dogs to track him.
He swan slowly till he reached the
middle of the river; then, floating with
scarcely any motion of his hands and
feet he permitted himself to drift down
with the current. A favorite way with
him, when boy, Of resting in the
water, had been TO float on his back.
Unmindful of the wetting he would give
the clothes tied around his neck, he
turned over and drifted with his arms
spread beside him, his eyes turned
directly to the sky.
1t may seem singular that a man who
was being carried from so dreadful
death should have thought of anything
else. But Mark did not want to think
of it. He had never been unnerved ex-
cept after his sentence, with an almost
certain execution before him, and felt it
best to let his mind drift into other
channels. Then danger Is not, and was
not, especially with Mark, to be COM
pared with certain destruction. The
soldier on the field of battle is differ
ent man from one who awaits the bull
lets of file of soldiers drawn up in line
to take his life deliberately. Mark was
n changed man from the moment he got
into the river, for he then felt that he
had a chance for his life.
IN the position on his back he could
only look upward at the stars. There
was the great dome above him spanglcd
with myriads of bright points and
spanned by the milky way" He had
always been fond Of the stars, and in
order to divert his mind picked out
some of his favorites and traced few
consultations with which he was famil-
lar. In this way he diverted his mind
until his nerves became quite steady.
His observations were suddenly
checked by sound. II was very faint,
but enough to freeze the marrow in his
bones, 1t was the distant bark of dog.
He listened and presently could hear
more. Evidently there was pack.
They drew nearer. Then they ceased
for awhile. Perhaps they had come to
the place where he had walked on the
fence. Then the banks began again,
growing only slightly louder as they
came, for Mark was floating rapidly
from the point where he had entered the
river.
He involuntarily turned over on his
chest and struck ont Justify. The cur
rent was swift; swimming would not
add to his satety-it would only tax his
strength and render him more liable to
recapturc on the other shore. But swim
he must. With the terrible sound of
those dogs Ill his ears he could not lie
idly on the water and leave the current
to bear him onward.
/ Soon there came another cessation of
/ sound from the dogs far above on the
shore. and Mark judged that they had
lost the scent at the place where he had
entered the water.
Then lie began to think of Souri, and
Jakey. What had they done to Souri,
when they had discovered her trick:
Would they punish her? Would they
treat the boy harshly: He was com
forted with thethought that there would
/ be nothing gained by thi5-it would not
bring the prisoner back-but he NUT
tered a prayer for the girl who had
placed herself behind those prison bars,
who had incurred the rage Of his jailels
to save him.
He heard no more of the dogs and
! foated on, swimming and resting alter
nately. The high bluffs Of Moccasin
point We're before him on his right An
owl on their summit. watching the ris-
ing moon, occasionally gave a dismal
boot, the intervals being supplied by the
melancholy whippoorwill. The current
bore him on around the point, carrying
him in near the shore where he had
passed the picket with the sleeping
Jakey il, his arms few nights before.
So close was he that he could see man
walking back and forth on the very beat
of the one he had passed. AS he drifted
away he saw the relief approach and the
picket changed.
He was borne directly under Lookout
mountain, and on down for mile to a
point where the river makes another
bend. Here the bank was low, and as
Mark was getting chilled he swan tc
the southern bank for rest. He LAID
himself down for a few moments on the
dry ground, and then getting up walked
back and forth rapidly, swinging hi,
arms at the same time TO restore circu
lation and tit him to endure Il longer
stay in the water. He looked about fol
some piece Of wood on which he might
float farther. There We're logs of vali
Gus sizes scattered around, but most OF
them We're rotten. He was so much al
home in the water that he was not dis
appointed on failing TO find one suitable
to his purpose.
Plungng in again he moved on dow
past the bluffs at the foot of the RaccooI
mountains, swimming on his chest mos
Of the time and keepinga lookout before
Ia To- .,.,l .sAI |.