The St. Johns herald., 1899-01-28


 alert. The man who was looking our way moved toward us as directly as If he saw us, though the negro and 1, by a common impulse, crawled quickly be- hind the trunks of two pear-trees few feet apart.
 On he came unerringly, until he was right between us, and 1 made out dis tinctly the tall, muscular form and red bearded face of our neighbor Sherman. I expected to see him bounce upon the crouching figure of my companion like a tiger on his prey, and wondered if a sudden attack in the rear by 12-year- old boy could be of any avail. He turned neither to the right nor to the left as he passed between us, nor paused as he whispered with sharp dis tinctness, "Go back to my barn and lay low till 1 tell ye"
 A few paces beyond us he turned about and passed between us again, re- beating the whispered injunction, and loudly enjoining vigilance upon the others.
 The negro crawled away in range of his tree, on his hands and knees, as stealthily as a cat, and 1 followed as nearly as could in like manner, till we gained the cover of a fence. looking back from which we saw the light shin ing from successive windows as the searching party moved from room to room, while the figures of the besiegers were dissolved and plotted out in the gloom.
 We made our way back to the Sher- man place with cautious haste, now startled by a ground-nesting bird burst ing up from the grass before us, now making wide detours to avoid some dim object, which proved to be harmless COW or stump, till at last we reached the left and lay down upon the hay, with a welcome sense of security in the place which I had lately deemed so dangerous.
 Then as we rested and by degrees re- covered natural breathing, my com i panion explained in whispers the mys- tery of neighbOr Sherman's behavior.
 "'Long in the arternoon I was layin' kivered in de fodder a-wishin' mighty hard for night an suffin' for to eat, an 1 heard somebody come a-trom- bling up de stairs, an he begin pokin' de fodder, an me des nat'aly shakin' wid fear, Ontwel fust I knowed he hove de fodder clean off'n me. 4 mons ous big, ferce-lookin' man he was, wid a red baird-same man he was that came to we-uns ober wander, an he holler at me, What you doin' here? You's a runaway nigger, dat's what you isp
 ''When l try for to speak, he say, i Don you tell me muffin. I don wan to hear a word out n yo' head. You had anything to eat since you ben yere? an 1 toP him how you done fotch me little speck, in de mawnin', an he went an fotch me a heap O whittles, an he toP me to lay still under de fod- der ontwel de dark come on an den go to de neX' house an not come back yere no mo, cause he ain't gwine for to have no runaway niggers roun' his place. Deen he kiver me in de fodder, an dat de las 1 seen him ontwil he come on we-uns ober wander. Oh, he's a mighty curious man, dat he is."
 quite agreed in his opinion of neigh bor Sherman, since he was acting in so unexpected manner.
 We lay quietly for an hour before we heard a cautious step ascending the stairs, and then neghbor Sherman's guarded voice, "If there's anybody here, they can go over to Thorne's now. The coast is clear"
 With that he went downstairs, and we presently followed, and went over to our house, where all was quiet after the futile search.
 On the following night my father car ried the fugitive to the next station northward. and we saw no more of him