The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-08
By Joel Chandler Harris.
Copyright. 1902. by Joel Chandler Harris.

|
 l Slowly the Savannah train backed Tn, and slowly and carelessly Major Perdue sauntered along the raised floor. They had decided that the prisoners would most likely be in the second-class coach, and they purposed to make that coach 1 the scene of their sham duel. The two men were the length of the car apart | when the Savannah train came to a standstill. "Perdue. they tell me that you have been hunting for me all over | the city" said MT. TidwelL He was a trained speaker, and his voice had great carrying power. The firemen of both trains heard it distinctly, caught the note
 of passion in 1t and looked cautiously out 1 of their cabs.
 "Yes I've been hunting you, and now | that I've found you yot'll not get away until you apologize to me for the lan- guage you have used about me" cried
 Major Perdue. He was not as loud | talker as Mir. Tidwell, but his voice
 penetrated to every part of the building.
 What I've said I'll stand to-" declared MT. Tidwell and If you think l have
 been trying to keep out of your way. you
 will find out differently, you clustering
 blackguard!'
 Are you ready, you cowardly hellian?' cried the Major. apparently in rage. l
 Tidwell hotly. He was the better actor | of the two.
 And then just as the prisoners were
 coming out of the coach-as soon as Ga-
 briel, lean and haggard, had reached the | floor of the station, Major Perdue whipped 1 out his pistol and shot rang out, and 1t l was immediately reproduced from the | further end of the car by MT. Tfdwell. and then the shooting became regular l fusilade. There was wild scattering on the part of the crowd, a scuffling, | scurrying panic, and in the midst of 1t
 Gabriel ducked his head, and made a rush with the rest. He had been hand
 cuffed but his wrist was nearly as large | as his hand. and he had found no diff culty in freeing himself from the irons, | as soon as he started out of the car,
 and when he tucked his head and ran, he | had nothing to impede his movements. Running half-bet, Gabriel was afraid l the crowd which he saw all about him,
 pushing and showing and apparently
 making frantic efforts to escape, would
 give him some trouble. But strangely
 enough, this struggling crowd seemed to help him along. He saw men all around
 him with uniforms on and wearing queer
 ly shaped hats. They opened a way be-
 fore him and closed in behind him. He
 heard a sharp cry, Prisoner escaped!"
 and he heard the energetic commands of | the officer in charge. but still the crowd
 opened a way in front of him, and closed
 up behind him. This pathway led Ga-
 briel away from the main entrance, and | conducted him to the side, where there was an opening between the pillars. Not l twenty feet away was the countryman | with his queer-looking team. He was still complaining of the way he had been
 taken in by the town fellers who had told
 him that the station was a cotton ware | house.
 Gabriel recognized the voice and ran toward it, jumped into the wagon, and crawled under the cover. Now here now here" cried the countryman, you kin rob me out of my money. an make fool outn me about your cotton ware
 houses, but be jigged eff I'll let you take
 my wagon an team. I dunner what you're up to, but you'll have to git out n my waggin." With that he stripped the cover from the top, and, lo' there was 1 no one there!
 | He turned to the astonished crowd with open mouth. "Wher' in the nation did he go?' he cried. There was no answer to this, for the spectators were as much astonished as Mfr Sanders professed | to be. The man who had crawled under | the wagon cover had disappeared There was tremendous uproar in the station, and in a short time a squad of soldiers had forced themselves through the crowd. and as they made their ap- pearance, MT. Sanders gave the word | to old Beck, saying as he moved off. ''Ef you gents will excuse me, I'll mosey along, an the next time I have a crap of cotton to sell, I'll waggin it to some place or other wher' warehouses aint de- pots an where jugglers don't jump on you an make th'r disappearance In broad daylight
 AS he spoke, his team moved slowly off, and the soldiers who were in pursuit of Gabriel had no idea that 1t was worth their while to give it more than pass ing glance, It was providential that Cap- tain Falconer, who was to have conveyed the prisoners to Atlanta should have been confined to his bed with an attack of malarial fever when the order for their removal came. The captain would surely have recognized the countryman as MT. Sanders, and the probability is that Ga- briel would have been recaptured, though Captain Buck Sanford, who was sitting in an upper window of the hotel, with his Winchester across his lap, says not.
 Mir Sanders drove his team around to the warehouse of Vardeman & Stark, where he was met by Colonel Tom Varde- man, who, besides being a cotton factor. was one of the political leaders of the day, and as popular a man as there was in the State.
 'T heard a terrible fusilade in the d. rection of the depot" he said to Mir. San ders. as the latter drove up. 'T hope nobody's hurt
 Well, they ain't much damage done, reckon. Gus Tidwell an Major Perdue took a notion to play game of tag wi pistols. They're doin' 1t jest for fun, reckon. They want to show you city fellers that all the public sperrit an en- terprise ain't knocked out'n the country chaps"
 Well. they're almost certain to get In the lock-up," remarked Colonel Tom Vardeman.
 Tt reely looks that away" said Mir Sanders, drily; "the chief of police was standin' in front of the depot, and ev'ry time a gun'd go off he'd wink at me-"
 Colonel Tom laughed and then turned to Mir. Sanders with a serious air. What did I tell you about that wild plan of yours to rescue one of the prisoners? You've had all your trouble for nothing? You don't catch grown men asleep any more. Why. if the officer in charge of those poor boys were to permit one of them to escape. he'd be courtmartialed, and it would serve him right"
 "So 1t would" replied Mir. Sanders, "an I mighty glad 1t want Captain Fall coner Now. then, Colonel Tom eff you've done what you laid off to do, you've got safe place wher I kin store a bale of