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Show 280 UNCLE TOM'S CADIN: O.R, the word, both jumped in, and Phineas lashed the ltot-scs to n. run, tho horseman keeping close bcsillc them. The wngon rattled, jumped, almost flew, over the frozen ground ; hut plainer, and still plainer, came the_ noise of p~rsuing ~1orsc· men behind. i'he wom{!n heard 1t, and, 1ookmg amoous1y out, saw, far in the rcu.r, on the brow of a. distant bill, a. party of men looming up against the red-streaked sky of early dawn. Another hill, and their pursuers lmd evidently caught sight of their wagon, whose white cloth-covered top made it conspicuous at some distance, and " loud yell of brutal triumph came forward on the wind. Elizn. sickened, and strained her child closer to her bosom ; the old woman prayed and groaned, and George and Jim clenched their pistols with the grasp of despair. The pursuers gained on them fast ; the carrin.o·c made a sudden turn, and brought them ncar a. ledge of a,0 steep overhanging rock, that rose in au isolated ridge or clump in a large lot, which was, all around it, quite clear and smooth. This isolated pile, or range of rocks, rose up black and heavy against the brightening sky, and seemed to promiso shelter and concealment. It was a place well known to Phineas, who had been familiar with the spot in his hunting days; and it was to gain tlus point he had been racing his horses. "Now for it! '' said he, suddenly checking his horses, and springing from his scat to the ground. " Out with you, in a twinkling, every one, and up into these rocks with me. Michael; thee tic thy horse to the wagon, and drive ahead to Amariah's, and get him and his boys to come back and talk to these fellows." In a twinkling they were all out of the carriage. 'l There," said Phineas, catching up Harry, "you, each l.H}: AMONG THE LOWLY. 281 of you, see to the women; and run, now, if you ever did run!'' ~J.lhcre needed no exhortation. Quicker than we can say it, the whole party were orer the fence, making with all speed for the rocks, while :Michael, tlu·owing himself from his horse, and fastening the bridle to the wagon, began driving it rapidly away. " Come ahead," said Phineas, as they reached the rocks, and saw, in the mingled starlight and dawn, the traces of a. rude but ])lainly marked foot-path leading up among them ; "this is one of our old hunting-dens. Come up!" Phineas went before, springing up the rocks like a goa.t, with the boy in his arms. Jim came second, bearing his trembling old mother over his shoulder, a.nd George and Eliza brought up the rear. The party of horsemen came up to the fence, and, with mingled shouts and oaths, were dismounting, to prepare to follow them. A few moments' scrambling brought them to the top of the ledge ; the path then passed between a. narro,y defile, where only one could walk at a time, till suddenly they came to ~rift or chasm more than a yare! in breadth, and beyond which lay a pile of rocks, separate from the rest of the ledge, standing full thirty feet high, with its sides steep and perpendicular as those of a castle. Phineas easily leaped the chasm, and sat down the boy on a smooth, flat platform of crisp white moss, that covered the top of the rock. '' Over with you ! '' he eaJJed; ''spring, now, oneo, for your lives!" sa.id he, as one after another sprang across. Several fmgments of loose stone formed a kind of breastwork, which sheltered their position from the observation of those bolow. " Well, here we all arc," said Phineas, peeping 0\'er the 24~ - |