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Show 182 I!ICIIAIW JIUIWIH. competrnt force for their :nrrst, which ccrt:dnly would be the cnsc if tiH'Y suffered him to convey tho int.ellihcncc to such nn m~tiv(• n1:1~i:.;tratc ns C(llond Crnftcm. 'l'heir desire w:u; further stimulated Ly the knowlcd g-(' which they lwd of the large :l.Jnount of mmwy which \\"illinm carriccl with him. If their motives were suflicicnt to quicken tbcir movements to tile utmost poi nt within their cndetn·ors, his were not less so. Uis life, l1c must li:lVC known, depended upon l1is present escape. Kor was it merely necessa ry to keep ahead of them i he must keep out of bullct-rcnch also to be safe. But I will not do him the injustice to suppose, for an instant, that lJis considerations ·were purely selfish . I knew better. I feel assured tltnt my safety was no less tile matter in his tltougltts tktu his own. I feel sure he would never have been content with his own esc;tpo, did he not believe that mine now depended 11pon it. These were all considerations to move him to tlte fullest exertion; and never did good steed promise to serve at need. his rider better than did mine in that perilous flight. An animal only inferior to his own, my horse had the blood of a racer that was worthy of his rider's noble nature. Ile answered the expectations of Carrington without making necessary the frequent npplication of the spur. lie left the enemy behind him. He gained at every jump; and the distance between them at the fir st, which was not inconsiderable, for the movement of \Viilimn l1 ad been so unexpected as to have taken ,NobLer and the rest by surprise, wns incrensed in ten minutes tLenrly double. At moments they entirely lost sight of him, until very long stretches of a direct road again mnde him visible; but l1e WJIS already far beyond the reach of their weapons. These, with but one exception, were pistols of Jnrge size, which in a practised hand might carry truly a distnnce of thirty ynrds. \Vcbber, lwwever, had a short donLle-bmrelled ducking-gun, which he had caught up the moment his horse was ready. This was loaded with buck-shot, and would have told at eighty yards in the hands or the ruffian who bore it. But the obj ect was beyond its reach , and the ltope of the lntrsuers was uow in some casualty, which seemed not imlH'obablo in tlte desperate and headlong manner of Carrington's flight. But the latter had not lost any of his coolness in his impetnosi- 'l' Jif·: HUI)Dl-:'i U01.'1'. 183 ty. H e readily comprclLrnclcd tho n:tture of that hope in his encmiC's which prompted them to continn£> the punmit; and, pcrh<tps, lc~s coufideut thnn he mig-ht lutvc Lceu, in ltis own horsetnansltip, he. t!rtermincd to lwflle tbcm in it. Looking round, HS he did rep<'atC'dly, l1e availed himself of n particu lnr Hl0tn('ILt when he saw thnt he might secme I tis brielle and discard the fragment of the bough which was sti ll attaclted to it, before they could materially t1illliniHh tl1e space between tltem; and drawing; up his horse with the most perfect cooltl esR, he proc.:ecdcd to unloose the branch and drnw the r eins fairly over the head of the an imal. The pmsuers beheld this, and it invi g;orn.tcd the pursuit. If the reader knows nnything of the region of country in whicl1 these even ts took place, lte will probably recogn ise tl1o scene over which I now conduct him. The ncigldmdwoll road, leading Ly Graf'ton's nml 'Vebber's, was still a di stinct trace, though but little used, a. few years ngo. lt was a narrow twck at best and been a frontier 1·oad for military purposes before the Chic.:kasaws left that rcgiou. The path was intricate and w ind~ iug, turning continnnlly to right and left, in avoid ing sundry li t~ tlc creeks and dilli.cult hills which sprinkled the whole face of the country. ]3ut the spot where \V illiam halted to arrange his brielle was more than usually straight, and, for the space of half a mile, objeds might be discerned in a line nearly direct. Still the spot wns at) obscme and gloomy one. rl 'he road in one place ran between two rising groumls, the elevations of which were greater awl more steep than usual. On one side there was an nbrupt precipice, from which the trees almost entirely overhung the path. rl'his wns called at that period, the "dayblind," in n taste kindred with that which named a correspond~ iug region , on ly a few miles off," the shades of death." l..,or a space of forty ynrds or more, this "blind" wns sufii.ciently close and dense, almost to exclude the day--certainly tho sunlight. 'Villiam had enterQ(l upon this 1mssnge, and the pursuers were urging th eir steeds with a last nnd despairing effort, al~ most hopC'lC'ss of overtaking him, ancl, perhaps, only continuing the cl1ase unrler the fir st impulse of their start, and from the ex~ citement which rapid motion always provokes. H e now felt his Sccnrity, and laughed at the pmsuit. rfhc path, tl1011gh dim |
