Nevertheless two of the young men jumped up and started on a run
for the river. The guards dashed after them. One caught his toe,
and rolled headlong down the bank into some bushes. Instead of
springing up again, as he first started to do, he lay still, and
though the Indians almost stepped upon him, he was not discovered,
and got off without harm.
The other reached the river, took a running leap and dived, and
swam under water as far as he could. When he came up to breathe,
the waiting red men fired at him again and again. He was wounded,
but not badly, and, reaching the other side, caught a stray horse,
made a bridle from a hickory withe, and soon joined his friend.
Another fugitive, after running until he was so tired out he could
hardly stand, and hearing the Indians near, backed into a hollow log
and awaited his fate. He had been in the hollow but a few minutes
when a spider spun its web across the entrance. A few minutes later,
two warriors sat down on the log. They noticed how good a hiding
place it would be for the white man, and one of them leaned over
to peep in. As he did so, he saw the spider web. He was sure that
it would not be there if the man was inside, and did not search
further. When the warriors left, the man crawled out and got safely
away.
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