Our Fellows

s, it took him a long time to tell us how this un

he had given before the squire, had that morning returned from New Orleans, where he had b

th another raft, suddenly took it into his head that it would be a good plan to go up and examine it. He had lost a good deal of valuable timber of 55late, he said, a

the bayou, taking with him a valise co

he bank in front of his house. The general got out of his skiff, and after examining

ly took his pike-staff and turned the logs over in the

the general returned to the skiff. He got out the oars and was about to shove off from the bank, when he disco

ant’s hesitation the general sprang ashore, seized him by the collar, and

house stands, and we are obliged to bring all our firewood from the mainland in a canoe. I noticed the skiff when I came back, but I did not know who had brought it there until I saw General Mason up the bank with father, looking a

volver before my face. ‘You have stolen eight thousand dollars out

e bayou, carrying every thing before it, I could not have been more astounded

hich he charged me; but it was of no use. I might as well have kept silent. In obed

at you are in such a terrible scrape. How is Gener

law is a lie direct. One says ‘You did,’ and the other says ‘I didn’t.’ In this case General Mason affirms that Jerry stole his money, and Jerry 58declar

culprit, that’s the way we’ll do it; and I can put my hands on

oof?” inquired th

s stolen at all?” asked Mark

help the matter any, for how are we

for there was no one near me. Mother was in the house, and I was alone with the skiff for at least ten minutes. My word will go for nothing a

r house?” asked Duke. “Perhaps some of t

did not see the

ould blame General Mason, for the evidence was strong against Jerry. We knew he was innocent, but we could not p

until the following month, when his case would come up for trial before the Circuit Court. He did not seem very much elated over his liberation, 60for he shrank from encountering the curious eyes which he knew would be turned upon him when he reached the street. But we did not give him time to think about tha

m out of sight of the village. In accordance with his request, I put him down at the h

tarted for the woods, where I had agreed to meet the rest of our fellows and spend an hour or two with them in bui

n adventure, and that Mark’s “laziness,” as I called it, was to bring about a series of eve

life, and enabled him to prove Jerry’s innocence to every body’s satisfaction.

, and at the end of that time was aroused from a reverie into which he had fallen by a sound which never failed to thro

up his gun, which he always kept loaded and ready for such an emergency, and, in less time than it takes to te

decided tones, and down came two of the flock,

owly onward, gradually settling down as they neared the swamp, and fi

if I don’t bag a dozen of them before I am an hour older, i

g boots and shooting-jacket, his powder-flask and shot-bag slun

hour more he had embarked in the canoe which we kept moored in the bayou, and was pad

ey to you even a slight idea of the appearance

more than ten feet wide, and so shallow that the little trading boats, whic

e rate of ten miles an hour, carrying with it huge trees and logs, which were whirled about i

treme; but Mark never thought of that. His m

uickly reached 64the bend in which the geese had alighted, and as Mark rou

s often as Mark approached them; that they always left two, and sometimes four and five, of their number dead or wounded behind them; that at last they became alarmed at the havoc made in their ranks, and rising high in the air, flew over t

oils, and found that he had been successful beyond his most sanguine expectations—thirty-two

p. He could not discover a single familiar landmark. With the exception of the island on which he was standing, and which was not more than twenty feet square, there was not a spot of dry

ossing about in violent commotion, and the surface of the water was whirled into eddies by

h great deliberation, glancing up at the clouds occasionally, thinking over

ack up the bayou in the direction from which he had come, and

g out the first plan, and that was, that alone and unaided

a formidable one, too—which, in order that you may un

fteen feet high, and at this point the bayou, which ran between two rocky bluffs, made a very abrupt bend. The foot of the bluff on t

of it, was piled a dense mass of logs and trees,

’s Elbow,” from the fact that more than

hot summer’s day had our fellows spent there fishing and shoo

st of it found its way into this cavern, through which it rushed and roared with the speed of a small Niagara; and any

llful boatman, and he knew that more than 68one canoe and dozens of heavy rafts had passed over the falls when the water was at its highest; but if any accident befell him—if he on

es, and when the last one had been disposed of he stepped into

y would not be thrown overboard in case of any sudden lurching of his little vesse

, and he was determined that if he passed Dead Man’s E

boy had been standing 69in his boots just then; but there was no alternative between attempting the passage of th

nt at almost railroad speed, but kept his craft completely under control, and when at last he came suddenly around a sharp bend and found himself b

efore him, was nerving himself for the plunge, when his attention was suddenly attracted by loud shouts, which soun

ch must have possessed enormous roots, for it had stood there ever since I could remember, ho

s branches. It was not a bear or panther, but a man, dressed in a tattered brown jeans suit, who seemed to be very ba

ess descended the bayou. It was lying on its side, half filled with water, and al

alf a dozen of them—boys about his own age—and they were the redoubtable Swamp Dragoons who have already

cue the man in the tree. They were all in a high state of excitement and alarm

o, like a good many others in the settlement, had no

an? Jest turn right around and go back up th

g his fist at Mark, “go back whar you come

s movements, and what reason had the Dragoons for ordering him away when he had as much right there as they had? There could b

in the tree. “Get away—go back whar you

h to know that I couldn’t go back if I wanted to? There isn

n was drawn to the man in the tree, his canoe had escaped from his control, and was now shooting with the speed of an arr

paddle in his hand felt as heavy as lead. But it was only for an instant. His 73power of action retu

tly motionless, and it seemed as if a feather’s weight might turn it either way—toward the falls, where it would be comparatively safe, or toward the cavern where its destruction was certain—there was