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"O.K. Daddy, but be quick please," Lisa responded.
It only took Jack a few minutes to reach the
edge of the road and he was still in Lisa’s line of sight. She
could see him looking up and down the road and even across the
way. Then she noticed him stop and look down. He bent down real
close as if he were looking in the dirt, then he suddenly bolted
upright and burst back into the woods.
"Run Lisa, Run!" He yelled as quietly
as he could when he got close enough. "Run like you’ve
never run before."
"What is it daddy, what is it?" Lisa
cried, standing up and turning towards him. Her heart was
pounding so fast she felt it would break her ribs.
"Dogs," he called to her.
"There’s fresh dog tracks in the road and they was with
two men, now run!"
Lisa ran faster than she thought she ever could.
The trees whipped by her and branches just broke as she past.
She was moving her feet so fast over the logs and rocks that it
was almost as if she was flying. She started to cry as they ran.
"Oh my lord, oh my lord," she cried
out loud. "They’re gonna get us, they’re gonna get
us."
Her daddy jumped in front of her and grabbed her
hand.
"This way!", he yelled, turning
suddenly to the right.
Fortunately, it had just recently rained and the
streams seemed to be overflowing with water. They ran in one and
out the other. They ran up and down the same one twice then
doubled back and came out another side. They took branches and
covered their tracks over and finally they even rested sitting
up in the trees on a few huge tree limbs.
"Do you think we lost ‘em Daddy?"
Lisa asked through panting breaths.
"I think so," he answered. He was
breathing even harder than Lisa.
"What makes you so sure they was tracking
dogs Daddy?" Lisa abruptly asked.
"Cuz the tracks weren’t straight,"
Daddy answered. "It was obvious the dog’s feet were
moving back and forth as they searched for something. The
men’s prints were also real close together which means they
was walking real slow. If your dog is just going for a walk, he
walks fast and your feet are spread apart. These
weren’t."
"Couldn’t they just be hunters?"
Lisa asked hopefully.
"No," he answered. "What would
hunters being doing hunting on the road? It’s gotta be slave
catchers, and even if it ain’t we not taking any more chances.
OK.?"
"Yeah, O.K. Daddy," Lisa answered.
"So what does that mean we do now."
"First we’ll wait here until nightfall
again," he said as he stretched out on the large tree
branch. "Then we’ll head south a little away from the
road, and then due east. Mr. Washington said there’s a big
river that way so we gunna have to cross it."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, again?" Lisa whined,
"but we just got new clothes and shoes."
"I know honey, and I’m sorry, but
there’s nothing we can do about it" he said softly.
"I know," Lisa said. "I was just
so enjoying these clothes."
"Me too, me too honey," Daddy replied.
The river had not been that far away. When they
got there however, Lisa’s heart sank. It was huge, maybe a
quarter to a half mile wide and there seemed to be no safe place
to cross.
"It’s as big as the Savannah River
Daddy," Lisa cried. "What’s it called?"
"That’s the Connecticut," he
answered in a distant voice that made it obvious to Lisa that he
was thinking. His eyes were directed up and down the river banks
and it was obvious that he was looking for something.
"It’s flowing real fast," he
commented.
"Think we can cross," Lisa asked him.
"We gonna have to," he said solemnly.
" a big river like this ain’t gonna have many bridges and
the few it does have will probably be watched. C’mon, take off
your shoes."
"Ohhh daddy," Lisa complained.
"Don’t worry," he said. "You
can tie them around your neck but you’re gonna need your feet
free to swim."
"We gunna swim here?" she asked
nervously.
"Well maybe," he replied. "First
we gunna try to find a log or two we can hang onto and while we
looking, we’ll walk upstream to try to find a better crossing
point."
They began walking along the shore. There were
lots of different logs lying on the shore as if there had been a
flood recently. Unfortunately, the river was getting no better
as they walked upstream and if anything it was getting worse.
White caps were everywhere as the fast flowing water rushed over
the rocks. The noise was so loud that Lisa had to shout just to
be heard.
"Daddy, I’m scared," she said.
"Do we gutta cross here?"
"Here’s as good as anyplace else,"
he answered.
"Can we just wait a while to see if it gets
better?"
"It ain’t gunna get better but we can
stop and rest and eat awhile so you’ll be strong enough for
the crossing. O.K.?"
"O.K." Lisa said sitting down.
They sat and ate and watched the river. It
seemed almost alive to Lisa now. Like a wide brown snake it
moved up and down and back and forth surging water along the
shore. It was one of the widest rivers she’d seen and it
seemed to be getting wider. One moment it looked about 300 feet
across then the next moment it would shrug and stretch and grow
some more. As it flowed, it carried with it all kinds of debris
from upstream. There were lots of logs, sticks and branches and
once in awhile she would see something that a human had lost
like a broken carriage wheel or a bottle and one time she even
saw a little toy doll.
"Well Lisa," her daddy said standing
up and wiping off his pants, "I guess its time. Take off
your shoes."
Taking their shoes off and tying them around
their necks, Lisa and her daddy walked into the water while
pushing a big log floating along the top.
"At least it’s not too cold," Lisa
thought as the water began to rise above her waist. She pushed
the log forward then wrapped her arms around it as she kicked
the water below.
"Listen carefully Lisa," her daddy
said from his side of the log, "we can steer this thing
with our kicks. Sometimes if we need to turn, one of us will
kick harder and the other will just drag their feet. You just
listen for my instructions. O.K.?"
"O.K. Daddy," she responded.
"That sounds easy enough."
At first, it was relatively easy. With both Lisa
and her dad kicking hard the log made its way across relatively
straight. But then, as they came to the faster flowing water in
the middle the log began to spin and Lisa began to worry.
"Kick Lisa," her daddy yelled as he
dragged his feet.
"Now," he shouted a moment later as
they began to turn too much. "Stop kicking."
"Kick again," he shouted as they again
turned too much the other way.
"Stop!"
"No, I’m sorry, kick harder," he
yelled. Lisa could hear the panic in his voice.
"Kick, kick!" he yelled again.
"I’m trying, I’m trying" Lisa
shouted.
They were beginning to spin as the water moved
faster and faster. Within moments they had been caught in a
current and the log turned straight into the flow. Lisa was now
in front and her daddy was in back.
"Hold on!" he yelled.
Lisa held on as tight as she could. Water was
splashing into her face and they had completely lost control of
the log.
"Daddy what do we do??" Lisa screamed
over the noise of the rushing water.
"Just hold on!" he yelled. "Hold
on."
Suddenly, up ahead Lisa saw white caps. That
meant lots of rocks.
"Daddy!" she screamed. "There’s
rocks up ahead!"
"Try to kick around them!" He yelled
back.
Lisa kicked desperately to one side. It did no
good. She kicked the other way and the only thing that happened
was that they sped up to the rocks faster.
"Daddy-y-y-y-y-y!" she screamed.
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