I thought I was a goner, for whenever anybody was after anybody I judged it was me — or maybe Jim. I was about to dig out from there in a hurry, but they was pretty close to me then, and sung out and begged me to save their lives — said they hadn’t been doing nothing, and was being chased for it — said there was men and dogs a-coming. They wanted to jump right in, but I says:

“Don’t you do it. I don’t hear the dogs and horses yet; you’ve got time to crowd through the brush and get up the crick a little ways; then you take to the water and wade down to me and get in — that ’ll throw the dogs off the scent.”

They done it, and soon as they was aboard I lit out for our towhead, and in about