Tom Strong, Lincoln's Scout

and His Yankee Overseer, Jake Johnson-Tom is Pulled Down the Chi

til late in t

urprise at the cowering man. He was a most good-natured beast, accustomed to few caresses and many kicks, and he had never before seen a man who was afraid of him. As he turned to Tom, he saw a boy who wasn't afraid of him. Tom, who had always been loved by dogs and children, smiled at the big yellow mongrel, said "Come here, old fellow," and in an instant had the great hound licking his hand and looking up to him with the brown-yellow eyes full of a dog's faith and a dog's fidelity. These are great qualities. A cyn

me uneasy. Two or three times he started as if to leave them, turned to see whether they were following him, looked beseechingly at them,

'll bring his folkses

ay, for he's a good dog. But if we leave him tied and push off in the boat, he'll how

catch hold of him. When Tom called, he stopped once and looked back, but he did not come back. He shouldered his way into the bushes and trotted off, with that amusing air of b

r. The stern was under five feet of water. The oars had floated away. The fishing-pole was afloat, held to the old craft by the hook-and-line, which had caught in the sunken seat. What were they

shore, turn her over, caulk her with somet

Children in the South call this Spanish moss "old men's gray beards." Each long drift of it looks as if it might have grown on the chin of an aged giant. They were pressing it into the gaping seam with feverish haste, listening the while for any sign of that drea

Tom," old Morris whispe

s attitude when Tom had first "diskivered" him, except that the water c

only one man coming. The dog's all rig

the lantern upon a mass of underbrush and sai

, neig

et in a second. A quavering old voice ca

it said. "Is I i

He bowed his crown of white kinky hair respectfully before the white boy. There was no e

I'm glad to see you. I'm sure yo

His eyeballs shone as he neared them. They shone still more

po'erful glad to

ropped his rude lant

a-hidin'? I know'd de way dat ar Towser wuz a-actin' when he dun cum home dat dere wuz s

e big house" he eked out a scanty living. This owner's self-respect had not prevented his working Moses through all a long life, with no payment except food and lodging, and behind these always the shadow of the whip. But the slave's self-respect required him to work for the hand that fed him, so long as failing strength permitted. All he could do now was to scare crows from the cornfield, but th

rst, they had a mighty dinner. Two of Moses's fattest chickens and everything Moses had in the way of other food filled their starved stomachs. Then to sleep. The last thing Tom heard that night w

fair shape and then, with a rusty ax which was one of Unk' Mose's most precious possessions, they fashioned a

waitin'. P'raps, ef I keeps a-helpin' udder folkses to find deir freedum, p'raps sum day, 'fore I'se troo' a-waitin', de angel ob de Lawd'll cum a-walkin' up to my do' and he'll be a-holdin' by de han' ob a great big udder angel '

ad given them. It was a big bundle. He would have slaughtered his last chicken for them, had they permitted it. Suddenly there came

rters were the slave-quarters which always clustered at a respectful distance in the

men trotting towards it, two white men and a negro. They were Moses's master, the dreaded overseer, and a groom. It was impossible to r

ck, de chimbley,"

footing just above the fireplace, and waited. Fortunately the fire upon which the food for the journey had been cooked had almost died down. A little smoke floated up the wide opening. The smoke and the

im, trotted up to the door, the black groom a few yards behind them. Uncle Moses had thrust the bundle of food far back under the bed. He stood respectfully in his doorw

es. "Howdy, Mista Johnsing. Wil

very, and as sure that he was justified in doing so by the laws of both God and man as the German emperor was that he ruled a subject people by divine

the old negro as he stammered a few word

thing of Mr. Pinck

ain't seen hide nor har ob Morris

oked at hi

away," said he, "I'd"-he cracked his whip

Mose dropped upon his one chair and was just about to give fervent thanks for the escape from detection, when Johnson, who

ing old negro. "You looked guilty. Tell me what you know or I'll thrash y

'bout him, Mista Joh

t-choo! at-choo!" sounded down the chimney like a chorus of bassoons. Johnson was across the room in a bound. He knelt upon the hearth, groped up th

le Moses cast the traditions of a life of servile fear of the white man behind him. Never had he dreamed of laying a finger on one of his owner'

ee, himself must

back and his feeble fingers clutched the man's windpipe and choked him into a second's silence. That second was enough. Tom sprang to his feet and sprang at his foe like a wildcat, and good old Towser, rejoicing in the vengeance that beckoned to him, sunk his teeth in Johnson's shoulder and tore him down from the back while Tom struck his strongest just below the overseer'

that the man lay in a faint until the four fugitives had fled. For there were four fugitives now. Neither Moses nor Towser could stay to face the coming wrath. The rest of Moses's chickens were killed, the rest of his vegetables gathered. When darkness fell, the old flat-boat, laden until she had a scant two inches of free-board above the water, was slipping down the river again. Uncle Moses was no longer "a-waitin' fer freedum." He was going in search of the freedom he had so long craved. He and his fellows had two clear days in which to get away without pursuit, for Johnson lay in his dark prison beneath the bed for fortyeight hours before he was found. One of the ropes used to bind him had caught upon an old nail in the wall. He was too weak to tear it away and so could not even roll himself to the outer air. On the second day of his unexplained absence, Mr. Izzard had sent all

ed to see Jake

the Tennessee River. By day they camped upon shore in some hidden place, first craftily secreting the boat amid rushes and reeds. From their second hiding-place, they saw about noon a Confederate gunboat, a small stern-wheel steamboat, with cotton-bales at her bow and stern screening her two guns. Though she was making all possible speed up the current, she moved but slowly. Her decks were thick with excited men. A babble of voices reached the fugitives, peering at her behind

all floundering in water over their heads. Tom could swim like a fish. That is one of the first things a boy should learn to do. To his delight, he found Uncle Moses was also surprisingly at home in the water, considering his years. Towser accepted the situation as something he did not understand, but which was doubtless entirely all right, as his lord and master, Tom, was in the wate

nigger. You sho'ly

he world except the dripping clothes they wore. And there was no hiding-place near. For half a mile on either side of them a cleared field lay open to the day and the day was upon them. They had tempted Fate by rowing on too long after the first signs of dawn. Fate had turned the trump upon them. The sun rolled up above the eastern horizon at their b

ou niggers

d beside Tom and barked. The overseer pulled up short. He saw he was dealing with a white man, or rather with a white boy. The circumstances we

And what are

y the river. My boat sunk just off shore here a

'n I m

"You will delay me at your peril. I shall take

he sunrise had shown him. This was a line of three b

d they must come up to the big house with me. If you're all right, we'll send you on y

is heels and Towser running ahead. He hustled them into the boat at the eastern end of the pier, jumped in himself, jerked the rope off the wooden peg that insecurely held it, and pushed off. The overseer, angrily protesting, stood a moment watching his prey escape and then galloped like mad for the big house, shouting "Yanks! spies!! thieves!!! Yanks!!!!" He was met halfway by half a dozen men in Confederate gray, roused by his yells. They were officers who had spent the night at the hospitable house, had br

as he saw three men spring into each boat for the pursuit.

pistol in hand, calling out steering instructions. This boat gained upon them, bit by bit. The fugitives could hear the lookout call "Port, hard-a-port!" and could almost see the extra weight thrown into the sweep of the starboard oars to send the boat's head the right way. Once the man at the bow took a chance on a long shot. His bullet fell harmlessly two hun

he panted. "Soon as we do, we'll l

"but you'se right, Massa Tom. De

et struck Tom's oar, just above the blade. The blade dropped off as Tom was putting every ounce of his failing strength into a prodigious pull. The handle, released from all pressure, flew through the air and Tom rolled over b

tale thereafter, "and dere wuz Massa Lincum's gunboats, a-crowdin

WS

e natural, he felt that he was really free. Uncle Moses was too old for that sort of thing. He was bewildered by the rough and teeming life of an army-camp. He clung to Tom, was as devoted to him as Towser was, and much more helpless than the dog was. Towser made friends and important friends at once. It happened that food was rather short at headquarters the day after the fugitives found safety. Tom, waiting for a chance to go North, had been asked to share the tent of a staff-officer and to eat at headquarters' mess. An hour before dinner, one of his hosts was bewailing the scanty fare they were to have when To

it and see. So, when he finally started back for Cairo and Washington he took both Uncle Moses and Towser with him. Neither of them had ever been on a railroad train before. Equally bewildered and equally happy, they sped by steam across the thou

look, Towser, the

's home," murm

emotion, barked joyfully. He felt a