send in
pursuit of the flying negro, four of their fleetest runners instantly
dashed after the white man. Were it in the daylight, the latter would
not have stood a moment's chance against them; but he hoped to elude
them in the darkness and gloom of the woods. The obscuration being only
partial, his pursuers close in his rear, and the noise of the rustling
leaves beneath his feet betraying every step, it will be seen at once
that he was in the most constant and imminent danger.

Pausing but a few seconds--barely sufficient to catch his "second
breath," he again leaped away. There is no telling how long he would
have run, had he not stepped into a hole, deep and narrow--the mouth of
a fox's burrow evidently, for it was quite hidden by overgrowth--he fell
into the hole with a sudden violence which confused and stunned him.
Panting and exhausted, he lay still and awaited his pursuers.

They were far closer than he imagined. He seemed scarcely to have
disappeared, when the whole four passed within a few feet of him. How
fearfully his heart throbbed as the foot of one threw several leaves
upon his person!

Leland had lain here less than five minutes, when a second footstep
startled him. It came from an entirely different direction; and
approaching to within about a dozen feet, it halted. Rising to his
hands and feet so that his head was brought upon a level with the
ground, he peered through the darkness at the object. One long, earnest,
scrutinizing look, revealed the dress of a large Indian. His position
was so favorable that he could even make out the rifle he held in his
hand.

He stood as motionless as a statue for a moment, and then gave utterance
to a cry that resembled exactly that of the whippoorwill. Receiving no
response, he repeated it again, but with no better success than before.
The cowering fugitive was listening for the slightest movement upon his
part, when to his unfeigned amazement, the Indian in a suppressed
whisper called out, "_Leland!_"

The young man, however, was not thrown off his guard. He knew that every
one of his captors spoke the English language, some of them quite
fluently. It need scarcely be said that he made no response to the call,
even when it was iterated again and again. The savage during these
utterances did not stir a hand or foot, but seemed to bend all his
faculties into the one of listening. He had stood but a few moments,
when Leland caught the rustle of approaching feet