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Show jpLEK NELSON'S fU'i a l'i' muuiU's. i he iity Ijj.j.s niul his nu-ii turned and ' iiioJ hi. '! 'nv n ,',e 11 ''if - 0,,i" l ttu-m m" 1,R '".i11"-'' l,i; on his shoulkliMS. Wlul a u-licf to see them hiMkii'il h.uk. knowing ke wore at'o wsain. "I imiil ihe IT 0l I 0 h;ie heen nice lo . ,ur up under a liee tor the ni.uht iih! rot our tired legs, hut we hail t jo li.cun' 0,lt " vxa 10 -'ni'r our tr.iil. l'u'a' vv-,s 1,0 'i11,11 i'1 my i minJ thai HiW would get more js and return lo hunt us down. reeJ a ith me and had a plan i th.it seemed reasonable. We walked over to a huge pine lIt-e kith lots of thiek branches near the top. branches which vnnilJ provide plenty of excellent cimouflage if someone were hiding in the top of the tree. I he lowest branch w as at least 12 feet above V ground, so anyone attempting J to climb the tree would need a rope. AFl'FR walking around the tree eeral times, and rubbing the trunk with our hands so there would be plenty of scent for the - j0;s. we headed back the way we - haioome. I grinned at the thought 1 of Bocgs and his men surrounding ' 1 the big tree and ordering us to come ' down, firing their rifles into the upper up-per branches when we failed to do i so. then finally having to climb the (tree to make sure we were not there. - i I removed my boots to avoid leaving clear tracks which would give away our backtracking. W ith our bare feet, we carefully avoided - stepping on our earlier footprints V which were headed towards the .. tree, and stepped only on leaves, grass and rocks in an effort not to feake any new tracks. J BY THE time we reached the place in the gully where we had trapped the last dog. it was almost I1 dark. To our amazement, the bear " 'trap was laving in the grass below the rocks. I suppose they were loo tired to carry it back with them, - a.nd figured on picking it up when they returned with horses the ncAl diy. They wouldn't find it. though. -because Ike wasn't about to leave ,i'siKh a truty friend behind. j We backtracked along our ori-: ori-: -j ginal trail for about another mile as (darkness came upon us. then headed straight south in an effort to reach the Grande River where we would float downstream, our trail ir.possible for any dog to follow . WE WERE certain that when ; Boggs and his men returned, they ! would go directly to the place ' here the last dog had been trap- '' ped and follow our trail from there to the big pine tree. By the time rt they figured out that w e w ere back- ,c tracking, we would be far down the l river and out of reach. We reached the river just before . dawn. Using green willow bran- - ches for lashings, we tied two cot-j cot-j tonwood logs together, climbed aboard, and pushed into the center i of the current. As soon as it was light, we hid our raft in some tall ij swamp grass where w e spent a lazy . day sleeping and fishing, using the line and hooks I had picked up at L'ncle Henry's cabin. j j AS SOON as it was dark again, y e pushed out into the main cur--rent and continued our journey, II 'safe for a time from Boggs and his IIs men. After floating down the Grande River for a number of miles, Ike and I became more and more con-' con-' cerned about the increasing num ber ol cabins. In a slave state like Missouri, news of a slave escape travels last, and there w as no doubt in either of our minds that a lot of people would be on the lookout lor us. T11K GRANDK River was taking us south towards the Missouri River, Riv-er, towards the more populous areas of the state. T he river had serv ed w useful function in carrying us away from Hoggs and his hounds, but would lead us to almost certain capture if we continued con-tinued downstream. Just before dawn on the second day, we approached the mouth of a smaller stream coming in from the west, which I guessed to be Shoal Creek. If w e follow ed it upstream, it would lead us past H.iun's Mill into the heart of Caldw ell County. Mormon country, and eventually bar West. WK PI SHKl) our log raft into the mouth of Shoal Creek, where we abandoned it and began to wade upstream, Ike carrying the steel bear trap in his right list. At the first sign of morning light, we stopped at a place where the stream swirled around a huge boulder to cut out a deep hole that appeared to be an excellent fishing spot. Ike turned over a half-rotten log and we quickly gathered a plentiful supply of worms and grubs to use as fish bait. W'e tied our lines to stout green willow poles, then stabbed stab-bed our hooks back and forth through the fat worms. THE DEEP hole was kind to us. and in less than half an hour, we had a nice mess of trout and catfish, cat-fish, which we carried to a secluded, sec-luded, sandy spot among some thick willow bushes. W'e buit a small, smokeless fire with dry willow wil-low twigs, and spent a lazy day munching on roasted fish and sleeping on the warm sand. After all the running and the narrow nar-row escape from Boggs and his men, it felt good to be safe and comfortable, with nothing to do but sleep and eat. Ike didn't say much, but seemed to be enjoying our rest, too. He didn't seem to be in any hurry to get back. on the trail to-Canada. to-Canada. t-: . ; IN FACT, in his child-like way, he seemed perfectly content to do whatever 1 wanted to do. Me seemed happiest when I was leading lead-ing out and making the decisions. 1 felt rather flattered that a grown man, even if he was it slave, would look to me for leadership. He valued and trusted my opinions. I had never felt that way around any adult before. 1 was determined to take good care of Ike and make sure he succeeded in his escape to freedom. I liked laing around the willows with nothing to do but eat and sleep. It gave me time to think about ab-out our situation. 1 knew Boggs would be furious about us getting away from him and his dogs. He wouldn't give up the hunt. Whether or not he would get much help from others depended on the Mormon situation. IF THINGS were settling down after the election-day battle in Gallatin, Gal-latin, then people would be more inclined to want to go on a slave hunt. On the other hand, if the fight in Gallatin had worsened relations between the Mormons and the old citizens, and if they were preparing for a bigger battle with the Mormons, Mor-mons, possibly a final showdown, there would be little interest in finding an escaped slave. I decided to do two things. First, I figured that since we were pretty safe in the thickly-wooded creek bottoms, we ought to say in hiding for awhile, at least until Boggs and his men had given up searching for us. There were plenty of hiding places where men couldn't see us and, (as long as we traveled by wading) dogs couldn't follow our trail. And there were plenty offish to cat. SECOND, I decide.d I had to sneak out, locate a nearby Mormon farm, and find out what was happening hap-pening between the Mormons and the mob. If things were quiet, we would need to watch more carefully careful-ly for slave hunters. If things were explosive, perhaps we could slip away while the old citizens focused all their attention on fighting the Mormons. I had to find out what was happening. hap-pening. I had to do it alone, too. Ike, would be too easily recognied. Nobody would think anything if (hey saw a skinny kid like me walking walk-ing down the road, but if they saw Ike, they might ask him where his master was, or what he was doing in the area, particularly if they had heard about the escape. Curiosity would be high since there was usually a reward for anyone helping help-ing find an escaped slave. AS SOON as the sun went down, I crawled out of the river bottoms and headed north, keeping as much in the woods as possible, in search of a Mormon who could bring me up to date on the conflict between the Mormons and the old citizens. I didn't know if Ike and I were in Caldwell County yet. If we were still in Livingston County, there were pretty good odds that anybody I ran into would be an old citizen rather than a Mormon. Mor-mon. The problem was how to tell the difference before it was too late. 1 certainly didn't want to become be-come the prisoner of some Mormon-hater. I HADN'T gone any more than a mile when 1 heard the tapping of a distant hammer. It wasn't the booming sound of a hammer pounding nails into wood, but the clicking sound of a blacksmith shoeing a horse. 1 moved carefully in the direction of the sound, thinking think-ing I would find a small farm. I came to a wagon path winding through the meadows and trees, which I followed in the direction of the tapping hammer. I hadn't gone far when 1 spotted a wagon parked beside the path. THERE WAS an old black horse tied to the rear of the wagon, and a man was hunched under one of its hind legs, nailing down a loose shoe. The smoke from a nearby campfire indicated that he was camped there for the night. There were three goats grazing in the meadow, two nannies and a billy. I couldn't see any more people or any dogs. Staying close to the bushes, I crept closer, looking for any sign that might indicate whether the man was friend or foe. Mormon or old citizen. I CROUCHED down behind a bush w hen the man suddenly dropped drop-ped the horse's foot. He stood up straight, then arched his back, looking straight up into the sky, his hands on the small of his aching back. His chin was covered with grey stubble. He was thin, and brown from the sun. I couldn't see anything to indicate whether he was Mormon or Missourian. He walked over to the fire, picked pick-ed up a stick and pushed a black dutch oven out of the grey-white coals. After dusting away the ashes, he carefully removed the lid and dropped it in the grass. liven from my hiding place I could sec that the pan was lull to the brim with steaming golden-brown camp biscuits. MY MOUTH began to water. The last time I had tasted anything like that was at Aunt Sarah's table, and that seemed like so long ago. He left the uncovered biscuits on the ground to cool and returned to finish shoeing the horse. No sooner had he picked up the horse's foot than I noticed some movement beyond the fire. The billy bil-ly goat was headed for the biscuits. The man had his back to the fire and couldn't see the goat coming. I wanted to shout a warning to the man, but didn't dare. The two nannies, nan-nies, seeing purpose in the billy's walk, began to follow. MY DIET had consisted almost entirely of corn, fish, and a few wild huckleberries since fleeing Gallatin, and the smell of those fresh biscuits was like something from heaven. I simply could not sit back and watch those goats des troy such a treat. I picked up a stone, the size of a hen's egg, and threw it in the direction direc-tion of the goats, then crouched down lower behind my bush to avoid detection. The stone struck the ground just in front of the billy. HE STOPPED and looked towards to-wards his master, thinking that's where the rock had come from. The man was still hunched under the hind leg of the horse, unaware of the danger threatening his biscuits. bis-cuits. After watching the man for a few seconds, and determining that the rock must have been accidental, acciden-tal, the goat took another step towards to-wards the biscuits. I threw another rock, hoping I might be lucky enough to strike the goat in the middle of his hard head. The stone missed the billy, but struck the lid to the dutch oven in the nearby grass. To Be Continued Next Week i |