I was so terrified that my teeth chattered, at this announcement, and he noticed it.
"Don"t get too scared, young one," he added, consolingly. "They won"t look for you half as much as they will for me. If you travel right straight on, and keep out of their clutches for a week, you"ll be safe."
"But I haven"t done anything," I said, tremblingly.
"Oh, yes you have," said he, with a laugh. "You have broken jail, and that means a year at least, if you"re caught."
I was so overwhelmed at this dread piece of news that I could only lean up against a convenient fence and stare at him.
"Come, come!" he cried, impatiently, "brace up! They haven"t got you yet. If you go straight through this cornfield you will strike a road that will take you to Columbia. Good-by!"
Before I had time to reply, he had plunged into the woods on the right of the road, and I was left alone.
I was terribly alarmed, and lost no time in making my way through the cornfield; and when I found the road, I sped along it at a rapid gait.
Fear lent me wings, and I fancied every bush an officer.
It was a warm but pleasant night, and the moon was just rising.
I calculated that it must be about midnight, and I determined that I would put many a mile between me and Lancaster before daybreak.
So I set off at a dog-trot, and I kept it up until I saw the sun rising over the eastern hills.
By that time I must have gone about twenty miles, and I was completely tired out, and very glad to crawl into the shelter of some neighboring woods and lie down to rest.
Before I knew it I was asleep, and I did not awake until late in the afternoon.
I was stiff and sore, and at the same time ravenously hungry. The first two ailments wore away as I started again on my journey, but the latter increased until I determined to brave anything rather than suffer any longer.
The first house I came to was a small yellow frame, close to the road, with a yellow dog chained on the porch, and a woman frying ham in the kitchen.
"Please, ma"am," said I.
"G"way!" said she. "Here, Tige!"
"Please, ma"am--"
"G"way, I say! We don"t want no tramps hookin" everything they kin lay their hands on!"
"Please, ma"am," I persisted, mildly, "I am not a tramp. I want something to eat"--the woman started to unchain the dog--"for which I am willing to pay."
"Come right in," said the woman, with a broad smile. "I declare I couldn"t have the heart to turn anybody away hungry. Tramps bother a person so that I get kinder suspicious, but I could see right away you were different from the general run."
While she was talking she was busily engaged in setting the table with fried ham, potatoes, bread and b.u.t.ter and coffee, and I lost no time in falling to. I paid a quarter for it when I had finished, and got away as quickly as possible, as I feared the arrival of some of the men folks, who might have their suspicions aroused.
All that night I traveled on and slept in the woods again. Not to enter into particulars, it is sufficient to say that I kept this up for a week, until I found myself in the vicinity of Williamsport, and by that time I judged myself to be reasonably safe.
So I boldly entered that city in broad daylight, had a bath and my hair cut, a complete change of underclothing, and enjoyed a day of rest.
When I started out again, the next morning, I had recovered my usual spirits, and took to the road, determined to keep going as long as my money and strength held out. I had twenty-five dollars of the former and an unlimited supply of the latter.
All that day I tramped on steadily enough, buying both my dinner and supper for trifling sums; and, when night came on, I thought it would be just as well to camp in the woods again.
For that purpose I left the road, and, plunging into the forest on my left, I soon came to a secluded spot, near a ravine or gully, and there I made myself a bed of dry leaves.
On this I lay down, and was fast drifting into the Land of Nod, when I was aroused by a sound something like the rattling of tinware.
I promptly sat up and listened. Again I heard the rattling, and as it evidently come from the ravine, I arose and began an investigation.
Peering over the edge of the gully, I saw at the bottom, about fifteen feet below, a bright light, and the rattling sound again smote my ears.
By this time my curiosity was excited to the utmost, and, catching hold of a small sapling, I leaned far over the edge to observe the why and wherefor. As I did so, I felt the sapling giving away, and I made a desperate attempt to recover myself.
It was no use. Down went the sapling into the ravine and I along with it.
CHAPTER XV.
I MEET AN ECCENTRIC DOCTOR AND ENTER INTO HIS SERVICE.
The sapling and I fell directly on a fire of branches, from which came the light at which I had been gazing.
I was slightly stunned, but I scrambled to my feet just as a heavy hand was laid on my collar, and a gruff voice said:
"Vell! here"s a precious go!"
I looked up, and saw that the voice and hand belonged to the same person--a short, stout man, with sallow complexion and glistening black eyes. His dress was a curious compound of broad, glazed hat and blue shift of a sailor and the flashy check vest and pantaloons of a peddler.
"Vere did you come from, anyhow," he demanded, before I had finished my survey, "a-busting down on a chap vithout varning, and a smashing of his pots and kettles?"
"Pots and kettles?" I repeated, inquiringly.
For answer he pointed indignantly to the ground, and then I saw what damage my descent had caused.
A rusty coffee-pot, a little dish and a skillet were scattered among the embers of the fire.
"That"s vot you did," said he, resentfully. "Here vos I, a-cooking my supper and a-thinking of just nothink at all, when all of a suddent down you come, like a cannon-ball, and avay goes everythink! It was werry aggerwating because it was nearly done."
"I a.s.sure you, sir," said I, very contritely, "that I had no intention of falling on your fire or your supper."
Then I explained the cause of my sudden descent, and wound up by offering to pay for the damage.
By this time the man had entirely recovered his temper--if he had ever lost it, which I very much doubt--and smiled kindly.
"Vell, vell, there ain"t much harm done except putting my supper back half an hour. Put up your money, my boy, and join me."
Then he righted the utensils, and whistling a lively air, prepared the meal anew. And this he did with an adroitness that proved the task to be by no means an unusual one.
Within half an hour, he had made a pot of coffee, a pan of biscuits and a savory stew, and we were soon discussing this supper very amiably together.