CHAPTER VII.

THE FLIGHT.

Purchase of horses and cattle--Backwoods hospitality--The wolf and the sheep--"Salting" cattle--Elbow-room in the woods--"Westward Ho!"--Farming in the Backwoods--"Chicken fixings"--Rail-fence making--Mutual secrets--The deer-calf--Success of the ruse--The arrival of the cattle--Treachery discovered--Bertha's fears--The Mulatto's sudden appearance--The abduction completed--The Serpentine water-course--Narrow escape from discovery--The pursuers at fault--The last gleam of hope 211-249