that the forest was thinning; apparently we should soon reach open
country, and lose what little advantage we had in being out of our
enemy's sight.

I asked anxiously whether 'twould not be better for us to turn
aside into the thickets and try to hide; peradventure the dogs and
the horsemen would go past. But the negro said 'twould be useless;
we could not deceive the dogs, and we should be no safer than rats
in a barn.

We had come to the end of what would in England be called a glen--a
narrow gorge, with shelving banks rising to the height of some
ninety feet, and overgrown with shrubs and creeping plants. No
doubt in the rainy season 'twas the bed of a torrent; the bottom
was sandy and pebbly, and hard to the feet. We had gone but a
little way along it when Uncle Moses sank down, and, looking at his
livid face, his panting nostrils and starting eyes, I feared that
the hand of death was upon him. 'Twas clear that he was utterly
spent; he could not even stagger to the farther end of the gorge;
and with the bitter pangs of despair I heard the fierce baying of
the hounds, and had almost resigned myself to the inevitable end.

I glanced round to see whether the pursuers were in sight. I saw,
not them, but something which flashed a wild hope through me. Some
little distance back a tree hung over the sandy bottom, its roots
partially laid bare by the washing of the stream which had now
disappeared. The trunk was inclined at a sharp angle; but little
force would be needed, I thought, to topple it over until it lay
athwart the path which the pursuers must follow. Its foliage was
thick, and though I did not flatter myself 'twould put an end to