It is swimming and full of snags!
They will stop--they will not follow. In--in--not a moment is to be
lost--" and speaking, as they pursued their several ways, he to the
left, and Ralph Colleton to the right ford, the obedient steeds plunged
forward under the application of the rowel, and were fairly in the bosom
of the stream, as the pursuing party rode headlong up the bank.
Struggling onward, in the very centre of the stream, with the steed,
which, to do him all manner of justice, swam nobly, Ralph Colleton could
not resist the temptation to look round upon his pursuers. Writhing his
body in the saddle, therefore, a single glance was sufficient and, in
the full glare of the moonlight unimpeded by any interposing foliage,
the prospect before his eyes was imposing and terrible enough. The
pursuers were four in number--the jailer, two of the Georgia guard, and
another person unknown to him.
As Munro had predicted, they did not venture to plunge in as the
fugitives had done--they had no such fearful motive for the risk; and
the few moments which they consumed in deliberation as to what they
should do, contributed not a little to the successful experiment of the
swimmers.
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