Again I heard the yell of the bloodhounds; and again desperately plunged down into the water.

As I went down I opened my mouth, and, choked and gasping, I found myself once more struggling upward.

As I rose to the top of the water and caught a glimpse of the sunshine and the trees, the love of life revived in me.

I swam to the other side of the creek, and forced my way through the reeds to a large tree, and stood under one of its lowest limbs, ready in case of necessity, to spring up into it.

Here panting and exhausted, I stood waiting for the dogs.