cals
have gotten away as completely as if they had disappeared from the face of
the earth."

Jason groaned. Whether the sound was caused by pain, or disappointment at
the escape of the spies, or both, it would have been hard to tell. When he
was taken to his home, not until the next day, he vowed he would never
more chase anything, be it even a chicken.

And where were the missing man, boy, and dog? Much nearer to the Peyton
house than any of its inmates fancied. When Watson and George ran down the
garden their only idea was to get as far off from the house as possible,
although they believed that they were pretty sure to be captured in the
end. Their pistols were still useless; they did not know the geography of
the neighborhood; there were enemies everywhere. But after they squeezed
through the hedge, they found in front of them, between the box and the
edge of the woods, a little patch of muddy, uncultivated land, devoted to
the refuse of a farm. A trash heap, a broken plough, empty boxes, barrels,
broken china, and other useless things betokened a sort of rustic
junk-shop--a receptacle for objects which had seen their best days.

Among this collection, the quick eye of Watson caught sight of a large
molasses hogshead, now empty and with its open end turned upwards. He
pulled George by the sleeve, pointed to the hogshead, and then looked at
the hedge, as he said, breathlessly: "This is big enough to hold us both;
jump in--the hedge is so high they can't see us from the house!"

There was no chance to say more. In a twinkling the two had vaulted into
the huge barrel, and were fairly squatting at the bottom. Above them was
the open sky and the warm sun. Any pursuer who chose to stand on tiptoe
and look in would have been rewarded for his pains. But Watson calculated
that no one would think of the hogshead for the very reason that it stood
out so prominently amid all the trash of this dumping ground. No one, in
fact, gave a thought to the spot; it suggested nothing in the way of a
hiding-place. Once a negro who had joined the hunt brushed by the
hogshead, much to the terror of its occupants, but he gave it no heed. A
few minutes later Mr. Peyton stopped within a few feet of it, to speak to
his white overseer.

"We have searched the wood thoroughly," said the overseer, "but they are
gone--that's sure."

"Well, they have gotten out of the place," observed the master. "But they
won't get many miles away. I want you t