The slaves then took a straight course for the Baton Rouge
and Bayou Sara road, about four miles distant. Nearer and nearer
the whimpering pack pressed; their delusion begins to dispel.
All at once the truth flashes upon the minds of the fugitives
like a glare of light,--'tis Tabor with his dogs!
The scent becomes warmer and warmer, and what was at first an irregular
cry now deepens into one ceaseless roar, as the relentless pack presses
on after its human prey.
They at last reach the river, and in the negroes plunge, followed by
the catch-dog. Jerome is caught and is once more in the hands
of his master, while the other poor fellow finds a watery grave.
They return, and the preacher sends his slave to jail.
CHAPTER XIX
THE TRUE HEROINE
IN vain did Georgiana try to console Clotelle, when the latter heard,
through one of the other slaves, that Mr. Wilson had started
with the dogs in pursuit of Jerome. The poor girl well knew
that he would be caught, and that severe punishment, if not death,
would be the result of his capture. It was therefore with a
heart filled with the deepest grief that the slave-girl heard
the footsteps of her master on his return from the chase.
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