Bonny Jean, and A Severe Threat — page 52: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BONNY JEAN. 45 when they hear the clatter of hoofs behind them, a loud whinny of delight, and the two sagacious creatures have overtaken them. Dripping with water, the saddles disarranged and soaked, yet the horses were, indeed, a welcome sight to the refugees, and it took but a moment to mount them and ride away. _ In the meantime, the old negro ferryman had managed, after many ineffectual attempts, to scramble upon the flat-boat, and crouched there—a comical, but piteous spectacle. Gabriel Black proceeded to cut down a pine sapling, and having removed the bark, he was in possession at last of a tol- erable steering pole. Tossing off his coat, he sprang into the water, and grasping the pole closely, swam for the flat, which was really: but a few rods away. Once on board, Black succeeded in poling the craft across the stream, and tying it to an overhanging bough, he sprang on shore, found the path which the two women had taken, and dashed away on their track. Jean and her mother traveled on at arapid pace, They could reach New Orleans from a distant village on that side of the river, but by steamboat only; hence their reason for crossing the river to the railroad station. But they must ‘‘makea virtue of necessity ;’ and so, trying hard to feel hopeful and keep up their courage, they hurried their horses onward, never dreaming that the villain from whom they were flying was even then upon their track, determined to hunt them down as remorselessly as the sleuth-hound on the track of its victim. The time was drawing nigh when Gabriel Black’s love for Jean would turn into bitter hatred; such affection is prone to- such trans- formation. He made quick time on the track of the unfortunates, and, without stopping to rest, got over a long distance before the sun began to go down its golden ladder in the west. But at last the sun set, and Jean and her mother began to dread the com- ing twilight. The country through which they were passing Eomichooks (ee) =)