He picked up the hatchet and shook
it at me, but the water was too deep for him to reach me, and he ran back
along the dam and turned toward the railroad embankment. I was so terrified
I could scarcely breathe; I pushed frantically in and out between the
trees, farther and farther into the swamp. I was afraid that he would go
round to the bridge and come down the bank to where the outlet from the
swamp is and catch me there, but in a little while I saw where the rising
water had broken the dam, and the current was rushing through and out to
the river. The current caught the boat and swept it through the break. Oh,
I was so glad! I'm so afraid of water, but not then. I used the paddle as a
rudder, and to push floating timber away. My foot was hurting me, and I
looked at last and saw that it was cut."
A groan came from the judge, and the sheriff's head drooped.
"All day I drifted, and all night. I was so thirsty, and I grew so weak. At
daylight this morning I found myself in a wide sheet of water, with marshes
all round, and I saw a steamboat coining. I tied my handkerchief to the
paddle and waved it, and they picked me up.
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