All the while he had been moving out of the glare of the searchlights,
and as the men from the other car tumbled out and came forward, he
turned into the darkness, and abandoning all caution, took to his heels
and ran at top speed in the opposite direction.
Behind him he heard shouts as his trick was discovered, but he knew
that in the matter of speed he had nothing to fear afoot from any
German at Windenberg. The thing that bothered him now was a way to
hide the marks of his footsteps, for in places the mud was soft and
he knew that in the morning light they would follow him; so he picked
his way carefully, running at top speed for a mile at least, to lead
the pursuit away from the Thorwald and then at the banks of a small
stream paused a moment and listened. He had eluded them. Then without
hesitation, though puffing fearfully from his exertions, he stepped
down into the cold waters of the stream and waded up it, avoiding the
ledges and making sure that he left no mark behind him. As he climbed
higher up the mountain, he could see in the distance the glow of the
lights of the machines and when he reached a mossy bank which would not
betray him, he clambered out of the water and turned, doubling like a
fox, upon his trail, turning back in the general direction from which
he had come.
Doris worried him. He could imagine her crouching there two hundred
feet in the air just above the two machines, half dead with fear
of capture and terror for him. Had she seen what had happened and
understood it? Would she have the kind of silent endurance to crouch
there and wait? He hurried on into the maze of rocks and deep woods,
finding at last a deer trail that he knew. There were but two means
of ingress to the cave of the Thorwald, one by the secret path in the
bushes up the rocks which Doris had taken, the other from the upper
side which he was now rapidly approaching.
He ran along the deer trail, reloading his automatic as he went, his
eyes peering ahead for familiar landmarks, cutting in at last to the
left at a great rock around which the deer trail led. He now proceeded
with great caution. Far below him he could see the reflections of the
lights of the two cars and heard the voices of men. He went down a
way toward the wall of rocks, clambering over huge bowlders, hauling
himself here and there by the aid of tree limbs, reaching at last the
dry bed of the old stream which down in the road had been of such
assistance to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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