Page 52 - A Hero of Ticonderoga

CHAPTER XI

--ESCAPE

When the accidental shaking of the branch disclosed his refuge, Nathan
wished he had taken the easier shelter of a hollow log or the tangle of a

windfall. The more so, when he caught brief, swift flashes of the axe
gleaming up through the dark foliage and felt the tree shiver at every sturdy

stroke. But he had no thought of surrender. The trunk of the leaning birch,
so slender that his arms and legs could clasp it, had given him access to this
coign of vantage and now offered a retreat from it.

Toombs was intent upon his work, with his back turned squarely toward the

foot of the birch, though barely six paces from it. Escape, if at all, must be
made while the chopper was on this side of the hemlock. Very cautiously
he regained the birch where it hid trunk and lithe branches in the embrace

of the great evergreen, and then worked downward, with an eye ever on his
enemy underneath, making swiftest progress when the axe fell and its

sound overbore the rustle of the birch’s shaggy, yellow mane, that his
buttons scraped along. At last his toes were tickled by the topmost leaves of
a low, sprangling hobble bush, then lightly touched by the last year’s fallen

leaves and the soft mould. Then, as a flying chip struck him full on the
cheek, he loosed his hold on the trunk and stole stealthily to the shelter of

the nearest great tree.

The axe strokes ceased, but a glance showed him that Toombs was only

wiping his sweaty brow on his sleeve, as he looked up into the tree and
addressed its supposed occupant. As the futile chopping was resumed,

Nathan crept off through the undergrowth till beyond sight and hearing,
when he ran upright so swiftly that he was a mile away when the roar of the
tree’s fall came booming through the woods.

He sat down to get his breath and determine where to go, for so far he had

only thought to escape his stepfather. Should he try for the Fort? How was
he to cross the lake without a boat, and, if there, on what plea that he could
offer was he likely to be harbored, for Toombs was on very friendly terms