IN THE SHADOW
When he saw me he begged me to give him my shoes for his ax. He said that he had killed a hog belonging to a white and that if he was caught he would be killed. He said that he could hardly walk because of his cut feet. I did not want his ax, but I knew enough of these low whites to know that they would kill him for stealing a hog, so I gave him my shoes." Dessalines paused and gazed about wildly.
"And then?"
"Then I went on … and soon I heard bloodhounds baying; first I thought they were after this other man, but I soon found that they were after me."
"Ah!"
"Yes; he had put on my shoes; I was barefooted and for a short distance I walked in his tracks; then on the edge of the woods two of the dogs overtook me—great mongrel brutes. One was behind the other, and as they came up the first sprang, but I caught him in my hands—" The bloodshot eyes grew lurid, the white teeth gleamed. "I beat his head against a tree. The second had already buried his fangs in my shoulder … here." He turned back a rent in the ragged shirt and showed wounds before which Virginia recoiled. "I tore him off, and in my pain ripped him to pieces. I was mad … crazed, and then the men came up and shot at me from a distance, but I escaped into the woods. They had another hound on a leash; I crossed the rice fields and ran along the dike … over there, and soon I found a bateau tied to the bank. Then I paddled into the swamp. …" He began to mumble again. "They did not think that I could get out, but I discovered them, and last night swam and climbed and waded for nearly
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