The Mail Carrier

by Harry Castlemon

Bob accompanied the officer wherever he went during the day, but he did so with apparent willingness and without wailing to be told. He spent the most of the time in the woods, where the constable had some negroes employed in getting out timber for him, and on two occasions the latter went over a ridge where his ox-teams were at work, leaving Bob to himself for more than an hour each time. “I wonder what he will do with me when night comes,” Bob asked himself over and over again. “He must watch me closer than he does now or I may be missing before daylight. I’ll not go back to Rochdale if I can help it. I’ll risk anything first.”

When Bob went to the officer’s house that night he was treated more like a guest than a prisoner. The constable’s wife said nothing to indicate that she knew he was under arrest, and when supper was over Bob was surprised to hear the man remark that he believed he would go down to the store for an hour or two, and see what was going on there. He went, and did not return until nearly ten o’clock. Then he began to make some preparations for the safe-keeping of his captive during the night, but they did not amount to much, and Bob’s heart beat high with hope. The officer simply drew a settee into the front room, and placed it opposite the sofa, which stood on the other side of the fire-place. “I am going to sleep here,” said he, “and when you get tired you can lie down there.”

Suiting the action to the word the officer stretched himself upon the settee, and in less than ten minutes was soundly asleep. Bob sat in an easy-chair by the fire and looked at him; and as he looked he fell to thinking of the wonderful exploits of some of his favorite heroes, and comparing his present situation with those in which they had so often been placed. They always succeeded in bringing themselves safely out of the most desperate scrapes. Even when they were tied to the stake by their savage foes, they found means to outwit them and effect their escape. Wild Bill and Texas Jack would laugh to find themselves in a predicament like this Bob was in, and if he was ever going to be as famous as those two men were, it was high time he was making a beginning. While Bob’s thoughts ran along in this channel he narrowly watched the slumbering officer, and finally calling all his courage to his aid, he picked up his hat and valise, opened the door, and stepped out on the porch. There he paused for a moment to make sure that the way was clear, and then, after taking a parting glance at the constable, he closed the door and ran toward the landing. It was after eleven o’clock, and the streets were entirely deserted.

A few minutes’ rapid running brought Bob to the store. Here he became very cautious in his movements, for he knew that the grocer and his family occupied the rear portion of the building. He climbed over the bars through which he had led his horse in the morning, and made his way toward the shed at the end of the lot. He found his horse there, and the animal appeared to be glad to see him, for he welcomed him with a low whinny of recognition.

“I never expected to mount you again, old fellow; but you must carry me a little farther on my way up the river, and then you must go home. I wish I could go with you,” said Bob, who was more than satisfied with his short experience with the ways of the world. “If I could only go back without letting folks know that I ran away, I’d start this minute.”

While Bob was talking thus to himself he was busy putting the saddle and bridle on his horse; and when that had been done, he opened his valise and took from it a suit of clothes, which he proceeded to put on with all possible haste. He knew that his flight would be taken as evidence of guilt, and that every effort would be made to recapture him; so he thought it best to disguise himself as well as he could by putting on another hat and exchanging his gray suit for a black one.

“I am going to get as many miles away from Linwood as I can between this and daylight,” said Bob to himself, “and then, as I can’t disguise my horse, I’ll turn him loose, and go on to the next landing on foot. Hallo! what’s that?”

Bob happened to be looking through the stable door toward the shed on the bank under which the bags of corn were stored, and saw a bright flame suddenly arise from behind it. Wondering what could be the cause of it, he stepped to the door to take a nearer view, and distinctly heard the pounding made by the paddle-wheels of an approaching steamer. “It is a signal,” thought he. “There is a boat coming up, and the owner of that corn wants her to land and take it aboard. Now, if I can get on to her deck without being recognised I shall be all right.”

The approach of the steamer brought about a change in Bob’s programme. He hastily finished dressing himself, bundled the clothes he had taken off into his valise, and seizing his horse by the bridle led him around the stable out of sight of the house. There he found a low fence which ran between the yard and an adjoining field. His horse easily jumped over it, and Bob led him toward the nearest piece of woods, looking back now and then to make sure that he was keeping the stable between himself and any one who might happen to be passing along the road toward the landing. When the dark shadows of the trees hid him from view, he turned toward the road, threw down a portion of the fence, and led his horse through the gap. Just then the hoarse whistle of the steamer indicated that her pilot had seen the signal fire.

“Good-by, Jack,” said Bob, choking down something that seemed to be rising in his throat, and patting the horse’s glossy neck as he spoke. “I am sorry I have abused you, Jack, and thought so little of you because you are not handsome and stylish like Don Gordon’s pony. I wish I could take back every blow I ever struck you. If I could go back with you, old fellow, you would have better treatment than you ever had before; but I must leave you now, and you must find your way home as best you can.”