"
The ladies stood up and waved their handkerchiefs. There was no response;
the gentlemen's faces were towards each other and they seemed to be
engaged in earnest converse.
"Unsuccessful," said Mrs. Balis.
"How do you know?" asked Elsie.
"There's an air of dejection about them."
"I don't see it," returned Elsie, smiling. "They seem to me only too busy
talking to notice our little attention."
But Mrs. Balis was correct in her conjecture. The boat had passed Madison
some time before the gentlemen arrived there, had paused but a few minutes
and landed no such passenger. Learning this they then telegraphed the
authorities of the next town; waited some hours, and received a return
telegram to the effect that the boat had been boarded, no person answering
the description found; but the captain gave the information that such a
man had been taken on board at Dr. Balis' plantation, and set ashore at
the edge of a forest half-way between that place and Madison.
On receiving this intelligence Mr. Travilla and the doctor started for
home, bringing with them a posse of mounted men headed by some of the
police of Madison.
Dr. Balis had taken with him to Madison the blood-stained coat of Jackson.
From this the hounds took the scent, and on arriving at the wood mentioned
by the skipper, soon found the trail and set off in hot pursuit, the
horsemen following close at their heels.
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