initial commit of ebook 23557HEADmain

12 files changed, 5188 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/23557-0.txt b/23557-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29da660
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,993 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Crucial Moment
+       1911
+
+Author: Charles Egbert Craddock (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007 [EBook #23557]
+Last Updated: March 8, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CRUCIAL MOMENT
+
+By Charles Egbert Craddock
+
+1911
+
+
+A mere moment seems an inconsiderable factor in life--only its
+multiplication attaining importance and signifying time. It could
+never have occurred to Walter Hoxer that all his years of labor, the
+aggregation of the material values of industry, experience, skill,
+integrity, could be nullified by this minimum unit of space--as sudden,
+as potent, as destructive, as a stroke of lightning. But after the fact
+it did not remind' him of any agency of the angry skies; to him it was
+like one of the obstructions of the river engineers to divert the course
+of the great Mississippi, a mattress-spur, a thing insignificant in
+itself, a mere trifle of woven willow wands, set up at a crafty angle,
+against the tumultuous current Yet he had seen the swirling waves, in
+their oncoming like innumerable herds of wild horses, hesitate at
+the impact, turn aside, and go racing by, scouring out a new channel,
+leaving the old bank bereft, thrown inland, no longer the margin of the
+stream.
+
+The river was much in his mind that afternoon as he trudged along the
+county road at the base of the levee, on his way, all un-prescient, to
+meet this signal, potential moment. Outside, he knew that the water
+was standing higher than his head, rippling against the thick turf of
+Bermuda grass with which the great earthwork was covered. For the river
+was bank-full and still rising--indeed, it was feared that an overflow
+impended. However, there was as yet no break; advices from up the river
+and down the river told only of extra precautions and constant work to
+keep the barriers intact against the increasing volume of the stream.
+The favorable chances were reinforced by the fact of a singularly dry
+winter, that had so far eliminated the danger from back-water, which,
+if aggregated from rainfall in low-lying swamps, would move up slowly
+to inundate the arable lands. These were already ploughed to bed up for
+cotton, and an overflow now would mean the loss of many thousands of
+dollars to the submerged communities. The February rains had begun
+in the upper country, with a persistency and volume that bade fair
+to compensate for the long-continued drought, and thus the river was
+already booming; the bayous that drew off a vast surplusage of its
+waters were overcharged, and gradually would spread out in murky
+shallows, heavily laden with river detritus, over the low grounds
+bordering their course.
+
+“This Jeffrey levee will hold,” Hoxer said to himself, as once he
+paused, his hands in his pockets, his cap on the back of his red head,
+his freckled, commonplace, square face lifted into a sort of dignity by
+the light of expert capacity and intelligence in his bluff blue eyes. He
+had been muttering to himself the details of its construction: so many
+feet across the base in proportion to its height, the width of the
+summit, the angle of the incline of its interior slope--the exterior
+being invisible, having the Mississippi River standing against it. “A
+fairly good levee, though an old one,” he muttered. “I'll bet, though,
+Major Jeffrey feels mightily like Noah when he looks at all that water
+out there tearing through the country.”
+
+His face clouded at the mention of the name, and as he took the short
+pipe from his month and stuck it into the pocket of his loose sack-coat
+his tread lost a certain free elasticity that had characterized it
+hitherto, and he trudged on doggedly. He had passed many acres of
+ploughed lands, the road running between the fields and the levee. The
+scene was all solitary; the sun had set, and night would presently be
+coming on. As he turned in at the big white gate that opened on a long
+avenue of oaks leading to the mansion house, he began to fear that his
+visit might be ill-timed, and that a man of his station could not hope
+for an audience so near the major's dinner-hour.
+
+It was with definite relief that he heard the gentle impact of ivory
+balls in the absolute quiet, and he remembered that a certain little
+octagonal structure with a conical red roof, in the grounds, was a
+billiard-room, for the sound betokened that he might find the owner of
+the place here.
+
+He expected to see a group of the Major's “quality friends” in the
+building but as he ascended the steps leading directly to the door, he
+perceived that the man he sought was alone. Major Jeffrey was engaged in
+idly knocking the balls about in some skilful fancy shots, his cigar
+in his mouth, and a black velvet smoking-jacket setting off to special
+advantage his dense, snowy hair, prematurely white, his long mustache,
+and his pointed imperial. His heavy white eyebrows drew frowningly
+together over arrogant dark eyes as he noted the man at the entrance.
+
+Despite Hoxer's oft-reiterated sentiment that he was “as good as anybody
+and would take nothing off nobody, and cared for no old duck just
+because he was rich,” he could not speak for a moment as he felt Major
+Jeffrey's inimical eyes upon him. He lost the advantage in losing the
+salutation.
+
+“Did you get my check?” Major Jeffrey asked curtly.
+
+“Yes,” Hoxer admitted; “but----”
+
+“The amount was according to contract.”
+
+Hoxer felt indignant with himself that he should have allowed this
+interpretation to be placed on his presence here; then he still more
+resented the conjecture.
+
+“I have not come for extra money,” he said. “That point of the
+transaction is closed.”
+
+“All the points of the transaction are closed,” said Major Jeffrey,
+ungraciously. There was more than the flush of the waning western sky
+on his face. He had already dined, and he was one of those wine-bibbers
+whom drink does not render genial, “I want to hear no more about it.”
+
+He turned to the table, and with a skilful cue sent one ball caroming
+against two others.
+
+“But you must hear what I have got to say, Major Jeffrey,” protested
+Hoxer. “I built that cross-levee for you to join your main levee, and
+done it well.”
+
+“And have been well paid.”
+
+“But you go and say at the store that I deviated from the line of survey
+and saved one furlong, seven poles, and five feet of levee.”
+
+“And so you did.”
+
+“But you know, Major, that Burbeck Lake had shrunk in the drought at the
+time of the survey, and if I'd followed the calls for the south of the
+lake, I'd had to build in four feet of water, so I drew back a mite--you
+bein' in Orleans, where I couldn't consult you, an' no time to be lost
+nohow, the river bein' then on the rise, an'----”
+
+“Look here, fellow,” exclaimed Major Jeffrey, bringing the cue down on
+the table with a force that must have cut the cloth, “do you suppose
+that I have nothing better to do than to stand here to listen to your
+fool harangue?”
+
+The anger and the drink and perhaps the consciousness of being in the
+wrong were all ablaze in the Major's eyes.
+
+The two were alone; only the darkling shadows stood at tiptoe at the
+open windows, and still the flushed sky sent down a pervasive glow from
+above.
+
+Hoxer swallowed hard, gulping down his own wrath and sense of injury.
+“Major,” he said blandly, trying a new deal, “I don't think you quite
+understand me.”
+
+“Such a complicated proposition you are, to be sure!”
+
+Hoxer disregarded the sarcasm, the contempt in the tone.
+
+“I am not trying to rip up an old score, but you said at Winfield's
+store--at the store--that I did not build the cross levee on the
+surveyor's line; that I shortened it----”
+
+“So you did.”
+
+“But as if I had shortened the levee for my own profit, when, as you
+know, it was paid for by the pole----”
+
+“You tax me with making a false impression?”
+
+An extreme revulsion of expectation harassed Hoxer. He had always known
+that Jeffrey was an exception to the general rule of the few large
+land-owners in the community, who were wont to conserve and, in fact, to
+deserve the pose of kindly patron as well as wealthy magnate. But even
+Jeffrey, he thought, would not grudge a word to set a matter straight
+that could cost him nothing and would mean much to the levee-contractor.
+Though of large experience in levee-building, Hoxer was new to the
+position of contractor, having been graduated into it, so to speak, from
+the station of foreman of a construction-gang of Irishmen. He had hoped
+for further employ in this neighborhood, in building private levees
+that, in addition to the main levees along the banks of the Mississippi,
+would aid riparian protection by turning off overflow from surcharged
+bayous and encroaching lakes in the interior. But, unluckily,
+the employer of the first enterprise he had essayed on his own
+responsibility had declared that he had deviated from the line of
+survey, usually essential to the validity of the construction, thereby
+much shortening the work; and had made this statement at Winfield's
+store--at the store!
+
+Whatever was said at the store was as if proclaimed through the
+resounding trump of fame. The store in a Mississippi neighborhood,
+frequented by the surrounding planters, great and small, was the focus
+of civilization, the dispenser of all the wares of the world, from a
+spool of thread to a two-horse wagon, the post-office, in a manner the
+club. Here, sooner or later, everybody came, and hence was the news of
+the Bend noised abroad. Hoxer's business could scarcely recover from
+this disparagement, and he had not doubted that Jeffrey would declare
+that he had said nothing to justify this impression, and that he would
+forthwith take occasion to clear it up. For were not Mr. Tompkins and
+Judge Claris, both with a severe case of “high-water scare,” ready to
+contract for a joint cross levee for mutual protection from an unruly
+bayou!
+
+Therefore, with a sedulous effort, Hoxer maintained his composure when
+the Major thundered again, “You tax me with making a false impression?”
+
+“Not intentionally, Major, but----”
+
+“And who are you to judge of my motives? Told a lie by accident, did I?
+Begone, sir, or I'll break your head with this billiard cue!”
+
+He had reached the limit as he brandished the cue. He was still agile,
+vigorous, and it was scarcely possible that Hoxer could escape the blow.
+He dreaded the indignity indeed more than the hurt.
+
+“If you strike me,” he declared in a single breath, between his set
+teeth, “before God, I'll shoot you with your own pistol!”
+
+It seemed a fatality that a pair in their open case should have been
+lying on the sill of the window, where their owner had just been
+cleaning and oiling them. Hoxer, of course, had no certainty that they
+were loaded, but the change in Jeffrey's expression proclaimed it. He
+was sober enough now--the shock was all sufficient--as he sprang to the
+case. The younger man was the quicker. He had one of the pistols in his
+hand before Jeffrey could level the other that he had snatched. Quicker
+to fire, too, for the weapon in Jeffrey's hand was discharged in his
+latest impulse of action after he fell to the floor, the blood
+gushing from a wound that crimsoned all the delicate whiteness of his
+shirt-front and bedabbled his snowy hair and beard.
+
+This was the moment, the signal, fatal, final moment, that the
+levee contractor had come to meet, that placed the period to his own
+existence. He lived no longer, Hoxer felt. He did not recognize as his
+own a single action hereafter, a single mental impulse. It was something
+else, standing here in the red gloaming--some foreign entity, cogently
+reasoning, swiftly acting. Self-defense--was it? And who would believe
+that? Had he found justice so alert to redress his wrongs, even in a
+little matter, that he must needs risk his neck upon it? This Thing that
+was not himself--no, never more!--had the theory of alibi in his mind
+as he stripped off his low-cut shoes and socks, thrusting them into his
+pockets, leaping from the door, and flying among the dusky shadows down
+the glooming grove, and through the gate.
+
+Dusk here, too, on the lonely county road, the vague open expanse of the
+ploughed fields glimmering to the instarred sky of a still, chill night
+of early February. He did not even wonder that there should be no hue
+and cry on his tracks--the Thing was logical! Jeffrey had doubtless
+had his pistols carried down from the mansion to him in his den in the
+billiard-room, for the avowed purpose of putting the weapons in order.
+If the shots were heard at all at the dwelling, the sound was reasonably
+ascribed to the supposed testing of the weapons. Hoxer was conscious
+that a sentiment of gratulation, of sly triumph, pervaded his mental
+processes as he sped along barefoot, like some tramp or outcast, or
+other creature of a low station. He had laid his plans well in this
+curious, involuntary cerebration. Those big, bare footprints were ample
+disguise for a well-clad, well-groomed, well-shod middle-class man of a
+skilful and lucrative employ. The next moment his heart sank like lead.
+He was followed! He heard the pursuit in the dark! Swift, unerring,
+leaping along the dusty road, leaving its own footprints as a testimony
+against him. For he had recognized its nature at last! It was his own
+dog--a little, worthless cur, that had a hide like a doormat and a heart
+as big as the United States--a waif, a stray, that had attached himself
+to the contractor at the shanties of the construction gang, and slept by
+his bed, and followed at his heel, and lived on the glance of his eye.
+
+He was off again, the dog fairly winging his way to match his master's
+speed. Hoxer could not kill him here, for the carcass would tell the
+story. But was it not told already in those tracks in the dusty road?
+What vengeance was there not written in the eccentric script of those
+queer little padded imprints of the creature's paws. Fie, fool! Was this
+the only cur-dog in the Bend? he asked himself, impatient of his fears.
+Was not the whole neighborhood swarming with canine dependents?
+
+Despite his reasoning, this endowment that was once himself had
+been affrighted by the shock. The presence of the little cur-dog had
+destroyed the complacence of his boasted ratiocination. He had only the
+instincts of flight as he struck off through the woods when the great
+expanse of cultivated lands had given way to lower ground and the wide
+liberties of the “open swamp,” as it was called. This dense wilderness
+stretched out on every side; the gigantic growth of gum trees was
+leafless at this season, and without a suggestion of underbrush.
+
+The ground was as level as a floor. Generally during the winter the open
+swamp is covered with shallow water, but in this singularly droughty
+season it had remained “with dry feet,” according to the phrase of that
+country. The southern moon, rising far along its levels, began to cast
+burnished golden shafts of light adown its unobstructed vistas. It might
+seem some magnificent park, with its innumerable splendid trees, its
+great expanse, and ever and anon in the distance the silver sheen of
+the waters of a lake, shining responsive to the lunar lustre as with
+an inherent lustre of its own. On and on he went, his noiseless tread
+falling as regularly as machinery, leaving miles behind him, the
+distance only to be conjectured by the lapse of time, and, after so
+long, his flagging strength. He began to notice that the open swamp was
+giving way in the vicinity of one of the lakes to the characteristics of
+the swamp proper, although the ground was still dry and the going good.
+He had traversed now and then a higher ridge on which switch-cane grew
+somewhat sparsely, but near the lake on a bluff bank a dense brake of
+the heavier cane filled the umbrageous shadows, so tall and rank and
+impenetrable a growth that once the fugitive paused to contemplate it
+with the theory that a secret intrusted to its sombre seclusions might
+be held intact forever.
+
+As he stood thus motionless in the absolute stillness, a sudden thought
+came to his mind--a sudden and terrible thought. He could not be sure
+whether he had heard aught, or whether the sight of the water suggested
+the idea. He knew that he could little longer sustain his flight,
+despite his vigor and strength. Quivering in every fibre from his long
+exertions, he set his course straight for that glimmering sheen of
+water. Encircling it were heavy shadows. Tall trees pressed close to
+the verge, where lay here a fallen branch, and there a rotten log, half
+sunken in mud and ooze, and again a great tangle of vines that had grown
+smiling to the summer sun, but now, with the slow expansion of the lake
+which was fed by a surcharged bayou, quite submerged in a fretwork of
+miry strands. The margin was fringed with saw-grass, thick and prickly,
+and his practised eye could discern where the original banks lay by the
+spears thrust up above the surface a score of feet away. Thus he was
+sure of his depth as he waded out staunchly, despite the cruel pricks
+to his sensitive naked feet. The little dog had scant philosophy; he
+squeaked and wheezed and wailed with the pain until the man, who had no
+time to kill him now--for had he heard aught or naught?--picked him up
+and carried him in his arms, the creature licking Hoxer's hands in an
+ecstasy of gratitude, and even standing on his hind-legs on his master's
+arm to snatch a lick upon his cheek.
+
+In the darksome shadows, further and further from the spot where he had
+entered the lake, Hoxer toiled along the margin, sometimes pausing to
+listen--for had he heard aught or naught?--as long as his strength would
+suffice. Then amidst the miry débris of last summer's growths beneath
+the recent inundation he sank down in the darkness, the dog exhausted in
+his arms.
+
+This was one of those frequent crescent-shaped lakes peculiar to the
+region; sometimes, miles in extent, the lacustrine contour is not
+discernible to the glance; here the broad expanse seemed as if the body
+of water were circular and perhaps three miles in diameter.
+
+Suddenly Hoxer heard the sound that had baffled him hitherto--heard
+it again and--oh, horrible!--recognized it at last! The baying of
+bloodhounds it was, the triumphant cry that showed that the brutes had
+caught the trail and were keeping it. On and on came the iteration, ever
+louder, ever nearer, waking the echoes till wood and brake and midnight
+waters seemed to rock and sway with the sound, and the stars in the sky
+to quake in unison with the vibrations. Never at fault, never a moment's
+cessation, and presently the shouts of men and the tramp of horses
+blended with that deep, tumultuous note of blood crying to heaven for
+vengeance. Far, far, down the lake it was. Hoxer could see nothing of
+the frantic rout when the hounds paused baffled at the water-side. He
+was quick to note the changed tone of the brutes' pursuit, plaintive,
+anxious, consciously thwarted. They ran hither and thither, patrolling
+the banks, and with all their boasted instinct they could only protest
+that the fugitive took to water at this spot. But how? They could not
+say, and the men argued in vain. The lake was too broad to swim--there
+was no island, no point of vantage. A boat might have taken him off,
+and, if so, the craft would now be lying on the opposite bank. A party
+set off to skirt the edge of the lake and explore the further shores by
+order of the sheriff, for this officer, summoned by telephone, had
+come swiftly from the county town in an automobile, to the verge of the
+swamp, there accommodated with a horse by a neighboring planter. And
+then, Hoxer, lying on the elastic submerged brush, with only a portion
+of his face above the surface of the water, watched in a speechless
+ecstasy of terror the hue and cry progress on the hither side, his dog,
+half dead from exhaustion, unconscious in his arms.
+
+The moon, unmoved as ever, looked calmly down on the turmoil in the
+midst of the dense woods. The soft brilliance illumined the long,
+open vistas and gave to the sylvan intricacies an effect as of silver
+arabesques, a glittering tracery amidst the shadows. But the lunar light
+did not suffice. Great torches of pine knots, with a red and yellow
+flare and streaming pennants of smoke, darted hither and thither as the
+officer's posse searched the bosky recesses without avail.
+
+Presently a new sound!--a crashing iteration--assailed the air. A
+frantic crowd was beating the bushes about the margin of the lake and
+the verges of the almost impenetrable cane-brake. Here, however, there
+could be no hope of discovery, and suddenly a cry arose, unanimously
+iterated the next instant, “Fire the cane-brake! Fire the cane-brake!”
+
+For so late had come the rise of the river, so persistent had been the
+winter's drought, so delayed the usual inundation of the swamp, that the
+vegetation, dry as tinder, caught the sparks instantly, and the fierce
+expedient to force the fugitive to leave his supposed shelter in the
+brake, a vast woodland conflagration, was added to the terror of the
+scene. The flames flared frantically upward from the cane, itself twenty
+feet in height, and along its dense columns issued forth jets like
+the volleyings of musketry from serried ranks of troops, the illusion
+enhanced by continuous sharp, rifle-like reports, the joints of the
+growth exploding as the air within was liberated by the heat of the
+fire. All around this blazing Gehenna were swiftly running figures of
+men applying with demoniac suggestion torches here and there, that a new
+area might be involved. Others were mounted, carrying flaming torches
+aloft, the restive horses plunging in frantic terror of the fiery
+furnace in the depths of the brake, the leaping sheets of flame,
+the tumultuous clouds of smoke. Oh, a terrible fate, had the forlorn
+fugitive sought refuge here! Let us hope that no poor denizen of the
+brake, bear or panther or fox, dazed by the tumult and the terror,
+forgot which way to flee!
+
+But human energies must needs fail as time wears on. Nerves of steel
+collapse at last. The relinquishment of the quest came gradually; the
+crowd thinned; now and again the sound of rapid hoof-beats told of
+homeward-bound horsemen; languid groups stood and talked dully here
+and there, dispersing to follow a new suggestion for a space, them
+ultimately disappearing; even the fire began to die ont, and the site
+of the cane-break had become a dense, charred mass, as far as eye could
+reach, with here and there a vague blue flicker where some bed of coals
+could yet send up a jet, when at length the pale day, slow and aghast,
+came peering along the levels to view the relics of the strange events
+that had betided in the watches of the night.
+
+Hoxer had not waited for the light. Deriving a certain strength, a
+certain triumph, from the obvious fact that the end was not yet, he
+contrived in that darkest hour before the dawn to pull himself into
+a sitting posture, then to creep out to the shore. The little dog had
+seemed to be dying, but he too experienced a sort of resuscitation, and
+while he followed at first but feebly, it was not long before he was at
+heel again, although Hoxer was swift of foot, making all the speed he
+might toward his temporary home, the shacks that had been occupied
+by the construction gang. As he came within view of the poor little
+tenements, so recently vacated by the Irish ditchers, all awry and
+askew, stretching in a wavering row along the river-bank near the
+junction of the levee that he had built with the main line, his eyes
+filled. Oh, why had he not gone with the rest of the camp! he demanded
+of an untoward fate; why must he have stayed a day longer to bespeak
+the correction of an injurious error from that proud, hard man, who,
+however, had wrought his last injury on earth! Hoxer was sorry, but
+chiefly for his own plight. He felt that his deed was in self-defense,
+and but that he had no proof he would not fear to offer the plea at the
+bar of justice. As it was, however, he was sanguine of escaping without
+this jeopardy. No one had cause to suspect him. No one had seen him
+enter the Jeffrey grounds that fatal evening. There had been noised
+abroad no intimation of his grievance against the man. He had all the
+calm assurance of invisibility as he came to his abode, for a fog lay
+thick on the surface of the river and hung over all the land. He did
+not issue forth again freshly dressed till the sun was out once more,
+dispelling the vapors and conjuring the world back to sight and
+life. Nevertheless, he made no secret of having been abroad when an
+acquaintance came up the road and paused for an exchange of the news of
+the day.
+
+“But what makes ye look so durned peaked?” he broke off, gazing at Hoxer
+in surprise.
+
+Hoxer was astonished at his own composure as he replied: “Out all night.
+I was in the swamp with the posse.”
+
+“See the fire! They tell me 't wuz more'n dangerous to fire the brake
+when the woods is so uncommon dry. I dunno what we would do here in the
+bottom with a forest fire.”
+
+“Pretty big blaze now, sure's ye're born,” Hoxer replied casually, and
+so the matter passed.
+
+Later in the day another gossip, whose acquaintance he had made during
+his levee-building venture, loitered up to talk over the absorbing
+sensation, and, sitting down on the door-step of the shack, grew
+suddenly attentive to the little dog.
+
+“What makes him limp?” he demanded abruptly.
+
+But Hoxer had not observed that he did limp.
+
+The acquaintance had taken the little animal up on his knee and was
+examining into his condition. “Gee! how did he get so footsore?”
+
+“Following me around, I reckon,” Hoxer hazarded. But he saw, or thought
+he saw, a change on the stolid face of the visitor, who was unpleasantly
+impressed with the fact that the officers investigating the case had
+made inquiries concerning a small dog that, to judge by the prints in
+the road, had evidently followed the big, barefooted man who had fled
+from the Jeffrey precincts after the shooting. A rumor, too, was going
+the rounds that a detective, reputed preternaturally sharp, who had
+accompanied the sheriff to the scene of action, had examined these
+tracks in the road, and declared that the foot-print was neither that of
+a negro nor a tramp, but of a white man used to wearing shoes something
+too tightly fitting.
+
+The visitor glanced down at the substantial foot-gear of the contractor,
+fitting somewhat snugly, and thereafter he became more out of
+countenance than before and manifested some haste to get away. Hoxer
+said to himself that his anxiety whetted his apprehension. He had given
+his visitor no cause for suspicion, and doubtless the man had evolved
+none. Hoxer was glad that he was due and overdue to be gone from the
+locality. He felt that he could scarcely breathe freely again till he
+had joined the gang of Irish ditchers now establishing themselves in a
+new camp in the adjoining county, where the high stage of the river gave
+him employment in fighting water. He made up his mind, however, that
+he would not take the train thither. He dreaded to be among men, to
+encounter question and speculation, till he had time to regain control
+of his nerves, his facial expression, the tones of his voice. He
+resolved that he would quietly drift down the river in a row-boat that
+had been at his disposal during his employment here, and join his force
+already settled at their destination, without running the gauntlet
+of inspection by the neighborhood in a more formal departure. He had
+already bidden farewell to those few denizens of the Bend with whom his
+associations had been most genial. “And I'll clear out now, as I would
+have done if nothing had happened.”
+
+He said no more of his intention of departure, but when night had come
+he fastened the door of the little shanty, in which were still some of
+the rude belongings of his camping outfit, with the grim determination
+that it should not soon be opened again. How long the padlock should
+beat the summons of the wind on the resounding battens he did not dream!
+
+It was close on midnight when he climbed the steep interior slope of the
+levee and stood for a moment gazing cautiously about him. The rowboat
+lay close by, for one might embark from the summit of the levee. It was
+a cloudy night, without a star. A mist clung to the face of the waters
+on the Arkansas side, but on the hither shore the atmosphere was clear,
+for he could see at a considerable distance up the river the fire of
+a “levee-watch,” the stage of the water being so menacing that a guard
+must needs be on duty throughout the night. The leaping flames of the
+fire cast long lines of red and yellow and a sort of luminous brown
+far into the river, where the reflection seemed to palpitate in the
+pulsations of the current. No other sign of life was in the night scene,
+save in the opposite direction, amidst the white vapors, the gem-like
+gleam of a steamer's chimney-lights, all ruby and emerald, as a packet
+was slowly rounding the neighboring point. Hoxer could hear the impact
+of her paddles on the water, the night being so still. He had seated
+himself in the middle of the rowboat and laid hold on the oars when his
+foot struck against something soft on the bottom of the craft, partly
+under the seat in the stern. It was his bundle, he thought, containing
+the spoiled clothing that he had worn in the swamp, and which he
+intended to sink in mid-stream. His nerve was shaken, however; he could
+not restrain a sudden exclamation--this must have seemed discovery
+rather than agitation. It was as a signal for premature action. He was
+suddenly seized from behind, his arms held down against his sides, his
+hands close together. The bundle in the stern rose all at once to the
+stature of a man.
+
+The touch of cold metal, a sharp, quick click,--and he was captured and
+handcuffed within the space of ten seconds.
+
+A terrible struggle ensued, which his great strength but sufficed to
+prolong. His wild, hoarse cries of rage and desperation seemed to beat
+against the sky; back and forth the dark riparian forests repeated them
+with the effect of varying distance in the echoes, till all the sombre
+woods seemed full of mad, frantic creatures, shrieking out their
+helpless frenzy. More than once his superior muscle sufficed to throw
+off both the officers for a moment, but to what avail? Thus manacled, he
+could not escape.
+
+Suddenly a wild, new clamor resounded from the shore. In the dusky
+uncertainty, a group of men were running down the bank, shouting out to
+the barely descried boatmen imperative warnings that they would break
+the levee in their commotion, coupled with violent threats if they did
+not desist. For the force with which the rowboat dashed against the
+summit of the levee, rebounding again and again, laden with the weight
+of three ponderous men, and endowed with all the impetus of their
+struggle, so eroded the earth that the waves had gained an entrance,
+the initial step to a crevasse that would flood the country with a
+disastrous overflow. As there was no abatement of the blows of the boat
+against the embankment, no reply nor explanation, a shot from the gun of
+one of the levee-watch came skipping lightsomely over the water as
+Hoxer was borne exhausted to the bottom of the skiff. Then, indeed,
+the sheriff of the county bethought himself to shout out his name
+and official station to the astonished group on shore, and thus,
+bullet-proof under the aegis of the law, the boat pulled out toward
+the steamer, lying in mid-stream, silently awaiting the coming of the
+officer and his prisoner, a great, towering, castellated object, half
+seen in the night, her broadside of cabin lights, and their reflection
+in the ripples, sparkling through the darkness like a chain of golden
+stars.
+
+They left no stress of curiosity behind them; naught in the delta can
+compete in interest with the threatened collapse of a levee in times
+of high water. Before the rowboat had reached the steamer's side, its
+occupants could hear the great plantation-bell ringing like mad to
+summon forth into the midnight all available hands to save the levee,
+and, looking back presently, a hundred lanterns were seen flickering
+hither and thither, far down in the dusk--no illusion this, for all
+deltaic rivers are higher in the centre than their banks--where the busy
+laborers, with thousands of gunny-sacks filled with sand, were fighting
+the Mississippi, building a barricade to fence it from the rich spoils
+it coveted.
+
+The packet, which, as it happened, was already overdue, had been
+telephoned by the officers at her last landing, and a number of men
+stood on the guards expectant. Hoxer had ceased to struggle. He looked
+up at the steamer, his pallid face and wide, distended eyes showing in
+the cabin lights, as the rowboat pulled alongside. Then as the sheriff
+directed him to rise, he stood up at his full height, stretched his
+manacled hands high above his head, and suddenly dived into deep water,
+leaving the boat rocking violently, and in danger of capsizing with the
+officers.
+
+A desperate effort was made to recover the prisoner, alive or dead--all
+in vain. A roustabout on the deck declared that in the glare of the
+steamer's search-light, thrown over the murky waters, he was seen to
+come to the surface once, but if he rose a second time it must have
+been beneath the great bulk of the packet, to go down again to the death
+awaiting him in the deeps.
+
+On the bank a little dog sat through sunshine and shadow in front of the
+door of the shack of the contractor of the levee-construction gang, and
+awaited his return with the patient devotion of his kind. Sometimes, as
+the padlock wavered in the wind, he would cock his head briskly askew,
+forecasting from the sound a step within. Sometimes the grief of absence
+and hope deferred would wring his humble heart, and he would whimper
+in an access of misery and limp about a bit. But presently he would be
+seated again, alertly upright, his eyes on the door, for the earliest
+glimpse of the face that he loved. When the overflow came at last the
+shacks of the construction gang were swept away, and the little dog was
+seen no more.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23557-0.txt or 23557-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/5/23557/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation”
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
+Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, “Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+“Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
+of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/23557-0.zip b/23557-0.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..202d910
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557-0.zip
diff --git a/23557-8.txt b/23557-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a896c3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,992 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by 
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Crucial Moment
+       1911
+
+Author: Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007 [EBook #23557]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CRUCIAL MOMENT
+
+By Charles Egbert Craddock
+
+1911
+
+
+A mere moment seems an inconsiderable factor in life--only its
+multiplication attaining importance and signifying time. It could
+never have occurred to Walter Hoxer that all his years of labor, the
+aggregation of the material values of industry, experience, skill,
+integrity, could be nullified by this minimum unit of space--as sudden,
+as potent, as destructive, as a stroke of lightning. But after the fact
+it did not remind' him of any agency of the angry skies; to him it was
+like one of the obstructions of the river engineers to divert the course
+of the great Mississippi, a mattress-spur, a thing insignificant in
+itself, a mere trifle of woven willow wands, set up at a crafty angle,
+against the tumultuous current Yet he had seen the swirling waves, in
+their oncoming like innumerable herds of wild horses, hesitate at
+the impact, turn aside, and go racing by, scouring out a new channel,
+leaving the old bank bereft, thrown inland, no longer the margin of the
+stream.
+
+The river was much in his mind that afternoon as he trudged along the
+county road at the base of the levee, on his way, all un-prescient, to
+meet this signal, potential moment. Outside, he knew that the water
+was standing higher than his head, rippling against the thick turf of
+Bermuda grass with which the great earthwork was covered. For the river
+was bank-full and still rising--indeed, it was feared that an overflow
+impended. However, there was as yet no break; advices from up the river
+and down the river told only of extra precautions and constant work to
+keep the barriers intact against the increasing volume of the stream.
+The favorable chances were reinforced by the fact of a singularly dry
+winter, that had so far eliminated the danger from back-water, which,
+if aggregated from rainfall in low-lying swamps, would move up slowly
+to inundate the arable lands. These were already ploughed to bed up for
+cotton, and an overflow now would mean the loss of many thousands of
+dollars to the submerged communities. The February rains had begun
+in the upper country, with a persistency and volume that bade fair
+to compensate for the long-continued drought, and thus the river was
+already booming; the bayous that drew off a vast surplusage of its
+waters were overcharged, and gradually would spread out in murky
+shallows, heavily laden with river detritus, over the low grounds
+bordering their course.
+
+"This Jeffrey levee will hold," Hoxer said to himself, as once he
+paused, his hands in his pockets, his cap on the back of his red head,
+his freckled, commonplace, square face lifted into a sort of dignity by
+the light of expert capacity and intelligence in his bluff blue eyes. He
+had been muttering to himself the details of its construction: so many
+feet across the base in proportion to its height, the width of the
+summit, the angle of the incline of its interior slope--the exterior
+being invisible, having the Mississippi River standing against it. "A
+fairly good levee, though an old one," he muttered. "I'll bet, though,
+Major Jeffrey feels mightily like Noah when he looks at all that water
+out there tearing through the country."
+
+His face clouded at the mention of the name, and as he took the short
+pipe from his month and stuck it into the pocket of his loose sack-coat
+his tread lost a certain free elasticity that had characterized it
+hitherto, and he trudged on doggedly. He had passed many acres of
+ploughed lands, the road running between the fields and the levee. The
+scene was all solitary; the sun had set, and night would presently be
+coming on. As he turned in at the big white gate that opened on a long
+avenue of oaks leading to the mansion house, he began to fear that his
+visit might be ill-timed, and that a man of his station could not hope
+for an audience so near the major's dinner-hour.
+
+It was with definite relief that he heard the gentle impact of ivory
+balls in the absolute quiet, and he remembered that a certain little
+octagonal structure with a conical red roof, in the grounds, was a
+billiard-room, for the sound betokened that he might find the owner of
+the place here.
+
+He expected to see a group of the Major's "quality friends" in the
+building but as he ascended the steps leading directly to the door, he
+perceived that the man he sought was alone. Major Jeffrey was engaged in
+idly knocking the balls about in some skilful fancy shots, his cigar
+in his mouth, and a black velvet smoking-jacket setting off to special
+advantage his dense, snowy hair, prematurely white, his long mustache,
+and his pointed imperial. His heavy white eyebrows drew frowningly
+together over arrogant dark eyes as he noted the man at the entrance.
+
+Despite Hoxer's oft-reiterated sentiment that he was "as good as anybody
+and would take nothing off nobody, and cared for no old duck just
+because he was rich," he could not speak for a moment as he felt Major
+Jeffrey's inimical eyes upon him. He lost the advantage in losing the
+salutation.
+
+"Did you get my check?" Major Jeffrey asked curtly.
+
+"Yes," Hoxer admitted; "but----"
+
+"The amount was according to contract."
+
+Hoxer felt indignant with himself that he should have allowed this
+interpretation to be placed on his presence here; then he still more
+resented the conjecture.
+
+"I have not come for extra money," he said. "That point of the
+transaction is closed."
+
+"All the points of the transaction are closed," said Major Jeffrey,
+ungraciously. There was more than the flush of the waning western sky
+on his face. He had already dined, and he was one of those wine-bibbers
+whom drink does not render genial, "I want to hear no more about it."
+
+He turned to the table, and with a skilful cue sent one ball caroming
+against two others.
+
+"But you must hear what I have got to say, Major Jeffrey," protested
+Hoxer. "I built that cross-levee for you to join your main levee, and
+done it well."
+
+"And have been well paid."
+
+"But you go and say at the store that I deviated from the line of survey
+and saved one furlong, seven poles, and five feet of levee."
+
+"And so you did."
+
+"But you know, Major, that Burbeck Lake had shrunk in the drought at the
+time of the survey, and if I'd followed the calls for the south of the
+lake, I'd had to build in four feet of water, so I drew back a mite--you
+bein' in Orleans, where I couldn't consult you, an' no time to be lost
+nohow, the river bein' then on the rise, an'----"
+
+"Look here, fellow," exclaimed Major Jeffrey, bringing the cue down on
+the table with a force that must have cut the cloth, "do you suppose
+that I have nothing better to do than to stand here to listen to your
+fool harangue?"
+
+The anger and the drink and perhaps the consciousness of being in the
+wrong were all ablaze in the Major's eyes.
+
+The two were alone; only the darkling shadows stood at tiptoe at the
+open windows, and still the flushed sky sent down a pervasive glow from
+above.
+
+Hoxer swallowed hard, gulping down his own wrath and sense of injury.
+"Major," he said blandly, trying a new deal, "I don't think you quite
+understand me."
+
+"Such a complicated proposition you are, to be sure!"
+
+Hoxer disregarded the sarcasm, the contempt in the tone.
+
+"I am not trying to rip up an old score, but you said at Winfield's
+store--at the store--that I did not build the cross levee on the
+surveyor's line; that I shortened it----"
+
+"So you did."
+
+"But as if I had shortened the levee for my own profit, when, as you
+know, it was paid for by the pole----"
+
+"You tax me with making a false impression?"
+
+An extreme revulsion of expectation harassed Hoxer. He had always known
+that Jeffrey was an exception to the general rule of the few large
+land-owners in the community, who were wont to conserve and, in fact, to
+deserve the pose of kindly patron as well as wealthy magnate. But even
+Jeffrey, he thought, would not grudge a word to set a matter straight
+that could cost him nothing and would mean much to the levee-contractor.
+Though of large experience in levee-building, Hoxer was new to the
+position of contractor, having been graduated into it, so to speak, from
+the station of foreman of a construction-gang of Irishmen. He had hoped
+for further employ in this neighborhood, in building private levees
+that, in addition to the main levees along the banks of the Mississippi,
+would aid riparian protection by turning off overflow from surcharged
+bayous and encroaching lakes in the interior. But, unluckily,
+the employer of the first enterprise he had essayed on his own
+responsibility had declared that he had deviated from the line of
+survey, usually essential to the validity of the construction, thereby
+much shortening the work; and had made this statement at Winfield's
+store--at the store!
+
+Whatever was said at the store was as if proclaimed through the
+resounding trump of fame. The store in a Mississippi neighborhood,
+frequented by the surrounding planters, great and small, was the focus
+of civilization, the dispenser of all the wares of the world, from a
+spool of thread to a two-horse wagon, the post-office, in a manner the
+club. Here, sooner or later, everybody came, and hence was the news of
+the Bend noised abroad. Hoxer's business could scarcely recover from
+this disparagement, and he had not doubted that Jeffrey would declare
+that he had said nothing to justify this impression, and that he would
+forthwith take occasion to clear it up. For were not Mr. Tompkins and
+Judge Claris, both with a severe case of "high-water scare," ready to
+contract for a joint cross levee for mutual protection from an unruly
+bayou!
+
+Therefore, with a sedulous effort, Hoxer maintained his composure when
+the Major thundered again, "You tax me with making a false impression?"
+
+"Not intentionally, Major, but----"
+
+"And who are you to judge of my motives? Told a lie by accident, did I?
+Begone, sir, or I'll break your head with this billiard cue!"
+
+He had reached the limit as he brandished the cue. He was still agile,
+vigorous, and it was scarcely possible that Hoxer could escape the blow.
+He dreaded the indignity indeed more than the hurt.
+
+"If you strike me," he declared in a single breath, between his set
+teeth, "before God, I'll shoot you with your own pistol!"
+
+It seemed a fatality that a pair in their open case should have been
+lying on the sill of the window, where their owner had just been
+cleaning and oiling them. Hoxer, of course, had no certainty that they
+were loaded, but the change in Jeffrey's expression proclaimed it. He
+was sober enough now--the shock was all sufficient--as he sprang to the
+case. The younger man was the quicker. He had one of the pistols in his
+hand before Jeffrey could level the other that he had snatched. Quicker
+to fire, too, for the weapon in Jeffrey's hand was discharged in his
+latest impulse of action after he fell to the floor, the blood
+gushing from a wound that crimsoned all the delicate whiteness of his
+shirt-front and bedabbled his snowy hair and beard.
+
+This was the moment, the signal, fatal, final moment, that the
+levee contractor had come to meet, that placed the period to his own
+existence. He lived no longer, Hoxer felt. He did not recognize as his
+own a single action hereafter, a single mental impulse. It was something
+else, standing here in the red gloaming--some foreign entity, cogently
+reasoning, swiftly acting. Self-defense--was it? And who would believe
+that? Had he found justice so alert to redress his wrongs, even in a
+little matter, that he must needs risk his neck upon it? This Thing that
+was not himself--no, never more!--had the theory of alibi in his mind
+as he stripped off his low-cut shoes and socks, thrusting them into his
+pockets, leaping from the door, and flying among the dusky shadows down
+the glooming grove, and through the gate.
+
+Dusk here, too, on the lonely county road, the vague open expanse of the
+ploughed fields glimmering to the instarred sky of a still, chill night
+of early February. He did not even wonder that there should be no hue
+and cry on his tracks--the Thing was logical! Jeffrey had doubtless
+had his pistols carried down from the mansion to him in his den in the
+billiard-room, for the avowed purpose of putting the weapons in order.
+If the shots were heard at all at the dwelling, the sound was reasonably
+ascribed to the supposed testing of the weapons. Hoxer was conscious
+that a sentiment of gratulation, of sly triumph, pervaded his mental
+processes as he sped along barefoot, like some tramp or outcast, or
+other creature of a low station. He had laid his plans well in this
+curious, involuntary cerebration. Those big, bare footprints were ample
+disguise for a well-clad, well-groomed, well-shod middle-class man of a
+skilful and lucrative employ. The next moment his heart sank like lead.
+He was followed! He heard the pursuit in the dark! Swift, unerring,
+leaping along the dusty road, leaving its own footprints as a testimony
+against him. For he had recognized its nature at last! It was his own
+dog--a little, worthless cur, that had a hide like a doormat and a heart
+as big as the United States--a waif, a stray, that had attached himself
+to the contractor at the shanties of the construction gang, and slept by
+his bed, and followed at his heel, and lived on the glance of his eye.
+
+He was off again, the dog fairly winging his way to match his master's
+speed. Hoxer could not kill him here, for the carcass would tell the
+story. But was it not told already in those tracks in the dusty road?
+What vengeance was there not written in the eccentric script of those
+queer little padded imprints of the creature's paws. Fie, fool! Was this
+the only cur-dog in the Bend? he asked himself, impatient of his fears.
+Was not the whole neighborhood swarming with canine dependents?
+
+Despite his reasoning, this endowment that was once himself had
+been affrighted by the shock. The presence of the little cur-dog had
+destroyed the complacence of his boasted ratiocination. He had only the
+instincts of flight as he struck off through the woods when the great
+expanse of cultivated lands had given way to lower ground and the wide
+liberties of the "open swamp," as it was called. This dense wilderness
+stretched out on every side; the gigantic growth of gum trees was
+leafless at this season, and without a suggestion of underbrush.
+
+The ground was as level as a floor. Generally during the winter the open
+swamp is covered with shallow water, but in this singularly droughty
+season it had remained "with dry feet," according to the phrase of that
+country. The southern moon, rising far along its levels, began to cast
+burnished golden shafts of light adown its unobstructed vistas. It might
+seem some magnificent park, with its innumerable splendid trees, its
+great expanse, and ever and anon in the distance the silver sheen of
+the waters of a lake, shining responsive to the lunar lustre as with
+an inherent lustre of its own. On and on he went, his noiseless tread
+falling as regularly as machinery, leaving miles behind him, the
+distance only to be conjectured by the lapse of time, and, after so
+long, his flagging strength. He began to notice that the open swamp was
+giving way in the vicinity of one of the lakes to the characteristics of
+the swamp proper, although the ground was still dry and the going good.
+He had traversed now and then a higher ridge on which switch-cane grew
+somewhat sparsely, but near the lake on a bluff bank a dense brake of
+the heavier cane filled the umbrageous shadows, so tall and rank and
+impenetrable a growth that once the fugitive paused to contemplate it
+with the theory that a secret intrusted to its sombre seclusions might
+be held intact forever.
+
+As he stood thus motionless in the absolute stillness, a sudden thought
+came to his mind--a sudden and terrible thought. He could not be sure
+whether he had heard aught, or whether the sight of the water suggested
+the idea. He knew that he could little longer sustain his flight,
+despite his vigor and strength. Quivering in every fibre from his long
+exertions, he set his course straight for that glimmering sheen of
+water. Encircling it were heavy shadows. Tall trees pressed close to
+the verge, where lay here a fallen branch, and there a rotten log, half
+sunken in mud and ooze, and again a great tangle of vines that had grown
+smiling to the summer sun, but now, with the slow expansion of the lake
+which was fed by a surcharged bayou, quite submerged in a fretwork of
+miry strands. The margin was fringed with saw-grass, thick and prickly,
+and his practised eye could discern where the original banks lay by the
+spears thrust up above the surface a score of feet away. Thus he was
+sure of his depth as he waded out staunchly, despite the cruel pricks
+to his sensitive naked feet. The little dog had scant philosophy; he
+squeaked and wheezed and wailed with the pain until the man, who had no
+time to kill him now--for had he heard aught or naught?--picked him up
+and carried him in his arms, the creature licking Hoxer's hands in an
+ecstasy of gratitude, and even standing on his hind-legs on his master's
+arm to snatch a lick upon his cheek.
+
+In the darksome shadows, further and further from the spot where he had
+entered the lake, Hoxer toiled along the margin, sometimes pausing to
+listen--for had he heard aught or naught?--as long as his strength would
+suffice. Then amidst the miry d�bris of last summer's growths beneath
+the recent inundation he sank down in the darkness, the dog exhausted in
+his arms.
+
+This was one of those frequent crescent-shaped lakes peculiar to the
+region; sometimes, miles in extent, the lacustrine contour is not
+discernible to the glance; here the broad expanse seemed as if the body
+of water were circular and perhaps three miles in diameter.
+
+Suddenly Hoxer heard the sound that had baffled him hitherto--heard
+it again and--oh, horrible!--recognized it at last! The baying of
+bloodhounds it was, the triumphant cry that showed that the brutes had
+caught the trail and were keeping it. On and on came the iteration, ever
+louder, ever nearer, waking the echoes till wood and brake and midnight
+waters seemed to rock and sway with the sound, and the stars in the sky
+to quake in unison with the vibrations. Never at fault, never a moment's
+cessation, and presently the shouts of men and the tramp of horses
+blended with that deep, tumultuous note of blood crying to heaven for
+vengeance. Far, far, down the lake it was. Hoxer could see nothing of
+the frantic rout when the hounds paused baffled at the water-side. He
+was quick to note the changed tone of the brutes' pursuit, plaintive,
+anxious, consciously thwarted. They ran hither and thither, patrolling
+the banks, and with all their boasted instinct they could only protest
+that the fugitive took to water at this spot. But how? They could not
+say, and the men argued in vain. The lake was too broad to swim--there
+was no island, no point of vantage. A boat might have taken him off,
+and, if so, the craft would now be lying on the opposite bank. A party
+set off to skirt the edge of the lake and explore the further shores by
+order of the sheriff, for this officer, summoned by telephone, had
+come swiftly from the county town in an automobile, to the verge of the
+swamp, there accommodated with a horse by a neighboring planter. And
+then, Hoxer, lying on the elastic submerged brush, with only a portion
+of his face above the surface of the water, watched in a speechless
+ecstasy of terror the hue and cry progress on the hither side, his dog,
+half dead from exhaustion, unconscious in his arms.
+
+The moon, unmoved as ever, looked calmly down on the turmoil in the
+midst of the dense woods. The soft brilliance illumined the long,
+open vistas and gave to the sylvan intricacies an effect as of silver
+arabesques, a glittering tracery amidst the shadows. But the lunar light
+did not suffice. Great torches of pine knots, with a red and yellow
+flare and streaming pennants of smoke, darted hither and thither as the
+officer's posse searched the bosky recesses without avail.
+
+Presently a new sound!--a crashing iteration--assailed the air. A
+frantic crowd was beating the bushes about the margin of the lake and
+the verges of the almost impenetrable cane-brake. Here, however, there
+could be no hope of discovery, and suddenly a cry arose, unanimously
+iterated the next instant, "Fire the cane-brake! Fire the cane-brake!"
+
+For so late had come the rise of the river, so persistent had been the
+winter's drought, so delayed the usual inundation of the swamp, that the
+vegetation, dry as tinder, caught the sparks instantly, and the fierce
+expedient to force the fugitive to leave his supposed shelter in the
+brake, a vast woodland conflagration, was added to the terror of the
+scene. The flames flared frantically upward from the cane, itself twenty
+feet in height, and along its dense columns issued forth jets like
+the volleyings of musketry from serried ranks of troops, the illusion
+enhanced by continuous sharp, rifle-like reports, the joints of the
+growth exploding as the air within was liberated by the heat of the
+fire. All around this blazing Gehenna were swiftly running figures of
+men applying with demoniac suggestion torches here and there, that a new
+area might be involved. Others were mounted, carrying flaming torches
+aloft, the restive horses plunging in frantic terror of the fiery
+furnace in the depths of the brake, the leaping sheets of flame,
+the tumultuous clouds of smoke. Oh, a terrible fate, had the forlorn
+fugitive sought refuge here! Let us hope that no poor denizen of the
+brake, bear or panther or fox, dazed by the tumult and the terror,
+forgot which way to flee!
+
+But human energies must needs fail as time wears on. Nerves of steel
+collapse at last. The relinquishment of the quest came gradually; the
+crowd thinned; now and again the sound of rapid hoof-beats told of
+homeward-bound horsemen; languid groups stood and talked dully here
+and there, dispersing to follow a new suggestion for a space, them
+ultimately disappearing; even the fire began to die ont, and the site
+of the cane-break had become a dense, charred mass, as far as eye could
+reach, with here and there a vague blue flicker where some bed of coals
+could yet send up a jet, when at length the pale day, slow and aghast,
+came peering along the levels to view the relics of the strange events
+that had betided in the watches of the night.
+
+Hoxer had not waited for the light. Deriving a certain strength, a
+certain triumph, from the obvious fact that the end was not yet, he
+contrived in that darkest hour before the dawn to pull himself into
+a sitting posture, then to creep out to the shore. The little dog had
+seemed to be dying, but he too experienced a sort of resuscitation, and
+while he followed at first but feebly, it was not long before he was at
+heel again, although Hoxer was swift of foot, making all the speed he
+might toward his temporary home, the shacks that had been occupied
+by the construction gang. As he came within view of the poor little
+tenements, so recently vacated by the Irish ditchers, all awry and
+askew, stretching in a wavering row along the river-bank near the
+junction of the levee that he had built with the main line, his eyes
+filled. Oh, why had he not gone with the rest of the camp! he demanded
+of an untoward fate; why must he have stayed a day longer to bespeak
+the correction of an injurious error from that proud, hard man, who,
+however, had wrought his last injury on earth! Hoxer was sorry, but
+chiefly for his own plight. He felt that his deed was in self-defense,
+and but that he had no proof he would not fear to offer the plea at the
+bar of justice. As it was, however, he was sanguine of escaping without
+this jeopardy. No one had cause to suspect him. No one had seen him
+enter the Jeffrey grounds that fatal evening. There had been noised
+abroad no intimation of his grievance against the man. He had all the
+calm assurance of invisibility as he came to his abode, for a fog lay
+thick on the surface of the river and hung over all the land. He did
+not issue forth again freshly dressed till the sun was out once more,
+dispelling the vapors and conjuring the world back to sight and
+life. Nevertheless, he made no secret of having been abroad when an
+acquaintance came up the road and paused for an exchange of the news of
+the day.
+
+"But what makes ye look so durned peaked?" he broke off, gazing at Hoxer
+in surprise.
+
+Hoxer was astonished at his own composure as he replied: "Out all night.
+I was in the swamp with the posse."
+
+"See the fire! They tell me 't wuz more'n dangerous to fire the brake
+when the woods is so uncommon dry. I dunno what we would do here in the
+bottom with a forest fire."
+
+"Pretty big blaze now, sure's ye're born," Hoxer replied casually, and
+so the matter passed.
+
+Later in the day another gossip, whose acquaintance he had made during
+his levee-building venture, loitered up to talk over the absorbing
+sensation, and, sitting down on the door-step of the shack, grew
+suddenly attentive to the little dog.
+
+"What makes him limp?" he demanded abruptly.
+
+But Hoxer had not observed that he did limp.
+
+The acquaintance had taken the little animal up on his knee and was
+examining into his condition. "Gee! how did he get so footsore?"
+
+"Following me around, I reckon," Hoxer hazarded. But he saw, or thought
+he saw, a change on the stolid face of the visitor, who was unpleasantly
+impressed with the fact that the officers investigating the case had
+made inquiries concerning a small dog that, to judge by the prints in
+the road, had evidently followed the big, barefooted man who had fled
+from the Jeffrey precincts after the shooting. A rumor, too, was going
+the rounds that a detective, reputed preternaturally sharp, who had
+accompanied the sheriff to the scene of action, had examined these
+tracks in the road, and declared that the foot-print was neither that of
+a negro nor a tramp, but of a white man used to wearing shoes something
+too tightly fitting.
+
+The visitor glanced down at the substantial foot-gear of the contractor,
+fitting somewhat snugly, and thereafter he became more out of
+countenance than before and manifested some haste to get away. Hoxer
+said to himself that his anxiety whetted his apprehension. He had given
+his visitor no cause for suspicion, and doubtless the man had evolved
+none. Hoxer was glad that he was due and overdue to be gone from the
+locality. He felt that he could scarcely breathe freely again till he
+had joined the gang of Irish ditchers now establishing themselves in a
+new camp in the adjoining county, where the high stage of the river gave
+him employment in fighting water. He made up his mind, however, that
+he would not take the train thither. He dreaded to be among men, to
+encounter question and speculation, till he had time to regain control
+of his nerves, his facial expression, the tones of his voice. He
+resolved that he would quietly drift down the river in a row-boat that
+had been at his disposal during his employment here, and join his force
+already settled at their destination, without running the gauntlet
+of inspection by the neighborhood in a more formal departure. He had
+already bidden farewell to those few denizens of the Bend with whom his
+associations had been most genial. "And I'll clear out now, as I would
+have done if nothing had happened."
+
+He said no more of his intention of departure, but when night had come
+he fastened the door of the little shanty, in which were still some of
+the rude belongings of his camping outfit, with the grim determination
+that it should not soon be opened again. How long the padlock should
+beat the summons of the wind on the resounding battens he did not dream!
+
+It was close on midnight when he climbed the steep interior slope of the
+levee and stood for a moment gazing cautiously about him. The rowboat
+lay close by, for one might embark from the summit of the levee. It was
+a cloudy night, without a star. A mist clung to the face of the waters
+on the Arkansas side, but on the hither shore the atmosphere was clear,
+for he could see at a considerable distance up the river the fire of
+a "levee-watch," the stage of the water being so menacing that a guard
+must needs be on duty throughout the night. The leaping flames of the
+fire cast long lines of red and yellow and a sort of luminous brown
+far into the river, where the reflection seemed to palpitate in the
+pulsations of the current. No other sign of life was in the night scene,
+save in the opposite direction, amidst the white vapors, the gem-like
+gleam of a steamer's chimney-lights, all ruby and emerald, as a packet
+was slowly rounding the neighboring point. Hoxer could hear the impact
+of her paddles on the water, the night being so still. He had seated
+himself in the middle of the rowboat and laid hold on the oars when his
+foot struck against something soft on the bottom of the craft, partly
+under the seat in the stern. It was his bundle, he thought, containing
+the spoiled clothing that he had worn in the swamp, and which he
+intended to sink in mid-stream. His nerve was shaken, however; he could
+not restrain a sudden exclamation--this must have seemed discovery
+rather than agitation. It was as a signal for premature action. He was
+suddenly seized from behind, his arms held down against his sides, his
+hands close together. The bundle in the stern rose all at once to the
+stature of a man.
+
+The touch of cold metal, a sharp, quick click,--and he was captured and
+handcuffed within the space of ten seconds.
+
+A terrible struggle ensued, which his great strength but sufficed to
+prolong. His wild, hoarse cries of rage and desperation seemed to beat
+against the sky; back and forth the dark riparian forests repeated them
+with the effect of varying distance in the echoes, till all the sombre
+woods seemed full of mad, frantic creatures, shrieking out their
+helpless frenzy. More than once his superior muscle sufficed to throw
+off both the officers for a moment, but to what avail? Thus manacled, he
+could not escape.
+
+Suddenly a wild, new clamor resounded from the shore. In the dusky
+uncertainty, a group of men were running down the bank, shouting out to
+the barely descried boatmen imperative warnings that they would break
+the levee in their commotion, coupled with violent threats if they did
+not desist. For the force with which the rowboat dashed against the
+summit of the levee, rebounding again and again, laden with the weight
+of three ponderous men, and endowed with all the impetus of their
+struggle, so eroded the earth that the waves had gained an entrance,
+the initial step to a crevasse that would flood the country with a
+disastrous overflow. As there was no abatement of the blows of the boat
+against the embankment, no reply nor explanation, a shot from the gun of
+one of the levee-watch came skipping lightsomely over the water as
+Hoxer was borne exhausted to the bottom of the skiff. Then, indeed,
+the sheriff of the county bethought himself to shout out his name
+and official station to the astonished group on shore, and thus,
+bullet-proof under the aegis of the law, the boat pulled out toward
+the steamer, lying in mid-stream, silently awaiting the coming of the
+officer and his prisoner, a great, towering, castellated object, half
+seen in the night, her broadside of cabin lights, and their reflection
+in the ripples, sparkling through the darkness like a chain of golden
+stars.
+
+They left no stress of curiosity behind them; naught in the delta can
+compete in interest with the threatened collapse of a levee in times
+of high water. Before the rowboat had reached the steamer's side, its
+occupants could hear the great plantation-bell ringing like mad to
+summon forth into the midnight all available hands to save the levee,
+and, looking back presently, a hundred lanterns were seen flickering
+hither and thither, far down in the dusk--no illusion this, for all
+deltaic rivers are higher in the centre than their banks--where the busy
+laborers, with thousands of gunny-sacks filled with sand, were fighting
+the Mississippi, building a barricade to fence it from the rich spoils
+it coveted.
+
+The packet, which, as it happened, was already overdue, had been
+telephoned by the officers at her last landing, and a number of men
+stood on the guards expectant. Hoxer had ceased to struggle. He looked
+up at the steamer, his pallid face and wide, distended eyes showing in
+the cabin lights, as the rowboat pulled alongside. Then as the sheriff
+directed him to rise, he stood up at his full height, stretched his
+manacled hands high above his head, and suddenly dived into deep water,
+leaving the boat rocking violently, and in danger of capsizing with the
+officers.
+
+A desperate effort was made to recover the prisoner, alive or dead--all
+in vain. A roustabout on the deck declared that in the glare of the
+steamer's search-light, thrown over the murky waters, he was seen to
+come to the surface once, but if he rose a second time it must have
+been beneath the great bulk of the packet, to go down again to the death
+awaiting him in the deeps.
+
+On the bank a little dog sat through sunshine and shadow in front of the
+door of the shack of the contractor of the levee-construction gang, and
+awaited his return with the patient devotion of his kind. Sometimes, as
+the padlock wavered in the wind, he would cock his head briskly askew,
+forecasting from the sound a step within. Sometimes the grief of absence
+and hope deferred would wring his humble heart, and he would whimper
+in an access of misery and limp about a bit. But presently he would be
+seated again, alertly upright, his eyes on the door, for the earliest
+glimpse of the face that he loved. When the overflow came at last the
+shacks of the construction gang were swept away, and the little dog was
+seen no more.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by 
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23557-8.txt or 23557-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/5/23557/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/23557-8.zip b/23557-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0713d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557-8.zip
diff --git a/23557-h.zip b/23557-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd1b2e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557-h.zip
diff --git a/23557-h/23557-h.htm b/23557-h/23557-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bde0570
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557-h/23557-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,1098 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      The Crucial Moment, by Charles Egbert Craddock
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Crucial Moment
+       1911
+
+Author: Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007 [EBook #23557]
+Last Updated: March 8, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      THE CRUCIAL MOMENT
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Charles Egbert Craddock <br /> <br /> 1911
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A mere moment seems an inconsiderable factor in life&mdash;only its
+      multiplication attaining importance and signifying time. It could never
+      have occurred to Walter Hoxer that all his years of labor, the aggregation
+      of the material values of industry, experience, skill, integrity, could be
+      nullified by this minimum unit of space&mdash;as sudden, as potent, as
+      destructive, as a stroke of lightning. But after the fact it did not
+      remind' him of any agency of the angry skies; to him it was like one of
+      the obstructions of the river engineers to divert the course of the great
+      Mississippi, a mattress-spur, a thing insignificant in itself, a mere
+      trifle of woven willow wands, set up at a crafty angle, against the
+      tumultuous current Yet he had seen the swirling waves, in their oncoming
+      like innumerable herds of wild horses, hesitate at the impact, turn aside,
+      and go racing by, scouring out a new channel, leaving the old bank bereft,
+      thrown inland, no longer the margin of the stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The river was much in his mind that afternoon as he trudged along the
+      county road at the base of the levee, on his way, all un-prescient, to
+      meet this signal, potential moment. Outside, he knew that the water was
+      standing higher than his head, rippling against the thick turf of Bermuda
+      grass with which the great earthwork was covered. For the river was
+      bank-full and still rising&mdash;indeed, it was feared that an overflow
+      impended. However, there was as yet no break; advices from up the river
+      and down the river told only of extra precautions and constant work to
+      keep the barriers intact against the increasing volume of the stream. The
+      favorable chances were reinforced by the fact of a singularly dry winter,
+      that had so far eliminated the danger from back-water, which, if
+      aggregated from rainfall in low-lying swamps, would move up slowly to
+      inundate the arable lands. These were already ploughed to bed up for
+      cotton, and an overflow now would mean the loss of many thousands of
+      dollars to the submerged communities. The February rains had begun in the
+      upper country, with a persistency and volume that bade fair to compensate
+      for the long-continued drought, and thus the river was already booming;
+      the bayous that drew off a vast surplusage of its waters were overcharged,
+      and gradually would spread out in murky shallows, heavily laden with river
+      detritus, over the low grounds bordering their course.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This Jeffrey levee will hold,&rdquo; Hoxer said to himself, as once he paused,
+      his hands in his pockets, his cap on the back of his red head, his
+      freckled, commonplace, square face lifted into a sort of dignity by the
+      light of expert capacity and intelligence in his bluff blue eyes. He had
+      been muttering to himself the details of its construction: so many feet
+      across the base in proportion to its height, the width of the summit, the
+      angle of the incline of its interior slope&mdash;the exterior being
+      invisible, having the Mississippi River standing against it. &ldquo;A fairly
+      good levee, though an old one,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;I'll bet, though, Major
+      Jeffrey feels mightily like Noah when he looks at all that water out there
+      tearing through the country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face clouded at the mention of the name, and as he took the short pipe
+      from his month and stuck it into the pocket of his loose sack-coat his
+      tread lost a certain free elasticity that had characterized it hitherto,
+      and he trudged on doggedly. He had passed many acres of ploughed lands,
+      the road running between the fields and the levee. The scene was all
+      solitary; the sun had set, and night would presently be coming on. As he
+      turned in at the big white gate that opened on a long avenue of oaks
+      leading to the mansion house, he began to fear that his visit might be
+      ill-timed, and that a man of his station could not hope for an audience so
+      near the major's dinner-hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was with definite relief that he heard the gentle impact of ivory balls
+      in the absolute quiet, and he remembered that a certain little octagonal
+      structure with a conical red roof, in the grounds, was a billiard-room,
+      for the sound betokened that he might find the owner of the place here.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He expected to see a group of the Major's &ldquo;quality friends&rdquo; in the
+      building but as he ascended the steps leading directly to the door, he
+      perceived that the man he sought was alone. Major Jeffrey was engaged in
+      idly knocking the balls about in some skilful fancy shots, his cigar in
+      his mouth, and a black velvet smoking-jacket setting off to special
+      advantage his dense, snowy hair, prematurely white, his long mustache, and
+      his pointed imperial. His heavy white eyebrows drew frowningly together
+      over arrogant dark eyes as he noted the man at the entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Despite Hoxer's oft-reiterated sentiment that he was &ldquo;as good as anybody
+      and would take nothing off nobody, and cared for no old duck just because
+      he was rich,&rdquo; he could not speak for a moment as he felt Major Jeffrey's
+      inimical eyes upon him. He lost the advantage in losing the salutation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you get my check?&rdquo; Major Jeffrey asked curtly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Hoxer admitted; &ldquo;but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The amount was according to contract.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer felt indignant with himself that he should have allowed this
+      interpretation to be placed on his presence here; then he still more
+      resented the conjecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not come for extra money,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That point of the transaction
+      is closed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the points of the transaction are closed,&rdquo; said Major Jeffrey,
+      ungraciously. There was more than the flush of the waning western sky on
+      his face. He had already dined, and he was one of those wine-bibbers whom
+      drink does not render genial, &ldquo;I want to hear no more about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to the table, and with a skilful cue sent one ball caroming
+      against two others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you must hear what I have got to say, Major Jeffrey,&rdquo; protested
+      Hoxer. &ldquo;I built that cross-levee for you to join your main levee, and done
+      it well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And have been well paid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you go and say at the store that I deviated from the line of survey
+      and saved one furlong, seven poles, and five feet of levee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you know, Major, that Burbeck Lake had shrunk in the drought at the
+      time of the survey, and if I'd followed the calls for the south of the
+      lake, I'd had to build in four feet of water, so I drew back a mite&mdash;you
+      bein' in Orleans, where I couldn't consult you, an' no time to be lost
+      nohow, the river bein' then on the rise, an'&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, fellow,&rdquo; exclaimed Major Jeffrey, bringing the cue down on the
+      table with a force that must have cut the cloth, &ldquo;do you suppose that I
+      have nothing better to do than to stand here to listen to your fool
+      harangue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The anger and the drink and perhaps the consciousness of being in the
+      wrong were all ablaze in the Major's eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two were alone; only the darkling shadows stood at tiptoe at the open
+      windows, and still the flushed sky sent down a pervasive glow from above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer swallowed hard, gulping down his own wrath and sense of injury.
+      &ldquo;Major,&rdquo; he said blandly, trying a new deal, &ldquo;I don't think you quite
+      understand me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such a complicated proposition you are, to be sure!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer disregarded the sarcasm, the contempt in the tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not trying to rip up an old score, but you said at Winfield's store&mdash;at
+      the store&mdash;that I did not build the cross levee on the surveyor's
+      line; that I shortened it&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But as if I had shortened the levee for my own profit, when, as you know,
+      it was paid for by the pole&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You tax me with making a false impression?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An extreme revulsion of expectation harassed Hoxer. He had always known
+      that Jeffrey was an exception to the general rule of the few large
+      land-owners in the community, who were wont to conserve and, in fact, to
+      deserve the pose of kindly patron as well as wealthy magnate. But even
+      Jeffrey, he thought, would not grudge a word to set a matter straight that
+      could cost him nothing and would mean much to the levee-contractor. Though
+      of large experience in levee-building, Hoxer was new to the position of
+      contractor, having been graduated into it, so to speak, from the station
+      of foreman of a construction-gang of Irishmen. He had hoped for further
+      employ in this neighborhood, in building private levees that, in addition
+      to the main levees along the banks of the Mississippi, would aid riparian
+      protection by turning off overflow from surcharged bayous and encroaching
+      lakes in the interior. But, unluckily, the employer of the first
+      enterprise he had essayed on his own responsibility had declared that he
+      had deviated from the line of survey, usually essential to the validity of
+      the construction, thereby much shortening the work; and had made this
+      statement at Winfield's store&mdash;at the store!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever was said at the store was as if proclaimed through the resounding
+      trump of fame. The store in a Mississippi neighborhood, frequented by the
+      surrounding planters, great and small, was the focus of civilization, the
+      dispenser of all the wares of the world, from a spool of thread to a
+      two-horse wagon, the post-office, in a manner the club. Here, sooner or
+      later, everybody came, and hence was the news of the Bend noised abroad.
+      Hoxer's business could scarcely recover from this disparagement, and he
+      had not doubted that Jeffrey would declare that he had said nothing to
+      justify this impression, and that he would forthwith take occasion to
+      clear it up. For were not Mr. Tompkins and Judge Claris, both with a
+      severe case of &ldquo;high-water scare,&rdquo; ready to contract for a joint cross
+      levee for mutual protection from an unruly bayou!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Therefore, with a sedulous effort, Hoxer maintained his composure when the
+      Major thundered again, &ldquo;You tax me with making a false impression?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not intentionally, Major, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And who are you to judge of my motives? Told a lie by accident, did I?
+      Begone, sir, or I'll break your head with this billiard cue!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had reached the limit as he brandished the cue. He was still agile,
+      vigorous, and it was scarcely possible that Hoxer could escape the blow.
+      He dreaded the indignity indeed more than the hurt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you strike me,&rdquo; he declared in a single breath, between his set teeth,
+      &ldquo;before God, I'll shoot you with your own pistol!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed a fatality that a pair in their open case should have been lying
+      on the sill of the window, where their owner had just been cleaning and
+      oiling them. Hoxer, of course, had no certainty that they were loaded, but
+      the change in Jeffrey's expression proclaimed it. He was sober enough now&mdash;the
+      shock was all sufficient&mdash;as he sprang to the case. The younger man
+      was the quicker. He had one of the pistols in his hand before Jeffrey
+      could level the other that he had snatched. Quicker to fire, too, for the
+      weapon in Jeffrey's hand was discharged in his latest impulse of action
+      after he fell to the floor, the blood gushing from a wound that crimsoned
+      all the delicate whiteness of his shirt-front and bedabbled his snowy hair
+      and beard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the moment, the signal, fatal, final moment, that the levee
+      contractor had come to meet, that placed the period to his own existence.
+      He lived no longer, Hoxer felt. He did not recognize as his own a single
+      action hereafter, a single mental impulse. It was something else, standing
+      here in the red gloaming&mdash;some foreign entity, cogently reasoning,
+      swiftly acting. Self-defense&mdash;was it? And who would believe that? Had
+      he found justice so alert to redress his wrongs, even in a little matter,
+      that he must needs risk his neck upon it? This Thing that was not himself&mdash;no,
+      never more!&mdash;had the theory of alibi in his mind as he stripped off
+      his low-cut shoes and socks, thrusting them into his pockets, leaping from
+      the door, and flying among the dusky shadows down the glooming grove, and
+      through the gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dusk here, too, on the lonely county road, the vague open expanse of the
+      ploughed fields glimmering to the instarred sky of a still, chill night of
+      early February. He did not even wonder that there should be no hue and cry
+      on his tracks&mdash;the Thing was logical! Jeffrey had doubtless had his
+      pistols carried down from the mansion to him in his den in the
+      billiard-room, for the avowed purpose of putting the weapons in order. If
+      the shots were heard at all at the dwelling, the sound was reasonably
+      ascribed to the supposed testing of the weapons. Hoxer was conscious that
+      a sentiment of gratulation, of sly triumph, pervaded his mental processes
+      as he sped along barefoot, like some tramp or outcast, or other creature
+      of a low station. He had laid his plans well in this curious, involuntary
+      cerebration. Those big, bare footprints were ample disguise for a
+      well-clad, well-groomed, well-shod middle-class man of a skilful and
+      lucrative employ. The next moment his heart sank like lead. He was
+      followed! He heard the pursuit in the dark! Swift, unerring, leaping along
+      the dusty road, leaving its own footprints as a testimony against him. For
+      he had recognized its nature at last! It was his own dog&mdash;a little,
+      worthless cur, that had a hide like a doormat and a heart as big as the
+      United States&mdash;a waif, a stray, that had attached himself to the
+      contractor at the shanties of the construction gang, and slept by his bed,
+      and followed at his heel, and lived on the glance of his eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was off again, the dog fairly winging his way to match his master's
+      speed. Hoxer could not kill him here, for the carcass would tell the
+      story. But was it not told already in those tracks in the dusty road? What
+      vengeance was there not written in the eccentric script of those queer
+      little padded imprints of the creature's paws. Fie, fool! Was this the
+      only cur-dog in the Bend? he asked himself, impatient of his fears. Was
+      not the whole neighborhood swarming with canine dependents?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Despite his reasoning, this endowment that was once himself had been
+      affrighted by the shock. The presence of the little cur-dog had destroyed
+      the complacence of his boasted ratiocination. He had only the instincts of
+      flight as he struck off through the woods when the great expanse of
+      cultivated lands had given way to lower ground and the wide liberties of
+      the &ldquo;open swamp,&rdquo; as it was called. This dense wilderness stretched out on
+      every side; the gigantic growth of gum trees was leafless at this season,
+      and without a suggestion of underbrush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ground was as level as a floor. Generally during the winter the open
+      swamp is covered with shallow water, but in this singularly droughty
+      season it had remained &ldquo;with dry feet,&rdquo; according to the phrase of that
+      country. The southern moon, rising far along its levels, began to cast
+      burnished golden shafts of light adown its unobstructed vistas. It might
+      seem some magnificent park, with its innumerable splendid trees, its great
+      expanse, and ever and anon in the distance the silver sheen of the waters
+      of a lake, shining responsive to the lunar lustre as with an inherent
+      lustre of its own. On and on he went, his noiseless tread falling as
+      regularly as machinery, leaving miles behind him, the distance only to be
+      conjectured by the lapse of time, and, after so long, his flagging
+      strength. He began to notice that the open swamp was giving way in the
+      vicinity of one of the lakes to the characteristics of the swamp proper,
+      although the ground was still dry and the going good. He had traversed now
+      and then a higher ridge on which switch-cane grew somewhat sparsely, but
+      near the lake on a bluff bank a dense brake of the heavier cane filled the
+      umbrageous shadows, so tall and rank and impenetrable a growth that once
+      the fugitive paused to contemplate it with the theory that a secret
+      intrusted to its sombre seclusions might be held intact forever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he stood thus motionless in the absolute stillness, a sudden thought
+      came to his mind&mdash;a sudden and terrible thought. He could not be sure
+      whether he had heard aught, or whether the sight of the water suggested
+      the idea. He knew that he could little longer sustain his flight, despite
+      his vigor and strength. Quivering in every fibre from his long exertions,
+      he set his course straight for that glimmering sheen of water. Encircling
+      it were heavy shadows. Tall trees pressed close to the verge, where lay
+      here a fallen branch, and there a rotten log, half sunken in mud and ooze,
+      and again a great tangle of vines that had grown smiling to the summer
+      sun, but now, with the slow expansion of the lake which was fed by a
+      surcharged bayou, quite submerged in a fretwork of miry strands. The
+      margin was fringed with saw-grass, thick and prickly, and his practised
+      eye could discern where the original banks lay by the spears thrust up
+      above the surface a score of feet away. Thus he was sure of his depth as
+      he waded out staunchly, despite the cruel pricks to his sensitive naked
+      feet. The little dog had scant philosophy; he squeaked and wheezed and
+      wailed with the pain until the man, who had no time to kill him now&mdash;for
+      had he heard aught or naught?&mdash;picked him up and carried him in his
+      arms, the creature licking Hoxer's hands in an ecstasy of gratitude, and
+      even standing on his hind-legs on his master's arm to snatch a lick upon
+      his cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the darksome shadows, further and further from the spot where he had
+      entered the lake, Hoxer toiled along the margin, sometimes pausing to
+      listen&mdash;for had he heard aught or naught?&mdash;as long as his
+      strength would suffice. Then amidst the miry débris of last summer's
+      growths beneath the recent inundation he sank down in the darkness, the
+      dog exhausted in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was one of those frequent crescent-shaped lakes peculiar to the
+      region; sometimes, miles in extent, the lacustrine contour is not
+      discernible to the glance; here the broad expanse seemed as if the body of
+      water were circular and perhaps three miles in diameter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Hoxer heard the sound that had baffled him hitherto&mdash;heard
+      it again and&mdash;oh, horrible!&mdash;recognized it at last! The baying
+      of bloodhounds it was, the triumphant cry that showed that the brutes had
+      caught the trail and were keeping it. On and on came the iteration, ever
+      louder, ever nearer, waking the echoes till wood and brake and midnight
+      waters seemed to rock and sway with the sound, and the stars in the sky to
+      quake in unison with the vibrations. Never at fault, never a moment's
+      cessation, and presently the shouts of men and the tramp of horses blended
+      with that deep, tumultuous note of blood crying to heaven for vengeance.
+      Far, far, down the lake it was. Hoxer could see nothing of the frantic
+      rout when the hounds paused baffled at the water-side. He was quick to
+      note the changed tone of the brutes' pursuit, plaintive, anxious,
+      consciously thwarted. They ran hither and thither, patrolling the banks,
+      and with all their boasted instinct they could only protest that the
+      fugitive took to water at this spot. But how? They could not say, and the
+      men argued in vain. The lake was too broad to swim&mdash;there was no
+      island, no point of vantage. A boat might have taken him off, and, if so,
+      the craft would now be lying on the opposite bank. A party set off to
+      skirt the edge of the lake and explore the further shores by order of the
+      sheriff, for this officer, summoned by telephone, had come swiftly from
+      the county town in an automobile, to the verge of the swamp, there
+      accommodated with a horse by a neighboring planter. And then, Hoxer, lying
+      on the elastic submerged brush, with only a portion of his face above the
+      surface of the water, watched in a speechless ecstasy of terror the hue
+      and cry progress on the hither side, his dog, half dead from exhaustion,
+      unconscious in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moon, unmoved as ever, looked calmly down on the turmoil in the midst
+      of the dense woods. The soft brilliance illumined the long, open vistas
+      and gave to the sylvan intricacies an effect as of silver arabesques, a
+      glittering tracery amidst the shadows. But the lunar light did not
+      suffice. Great torches of pine knots, with a red and yellow flare and
+      streaming pennants of smoke, darted hither and thither as the officer's
+      posse searched the bosky recesses without avail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a new sound!&mdash;a crashing iteration&mdash;assailed the air.
+      A frantic crowd was beating the bushes about the margin of the lake and
+      the verges of the almost impenetrable cane-brake. Here, however, there
+      could be no hope of discovery, and suddenly a cry arose, unanimously
+      iterated the next instant, &ldquo;Fire the cane-brake! Fire the cane-brake!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For so late had come the rise of the river, so persistent had been the
+      winter's drought, so delayed the usual inundation of the swamp, that the
+      vegetation, dry as tinder, caught the sparks instantly, and the fierce
+      expedient to force the fugitive to leave his supposed shelter in the
+      brake, a vast woodland conflagration, was added to the terror of the
+      scene. The flames flared frantically upward from the cane, itself twenty
+      feet in height, and along its dense columns issued forth jets like the
+      volleyings of musketry from serried ranks of troops, the illusion enhanced
+      by continuous sharp, rifle-like reports, the joints of the growth
+      exploding as the air within was liberated by the heat of the fire. All
+      around this blazing Gehenna were swiftly running figures of men applying
+      with demoniac suggestion torches here and there, that a new area might be
+      involved. Others were mounted, carrying flaming torches aloft, the restive
+      horses plunging in frantic terror of the fiery furnace in the depths of
+      the brake, the leaping sheets of flame, the tumultuous clouds of smoke.
+      Oh, a terrible fate, had the forlorn fugitive sought refuge here! Let us
+      hope that no poor denizen of the brake, bear or panther or fox, dazed by
+      the tumult and the terror, forgot which way to flee!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But human energies must needs fail as time wears on. Nerves of steel
+      collapse at last. The relinquishment of the quest came gradually; the
+      crowd thinned; now and again the sound of rapid hoof-beats told of
+      homeward-bound horsemen; languid groups stood and talked dully here and
+      there, dispersing to follow a new suggestion for a space, them ultimately
+      disappearing; even the fire began to die ont, and the site of the
+      cane-break had become a dense, charred mass, as far as eye could reach,
+      with here and there a vague blue flicker where some bed of coals could yet
+      send up a jet, when at length the pale day, slow and aghast, came peering
+      along the levels to view the relics of the strange events that had betided
+      in the watches of the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer had not waited for the light. Deriving a certain strength, a certain
+      triumph, from the obvious fact that the end was not yet, he contrived in
+      that darkest hour before the dawn to pull himself into a sitting posture,
+      then to creep out to the shore. The little dog had seemed to be dying, but
+      he too experienced a sort of resuscitation, and while he followed at first
+      but feebly, it was not long before he was at heel again, although Hoxer
+      was swift of foot, making all the speed he might toward his temporary
+      home, the shacks that had been occupied by the construction gang. As he
+      came within view of the poor little tenements, so recently vacated by the
+      Irish ditchers, all awry and askew, stretching in a wavering row along the
+      river-bank near the junction of the levee that he had built with the main
+      line, his eyes filled. Oh, why had he not gone with the rest of the camp!
+      he demanded of an untoward fate; why must he have stayed a day longer to
+      bespeak the correction of an injurious error from that proud, hard man,
+      who, however, had wrought his last injury on earth! Hoxer was sorry, but
+      chiefly for his own plight. He felt that his deed was in self-defense, and
+      but that he had no proof he would not fear to offer the plea at the bar of
+      justice. As it was, however, he was sanguine of escaping without this
+      jeopardy. No one had cause to suspect him. No one had seen him enter the
+      Jeffrey grounds that fatal evening. There had been noised abroad no
+      intimation of his grievance against the man. He had all the calm assurance
+      of invisibility as he came to his abode, for a fog lay thick on the
+      surface of the river and hung over all the land. He did not issue forth
+      again freshly dressed till the sun was out once more, dispelling the
+      vapors and conjuring the world back to sight and life. Nevertheless, he
+      made no secret of having been abroad when an acquaintance came up the road
+      and paused for an exchange of the news of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what makes ye look so durned peaked?&rdquo; he broke off, gazing at Hoxer
+      in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer was astonished at his own composure as he replied: &ldquo;Out all night. I
+      was in the swamp with the posse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See the fire! They tell me 't wuz more'n dangerous to fire the brake when
+      the woods is so uncommon dry. I dunno what we would do here in the bottom
+      with a forest fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty big blaze now, sure's ye're born,&rdquo; Hoxer replied casually, and so
+      the matter passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Later in the day another gossip, whose acquaintance he had made during his
+      levee-building venture, loitered up to talk over the absorbing sensation,
+      and, sitting down on the door-step of the shack, grew suddenly attentive
+      to the little dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What makes him limp?&rdquo; he demanded abruptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Hoxer had not observed that he did limp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The acquaintance had taken the little animal up on his knee and was
+      examining into his condition. &ldquo;Gee! how did he get so footsore?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Following me around, I reckon,&rdquo; Hoxer hazarded. But he saw, or thought he
+      saw, a change on the stolid face of the visitor, who was unpleasantly
+      impressed with the fact that the officers investigating the case had made
+      inquiries concerning a small dog that, to judge by the prints in the road,
+      had evidently followed the big, barefooted man who had fled from the
+      Jeffrey precincts after the shooting. A rumor, too, was going the rounds
+      that a detective, reputed preternaturally sharp, who had accompanied the
+      sheriff to the scene of action, had examined these tracks in the road, and
+      declared that the foot-print was neither that of a negro nor a tramp, but
+      of a white man used to wearing shoes something too tightly fitting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The visitor glanced down at the substantial foot-gear of the contractor,
+      fitting somewhat snugly, and thereafter he became more out of countenance
+      than before and manifested some haste to get away. Hoxer said to himself
+      that his anxiety whetted his apprehension. He had given his visitor no
+      cause for suspicion, and doubtless the man had evolved none. Hoxer was
+      glad that he was due and overdue to be gone from the locality. He felt
+      that he could scarcely breathe freely again till he had joined the gang of
+      Irish ditchers now establishing themselves in a new camp in the adjoining
+      county, where the high stage of the river gave him employment in fighting
+      water. He made up his mind, however, that he would not take the train
+      thither. He dreaded to be among men, to encounter question and
+      speculation, till he had time to regain control of his nerves, his facial
+      expression, the tones of his voice. He resolved that he would quietly
+      drift down the river in a row-boat that had been at his disposal during
+      his employment here, and join his force already settled at their
+      destination, without running the gauntlet of inspection by the
+      neighborhood in a more formal departure. He had already bidden farewell to
+      those few denizens of the Bend with whom his associations had been most
+      genial. &ldquo;And I'll clear out now, as I would have done if nothing had
+      happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He said no more of his intention of departure, but when night had come he
+      fastened the door of the little shanty, in which were still some of the
+      rude belongings of his camping outfit, with the grim determination that it
+      should not soon be opened again. How long the padlock should beat the
+      summons of the wind on the resounding battens he did not dream!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was close on midnight when he climbed the steep interior slope of the
+      levee and stood for a moment gazing cautiously about him. The rowboat lay
+      close by, for one might embark from the summit of the levee. It was a
+      cloudy night, without a star. A mist clung to the face of the waters on
+      the Arkansas side, but on the hither shore the atmosphere was clear, for
+      he could see at a considerable distance up the river the fire of a
+      &ldquo;levee-watch,&rdquo; the stage of the water being so menacing that a guard must
+      needs be on duty throughout the night. The leaping flames of the fire cast
+      long lines of red and yellow and a sort of luminous brown far into the
+      river, where the reflection seemed to palpitate in the pulsations of the
+      current. No other sign of life was in the night scene, save in the
+      opposite direction, amidst the white vapors, the gem-like gleam of a
+      steamer's chimney-lights, all ruby and emerald, as a packet was slowly
+      rounding the neighboring point. Hoxer could hear the impact of her paddles
+      on the water, the night being so still. He had seated himself in the
+      middle of the rowboat and laid hold on the oars when his foot struck
+      against something soft on the bottom of the craft, partly under the seat
+      in the stern. It was his bundle, he thought, containing the spoiled
+      clothing that he had worn in the swamp, and which he intended to sink in
+      mid-stream. His nerve was shaken, however; he could not restrain a sudden
+      exclamation&mdash;this must have seemed discovery rather than agitation.
+      It was as a signal for premature action. He was suddenly seized from
+      behind, his arms held down against his sides, his hands close together.
+      The bundle in the stern rose all at once to the stature of a man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The touch of cold metal, a sharp, quick click,&mdash;and he was captured
+      and handcuffed within the space of ten seconds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A terrible struggle ensued, which his great strength but sufficed to
+      prolong. His wild, hoarse cries of rage and desperation seemed to beat
+      against the sky; back and forth the dark riparian forests repeated them
+      with the effect of varying distance in the echoes, till all the sombre
+      woods seemed full of mad, frantic creatures, shrieking out their helpless
+      frenzy. More than once his superior muscle sufficed to throw off both the
+      officers for a moment, but to what avail? Thus manacled, he could not
+      escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly a wild, new clamor resounded from the shore. In the dusky
+      uncertainty, a group of men were running down the bank, shouting out to
+      the barely descried boatmen imperative warnings that they would break the
+      levee in their commotion, coupled with violent threats if they did not
+      desist. For the force with which the rowboat dashed against the summit of
+      the levee, rebounding again and again, laden with the weight of three
+      ponderous men, and endowed with all the impetus of their struggle, so
+      eroded the earth that the waves had gained an entrance, the initial step
+      to a crevasse that would flood the country with a disastrous overflow. As
+      there was no abatement of the blows of the boat against the embankment, no
+      reply nor explanation, a shot from the gun of one of the levee-watch came
+      skipping lightsomely over the water as Hoxer was borne exhausted to the
+      bottom of the skiff. Then, indeed, the sheriff of the county bethought
+      himself to shout out his name and official station to the astonished group
+      on shore, and thus, bullet-proof under the aegis of the law, the boat
+      pulled out toward the steamer, lying in mid-stream, silently awaiting the
+      coming of the officer and his prisoner, a great, towering, castellated
+      object, half seen in the night, her broadside of cabin lights, and their
+      reflection in the ripples, sparkling through the darkness like a chain of
+      golden stars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They left no stress of curiosity behind them; naught in the delta can
+      compete in interest with the threatened collapse of a levee in times of
+      high water. Before the rowboat had reached the steamer's side, its
+      occupants could hear the great plantation-bell ringing like mad to summon
+      forth into the midnight all available hands to save the levee, and,
+      looking back presently, a hundred lanterns were seen flickering hither and
+      thither, far down in the dusk&mdash;no illusion this, for all deltaic
+      rivers are higher in the centre than their banks&mdash;where the busy
+      laborers, with thousands of gunny-sacks filled with sand, were fighting
+      the Mississippi, building a barricade to fence it from the rich spoils it
+      coveted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The packet, which, as it happened, was already overdue, had been
+      telephoned by the officers at her last landing, and a number of men stood
+      on the guards expectant. Hoxer had ceased to struggle. He looked up at the
+      steamer, his pallid face and wide, distended eyes showing in the cabin
+      lights, as the rowboat pulled alongside. Then as the sheriff directed him
+      to rise, he stood up at his full height, stretched his manacled hands high
+      above his head, and suddenly dived into deep water, leaving the boat
+      rocking violently, and in danger of capsizing with the officers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A desperate effort was made to recover the prisoner, alive or dead&mdash;all
+      in vain. A roustabout on the deck declared that in the glare of the
+      steamer's search-light, thrown over the murky waters, he was seen to come
+      to the surface once, but if he rose a second time it must have been
+      beneath the great bulk of the packet, to go down again to the death
+      awaiting him in the deeps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the bank a little dog sat through sunshine and shadow in front of the
+      door of the shack of the contractor of the levee-construction gang, and
+      awaited his return with the patient devotion of his kind. Sometimes, as
+      the padlock wavered in the wind, he would cock his head briskly askew,
+      forecasting from the sound a step within. Sometimes the grief of absence
+      and hope deferred would wring his humble heart, and he would whimper in an
+      access of misery and limp about a bit. But presently he would be seated
+      again, alertly upright, his eyes on the door, for the earliest glimpse of
+      the face that he loved. When the overflow came at last the shacks of the
+      construction gang were swept away, and the little dog was seen no more.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23557-h.htm or 23557-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/5/23557/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/23557.txt b/23557.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5311b70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,992 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Crucial Moment
+       1911
+
+Author: Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007 [EBook #23557]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CRUCIAL MOMENT
+
+By Charles Egbert Craddock
+
+1911
+
+
+A mere moment seems an inconsiderable factor in life--only its
+multiplication attaining importance and signifying time. It could
+never have occurred to Walter Hoxer that all his years of labor, the
+aggregation of the material values of industry, experience, skill,
+integrity, could be nullified by this minimum unit of space--as sudden,
+as potent, as destructive, as a stroke of lightning. But after the fact
+it did not remind' him of any agency of the angry skies; to him it was
+like one of the obstructions of the river engineers to divert the course
+of the great Mississippi, a mattress-spur, a thing insignificant in
+itself, a mere trifle of woven willow wands, set up at a crafty angle,
+against the tumultuous current Yet he had seen the swirling waves, in
+their oncoming like innumerable herds of wild horses, hesitate at
+the impact, turn aside, and go racing by, scouring out a new channel,
+leaving the old bank bereft, thrown inland, no longer the margin of the
+stream.
+
+The river was much in his mind that afternoon as he trudged along the
+county road at the base of the levee, on his way, all un-prescient, to
+meet this signal, potential moment. Outside, he knew that the water
+was standing higher than his head, rippling against the thick turf of
+Bermuda grass with which the great earthwork was covered. For the river
+was bank-full and still rising--indeed, it was feared that an overflow
+impended. However, there was as yet no break; advices from up the river
+and down the river told only of extra precautions and constant work to
+keep the barriers intact against the increasing volume of the stream.
+The favorable chances were reinforced by the fact of a singularly dry
+winter, that had so far eliminated the danger from back-water, which,
+if aggregated from rainfall in low-lying swamps, would move up slowly
+to inundate the arable lands. These were already ploughed to bed up for
+cotton, and an overflow now would mean the loss of many thousands of
+dollars to the submerged communities. The February rains had begun
+in the upper country, with a persistency and volume that bade fair
+to compensate for the long-continued drought, and thus the river was
+already booming; the bayous that drew off a vast surplusage of its
+waters were overcharged, and gradually would spread out in murky
+shallows, heavily laden with river detritus, over the low grounds
+bordering their course.
+
+"This Jeffrey levee will hold," Hoxer said to himself, as once he
+paused, his hands in his pockets, his cap on the back of his red head,
+his freckled, commonplace, square face lifted into a sort of dignity by
+the light of expert capacity and intelligence in his bluff blue eyes. He
+had been muttering to himself the details of its construction: so many
+feet across the base in proportion to its height, the width of the
+summit, the angle of the incline of its interior slope--the exterior
+being invisible, having the Mississippi River standing against it. "A
+fairly good levee, though an old one," he muttered. "I'll bet, though,
+Major Jeffrey feels mightily like Noah when he looks at all that water
+out there tearing through the country."
+
+His face clouded at the mention of the name, and as he took the short
+pipe from his month and stuck it into the pocket of his loose sack-coat
+his tread lost a certain free elasticity that had characterized it
+hitherto, and he trudged on doggedly. He had passed many acres of
+ploughed lands, the road running between the fields and the levee. The
+scene was all solitary; the sun had set, and night would presently be
+coming on. As he turned in at the big white gate that opened on a long
+avenue of oaks leading to the mansion house, he began to fear that his
+visit might be ill-timed, and that a man of his station could not hope
+for an audience so near the major's dinner-hour.
+
+It was with definite relief that he heard the gentle impact of ivory
+balls in the absolute quiet, and he remembered that a certain little
+octagonal structure with a conical red roof, in the grounds, was a
+billiard-room, for the sound betokened that he might find the owner of
+the place here.
+
+He expected to see a group of the Major's "quality friends" in the
+building but as he ascended the steps leading directly to the door, he
+perceived that the man he sought was alone. Major Jeffrey was engaged in
+idly knocking the balls about in some skilful fancy shots, his cigar
+in his mouth, and a black velvet smoking-jacket setting off to special
+advantage his dense, snowy hair, prematurely white, his long mustache,
+and his pointed imperial. His heavy white eyebrows drew frowningly
+together over arrogant dark eyes as he noted the man at the entrance.
+
+Despite Hoxer's oft-reiterated sentiment that he was "as good as anybody
+and would take nothing off nobody, and cared for no old duck just
+because he was rich," he could not speak for a moment as he felt Major
+Jeffrey's inimical eyes upon him. He lost the advantage in losing the
+salutation.
+
+"Did you get my check?" Major Jeffrey asked curtly.
+
+"Yes," Hoxer admitted; "but----"
+
+"The amount was according to contract."
+
+Hoxer felt indignant with himself that he should have allowed this
+interpretation to be placed on his presence here; then he still more
+resented the conjecture.
+
+"I have not come for extra money," he said. "That point of the
+transaction is closed."
+
+"All the points of the transaction are closed," said Major Jeffrey,
+ungraciously. There was more than the flush of the waning western sky
+on his face. He had already dined, and he was one of those wine-bibbers
+whom drink does not render genial, "I want to hear no more about it."
+
+He turned to the table, and with a skilful cue sent one ball caroming
+against two others.
+
+"But you must hear what I have got to say, Major Jeffrey," protested
+Hoxer. "I built that cross-levee for you to join your main levee, and
+done it well."
+
+"And have been well paid."
+
+"But you go and say at the store that I deviated from the line of survey
+and saved one furlong, seven poles, and five feet of levee."
+
+"And so you did."
+
+"But you know, Major, that Burbeck Lake had shrunk in the drought at the
+time of the survey, and if I'd followed the calls for the south of the
+lake, I'd had to build in four feet of water, so I drew back a mite--you
+bein' in Orleans, where I couldn't consult you, an' no time to be lost
+nohow, the river bein' then on the rise, an'----"
+
+"Look here, fellow," exclaimed Major Jeffrey, bringing the cue down on
+the table with a force that must have cut the cloth, "do you suppose
+that I have nothing better to do than to stand here to listen to your
+fool harangue?"
+
+The anger and the drink and perhaps the consciousness of being in the
+wrong were all ablaze in the Major's eyes.
+
+The two were alone; only the darkling shadows stood at tiptoe at the
+open windows, and still the flushed sky sent down a pervasive glow from
+above.
+
+Hoxer swallowed hard, gulping down his own wrath and sense of injury.
+"Major," he said blandly, trying a new deal, "I don't think you quite
+understand me."
+
+"Such a complicated proposition you are, to be sure!"
+
+Hoxer disregarded the sarcasm, the contempt in the tone.
+
+"I am not trying to rip up an old score, but you said at Winfield's
+store--at the store--that I did not build the cross levee on the
+surveyor's line; that I shortened it----"
+
+"So you did."
+
+"But as if I had shortened the levee for my own profit, when, as you
+know, it was paid for by the pole----"
+
+"You tax me with making a false impression?"
+
+An extreme revulsion of expectation harassed Hoxer. He had always known
+that Jeffrey was an exception to the general rule of the few large
+land-owners in the community, who were wont to conserve and, in fact, to
+deserve the pose of kindly patron as well as wealthy magnate. But even
+Jeffrey, he thought, would not grudge a word to set a matter straight
+that could cost him nothing and would mean much to the levee-contractor.
+Though of large experience in levee-building, Hoxer was new to the
+position of contractor, having been graduated into it, so to speak, from
+the station of foreman of a construction-gang of Irishmen. He had hoped
+for further employ in this neighborhood, in building private levees
+that, in addition to the main levees along the banks of the Mississippi,
+would aid riparian protection by turning off overflow from surcharged
+bayous and encroaching lakes in the interior. But, unluckily,
+the employer of the first enterprise he had essayed on his own
+responsibility had declared that he had deviated from the line of
+survey, usually essential to the validity of the construction, thereby
+much shortening the work; and had made this statement at Winfield's
+store--at the store!
+
+Whatever was said at the store was as if proclaimed through the
+resounding trump of fame. The store in a Mississippi neighborhood,
+frequented by the surrounding planters, great and small, was the focus
+of civilization, the dispenser of all the wares of the world, from a
+spool of thread to a two-horse wagon, the post-office, in a manner the
+club. Here, sooner or later, everybody came, and hence was the news of
+the Bend noised abroad. Hoxer's business could scarcely recover from
+this disparagement, and he had not doubted that Jeffrey would declare
+that he had said nothing to justify this impression, and that he would
+forthwith take occasion to clear it up. For were not Mr. Tompkins and
+Judge Claris, both with a severe case of "high-water scare," ready to
+contract for a joint cross levee for mutual protection from an unruly
+bayou!
+
+Therefore, with a sedulous effort, Hoxer maintained his composure when
+the Major thundered again, "You tax me with making a false impression?"
+
+"Not intentionally, Major, but----"
+
+"And who are you to judge of my motives? Told a lie by accident, did I?
+Begone, sir, or I'll break your head with this billiard cue!"
+
+He had reached the limit as he brandished the cue. He was still agile,
+vigorous, and it was scarcely possible that Hoxer could escape the blow.
+He dreaded the indignity indeed more than the hurt.
+
+"If you strike me," he declared in a single breath, between his set
+teeth, "before God, I'll shoot you with your own pistol!"
+
+It seemed a fatality that a pair in their open case should have been
+lying on the sill of the window, where their owner had just been
+cleaning and oiling them. Hoxer, of course, had no certainty that they
+were loaded, but the change in Jeffrey's expression proclaimed it. He
+was sober enough now--the shock was all sufficient--as he sprang to the
+case. The younger man was the quicker. He had one of the pistols in his
+hand before Jeffrey could level the other that he had snatched. Quicker
+to fire, too, for the weapon in Jeffrey's hand was discharged in his
+latest impulse of action after he fell to the floor, the blood
+gushing from a wound that crimsoned all the delicate whiteness of his
+shirt-front and bedabbled his snowy hair and beard.
+
+This was the moment, the signal, fatal, final moment, that the
+levee contractor had come to meet, that placed the period to his own
+existence. He lived no longer, Hoxer felt. He did not recognize as his
+own a single action hereafter, a single mental impulse. It was something
+else, standing here in the red gloaming--some foreign entity, cogently
+reasoning, swiftly acting. Self-defense--was it? And who would believe
+that? Had he found justice so alert to redress his wrongs, even in a
+little matter, that he must needs risk his neck upon it? This Thing that
+was not himself--no, never more!--had the theory of alibi in his mind
+as he stripped off his low-cut shoes and socks, thrusting them into his
+pockets, leaping from the door, and flying among the dusky shadows down
+the glooming grove, and through the gate.
+
+Dusk here, too, on the lonely county road, the vague open expanse of the
+ploughed fields glimmering to the instarred sky of a still, chill night
+of early February. He did not even wonder that there should be no hue
+and cry on his tracks--the Thing was logical! Jeffrey had doubtless
+had his pistols carried down from the mansion to him in his den in the
+billiard-room, for the avowed purpose of putting the weapons in order.
+If the shots were heard at all at the dwelling, the sound was reasonably
+ascribed to the supposed testing of the weapons. Hoxer was conscious
+that a sentiment of gratulation, of sly triumph, pervaded his mental
+processes as he sped along barefoot, like some tramp or outcast, or
+other creature of a low station. He had laid his plans well in this
+curious, involuntary cerebration. Those big, bare footprints were ample
+disguise for a well-clad, well-groomed, well-shod middle-class man of a
+skilful and lucrative employ. The next moment his heart sank like lead.
+He was followed! He heard the pursuit in the dark! Swift, unerring,
+leaping along the dusty road, leaving its own footprints as a testimony
+against him. For he had recognized its nature at last! It was his own
+dog--a little, worthless cur, that had a hide like a doormat and a heart
+as big as the United States--a waif, a stray, that had attached himself
+to the contractor at the shanties of the construction gang, and slept by
+his bed, and followed at his heel, and lived on the glance of his eye.
+
+He was off again, the dog fairly winging his way to match his master's
+speed. Hoxer could not kill him here, for the carcass would tell the
+story. But was it not told already in those tracks in the dusty road?
+What vengeance was there not written in the eccentric script of those
+queer little padded imprints of the creature's paws. Fie, fool! Was this
+the only cur-dog in the Bend? he asked himself, impatient of his fears.
+Was not the whole neighborhood swarming with canine dependents?
+
+Despite his reasoning, this endowment that was once himself had
+been affrighted by the shock. The presence of the little cur-dog had
+destroyed the complacence of his boasted ratiocination. He had only the
+instincts of flight as he struck off through the woods when the great
+expanse of cultivated lands had given way to lower ground and the wide
+liberties of the "open swamp," as it was called. This dense wilderness
+stretched out on every side; the gigantic growth of gum trees was
+leafless at this season, and without a suggestion of underbrush.
+
+The ground was as level as a floor. Generally during the winter the open
+swamp is covered with shallow water, but in this singularly droughty
+season it had remained "with dry feet," according to the phrase of that
+country. The southern moon, rising far along its levels, began to cast
+burnished golden shafts of light adown its unobstructed vistas. It might
+seem some magnificent park, with its innumerable splendid trees, its
+great expanse, and ever and anon in the distance the silver sheen of
+the waters of a lake, shining responsive to the lunar lustre as with
+an inherent lustre of its own. On and on he went, his noiseless tread
+falling as regularly as machinery, leaving miles behind him, the
+distance only to be conjectured by the lapse of time, and, after so
+long, his flagging strength. He began to notice that the open swamp was
+giving way in the vicinity of one of the lakes to the characteristics of
+the swamp proper, although the ground was still dry and the going good.
+He had traversed now and then a higher ridge on which switch-cane grew
+somewhat sparsely, but near the lake on a bluff bank a dense brake of
+the heavier cane filled the umbrageous shadows, so tall and rank and
+impenetrable a growth that once the fugitive paused to contemplate it
+with the theory that a secret intrusted to its sombre seclusions might
+be held intact forever.
+
+As he stood thus motionless in the absolute stillness, a sudden thought
+came to his mind--a sudden and terrible thought. He could not be sure
+whether he had heard aught, or whether the sight of the water suggested
+the idea. He knew that he could little longer sustain his flight,
+despite his vigor and strength. Quivering in every fibre from his long
+exertions, he set his course straight for that glimmering sheen of
+water. Encircling it were heavy shadows. Tall trees pressed close to
+the verge, where lay here a fallen branch, and there a rotten log, half
+sunken in mud and ooze, and again a great tangle of vines that had grown
+smiling to the summer sun, but now, with the slow expansion of the lake
+which was fed by a surcharged bayou, quite submerged in a fretwork of
+miry strands. The margin was fringed with saw-grass, thick and prickly,
+and his practised eye could discern where the original banks lay by the
+spears thrust up above the surface a score of feet away. Thus he was
+sure of his depth as he waded out staunchly, despite the cruel pricks
+to his sensitive naked feet. The little dog had scant philosophy; he
+squeaked and wheezed and wailed with the pain until the man, who had no
+time to kill him now--for had he heard aught or naught?--picked him up
+and carried him in his arms, the creature licking Hoxer's hands in an
+ecstasy of gratitude, and even standing on his hind-legs on his master's
+arm to snatch a lick upon his cheek.
+
+In the darksome shadows, further and further from the spot where he had
+entered the lake, Hoxer toiled along the margin, sometimes pausing to
+listen--for had he heard aught or naught?--as long as his strength would
+suffice. Then amidst the miry debris of last summer's growths beneath
+the recent inundation he sank down in the darkness, the dog exhausted in
+his arms.
+
+This was one of those frequent crescent-shaped lakes peculiar to the
+region; sometimes, miles in extent, the lacustrine contour is not
+discernible to the glance; here the broad expanse seemed as if the body
+of water were circular and perhaps three miles in diameter.
+
+Suddenly Hoxer heard the sound that had baffled him hitherto--heard
+it again and--oh, horrible!--recognized it at last! The baying of
+bloodhounds it was, the triumphant cry that showed that the brutes had
+caught the trail and were keeping it. On and on came the iteration, ever
+louder, ever nearer, waking the echoes till wood and brake and midnight
+waters seemed to rock and sway with the sound, and the stars in the sky
+to quake in unison with the vibrations. Never at fault, never a moment's
+cessation, and presently the shouts of men and the tramp of horses
+blended with that deep, tumultuous note of blood crying to heaven for
+vengeance. Far, far, down the lake it was. Hoxer could see nothing of
+the frantic rout when the hounds paused baffled at the water-side. He
+was quick to note the changed tone of the brutes' pursuit, plaintive,
+anxious, consciously thwarted. They ran hither and thither, patrolling
+the banks, and with all their boasted instinct they could only protest
+that the fugitive took to water at this spot. But how? They could not
+say, and the men argued in vain. The lake was too broad to swim--there
+was no island, no point of vantage. A boat might have taken him off,
+and, if so, the craft would now be lying on the opposite bank. A party
+set off to skirt the edge of the lake and explore the further shores by
+order of the sheriff, for this officer, summoned by telephone, had
+come swiftly from the county town in an automobile, to the verge of the
+swamp, there accommodated with a horse by a neighboring planter. And
+then, Hoxer, lying on the elastic submerged brush, with only a portion
+of his face above the surface of the water, watched in a speechless
+ecstasy of terror the hue and cry progress on the hither side, his dog,
+half dead from exhaustion, unconscious in his arms.
+
+The moon, unmoved as ever, looked calmly down on the turmoil in the
+midst of the dense woods. The soft brilliance illumined the long,
+open vistas and gave to the sylvan intricacies an effect as of silver
+arabesques, a glittering tracery amidst the shadows. But the lunar light
+did not suffice. Great torches of pine knots, with a red and yellow
+flare and streaming pennants of smoke, darted hither and thither as the
+officer's posse searched the bosky recesses without avail.
+
+Presently a new sound!--a crashing iteration--assailed the air. A
+frantic crowd was beating the bushes about the margin of the lake and
+the verges of the almost impenetrable cane-brake. Here, however, there
+could be no hope of discovery, and suddenly a cry arose, unanimously
+iterated the next instant, "Fire the cane-brake! Fire the cane-brake!"
+
+For so late had come the rise of the river, so persistent had been the
+winter's drought, so delayed the usual inundation of the swamp, that the
+vegetation, dry as tinder, caught the sparks instantly, and the fierce
+expedient to force the fugitive to leave his supposed shelter in the
+brake, a vast woodland conflagration, was added to the terror of the
+scene. The flames flared frantically upward from the cane, itself twenty
+feet in height, and along its dense columns issued forth jets like
+the volleyings of musketry from serried ranks of troops, the illusion
+enhanced by continuous sharp, rifle-like reports, the joints of the
+growth exploding as the air within was liberated by the heat of the
+fire. All around this blazing Gehenna were swiftly running figures of
+men applying with demoniac suggestion torches here and there, that a new
+area might be involved. Others were mounted, carrying flaming torches
+aloft, the restive horses plunging in frantic terror of the fiery
+furnace in the depths of the brake, the leaping sheets of flame,
+the tumultuous clouds of smoke. Oh, a terrible fate, had the forlorn
+fugitive sought refuge here! Let us hope that no poor denizen of the
+brake, bear or panther or fox, dazed by the tumult and the terror,
+forgot which way to flee!
+
+But human energies must needs fail as time wears on. Nerves of steel
+collapse at last. The relinquishment of the quest came gradually; the
+crowd thinned; now and again the sound of rapid hoof-beats told of
+homeward-bound horsemen; languid groups stood and talked dully here
+and there, dispersing to follow a new suggestion for a space, them
+ultimately disappearing; even the fire began to die ont, and the site
+of the cane-break had become a dense, charred mass, as far as eye could
+reach, with here and there a vague blue flicker where some bed of coals
+could yet send up a jet, when at length the pale day, slow and aghast,
+came peering along the levels to view the relics of the strange events
+that had betided in the watches of the night.
+
+Hoxer had not waited for the light. Deriving a certain strength, a
+certain triumph, from the obvious fact that the end was not yet, he
+contrived in that darkest hour before the dawn to pull himself into
+a sitting posture, then to creep out to the shore. The little dog had
+seemed to be dying, but he too experienced a sort of resuscitation, and
+while he followed at first but feebly, it was not long before he was at
+heel again, although Hoxer was swift of foot, making all the speed he
+might toward his temporary home, the shacks that had been occupied
+by the construction gang. As he came within view of the poor little
+tenements, so recently vacated by the Irish ditchers, all awry and
+askew, stretching in a wavering row along the river-bank near the
+junction of the levee that he had built with the main line, his eyes
+filled. Oh, why had he not gone with the rest of the camp! he demanded
+of an untoward fate; why must he have stayed a day longer to bespeak
+the correction of an injurious error from that proud, hard man, who,
+however, had wrought his last injury on earth! Hoxer was sorry, but
+chiefly for his own plight. He felt that his deed was in self-defense,
+and but that he had no proof he would not fear to offer the plea at the
+bar of justice. As it was, however, he was sanguine of escaping without
+this jeopardy. No one had cause to suspect him. No one had seen him
+enter the Jeffrey grounds that fatal evening. There had been noised
+abroad no intimation of his grievance against the man. He had all the
+calm assurance of invisibility as he came to his abode, for a fog lay
+thick on the surface of the river and hung over all the land. He did
+not issue forth again freshly dressed till the sun was out once more,
+dispelling the vapors and conjuring the world back to sight and
+life. Nevertheless, he made no secret of having been abroad when an
+acquaintance came up the road and paused for an exchange of the news of
+the day.
+
+"But what makes ye look so durned peaked?" he broke off, gazing at Hoxer
+in surprise.
+
+Hoxer was astonished at his own composure as he replied: "Out all night.
+I was in the swamp with the posse."
+
+"See the fire! They tell me 't wuz more'n dangerous to fire the brake
+when the woods is so uncommon dry. I dunno what we would do here in the
+bottom with a forest fire."
+
+"Pretty big blaze now, sure's ye're born," Hoxer replied casually, and
+so the matter passed.
+
+Later in the day another gossip, whose acquaintance he had made during
+his levee-building venture, loitered up to talk over the absorbing
+sensation, and, sitting down on the door-step of the shack, grew
+suddenly attentive to the little dog.
+
+"What makes him limp?" he demanded abruptly.
+
+But Hoxer had not observed that he did limp.
+
+The acquaintance had taken the little animal up on his knee and was
+examining into his condition. "Gee! how did he get so footsore?"
+
+"Following me around, I reckon," Hoxer hazarded. But he saw, or thought
+he saw, a change on the stolid face of the visitor, who was unpleasantly
+impressed with the fact that the officers investigating the case had
+made inquiries concerning a small dog that, to judge by the prints in
+the road, had evidently followed the big, barefooted man who had fled
+from the Jeffrey precincts after the shooting. A rumor, too, was going
+the rounds that a detective, reputed preternaturally sharp, who had
+accompanied the sheriff to the scene of action, had examined these
+tracks in the road, and declared that the foot-print was neither that of
+a negro nor a tramp, but of a white man used to wearing shoes something
+too tightly fitting.
+
+The visitor glanced down at the substantial foot-gear of the contractor,
+fitting somewhat snugly, and thereafter he became more out of
+countenance than before and manifested some haste to get away. Hoxer
+said to himself that his anxiety whetted his apprehension. He had given
+his visitor no cause for suspicion, and doubtless the man had evolved
+none. Hoxer was glad that he was due and overdue to be gone from the
+locality. He felt that he could scarcely breathe freely again till he
+had joined the gang of Irish ditchers now establishing themselves in a
+new camp in the adjoining county, where the high stage of the river gave
+him employment in fighting water. He made up his mind, however, that
+he would not take the train thither. He dreaded to be among men, to
+encounter question and speculation, till he had time to regain control
+of his nerves, his facial expression, the tones of his voice. He
+resolved that he would quietly drift down the river in a row-boat that
+had been at his disposal during his employment here, and join his force
+already settled at their destination, without running the gauntlet
+of inspection by the neighborhood in a more formal departure. He had
+already bidden farewell to those few denizens of the Bend with whom his
+associations had been most genial. "And I'll clear out now, as I would
+have done if nothing had happened."
+
+He said no more of his intention of departure, but when night had come
+he fastened the door of the little shanty, in which were still some of
+the rude belongings of his camping outfit, with the grim determination
+that it should not soon be opened again. How long the padlock should
+beat the summons of the wind on the resounding battens he did not dream!
+
+It was close on midnight when he climbed the steep interior slope of the
+levee and stood for a moment gazing cautiously about him. The rowboat
+lay close by, for one might embark from the summit of the levee. It was
+a cloudy night, without a star. A mist clung to the face of the waters
+on the Arkansas side, but on the hither shore the atmosphere was clear,
+for he could see at a considerable distance up the river the fire of
+a "levee-watch," the stage of the water being so menacing that a guard
+must needs be on duty throughout the night. The leaping flames of the
+fire cast long lines of red and yellow and a sort of luminous brown
+far into the river, where the reflection seemed to palpitate in the
+pulsations of the current. No other sign of life was in the night scene,
+save in the opposite direction, amidst the white vapors, the gem-like
+gleam of a steamer's chimney-lights, all ruby and emerald, as a packet
+was slowly rounding the neighboring point. Hoxer could hear the impact
+of her paddles on the water, the night being so still. He had seated
+himself in the middle of the rowboat and laid hold on the oars when his
+foot struck against something soft on the bottom of the craft, partly
+under the seat in the stern. It was his bundle, he thought, containing
+the spoiled clothing that he had worn in the swamp, and which he
+intended to sink in mid-stream. His nerve was shaken, however; he could
+not restrain a sudden exclamation--this must have seemed discovery
+rather than agitation. It was as a signal for premature action. He was
+suddenly seized from behind, his arms held down against his sides, his
+hands close together. The bundle in the stern rose all at once to the
+stature of a man.
+
+The touch of cold metal, a sharp, quick click,--and he was captured and
+handcuffed within the space of ten seconds.
+
+A terrible struggle ensued, which his great strength but sufficed to
+prolong. His wild, hoarse cries of rage and desperation seemed to beat
+against the sky; back and forth the dark riparian forests repeated them
+with the effect of varying distance in the echoes, till all the sombre
+woods seemed full of mad, frantic creatures, shrieking out their
+helpless frenzy. More than once his superior muscle sufficed to throw
+off both the officers for a moment, but to what avail? Thus manacled, he
+could not escape.
+
+Suddenly a wild, new clamor resounded from the shore. In the dusky
+uncertainty, a group of men were running down the bank, shouting out to
+the barely descried boatmen imperative warnings that they would break
+the levee in their commotion, coupled with violent threats if they did
+not desist. For the force with which the rowboat dashed against the
+summit of the levee, rebounding again and again, laden with the weight
+of three ponderous men, and endowed with all the impetus of their
+struggle, so eroded the earth that the waves had gained an entrance,
+the initial step to a crevasse that would flood the country with a
+disastrous overflow. As there was no abatement of the blows of the boat
+against the embankment, no reply nor explanation, a shot from the gun of
+one of the levee-watch came skipping lightsomely over the water as
+Hoxer was borne exhausted to the bottom of the skiff. Then, indeed,
+the sheriff of the county bethought himself to shout out his name
+and official station to the astonished group on shore, and thus,
+bullet-proof under the aegis of the law, the boat pulled out toward
+the steamer, lying in mid-stream, silently awaiting the coming of the
+officer and his prisoner, a great, towering, castellated object, half
+seen in the night, her broadside of cabin lights, and their reflection
+in the ripples, sparkling through the darkness like a chain of golden
+stars.
+
+They left no stress of curiosity behind them; naught in the delta can
+compete in interest with the threatened collapse of a levee in times
+of high water. Before the rowboat had reached the steamer's side, its
+occupants could hear the great plantation-bell ringing like mad to
+summon forth into the midnight all available hands to save the levee,
+and, looking back presently, a hundred lanterns were seen flickering
+hither and thither, far down in the dusk--no illusion this, for all
+deltaic rivers are higher in the centre than their banks--where the busy
+laborers, with thousands of gunny-sacks filled with sand, were fighting
+the Mississippi, building a barricade to fence it from the rich spoils
+it coveted.
+
+The packet, which, as it happened, was already overdue, had been
+telephoned by the officers at her last landing, and a number of men
+stood on the guards expectant. Hoxer had ceased to struggle. He looked
+up at the steamer, his pallid face and wide, distended eyes showing in
+the cabin lights, as the rowboat pulled alongside. Then as the sheriff
+directed him to rise, he stood up at his full height, stretched his
+manacled hands high above his head, and suddenly dived into deep water,
+leaving the boat rocking violently, and in danger of capsizing with the
+officers.
+
+A desperate effort was made to recover the prisoner, alive or dead--all
+in vain. A roustabout on the deck declared that in the glare of the
+steamer's search-light, thrown over the murky waters, he was seen to
+come to the surface once, but if he rose a second time it must have
+been beneath the great bulk of the packet, to go down again to the death
+awaiting him in the deeps.
+
+On the bank a little dog sat through sunshine and shadow in front of the
+door of the shack of the contractor of the levee-construction gang, and
+awaited his return with the patient devotion of his kind. Sometimes, as
+the padlock wavered in the wind, he would cock his head briskly askew,
+forecasting from the sound a step within. Sometimes the grief of absence
+and hope deferred would wring his humble heart, and he would whimper
+in an access of misery and limp about a bit. But presently he would be
+seated again, alertly upright, his eyes on the door, for the earliest
+glimpse of the face that he loved. When the overflow came at last the
+shacks of the construction gang were swept away, and the little dog was
+seen no more.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23557.txt or 23557.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/5/23557/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/23557.zip b/23557.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8e541f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/23557.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..848ff27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #23557 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23557)
diff --git a/old/23557-h.htm.2021-01-25 b/old/23557-h.htm.2021-01-25
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c46066c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/23557-h.htm.2021-01-25
@@ -0,0 +1,1097 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Crucial Moment, by Charles Egbert Craddock
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Crucial Moment
+       1911
+
+Author: Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+Release Date: November 19, 2007 [EBook #23557]
+Last Updated: March 8, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <div style="height: 8em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h1>
+      THE CRUCIAL MOMENT
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Charles Egbert Craddock <br /> <br /> 1911
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A mere moment seems an inconsiderable factor in life&mdash;only its
+      multiplication attaining importance and signifying time. It could never
+      have occurred to Walter Hoxer that all his years of labor, the aggregation
+      of the material values of industry, experience, skill, integrity, could be
+      nullified by this minimum unit of space&mdash;as sudden, as potent, as
+      destructive, as a stroke of lightning. But after the fact it did not
+      remind' him of any agency of the angry skies; to him it was like one of
+      the obstructions of the river engineers to divert the course of the great
+      Mississippi, a mattress-spur, a thing insignificant in itself, a mere
+      trifle of woven willow wands, set up at a crafty angle, against the
+      tumultuous current Yet he had seen the swirling waves, in their oncoming
+      like innumerable herds of wild horses, hesitate at the impact, turn aside,
+      and go racing by, scouring out a new channel, leaving the old bank bereft,
+      thrown inland, no longer the margin of the stream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The river was much in his mind that afternoon as he trudged along the
+      county road at the base of the levee, on his way, all un-prescient, to
+      meet this signal, potential moment. Outside, he knew that the water was
+      standing higher than his head, rippling against the thick turf of Bermuda
+      grass with which the great earthwork was covered. For the river was
+      bank-full and still rising&mdash;indeed, it was feared that an overflow
+      impended. However, there was as yet no break; advices from up the river
+      and down the river told only of extra precautions and constant work to
+      keep the barriers intact against the increasing volume of the stream. The
+      favorable chances were reinforced by the fact of a singularly dry winter,
+      that had so far eliminated the danger from back-water, which, if
+      aggregated from rainfall in low-lying swamps, would move up slowly to
+      inundate the arable lands. These were already ploughed to bed up for
+      cotton, and an overflow now would mean the loss of many thousands of
+      dollars to the submerged communities. The February rains had begun in the
+      upper country, with a persistency and volume that bade fair to compensate
+      for the long-continued drought, and thus the river was already booming;
+      the bayous that drew off a vast surplusage of its waters were overcharged,
+      and gradually would spread out in murky shallows, heavily laden with river
+      detritus, over the low grounds bordering their course.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This Jeffrey levee will hold,&rdquo; Hoxer said to himself, as once he paused,
+      his hands in his pockets, his cap on the back of his red head, his
+      freckled, commonplace, square face lifted into a sort of dignity by the
+      light of expert capacity and intelligence in his bluff blue eyes. He had
+      been muttering to himself the details of its construction: so many feet
+      across the base in proportion to its height, the width of the summit, the
+      angle of the incline of its interior slope&mdash;the exterior being
+      invisible, having the Mississippi River standing against it. &ldquo;A fairly
+      good levee, though an old one,&rdquo; he muttered. &ldquo;I'll bet, though, Major
+      Jeffrey feels mightily like Noah when he looks at all that water out there
+      tearing through the country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face clouded at the mention of the name, and as he took the short pipe
+      from his month and stuck it into the pocket of his loose sack-coat his
+      tread lost a certain free elasticity that had characterized it hitherto,
+      and he trudged on doggedly. He had passed many acres of ploughed lands,
+      the road running between the fields and the levee. The scene was all
+      solitary; the sun had set, and night would presently be coming on. As he
+      turned in at the big white gate that opened on a long avenue of oaks
+      leading to the mansion house, he began to fear that his visit might be
+      ill-timed, and that a man of his station could not hope for an audience so
+      near the major's dinner-hour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was with definite relief that he heard the gentle impact of ivory balls
+      in the absolute quiet, and he remembered that a certain little octagonal
+      structure with a conical red roof, in the grounds, was a billiard-room,
+      for the sound betokened that he might find the owner of the place here.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He expected to see a group of the Major's &ldquo;quality friends&rdquo; in the
+      building but as he ascended the steps leading directly to the door, he
+      perceived that the man he sought was alone. Major Jeffrey was engaged in
+      idly knocking the balls about in some skilful fancy shots, his cigar in
+      his mouth, and a black velvet smoking-jacket setting off to special
+      advantage his dense, snowy hair, prematurely white, his long mustache, and
+      his pointed imperial. His heavy white eyebrows drew frowningly together
+      over arrogant dark eyes as he noted the man at the entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Despite Hoxer's oft-reiterated sentiment that he was &ldquo;as good as anybody
+      and would take nothing off nobody, and cared for no old duck just because
+      he was rich,&rdquo; he could not speak for a moment as he felt Major Jeffrey's
+      inimical eyes upon him. He lost the advantage in losing the salutation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you get my check?&rdquo; Major Jeffrey asked curtly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Hoxer admitted; &ldquo;but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The amount was according to contract.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer felt indignant with himself that he should have allowed this
+      interpretation to be placed on his presence here; then he still more
+      resented the conjecture.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not come for extra money,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That point of the transaction
+      is closed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the points of the transaction are closed,&rdquo; said Major Jeffrey,
+      ungraciously. There was more than the flush of the waning western sky on
+      his face. He had already dined, and he was one of those wine-bibbers whom
+      drink does not render genial, &ldquo;I want to hear no more about it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned to the table, and with a skilful cue sent one ball caroming
+      against two others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you must hear what I have got to say, Major Jeffrey,&rdquo; protested
+      Hoxer. &ldquo;I built that cross-levee for you to join your main levee, and done
+      it well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And have been well paid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you go and say at the store that I deviated from the line of survey
+      and saved one furlong, seven poles, and five feet of levee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And so you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you know, Major, that Burbeck Lake had shrunk in the drought at the
+      time of the survey, and if I'd followed the calls for the south of the
+      lake, I'd had to build in four feet of water, so I drew back a mite&mdash;you
+      bein' in Orleans, where I couldn't consult you, an' no time to be lost
+      nohow, the river bein' then on the rise, an'&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, fellow,&rdquo; exclaimed Major Jeffrey, bringing the cue down on the
+      table with a force that must have cut the cloth, &ldquo;do you suppose that I
+      have nothing better to do than to stand here to listen to your fool
+      harangue?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The anger and the drink and perhaps the consciousness of being in the
+      wrong were all ablaze in the Major's eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The two were alone; only the darkling shadows stood at tiptoe at the open
+      windows, and still the flushed sky sent down a pervasive glow from above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer swallowed hard, gulping down his own wrath and sense of injury.
+      &ldquo;Major,&rdquo; he said blandly, trying a new deal, &ldquo;I don't think you quite
+      understand me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Such a complicated proposition you are, to be sure!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer disregarded the sarcasm, the contempt in the tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not trying to rip up an old score, but you said at Winfield's store&mdash;at
+      the store&mdash;that I did not build the cross levee on the surveyor's
+      line; that I shortened it&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But as if I had shortened the levee for my own profit, when, as you know,
+      it was paid for by the pole&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You tax me with making a false impression?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      An extreme revulsion of expectation harassed Hoxer. He had always known
+      that Jeffrey was an exception to the general rule of the few large
+      land-owners in the community, who were wont to conserve and, in fact, to
+      deserve the pose of kindly patron as well as wealthy magnate. But even
+      Jeffrey, he thought, would not grudge a word to set a matter straight that
+      could cost him nothing and would mean much to the levee-contractor. Though
+      of large experience in levee-building, Hoxer was new to the position of
+      contractor, having been graduated into it, so to speak, from the station
+      of foreman of a construction-gang of Irishmen. He had hoped for further
+      employ in this neighborhood, in building private levees that, in addition
+      to the main levees along the banks of the Mississippi, would aid riparian
+      protection by turning off overflow from surcharged bayous and encroaching
+      lakes in the interior. But, unluckily, the employer of the first
+      enterprise he had essayed on his own responsibility had declared that he
+      had deviated from the line of survey, usually essential to the validity of
+      the construction, thereby much shortening the work; and had made this
+      statement at Winfield's store&mdash;at the store!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever was said at the store was as if proclaimed through the resounding
+      trump of fame. The store in a Mississippi neighborhood, frequented by the
+      surrounding planters, great and small, was the focus of civilization, the
+      dispenser of all the wares of the world, from a spool of thread to a
+      two-horse wagon, the post-office, in a manner the club. Here, sooner or
+      later, everybody came, and hence was the news of the Bend noised abroad.
+      Hoxer's business could scarcely recover from this disparagement, and he
+      had not doubted that Jeffrey would declare that he had said nothing to
+      justify this impression, and that he would forthwith take occasion to
+      clear it up. For were not Mr. Tompkins and Judge Claris, both with a
+      severe case of &ldquo;high-water scare,&rdquo; ready to contract for a joint cross
+      levee for mutual protection from an unruly bayou!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Therefore, with a sedulous effort, Hoxer maintained his composure when the
+      Major thundered again, &ldquo;You tax me with making a false impression?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not intentionally, Major, but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And who are you to judge of my motives? Told a lie by accident, did I?
+      Begone, sir, or I'll break your head with this billiard cue!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He had reached the limit as he brandished the cue. He was still agile,
+      vigorous, and it was scarcely possible that Hoxer could escape the blow.
+      He dreaded the indignity indeed more than the hurt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you strike me,&rdquo; he declared in a single breath, between his set teeth,
+      &ldquo;before God, I'll shoot you with your own pistol!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It seemed a fatality that a pair in their open case should have been lying
+      on the sill of the window, where their owner had just been cleaning and
+      oiling them. Hoxer, of course, had no certainty that they were loaded, but
+      the change in Jeffrey's expression proclaimed it. He was sober enough now&mdash;the
+      shock was all sufficient&mdash;as he sprang to the case. The younger man
+      was the quicker. He had one of the pistols in his hand before Jeffrey
+      could level the other that he had snatched. Quicker to fire, too, for the
+      weapon in Jeffrey's hand was discharged in his latest impulse of action
+      after he fell to the floor, the blood gushing from a wound that crimsoned
+      all the delicate whiteness of his shirt-front and bedabbled his snowy hair
+      and beard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the moment, the signal, fatal, final moment, that the levee
+      contractor had come to meet, that placed the period to his own existence.
+      He lived no longer, Hoxer felt. He did not recognize as his own a single
+      action hereafter, a single mental impulse. It was something else, standing
+      here in the red gloaming&mdash;some foreign entity, cogently reasoning,
+      swiftly acting. Self-defense&mdash;was it? And who would believe that? Had
+      he found justice so alert to redress his wrongs, even in a little matter,
+      that he must needs risk his neck upon it? This Thing that was not himself&mdash;no,
+      never more!&mdash;had the theory of alibi in his mind as he stripped off
+      his low-cut shoes and socks, thrusting them into his pockets, leaping from
+      the door, and flying among the dusky shadows down the glooming grove, and
+      through the gate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dusk here, too, on the lonely county road, the vague open expanse of the
+      ploughed fields glimmering to the instarred sky of a still, chill night of
+      early February. He did not even wonder that there should be no hue and cry
+      on his tracks&mdash;the Thing was logical! Jeffrey had doubtless had his
+      pistols carried down from the mansion to him in his den in the
+      billiard-room, for the avowed purpose of putting the weapons in order. If
+      the shots were heard at all at the dwelling, the sound was reasonably
+      ascribed to the supposed testing of the weapons. Hoxer was conscious that
+      a sentiment of gratulation, of sly triumph, pervaded his mental processes
+      as he sped along barefoot, like some tramp or outcast, or other creature
+      of a low station. He had laid his plans well in this curious, involuntary
+      cerebration. Those big, bare footprints were ample disguise for a
+      well-clad, well-groomed, well-shod middle-class man of a skilful and
+      lucrative employ. The next moment his heart sank like lead. He was
+      followed! He heard the pursuit in the dark! Swift, unerring, leaping along
+      the dusty road, leaving its own footprints as a testimony against him. For
+      he had recognized its nature at last! It was his own dog&mdash;a little,
+      worthless cur, that had a hide like a doormat and a heart as big as the
+      United States&mdash;a waif, a stray, that had attached himself to the
+      contractor at the shanties of the construction gang, and slept by his bed,
+      and followed at his heel, and lived on the glance of his eye.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He was off again, the dog fairly winging his way to match his master's
+      speed. Hoxer could not kill him here, for the carcass would tell the
+      story. But was it not told already in those tracks in the dusty road? What
+      vengeance was there not written in the eccentric script of those queer
+      little padded imprints of the creature's paws. Fie, fool! Was this the
+      only cur-dog in the Bend? he asked himself, impatient of his fears. Was
+      not the whole neighborhood swarming with canine dependents?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Despite his reasoning, this endowment that was once himself had been
+      affrighted by the shock. The presence of the little cur-dog had destroyed
+      the complacence of his boasted ratiocination. He had only the instincts of
+      flight as he struck off through the woods when the great expanse of
+      cultivated lands had given way to lower ground and the wide liberties of
+      the &ldquo;open swamp,&rdquo; as it was called. This dense wilderness stretched out on
+      every side; the gigantic growth of gum trees was leafless at this season,
+      and without a suggestion of underbrush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ground was as level as a floor. Generally during the winter the open
+      swamp is covered with shallow water, but in this singularly droughty
+      season it had remained &ldquo;with dry feet,&rdquo; according to the phrase of that
+      country. The southern moon, rising far along its levels, began to cast
+      burnished golden shafts of light adown its unobstructed vistas. It might
+      seem some magnificent park, with its innumerable splendid trees, its great
+      expanse, and ever and anon in the distance the silver sheen of the waters
+      of a lake, shining responsive to the lunar lustre as with an inherent
+      lustre of its own. On and on he went, his noiseless tread falling as
+      regularly as machinery, leaving miles behind him, the distance only to be
+      conjectured by the lapse of time, and, after so long, his flagging
+      strength. He began to notice that the open swamp was giving way in the
+      vicinity of one of the lakes to the characteristics of the swamp proper,
+      although the ground was still dry and the going good. He had traversed now
+      and then a higher ridge on which switch-cane grew somewhat sparsely, but
+      near the lake on a bluff bank a dense brake of the heavier cane filled the
+      umbrageous shadows, so tall and rank and impenetrable a growth that once
+      the fugitive paused to contemplate it with the theory that a secret
+      intrusted to its sombre seclusions might be held intact forever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he stood thus motionless in the absolute stillness, a sudden thought
+      came to his mind&mdash;a sudden and terrible thought. He could not be sure
+      whether he had heard aught, or whether the sight of the water suggested
+      the idea. He knew that he could little longer sustain his flight, despite
+      his vigor and strength. Quivering in every fibre from his long exertions,
+      he set his course straight for that glimmering sheen of water. Encircling
+      it were heavy shadows. Tall trees pressed close to the verge, where lay
+      here a fallen branch, and there a rotten log, half sunken in mud and ooze,
+      and again a great tangle of vines that had grown smiling to the summer
+      sun, but now, with the slow expansion of the lake which was fed by a
+      surcharged bayou, quite submerged in a fretwork of miry strands. The
+      margin was fringed with saw-grass, thick and prickly, and his practised
+      eye could discern where the original banks lay by the spears thrust up
+      above the surface a score of feet away. Thus he was sure of his depth as
+      he waded out staunchly, despite the cruel pricks to his sensitive naked
+      feet. The little dog had scant philosophy; he squeaked and wheezed and
+      wailed with the pain until the man, who had no time to kill him now&mdash;for
+      had he heard aught or naught?&mdash;picked him up and carried him in his
+      arms, the creature licking Hoxer's hands in an ecstasy of gratitude, and
+      even standing on his hind-legs on his master's arm to snatch a lick upon
+      his cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the darksome shadows, further and further from the spot where he had
+      entered the lake, Hoxer toiled along the margin, sometimes pausing to
+      listen&mdash;for had he heard aught or naught?&mdash;as long as his
+      strength would suffice. Then amidst the miry débris of last summer's
+      growths beneath the recent inundation he sank down in the darkness, the
+      dog exhausted in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was one of those frequent crescent-shaped lakes peculiar to the
+      region; sometimes, miles in extent, the lacustrine contour is not
+      discernible to the glance; here the broad expanse seemed as if the body of
+      water were circular and perhaps three miles in diameter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly Hoxer heard the sound that had baffled him hitherto&mdash;heard
+      it again and&mdash;oh, horrible!&mdash;recognized it at last! The baying
+      of bloodhounds it was, the triumphant cry that showed that the brutes had
+      caught the trail and were keeping it. On and on came the iteration, ever
+      louder, ever nearer, waking the echoes till wood and brake and midnight
+      waters seemed to rock and sway with the sound, and the stars in the sky to
+      quake in unison with the vibrations. Never at fault, never a moment's
+      cessation, and presently the shouts of men and the tramp of horses blended
+      with that deep, tumultuous note of blood crying to heaven for vengeance.
+      Far, far, down the lake it was. Hoxer could see nothing of the frantic
+      rout when the hounds paused baffled at the water-side. He was quick to
+      note the changed tone of the brutes' pursuit, plaintive, anxious,
+      consciously thwarted. They ran hither and thither, patrolling the banks,
+      and with all their boasted instinct they could only protest that the
+      fugitive took to water at this spot. But how? They could not say, and the
+      men argued in vain. The lake was too broad to swim&mdash;there was no
+      island, no point of vantage. A boat might have taken him off, and, if so,
+      the craft would now be lying on the opposite bank. A party set off to
+      skirt the edge of the lake and explore the further shores by order of the
+      sheriff, for this officer, summoned by telephone, had come swiftly from
+      the county town in an automobile, to the verge of the swamp, there
+      accommodated with a horse by a neighboring planter. And then, Hoxer, lying
+      on the elastic submerged brush, with only a portion of his face above the
+      surface of the water, watched in a speechless ecstasy of terror the hue
+      and cry progress on the hither side, his dog, half dead from exhaustion,
+      unconscious in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moon, unmoved as ever, looked calmly down on the turmoil in the midst
+      of the dense woods. The soft brilliance illumined the long, open vistas
+      and gave to the sylvan intricacies an effect as of silver arabesques, a
+      glittering tracery amidst the shadows. But the lunar light did not
+      suffice. Great torches of pine knots, with a red and yellow flare and
+      streaming pennants of smoke, darted hither and thither as the officer's
+      posse searched the bosky recesses without avail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a new sound!&mdash;a crashing iteration&mdash;assailed the air.
+      A frantic crowd was beating the bushes about the margin of the lake and
+      the verges of the almost impenetrable cane-brake. Here, however, there
+      could be no hope of discovery, and suddenly a cry arose, unanimously
+      iterated the next instant, &ldquo;Fire the cane-brake! Fire the cane-brake!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For so late had come the rise of the river, so persistent had been the
+      winter's drought, so delayed the usual inundation of the swamp, that the
+      vegetation, dry as tinder, caught the sparks instantly, and the fierce
+      expedient to force the fugitive to leave his supposed shelter in the
+      brake, a vast woodland conflagration, was added to the terror of the
+      scene. The flames flared frantically upward from the cane, itself twenty
+      feet in height, and along its dense columns issued forth jets like the
+      volleyings of musketry from serried ranks of troops, the illusion enhanced
+      by continuous sharp, rifle-like reports, the joints of the growth
+      exploding as the air within was liberated by the heat of the fire. All
+      around this blazing Gehenna were swiftly running figures of men applying
+      with demoniac suggestion torches here and there, that a new area might be
+      involved. Others were mounted, carrying flaming torches aloft, the restive
+      horses plunging in frantic terror of the fiery furnace in the depths of
+      the brake, the leaping sheets of flame, the tumultuous clouds of smoke.
+      Oh, a terrible fate, had the forlorn fugitive sought refuge here! Let us
+      hope that no poor denizen of the brake, bear or panther or fox, dazed by
+      the tumult and the terror, forgot which way to flee!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But human energies must needs fail as time wears on. Nerves of steel
+      collapse at last. The relinquishment of the quest came gradually; the
+      crowd thinned; now and again the sound of rapid hoof-beats told of
+      homeward-bound horsemen; languid groups stood and talked dully here and
+      there, dispersing to follow a new suggestion for a space, them ultimately
+      disappearing; even the fire began to die ont, and the site of the
+      cane-break had become a dense, charred mass, as far as eye could reach,
+      with here and there a vague blue flicker where some bed of coals could yet
+      send up a jet, when at length the pale day, slow and aghast, came peering
+      along the levels to view the relics of the strange events that had betided
+      in the watches of the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer had not waited for the light. Deriving a certain strength, a certain
+      triumph, from the obvious fact that the end was not yet, he contrived in
+      that darkest hour before the dawn to pull himself into a sitting posture,
+      then to creep out to the shore. The little dog had seemed to be dying, but
+      he too experienced a sort of resuscitation, and while he followed at first
+      but feebly, it was not long before he was at heel again, although Hoxer
+      was swift of foot, making all the speed he might toward his temporary
+      home, the shacks that had been occupied by the construction gang. As he
+      came within view of the poor little tenements, so recently vacated by the
+      Irish ditchers, all awry and askew, stretching in a wavering row along the
+      river-bank near the junction of the levee that he had built with the main
+      line, his eyes filled. Oh, why had he not gone with the rest of the camp!
+      he demanded of an untoward fate; why must he have stayed a day longer to
+      bespeak the correction of an injurious error from that proud, hard man,
+      who, however, had wrought his last injury on earth! Hoxer was sorry, but
+      chiefly for his own plight. He felt that his deed was in self-defense, and
+      but that he had no proof he would not fear to offer the plea at the bar of
+      justice. As it was, however, he was sanguine of escaping without this
+      jeopardy. No one had cause to suspect him. No one had seen him enter the
+      Jeffrey grounds that fatal evening. There had been noised abroad no
+      intimation of his grievance against the man. He had all the calm assurance
+      of invisibility as he came to his abode, for a fog lay thick on the
+      surface of the river and hung over all the land. He did not issue forth
+      again freshly dressed till the sun was out once more, dispelling the
+      vapors and conjuring the world back to sight and life. Nevertheless, he
+      made no secret of having been abroad when an acquaintance came up the road
+      and paused for an exchange of the news of the day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what makes ye look so durned peaked?&rdquo; he broke off, gazing at Hoxer
+      in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Hoxer was astonished at his own composure as he replied: &ldquo;Out all night. I
+      was in the swamp with the posse.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See the fire! They tell me 't wuz more'n dangerous to fire the brake when
+      the woods is so uncommon dry. I dunno what we would do here in the bottom
+      with a forest fire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Pretty big blaze now, sure's ye're born,&rdquo; Hoxer replied casually, and so
+      the matter passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Later in the day another gossip, whose acquaintance he had made during his
+      levee-building venture, loitered up to talk over the absorbing sensation,
+      and, sitting down on the door-step of the shack, grew suddenly attentive
+      to the little dog.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What makes him limp?&rdquo; he demanded abruptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Hoxer had not observed that he did limp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The acquaintance had taken the little animal up on his knee and was
+      examining into his condition. &ldquo;Gee! how did he get so footsore?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Following me around, I reckon,&rdquo; Hoxer hazarded. But he saw, or thought he
+      saw, a change on the stolid face of the visitor, who was unpleasantly
+      impressed with the fact that the officers investigating the case had made
+      inquiries concerning a small dog that, to judge by the prints in the road,
+      had evidently followed the big, barefooted man who had fled from the
+      Jeffrey precincts after the shooting. A rumor, too, was going the rounds
+      that a detective, reputed preternaturally sharp, who had accompanied the
+      sheriff to the scene of action, had examined these tracks in the road, and
+      declared that the foot-print was neither that of a negro nor a tramp, but
+      of a white man used to wearing shoes something too tightly fitting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The visitor glanced down at the substantial foot-gear of the contractor,
+      fitting somewhat snugly, and thereafter he became more out of countenance
+      than before and manifested some haste to get away. Hoxer said to himself
+      that his anxiety whetted his apprehension. He had given his visitor no
+      cause for suspicion, and doubtless the man had evolved none. Hoxer was
+      glad that he was due and overdue to be gone from the locality. He felt
+      that he could scarcely breathe freely again till he had joined the gang of
+      Irish ditchers now establishing themselves in a new camp in the adjoining
+      county, where the high stage of the river gave him employment in fighting
+      water. He made up his mind, however, that he would not take the train
+      thither. He dreaded to be among men, to encounter question and
+      speculation, till he had time to regain control of his nerves, his facial
+      expression, the tones of his voice. He resolved that he would quietly
+      drift down the river in a row-boat that had been at his disposal during
+      his employment here, and join his force already settled at their
+      destination, without running the gauntlet of inspection by the
+      neighborhood in a more formal departure. He had already bidden farewell to
+      those few denizens of the Bend with whom his associations had been most
+      genial. &ldquo;And I'll clear out now, as I would have done if nothing had
+      happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He said no more of his intention of departure, but when night had come he
+      fastened the door of the little shanty, in which were still some of the
+      rude belongings of his camping outfit, with the grim determination that it
+      should not soon be opened again. How long the padlock should beat the
+      summons of the wind on the resounding battens he did not dream!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was close on midnight when he climbed the steep interior slope of the
+      levee and stood for a moment gazing cautiously about him. The rowboat lay
+      close by, for one might embark from the summit of the levee. It was a
+      cloudy night, without a star. A mist clung to the face of the waters on
+      the Arkansas side, but on the hither shore the atmosphere was clear, for
+      he could see at a considerable distance up the river the fire of a
+      &ldquo;levee-watch,&rdquo; the stage of the water being so menacing that a guard must
+      needs be on duty throughout the night. The leaping flames of the fire cast
+      long lines of red and yellow and a sort of luminous brown far into the
+      river, where the reflection seemed to palpitate in the pulsations of the
+      current. No other sign of life was in the night scene, save in the
+      opposite direction, amidst the white vapors, the gem-like gleam of a
+      steamer's chimney-lights, all ruby and emerald, as a packet was slowly
+      rounding the neighboring point. Hoxer could hear the impact of her paddles
+      on the water, the night being so still. He had seated himself in the
+      middle of the rowboat and laid hold on the oars when his foot struck
+      against something soft on the bottom of the craft, partly under the seat
+      in the stern. It was his bundle, he thought, containing the spoiled
+      clothing that he had worn in the swamp, and which he intended to sink in
+      mid-stream. His nerve was shaken, however; he could not restrain a sudden
+      exclamation&mdash;this must have seemed discovery rather than agitation.
+      It was as a signal for premature action. He was suddenly seized from
+      behind, his arms held down against his sides, his hands close together.
+      The bundle in the stern rose all at once to the stature of a man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The touch of cold metal, a sharp, quick click,&mdash;and he was captured
+      and handcuffed within the space of ten seconds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A terrible struggle ensued, which his great strength but sufficed to
+      prolong. His wild, hoarse cries of rage and desperation seemed to beat
+      against the sky; back and forth the dark riparian forests repeated them
+      with the effect of varying distance in the echoes, till all the sombre
+      woods seemed full of mad, frantic creatures, shrieking out their helpless
+      frenzy. More than once his superior muscle sufficed to throw off both the
+      officers for a moment, but to what avail? Thus manacled, he could not
+      escape.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly a wild, new clamor resounded from the shore. In the dusky
+      uncertainty, a group of men were running down the bank, shouting out to
+      the barely descried boatmen imperative warnings that they would break the
+      levee in their commotion, coupled with violent threats if they did not
+      desist. For the force with which the rowboat dashed against the summit of
+      the levee, rebounding again and again, laden with the weight of three
+      ponderous men, and endowed with all the impetus of their struggle, so
+      eroded the earth that the waves had gained an entrance, the initial step
+      to a crevasse that would flood the country with a disastrous overflow. As
+      there was no abatement of the blows of the boat against the embankment, no
+      reply nor explanation, a shot from the gun of one of the levee-watch came
+      skipping lightsomely over the water as Hoxer was borne exhausted to the
+      bottom of the skiff. Then, indeed, the sheriff of the county bethought
+      himself to shout out his name and official station to the astonished group
+      on shore, and thus, bullet-proof under the aegis of the law, the boat
+      pulled out toward the steamer, lying in mid-stream, silently awaiting the
+      coming of the officer and his prisoner, a great, towering, castellated
+      object, half seen in the night, her broadside of cabin lights, and their
+      reflection in the ripples, sparkling through the darkness like a chain of
+      golden stars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They left no stress of curiosity behind them; naught in the delta can
+      compete in interest with the threatened collapse of a levee in times of
+      high water. Before the rowboat had reached the steamer's side, its
+      occupants could hear the great plantation-bell ringing like mad to summon
+      forth into the midnight all available hands to save the levee, and,
+      looking back presently, a hundred lanterns were seen flickering hither and
+      thither, far down in the dusk&mdash;no illusion this, for all deltaic
+      rivers are higher in the centre than their banks&mdash;where the busy
+      laborers, with thousands of gunny-sacks filled with sand, were fighting
+      the Mississippi, building a barricade to fence it from the rich spoils it
+      coveted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The packet, which, as it happened, was already overdue, had been
+      telephoned by the officers at her last landing, and a number of men stood
+      on the guards expectant. Hoxer had ceased to struggle. He looked up at the
+      steamer, his pallid face and wide, distended eyes showing in the cabin
+      lights, as the rowboat pulled alongside. Then as the sheriff directed him
+      to rise, he stood up at his full height, stretched his manacled hands high
+      above his head, and suddenly dived into deep water, leaving the boat
+      rocking violently, and in danger of capsizing with the officers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A desperate effort was made to recover the prisoner, alive or dead&mdash;all
+      in vain. A roustabout on the deck declared that in the glare of the
+      steamer's search-light, thrown over the murky waters, he was seen to come
+      to the surface once, but if he rose a second time it must have been
+      beneath the great bulk of the packet, to go down again to the death
+      awaiting him in the deeps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the bank a little dog sat through sunshine and shadow in front of the
+      door of the shack of the contractor of the levee-construction gang, and
+      awaited his return with the patient devotion of his kind. Sometimes, as
+      the padlock wavered in the wind, he would cock his head briskly askew,
+      forecasting from the sound a step within. Sometimes the grief of absence
+      and hope deferred would wring his humble heart, and he would whimper in an
+      access of misery and limp about a bit. But presently he would be seated
+      again, alertly upright, his eyes on the door, for the earliest glimpse of
+      the face that he loved. When the overflow came at last the shacks of the
+      construction gang were swept away, and the little dog was seen no more.
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 6em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Crucial Moment, by
+Charles Egbert Craddock        (AKA Mary Noailles Murfree)
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUCIAL MOMENT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23557-h.htm or 23557-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/5/5/23557/
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&ldquo;the Foundation&rdquo;
+ or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; appears, or with which the phrase &ldquo;Project
+Gutenberg&rdquo; is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase &ldquo;Project Gutenberg&rdquo; associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+&ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original &ldquo;Plain Vanilla ASCII&rdquo; or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, &ldquo;Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.&rdquo;
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+&ldquo;Defects,&rdquo; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &ldquo;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&rdquo; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>