Slowly Dan Jackson got up. He started running through the woods. It was so dark that he was making very little progress, but he had to keep going or the police would catch up.
Dan Jackson, if that was his real name, was a murderer. He had been given the death sentence. He began to get nervous as his hanging day got closer and closer. Finally he figured out how to escape.
He escaped, but it didn't take the police long to find out. They started chasing him immediately.
Though they didn't seem to gain on him, he couldn't loose them. Now he was beginning to tire out. The police were bound to catch up with him.
He knew he couldn't outrun them, so he had to hide. He just didn't know where.
He came to a river. It scared him because he couldn't hear it coming. The water was cold and wet. He didn't like it, but he had to keep going.
The water level was getting higher and higher or him. Finally the water went over his head and he had to swim for it.
In the distance he could hear the police at the edge of the river bank. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he knew they were taking about him.
The dogs were barking out by the edge of the river. He didn't have to worry about them anymore.
Suddenly, he was startled by the sound of a gun. He got ahold of himself and remembered that he was well out of range.
He dove under the water and swam downstream as far as he could. Quietly, he took a breath. Then, he dove back under again. He kept this up until the police were far behind him.
He gave a sigh of relief.
"Dan Jackson," he thought to himself. "You've done it. Everyone thought you was gonna' be hanged, but you showed 'em. No one can hang you now."
Then, he realized just how right he was. He was still being carried downstream. He was so tired from the chase that he didn't have enough energy to swim back to shore.
He began to panic. Slowly he felt the water close in around his head as everything went black.
Dan Jackson was never heard from again. There was no way that anyone could possibly hang him now.
Copyright MCMLXXXVI(?), MM
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