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The Hero of Hill House by Mabel Hale
page 39 of 172 (22%)
Just then the engine gave a warning sound, which meant that without
immediate attention it would stop running, so the enraged man turned about
without another word and went out, leaving the frightened children looking
after him. But the pause was only for a moment. Austin seized his
opportunity and, picking up the suitcase and bidding the children a hasty
farewell, he bolted out of the door and across the lot to freedom. He had
been running as hard as he could go when still he heard the wails of the
children and heard them calling to him. He took a course across the
unbroken lands where there was not so much as a foot-path. In his
timber-cutting he had become familiar with the lay of the land and took
this rough way on purpose that his father might have difficulty in
following him. He ran for almost a mile before he slackened his pace, and
at every step he seemed to feel his father right behind him. He knew that
now his father would be so angry as to have no sense at all, but would beat
him nearly to death.

When at the edge of the river-bottom he stopped to take a breath he found
that he was wet to the skin and that he had stepped into low places where
the water had come up over his shoe-tops. And he remembered too that he had
not a penny in his pockets, nor a bite to eat. A more forlorn boy could not
be found than Austin as he stood there and looked across to the farmhouses
along the river. But he smiled a little to himself as he thought, "I am one
fellow who actually _ran_ away from home. It was no walk away."

As he approached the river he found the lowlands much more wet and marshy
than it had been in the hills, and he had to wade above his shoes a good
deal of the time, and still the heavy drizzle kept up. He made for a
farmhouse where he hoped to get work. As he came up he wished in his heart
that the man would ask him no questions about his condition; for he saw
that besides the wet and mud, he had torn his clothes in several places.
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