And little by little he felt his strength returning . CHAPTER XXIII : Lightfoot Finds A Friend As Lightfoot rested , trying to recover his breath , out there on the little sand bar in the Big River , his great , soft , beautiful eyes watched first one bank and then the other . On the bank he had left , he could see two black-and-white specks moving about , and across the water came the barking of dogs . Those two specks were the hounds who had driven him into the Big River . They were barking now , instead of baying . Presently a brown form joined the black-and-white specks . It was a hunter drawn there by the barking of the dogs . He was too far away to be dangerous , but the mere sight of him filled Lightfoot with terror again . He watched the hunter walk along the bank and disappear in the bushes . Presently out of the bushes came a boat , and in it was the hunter . He headed straight towards Lightfoot , and then Lightfoot knew that his brief rest was at an end . He must once more swim or be shot by the hunter in the boat . So Lightfoot again struck out for the shore . His rest had given him new strength , but still he was very , very tired and swimming was hard work . Slowly , oh so slowly , he drew nearer to the bank . What new dangers might be waiting there , he did not know . He had never been on that side of the Big River . He knew nothing of the country on that side . But the uncertainty was better than the certainty behind him . He could hear the sound of the oars as the hunter in the boat did his best to get to him before he should reach the shore .
On XXXXX struggled .
CHAPTER Lightfoot River XXIII first hounds left oars sight uncertainty