With a little gasp of returning hope , Lightfoot waded along until the water began to grow deeper again . He had hoped that he would be able to wade ashore , but he saw now that he would have to swim again . So for a long time he remained right where he was . He was so tired that he trembled all over , and he was as frightened as he was tired . He knew that standing out there in the water he could be seen for a long distance , and that made him nervous and fearful . Supposing a hunter on the shore he was trying to reach should see him . Then he would have no chance at all , for the hunter would simply wait for him and shoot him as he came out of the water . But rest he must , and so he stood for a long time on the little sand bar in the Big River . 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 XXXXX again struck out for the shore .
Lightfoot River XXIII breath first left rest right sight strength