WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.480 You are standing on a bridge over Owl Creek, a 2 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:20.879 noose around your neck. You have but a few seconds 3 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:27.320 left to live, A few seconds left to plan your escape. 4 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:42.039 Escape produced and directed by William N. Robson, and carefully 5 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:44.399 contrived to free you from the poor walls of to 6 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.039 day for a half hour of high adventure. 7 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:55.159 To night, we escape to the war between the States 8 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:59.520 and a muddy stream in Alabama, as we recall one 9 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:04.200 of the Grit eight short stories in American literature, An 10 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:09.239 occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Fierce. 11 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.879 A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, 12 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:27.640 looking down through the ties at the swift water twenty 13 00:01:27.640 --> 00:01:31.120 feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the 14 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:35.400 wrist bound with a cord a rope closely encircled his neck. 15 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.280 It was attached to a stout cross timber above his head, 16 00:01:40.120 --> 00:01:42.359 and the slack fell to the level of his knees. 17 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.480 He watched a piece of dancing driftwood racing down the 18 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:47.920 current beneath his feet. 19 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.920 He thought, if I could just breathe my hands, I 20 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.280 might throw off this moose and dive into the creek. 21 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:59.000 If I swam under water, i'd be safe from her bullets. 22 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:01.560 If my wind held out, I could make the southern bank, 23 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:03.560 take to the woods, and get away home. 24 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:13.159 Hayden Farquha, Alabama planter, stood at the end of a plank. 25 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:16.879 A captain of the Union Army and a sergeant stood 26 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:19.879 at the other end. When they stepped aside, the plank 27 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:24.439 would tip upward, and Peyton Farquhar, Confederate spy, would slip 28 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:28.840 between the ties to hang above the muddy water of 29 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:41.280 Owl Creek until dead. Even in this far outpost of 30 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:45.639 Sherman's march to the sea, the formalities of death are 31 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:49.800 observed by these men who were most familiar with him. 32 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.120 The captain's company is drawn stiffly at attention along the 33 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:54.759 tracks on the northern side. 34 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:55.840 Of the bridge. 35 00:02:56.039 --> 00:02:59.240 The lieutenant stands erect on the bank of the stream, 36 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.919 the point of his bared saber scraping the gravel on 37 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:08.000 the roadbed. Peyton Farquhar is being ushered into the Confederate 38 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:19.680 beyond with every Union amenity. The captain stands aside. Now 39 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.159 only the weight of the bulky sergeant counterbalances Peyton Farquhar 40 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:25.879 at the end of his thin board. 41 00:03:25.879 --> 00:03:27.919 They say that this is a moment when all the 42 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.520 past events are your life tumble into your memory. But 43 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:34.919 how could anyone know who has come back from the 44 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.879 dead to tell what dying is like. I don't recall 45 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.159 any childhood memories. Now the past does not engulf me 46 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:47.560 in this naked moment. I'm only aware of what's here now, 47 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:52.479 those Yankees lined up on the bank, his captain's tired eyes, 48 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.520 that turkey buzz had circling up there waiting for me, 49 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:01.159 and that noise have beaten drive and sound like a 50 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:05.719 distant engine, a pump roll of thunder on the summer evening, 51 00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:10.039 coming closer. Get them out, choke me. 52 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.319 It's your heart, of course that you hear, stepping up 53 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:22.240 its cadence, pounding under the forced drive of fear. Now 54 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:26.800 you see nothing, remember nothing, sense nothing but this strangling, 55 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:30.759 suffocating beat of your own heart, throbbing its final protest. 56 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:33.319 You stand there, erect. 57 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:37.079 The work is nearly at an end. Now the captain 58 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:41.839 draws his sword, flourishes it to a carry sings out 59 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:42.319 of command. 60 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:47.120 All right, all right. 61 00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:53.399 The men on the bank smartly spread their legs, thrust 62 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:56.720 hands forward over the rifle barrels. The sergeant on the 63 00:04:56.759 --> 00:04:58.680 end of the plank takes one step to the left. 64 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:04.240 The plank tips forward ward, and peyton farquead drops between 65 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:08.040 the timbers of oh Creek Bridge. 66 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:17.399 It takes longer to tell it. As you drop downward, 67 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:21.279 you lose consciousness. You are as one already dead. Then 68 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.920 you awaken sharply in pain to feel, not to think, 69 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.120 just to feel the cutting pressure on your throat, the 70 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:31.560 agonies of pulsating fire shooting from your neck downward, to 71 00:05:31.639 --> 00:05:35.360 feel the fullness, the congestion, the head bursting with suffocation, 72 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:42.399 distantly beyond outside of yourself. You hear a splash. Remotely, 73 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:47.439 you sense cool, wet, green darkness. The rope has broken. 74 00:05:48.000 --> 00:06:01.560 You have fallen into the stream. Now thinking returns slowly. 75 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:04.439 You know for the moment you are safe from drowning, 76 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.279 because the rope around your neck tightly keeps the water 77 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:08.040 from your lungs. 78 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:11.319 Then I shall die hanging at the bottom of a river. 79 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:15.240 And that's absurd. If I could get my hands free, 80 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:19.759 I must get my hands free. Come peting. They can't 81 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:26.240 lick you. Try again once more, good boy, The rope's 82 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:33.240 given again. Try once more. That does it, my boy. 83 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.879 Now the rope around your neck. You must breathe. When 84 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:39.480 you come to the surface. You must breathe quickly, or 85 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.839 if they haven't hanged you and they fail to drown you, 86 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:46.079 you can't let them shoot you. Loosen rope around your neck. 87 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:47.600 You must get it loose. 88 00:06:48.480 --> 00:07:01.160 Now it takes so much long that hell. You are 89 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.199 now in the fullest possession of your senses, and again 90 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:08.240 time stops. You feel the ripples of the water upon 91 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.839 your face, and hear their separate sounds as they strike. 92 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:15.120 You see the trees on the bank, and the leaves 93 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:18.120 and the veining of each leaf, and the very insects 94 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:21.319 on them, the locusts, the brilliant bodied flies, the gray 95 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:25.240 spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig, the prismatic 96 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:27.879 colors of the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. 97 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:31.040 You hear the humming of the gnats, the beating of 98 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:34.600 the dragon fly's wings, the strokes of the water spider's legs. 99 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:38.519 A fish slides beneath your eyes, and you hear the 100 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:43.680 rush of its body parting the water. All this you 101 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:47.879 see and hear in an incalculably infinite instant of time. 102 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:59.480 Then you hear something else. You dive deeply, but above 103 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:01.240 the ringing in your ears, you hear the folly of 104 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:07.079 the rifles, and as you rise toward the surface you 105 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.480 meet shining bits of metal, singularly flattened. The distorted and 106 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:16.639 spent bullets oscillating slowly downward pasted you. One catches in 107 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:19.680 your color, and it feels uncomfortably warm. You snatch it out, 108 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:23.519 and this gray piece of Yankee lead reminds you of 109 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:26.439 the gray uniform of the soldier who is responsible for 110 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:30.120 you being here. You recall that it was only night 111 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:33.240 before last when the soldier had ridden up the driveway 112 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:35.519 as you and your wife sat under the magnolia trees 113 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:36.919 in the cool twilight. 114 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:42.559 Good evening, sirch you, good evening, Corporal. Ah wonder if 115 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:44.679 I might trouble you for a glass of water? Sir? 116 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:45.519 Why of gouse? 117 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:49.000 I'll disturb yourself, Peyton, I'll go fetch it. 118 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:52.120 You're most kind, ma'am if you'll just indicate the. 119 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.919 Well nonsense, you just sit a spare with my husband. 120 00:08:56.679 --> 00:08:58.679 You luck as if you could do with some rest. 121 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:04.440 Yes, ma'am, reckon I could. I'll be back and thank you, ma'am. 122 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:11.720 Who's commanded you? With Corporal Colonel Tolliver, Sir, thirteenth North Carolina. 123 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:15.559 We get so little news down here. How are things 124 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:20.000 going at the front? Not good, sir. The Yankees are 125 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:25.080 getting ready for another advance. They're repairing the railroad, got 126 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.840 it in shape almost to our Creek bridge, and they 127 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:32.759 got an outpost there. Once they can run the trains 128 00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:36.279 beyond the bridge. There's nothing to stop them between here 129 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:40.600 and Atlanta. Then why hasn't the bridge been destroyed? The 130 00:09:40.679 --> 00:09:46.960 military couldn't get near it. A civilian might. Oh, Creek Bridge, 131 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:50.799 that's not far from here? Is it less than twenty miles? 132 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:55.200 You say? They have an outpost there on which side? 133 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:59.120 The other side? Nothing on this side but a couple 134 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:03.279 of pickets half mile out on the railroad and a 135 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:06.960 single sentinel at this end of the bridge. And that 136 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:12.120 bridge is important, sure is? What if it were destroyed 137 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:16.639 hold up the Yankees for several weeks. Suppose a man 138 00:10:17.639 --> 00:10:21.480 civilian like myself should elude the picket post and get 139 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:25.720 the better of the sentinel. What could he accomplish? Well, 140 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:28.840 I was there, we could go. Just before we had 141 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:32.120 to pull out. There's a heap of drift wood come 142 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.960 down and last winter's flood and caught on the trestle 143 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:38.960 at this end looked mighty dry and tender than me. 144 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:43.240 I see a fella with enough gumption might get through 145 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:47.440 and set fire to it. It ought to burn like toe, 146 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:51.000 Yes it should. Of course, a fella'd have to have 147 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:55.240 plenty of gumption. The Union command has promised to hang 148 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:57.919 in a civilian called fooling around the railroad? 149 00:10:58.200 --> 00:10:59.240 Is your water coffer? 150 00:11:00.279 --> 00:11:01.559 Right out of the springhouse? 151 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:05.440 Thank you kindly, ma'am. 152 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:08.759 Mine, it's cool and nice, and here's a smidge in 153 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:09.519 the corn bread. 154 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:14.919 I thought you might be hungry. I'm mighty grateful, ma'am. 155 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:17.799 It's ladies like you that keeps the saus together and 156 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:18.879 fighting these days. 157 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:21.240 My what a nice company. 158 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.200 Well, reckon, I better hit the letter. I got a 159 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:27.480 lot of ride, and I hit him. Eat tonight. Good 160 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:30.600 luck tell you, corporal, and thank you for the information. 161 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.600 You'd be taking a chance soon, but you couldn't do 162 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:39.399 a greater service for your country. I remember that, corporal. Goodbye, ma'am, goodbye, corporal, goodbye, sir, 163 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:48.480 many thanks, goodbye, Hayton. What was he talking about? What 164 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:49.679 my dad, the corporal? 165 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:53.559 What did he mean by service to your country and 166 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:55.639 taking a chance? 167 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:56.360 Nothing? 168 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:01.200 Peyton, tell me it was nothing, really, My dead, Teyton Farquoy. 169 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:03.639 If you're fixin to take any chances for our country, 170 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:05.679 I want to know about it. Now, you just speak 171 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:06.320 your peace. 172 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.919 There's nothing to say except'in. I'll be goin away for 173 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:12.320 a day or two on a little tread. 174 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:16.000 Is it dangerous? 175 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:16.399 Pain? 176 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:17.919 Not very. 177 00:12:19.559 --> 00:12:24.000 You'll be back, yes, my dear, I promise you, I'll 178 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:24.399 be back. 179 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:37.600 You'll break the surface of our creek for a second time. 180 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:40.799 And now you're much further down the stream, further away 181 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:43.360 from the Union soldiers on the bridge reloading their guns, 182 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:45.600 the ramrods flashing in the morning sun. 183 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.960 That captain will make the same mistake again. You'll order 184 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:52.320 them to fire it will Heaven help me? I cannot dodge. 185 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.080 Him a head, another more terrible sound. Cannon. They've trained 186 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.600 a cannon on you and close. 187 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.840 Next time, I'll use a charge of grape rifles and 188 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:03.519 grape covering the water from bank to bank. I'm done 189 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:03.960 for them. 190 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.879 Then something seemed to grab you, and you're whirled round 191 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.320 and round, spinning like a waterlog top. You're caught in 192 00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.559 a vortex, a whirlpool. The water, the banks, the distant ridge, 193 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:17.480 the soldiers become indistinct blurs and again. You're helpless. You 194 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:20.559 feel dizzy and sick to your stomach, just as you 195 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.240 felt last night when you crept up the bank or 196 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:25.360 the lone sentinel on the south end of the bridge 197 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.519 and discovered that the sentinel was not alone. 198 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:29.679 There is boys grabby. 199 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:34.879 I hadn't pah, well, mister Peyton farqquhy, We've been expecting you. 200 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.039 How did you know my gude ways? But look here, 201 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:38.799 I'm a civilian. 202 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:41.559 I wave their breath. Thank your maker. We didn't shoot 203 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:44.200 you in the back. We don't do things that way 204 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:47.559 up north. You'll get a trial. Everything fair and square, 205 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:49.200 ring well ie well. 206 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.120 The whirlpool spins faster and faster. A sharp piece of 207 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.559 drift wood tears at your coat. The churning ground water 208 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.799 choked you. You know there is nothing you can do, 209 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:04.000 as you had known it last night when they shoved 210 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.240 you into a tent near the bridge to face the 211 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:08.120 infantry captain with the tired eyes. 212 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.120 Here is sir, right on schedule. 213 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:14.559 Good work, sergeant. Is this the land of lieutenant? 214 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:18.360 That's him? What you're the corporal who stopped at my 215 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:21.799 plantation last night. That's right, mister Farquhar. But I'm not 216 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:24.039 with the thirteenth North Carolina Volunteers. 217 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:29.159 Mister Farquhar, this is Lieutenant Saltonstall, Intelligence Officer, fifth Massachusetts Regulars. 218 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.320 You've trapped me. You deliberately led me into a trap. 219 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:34.559 I'm a civilian and a plant. 220 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.120 Yes, and also a Southern patriot according the Act of Espionage. 221 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:38.960 You can't prove it. 222 00:14:39.240 --> 00:14:39.879 We don't have to. 223 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:44.360 This is the most despicable most This proves once more 224 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:46.200 that Anna is a stranger in the North. 225 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.399 I'm too tired to listen to a recital of the 226 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.080 code of a Southern gentleman. Mister Farquhar. I'm afraid the 227 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:53.360 distinction between your ethics and my lack of them would 228 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:54.399 escape me this evening. 229 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:57.399 But why have you done this? Why have you deliberately 230 00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:57.879 trapped me. 231 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.600 The best way to eliminate civilian resis distance is to 232 00:15:00.679 --> 00:15:03.159 lure it into the open. You fell for the baby 233 00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:04.039 to bed. 234 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:08.639 Now look here, it's my constitutional rights, which constitution, the 235 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:12.279 Constitution of the United States, or Jeff Davis's. 236 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.360 You in sudden yankee, remember your manner, sir. 237 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:15.720 I demand to try it. 238 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.679 You've just had it past a guard of room. Sergeant. Yes, 239 00:15:21.639 --> 00:15:22.919 we'll hang him in the morning. 240 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:33.600 Something tears at your face scratching, and you realize that 241 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:37.519 the whirling has stopped. You open your eyes. You're lying 242 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:39.919 on the southern bank of the stream, out of sight 243 00:15:39.960 --> 00:15:44.200 of your enemies. Safe. The gravel which has scratched your 244 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:48.519 cheek now seems soft as new pig cotton. The forest 245 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:51.759 around you is a garden of luscious beauty, reeking with 246 00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:54.879 a heavy perfume of freedom. Even the whiz and rattle 247 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.240 of the final charge of grape screaming through the tree 248 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:01.120 tops seems a benediction from the battle cannonea. 249 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:02.240 If you leap to your. 250 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:11.480 Feet and run into the woods south towards home, your 251 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:14.200 neck is swollen and throbbing with pain. You carry it 252 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.120 cock towards your left shoulder as you push through the 253 00:16:16.159 --> 00:16:19.679 matted brush. All morning, you tear your way through the undergrowth. 254 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:21.960 Your jacket is tattered and your face criss crossed with 255 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:26.240 bloody scratches from the brambles. Every few moments you stop. 256 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.360 You stop to listen for the sound of dogs, But 257 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:33.720 all you hear is the sleepy buzz of the forest, 258 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:39.879 and the blood throbbing through your heated brain brings another thought, 259 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:44.559 which is an insult. No dogs. You are not even 260 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:53.639 important enough to the Yankees for dogs. It's nearly noon now, 261 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:56.120 and for half an hour you've been plunging through a swamp, 262 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:01.159 waist deep in green ooze. Your neck hurts constantly, your 263 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.759 head throbs, and your tongue is thick. It tastes like 264 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.799 brown cotton, not swarm before your eyes, catching in your eyelids. 265 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:10.759 Busquitoes buzz in your ears, drill deep in your hands, 266 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:15.559 and swollen neck. You cannot go any longer. You slow down, 267 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:20.920 you stop. You reach tortopalmetto root for support, and it 268 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:23.559 slithers from your grasp and slides softly into the water. 269 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:30.599 Water moccasin. Fear finds you at last. Terror, which stood 270 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:34.119 aloof when you fled the executioner's bullets, now embraces you 271 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:38.920 with clammy unction a water moccasin, the deadly cotton mouth. 272 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.720 Now each branch and roots seems to writhe under your glance. 273 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.279 The swamp is undulating with certain death. You plunge on 274 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:49.000 through the dark stinking oos, on and on, tripping, stumbling, 275 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:51.680 never stopping, for terror rides your back, flogging you with 276 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:52.680 a whiplash of fear. 277 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:09.839 Jethro gonna have my speting fill as a film gig 278 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:13.039 time you just drink this shy up tea, Miss. 279 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:19.680 Beeting, thank you, thank you. Jethrow? Yes, miss, what are 280 00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:25.519 you doing here? I live here? Well, what happened? 281 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:28.519 I was paddling my dog out home through the swamp 282 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:32.039 with mess of catfish. I sees you lying out there 283 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:33.680 on the bank in front of my cabin. 284 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.720 Jethrow, I heard, I thought you were dead. 285 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:43.039 Of course, you thought Jethrow was dead. You knew he 286 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:45.960 had consumption when you sold him. You knew he couldn't 287 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.839 last long, and he wasn't earning his keep. His wife 288 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:50.799 and his daughter had carried on some at first, but 289 00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:53.839 after a while they calmed down. At last you'd heard 290 00:18:54.319 --> 00:18:55.200 Jethrow was dead. 291 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:00.519 He thought I was dead, Miss Peyton, I say, don't 292 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:04.279 you know what's happened to me? I'm free. I'm free 293 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:04.799 at last. 294 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:08.480 So news travels fast, even in the middle of his 295 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:11.799 back would swamp. This lonely black has heard of Abe 296 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:16.960 Lincoln's traitorous emancipation proclamation, and they believe it with the 297 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.039 faith of children. 298 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:19.799 Yes, sir, I'm free. 299 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:21.440 I speak pretty soon. 300 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:25.039 My woman, my little gal come along join me. Yes, yes, 301 00:19:25.079 --> 00:19:25.720 of course they will. 302 00:19:25.799 --> 00:19:28.160 Jethro isaay, mis Peyton. 303 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:32.359 They well, yes, yes, indeed they're both fine. You your 304 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.519 daughter's growing into a young beauty. Miss Fogg was brought 305 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:38.119 into the kitchen, beginning to train her for the house. 306 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:42.680 Well, well what do you think of that m and 307 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:45.880 my woman? She's still seeing as putty? 308 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:49.519 Yes, Jethro, sundays at meetin time, we can hear all 309 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:50.640 the way up to the big house. 310 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.079 That woman's voice is put in all the angels. 311 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:58.319 Jethro. I don't know how to say this, but I 312 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.680 really was sorry about having the sell you. But there 313 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:02.880 wasn't anything I. 314 00:20:02.759 --> 00:20:06.599 Understand, Miss Peyton, don't fit, don't mind. I don't forgive 315 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:08.039 you long ago. 316 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:09.640 I have for sure. 317 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:13.319 Don't the Lord tell us to forgive those who tresp 318 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:16.920 us again us? Don't Lord promises we shall be free? 319 00:20:17.400 --> 00:20:20.559 Why don't you worry nothing about my speaking? 320 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.200 And I quite spot quiet jigger? 321 00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:29.200 Quiet you, mister hood raise her bag and afresh, No, sir, 322 00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:33.319 ree lork, Miss Peyton, there's a horse coming down the road. 323 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.200 Horse, look there, soldier. 324 00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:38.079 When our soldiers. 325 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:39.880 Corporal look like Jethro, you got to hide me? 326 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:42.400 Was I got to hide you? My speedon? 327 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:47.319 Don't ask so many questions your insolence. You forget I'm 328 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:50.920 free now well as an old friend of mine. Please 329 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:54.119 don't ask any questions. Just hide me. Don't tell that soldier. 330 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:56.359 Anything, for sure, I reckon I can do that for 331 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.440 old friend, Miss Peyton. Yeah, you get done on this year. 332 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.720 Bit that'said. Put the covers over the side here, you 333 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:06.559 snug is a tack in the rabbits here. 334 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:08.000 Remember, don't tell him anything. 335 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:10.960 Have you come this far just to be turned in 336 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:14.359 by a wolf gathering black who talks crazy? If jeth 337 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:17.400 throw knew this great clad corpor was really a Union lieutenant, 338 00:21:17.400 --> 00:21:20.359 he guarantee his freedom by turning you in. Even so, 339 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:22.079 he bears you a big enough grudge to turn you 340 00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:25.359 in anyway, unless, of course, he's planning to dispose of 341 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:26.079 you himself. 342 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:27.720 Yes, that's it. 343 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:30.880 That's why he talks so silly about the Lord and forgiveness. 344 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:33.720 He's going to do you in himself him. 345 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.720 Don't tell him I was looking for him, Yes, I'll remember, 346 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:40.079 not tell him. Just keep minding your own business. Uncle, 347 00:21:40.759 --> 00:21:41.279 you live. 348 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:44.359 Longer, Yes, sir, I sure, will. 349 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:48.400 You come out now? 350 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:54.799 Mispating, I declare I don't understand none of this, you says, 351 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:56.880 not tell him. You're here, he says, not tell you 352 00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.920 he's been here? What is this all about? My spreed? 353 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:00.799 Boy? 354 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:07.000 HiT's nothing, Jethrow, nothing, I over man some money. I'm 355 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:08.039 not ready to pay it. 356 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:12.759 Oh I see, I wouldn't know about that money. Something 357 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:16.720 never bothered me like it bother some money and me 358 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:18.119 is all has been strangers. 359 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:21.559 What does she mean by that money's never bothered? Mean 360 00:22:21.640 --> 00:22:25.599 like it's bothered some what's she picking up that knife. 361 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:27.640 For, Jethro? What are you going to do that night? 362 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:31.039 Oh? I was just fixing to slit up some of them. 363 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:34.319 Catfish's gotten a dog out. Looked like you could do 364 00:22:34.440 --> 00:22:36.039 with the little food mines Paiden. 365 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:39.240 Oh no, no, thank you, Jethrow. I really got to 366 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:40.720 be on my way. I want to get home by 367 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:42.759 son down. If I can't, sure wouldn't be no bother 368 00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:45.559 cut up a couple of can No, thank you, old friend. 369 00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:47.720 If you'll just tell me which way I should go 370 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:48.200 to get home. 371 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:54.200 Well, I don't rightly know, miss Peyden. I reckon from 372 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:57.319 the way the sun's reclining be down the road. That 373 00:22:57.480 --> 00:22:59.880 away quite a tolerable piece. 374 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:02.000 Yeah, they should be about right. 375 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:06.759 I never been back, you know, I never tried to 376 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:10.200 go back since I've been free. Yes, I know, but 377 00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:14.160 I reckon it won't belong to my woman. My little 378 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:18.720 gal comes here to mean, of course, if you get back, 379 00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:23.039 mister Peyton, if and you see him, you tell him 380 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:25.079 I'm here waiting for him. 381 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:28.480 Yeah, yeah, I'll do that, Jethro, I'll do that. 382 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:34.240 You get away from there fast. The shelves of the 383 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:38.000 road crunching under your muddy boots, that grinning savage standing 384 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.200 in the doorway of the shack, the knife in his hands, 385 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:43.000 and each moment until the road bends and cuts off 386 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:45.519 the cabin from view, you fear he'll come after you, 387 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:47.839 the knife poised to plunge in your back, to pay 388 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:49.640 you for the first you gave him when you send 389 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:53.559 him away to die. But he's still standing, grinning foolishly 390 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.440 and waving as you turn the bend. Now you feel safe, 391 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:58.880 but only for a moment. Then you hear a sound, 392 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:02.839 the sound of a horse. It must be the Corporal 393 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:05.720 and Gray from the fifth Massachusetts Regulars. He's coming back 394 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:08.000 down the road, searching for you, hounding you, coming to 395 00:24:08.039 --> 00:24:10.279 take you back to oul Creek Bridge, back to a 396 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:13.000 rope that won't break under your weight. You walk faster 397 00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:15.640 and faster, and always the sound is there, growing louder 398 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:17.599 and louder, and you run as fast as you can 399 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:20.240 down the shell road, which stretches clear to the horizon 400 00:24:20.279 --> 00:24:26.599 between the green walls of scrubby pines. How long have 401 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:29.599