This is a story about a man named Peyton Farquhar, a Southerner who is being hanged in Alabama by Union soldiers during the Civil War.
Peyton is a private citizen who works the fields and lives with his wife and children on his plantation farm.
Peyton was captured trying to sabotage railroad construction by Union soldiers, a bold move that he thought could help the South.
Just as Peyton is about to be dropped from the bridge with the noose around his neck, he thinks about his wife and children.
Then, the soldiers remove the plank he is standing on and he drops quickly.
Just as he thinks he is about to die from the pain around his neck, he feels the rope break and lands in the stream below.
Peyton struggles to escape the ropes and manages to swim downstream.
The Union soldiers open fire on him, but he swims under the current of the stream to evade the bullets.
Eventually, he gets to the bank of the stream and runs into the forest.
Because he lives about thirty miles away, he walks home.
