whether Jake was gaining on him at all. But the latter was encouraged
by the sings of his chase's distress. First the bell-crowned hat
flew off and rolled behind, and Jake could not resist the temptation
to give it a kick which sent it spinning into a clump of honeysuckles.
Then the Rebel flung off a haversack, whose flapping interfered
with his speed, and this was followed by a clumsily-constructed
cedar canteen. The thought flashed into Jake's mind that this was
probably filled with the much-vaunted peach-brandy of that section;
and as ardent sprits were one of his weaknesses, the temptation to
stop and pick up the canteen was very strong, but he conquered it
and hurried on after his prey. Next followed the fugitive's belt,
loaded down with an antique cartridge-box, a savage knife made from
a rasp and handled with buckhorn, and a fierce-looking horse-pistol
with a flint-lock.

"I seemed to be bustin' up a moosyum o' revolutionary relics," said
Jake afterward, in describing the incident. "The feller dropped
keepsakes from his forefathers like a bird moltin' its feathers
on a windy day. I begun to think that if I kep up the chase purty
soon he'd begin to shed Continental money and knee-britches."

The fugitive turned off to the right into a narrow path that wound
through the laurel thickets. Jake followed with all the energy
that remained in him, confident that a short distance more would
bring him so close to his game that he could force his surrender
by a threat of bayoneting. He caught up to within a rod of the
Rebel, and was already foreshortening his gun for a lunge in case
of refusal to surrender on demand, when he was amazed to see the
Rebel whirl around, level his gun at him, and order HIS surrender.
Jake was so astonished that he stumbled, fell forward and dropped