only beats up the bush a little, not coming near me.

[Illustration: "Brings him down, persimmons and all"]

"They go off, with Jim never so much as looking my way, though they
passed so clost to me that the lieutenant's heel scrunched my little
finger. I had to take it without hollering or moving, for if I had
they'd taken me along with Jim. And that's what tree climbing brings a
man to."

"What became of Jim?" I asked.

"Oh, Jim, he was kept a prisoner all through the war, so he never got no
enjoyment out of his life, never seeing a bit of real fighting--just
marching and drilling and prison. So that, as he said, he might just as
well never 'a' run away,--seeing he had to bide a non-combatant, which
is the same as Quaker, after all."

"Then he didn't like it, did he?" I asked.

"No," Mr. Taylor said, laughing, "he didn't. And let this be a warning
to you, young man. Don't you go up a tree for persimmons or cherries or
other fruits whatsomever, agin the advice of your elders and betters."

"No, sir, Mr. Taylor," I said, "I never will."




CHAPTER IV