He turned to pull away from Kents detaining hand, when he heard Captain Bennetts order to the regiment to charge, and the hand relaxed its hold. Jake faced to the front again and saw Kent and Abe Bolton, and the rest of the boys rush forward, leaving him and a score of other weak-kneed irresolutes standing alone behind.
Again he thought he would seek the refuge of the rock, but at that moment the Union line swept up to the Rebels, scattering them as a wave does dry sand.
Jakes mental motions were reasonably rapid. Now he was not long in realizing that all the danger was past, and that he had an opportunity of gaining credit cheaply. He acted promptly. Fixing his bayonet, he gave a fearful yell and started forward on a run for the position which the regiment had gained.
He was soon in the lead of the pursuers, and appeared, by his later zeal, to be making amends for his earlier tardiness. As he ran ahead he shouted savagely:
Run down the hellions! Shoot em! Stab em! Baynet em! Dont let one of em git away.
There is an excitement in a man-chase that is not even approached by any other kind of hunting, and Jake soon became fairly intoxicated with it.
He quickly overtook one or two of the slower-paced Rebels, who surrendered quietly, and were handed by him over to the other boys as they came up, and conducted by them to the rear.
Becoming more excited he sped on, entirely unmindful of how far he was outstripping his comrades.
A hundred yards ahead of him was a tall, gaunt Virginian, clad in butternut-colored jeans of queer cut and pattern, and a great bell-crowned hat of rough, gray beaver. Though his gait was shambling and his huge splay feet rose and fell in the most awkward way, he went over the ground with a swiftness that made it rather doubtful whether Jake was gaining on him at all. But the latter was encouraged by the sings of his chases 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 Jakes 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 fugitives 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 hed 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 his gun. As he raised his eyes he saw three or four other Rebels step out from behind a rock, and level their guns upon him with an expression of bloodthirstiness that seemed simply fiendish.
Then it flashed upon him how far away he was from all his comrades, and that the labyrinth of laurel made them even more remote. With this realization came the involuntary groan:
O, Lordy! its all up with me. Im a goner, sure!
His courage did not ooze out of his fingers, like the historic Bob Acress; it vanished like gas from a rent balloon. He clasped his hands and tried to think of some prayer.
Now I lay me, he murmured.
Shant we shoot the varmint? said one of the Rebels, with a motion of his gun in harmony with that idea.
O, mistermisterGOOD mister, DONT! PLEASE dont! I swear I didnt mean to do no harm to you.
Wall, ye acted monty quare fur a man that didnt mean no harm, said the pursued man, regaining his breath with some difficulty. A-chasin me down with thet ar prod on yer gun, an a-threatenin to stick hit inter me at every jump. Only wanted ter see me run, did yer?
O, mister, I only done it because I wuz ordered to. I couldnt help myself; I swear I couldnt.
Whars the ossifers thet wuz a-orderin ye? Whars the captins that wuz puttin ye up ter hit? Thar want no one in a mile of ye. Guess wed better shoot ye.
Again Jake raised his voice in abject appeal for mercy. There was nothing he was not willing to promise if only his life were only spared.
Wouldnt hit be better ter baynet him? suggested one of the Rebels, entirely unmoved, as his comrades were, by Jakes piteous pleadings. Ef we go ter shootin round yere hitll liekly bring the Yankees right onter us.
I spect hit would be better ter take him back a little ways, any way, said the man whom Jake had pursued. Pick up his gun thar, Eph. Come along, you, an be monty peart about hit, fur were in a powerful bad frame o mind ter be fooled with. I wouldnt gin a fi-penny-bit fur all yer blue-bellied lifes worth. The boys ar jest pizen mad from seein so many o thar kin and folks killed by yer crowd o thievin Hessians.
Grateful for even a momentary respite, Jake rose from his knees with alacrity and humbly followed one of the Rebels along the path. The others strode behind, and occasionally spurred him into a more rapid pace with a prick from their bayonets.
O,ough, mister, dont do that! Dont, PLEASE! You dont know how it hurts. I aint got no rhinoceros skin to stand such jabs as that. That came purty nigh goin clean through to my heart.
Skeet ahead faster, then, or the next punchll go righ smack through ye, fur sartin. Ef yer skins so tender what are ye doin in the army?
They climbed the mountain laboriously, and started down on the other side. About midway in the descent they came upon a deserted cabin standing near the side of the road.
By the Lord Harry, said one of the Rebels, Im amost done clean gin out, so I am. Im tireder nor a claybank hoss arter a hard days plowin, an Im ez dry ez a lime-kiln. I motion that we stop yere an take a rest. We kin put our Yank in the house thar, an keep him. I wonder whar the spring is that the folks thet lived yere got thar water from?
Ef I dont disremember, said another, this is the house where little Pete Higgenbottom lived afore the country got ruther onhelthy fur him on account of his partiality for other peoples hosses. I made a little trip up yere the time I loss thet little white-faced bay mar of paps, an Im purty sure the springs over thar in the holler.
Lordy, how they must ve hankered arter the fun o totin water to ve lugged hit clar from over tha. Idve moved the house nigher the spring afore Idve stood thet ere a month, so I would.
The distance to the water ortent to bother a feller thet gets along with usin ez little ez you do, growled the first speaker.
A man whose nose looks like a red-pepper pod in August, and his shirt like a section o rich bottom land, haint no great reason ter make remarks on other folkss use o water.