bdivide,
until nearly every patriot was fleeing alone. There could be no
successful pursuit, therefore, since the subdivision of the pursuing
party weakened it too much.

"We will give fifty pounds to get within reach of the scamp that
galloped by here, just ahead of us," exclaimed a lieutenant of
Tarleton's cavalry, as he and three other troopers drew up before a
farmer, who was hoeing in the field by the roadside.

The farmer looked up, leaned on his hoe, took off his old hat, and,
mopping his forehead with his handkerchief, looked at the angry soldier
and said:

"Fifty pounds is a big lot of money."

"So it is in these times, but we'll give it to you in gold, if you'll
show us where we can get a chance at the rebel; did you see him?"

"He was all alone, was he? And he was mounted on a black horse with a
white star in his forehead, and he was going like a streak of lightning,
wasn't he?"

"That's the fellow!" exclaimed the questioners, hoping they were about
to get the knowledge they wanted.

"It looked to me like Jack Davis, though he went by so fast that I
couldn't get a square look at his face, but he was one of Marion's men,
and if I ain't greatly mistaken it was Jack Davis himself."

[Illustration: TARLETON'S LIEUTENANT AND THE FARMER (JACK DAVIS).]

Then looking up at the four British horsemen, the farmer added, with a
quizzical expression:

"I reckon that ere Jack Davis has hit you chaps pretty hard, ain't he?"

"Never mind about _that_," replied the lieutenant; "what we want to know
is where we can get a chance at him for just about five minutes."

The farmer put his cotton handkerchief into his hat, which he now slowly
replaced, and shook his head: "I don't think he's hiding round here," he
said; "when he shot by Jack was going so fast that it didn't look as if
he could stop under four or five miles. Strangers, I'd like powerful
well to earn that fifty pounds, but I don't think you'll get a chance to
squander it on me."

After some further questioning, the lieutenant and his men wheeled their
horses and trotted back toward the main body of Tarleton's cavalry. The
farmer plied his hoe for several minutes, gradually working his way
toward the stretch of woods some fifty yards from the roadside, where he
stepped in among the trees and disappeared. You understand, of course,
that the farmer that leaned on his hoe by the roadside and talked to
Tarleton's lieutenant about Jack Davis and his exploits