way back and forth; and to a
staid woman that had never been shut up behind bars the writing--or
the most of it--was mad enough. "Liberty! Liberty!" it kept saying:
and "good though it was, how much better if he'd been able to see
just one star through the fog!"

'By little and little he stretched his tether so far, forgetting how
the time went, that the dawn overtook him a good half-mile from the
house; and through the gray of it he caught sight of a man standing
about fifty yards away, and right in his path. He turned to run, and
then his heart almost jumped out of his mouth as he saw another man
standing to catch him with arms held wide!

'But what had happened was, he had strayed into the pea-patch and
the figure with its arms stretched out was no man at all, but a
scarecrow. The lad had no sooner made sure of this than he whipped
behind it, stretched out his hands upon the cross-trees that served
it for arms, and clung there, praying.

'Now the man creeping down the field was Nathan the Jew. He had been
wandering the Moor all night, crazy with terror; and when the dawn
showed him a house, he could have turned Christian and dropped on his
knees. But casting a glance over his shoulder as he ran towards it,
he caught sight of the scarecrow. For a second or two he ran faster,
believing it to be either a man or a ghost. He took another glance
back and came to a halt.

'He knew it now for a scarecrow. He stood, and he stood, and he eyed
it.

'The scarecrow had a suit of clothes that was all tatters, and an old
beaver hat. It was the hat that took Nathan's fancy. Beaver hats
cost a deal of money in those days: but they had a knack of lasting,
and Nathan had scarcely ever met with one, however old, that he
couldn't sell for a few pence. For a minute or so he stood there,
letting his sense of business get the better of his fright; then he
swallowed down the last doubt sticking in his throat, walked straight
up to the scarecrow, and made a grab at the hat.

'"Leave my head alone, can't you?" said the scarecrow. And with that
Mr Nathan dropped in a fit; yet not so quick but that before dropping
he caught a straight blow full on the jaw.

'When he came to, his coat was gone, and his bag, and his hats,
including the scarecrow's. But the rest of the scarecrow stood over
him, with its arms stretched out just as before; and he picked
himself up and ran from it.

'As for the lad, by this time he had made the