{"id":"01KG8AKJYVMYG2B8WZCR34WQD1","cid":"bafkreiacq3ik6tk7pnko2ipkamaekcnn4ycunkneosch7hvxfwmjfnxqdq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3479,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:05.590Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","start_line":3420,"text":"to his consternation, he saw the man returning towards him, evidently\r\nby his pace and gesture in unmixed amazement. The man must have turned\r\nround to look before Israel had done so. Frozen to the ground, Israel\r\nknew not what to do; but next moment it struck him that this very\r\nmotionlessness was the least hazardous plan in such a strait. Thrusting\r\nout his arm again towards the house, once more he stood stock still,\r\nand again awaited the event.\r\n\r\nIt so happened that this time, in pointing towards the house, Israel\r\nunavoidably pointed towards the advancing man. Hoping that the\r\nstrangeness of this coincidence might, by operating on the man’s\r\nsuperstition, incline him to beat an immediate retreat, Israel kept\r\ncool as he might. But the man proved to be of a braver metal than\r\nanticipated. In passing the spot where the scarecrow had stood, and\r\nperceiving, beyond the possibility of mistake, that by, some\r\nunaccountable agency it had suddenly removed itself to a distance,\r\ninstead of being, terrified at this verification of his worst\r\napprehensions, the man pushed on for Israel, apparently resolved to\r\nsift this mystery to the bottom.\r\n\r\nSeeing him now determinately coming, with pitchfork valiantly\r\npresented, Israel, as a last means of practising on the fellow’s fears\r\nof the supernatural, suddenly doubled up both fists, presenting them\r\nsavagely towards him at a distance of about twenty paces, at the same\r\ntime showing his teeth like a skull’s, and demoniacally rolling his\r\neyes. The man paused bewildered, looked all round him, looked at the\r\nspringing grain, then across at some trees, then up at the sky, and\r\nsatisfied at last by those observations that the world at large had not\r\nundergone a miracle in the last fifteen minutes, resolutely resumed his\r\nadvance; the pitchfork, like a boarding-pike, now aimed full at the\r\nbreast of the object. Seeing all his stratagems vain, Israel now threw\r\nhimself into the original attitude of the scarecrow, and once again\r\nstood immovable. Abating his pace by degrees almost to a mere creep,\r\nthe man at last came within three feet of him, and, pausing, gazed\r\namazed into Israel’s eyes. With a stern and terrible expression Israel\r\nresolutely returned the glance, but otherwise remained like a statue,\r\nhoping thus to stare his pursuer out of countenance. At last the man\r\nslowly presented one prong of his fork towards Israel’s left eye.\r\nNearer and nearer the sharp point came, till no longer capable of\r\nenduring such a test, Israel took to his heels with all speed, his\r\ntattered coat-tails streaming behind him. With inveterate purpose the\r\nman pursued. Darting blindly on, Israel, leaping a gate, suddenly found\r\nhimself in a field where some dozen laborers were at work, who\r\nrecognizing the scarecrow—an old acquaintance of theirs, as it would\r\nseem—lifted all their hands as the astounding apparition swept by,\r\nfollowed by the man with the pitchfork. Soon all joined in the chase,\r\nbut Israel proved to have better wind and bottom than any. Outstripping\r\nthe whole pack he finally shot out of their sight in an extensive park,\r\nheavily timbered in one quarter. He never saw more of these people.\r\n\r\nLoitering in the wood till nightfall, he then stole out and made the\r\nbest of his way towards the house of that good natured farmer in whose\r\ncorn-loft he had received his first message from Squire Woodcock.\r\nRousing this man up a little before midnight, he informed him somewhat\r\nof his recent adventures, but carefully concealed his having been\r\nemployed as a secret courier, together with his escape from Squire\r\nWoodcock’s. All he craved at present was a meal. The meal being over,\r\nIsrael offered to buy from the farmer his best suit of clothes, and\r\ndisplayed the money on the spot.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK5N1RMM3XRMGGBS02KR4","peer_type":"subsection","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1DKC9HHJRKY25JZBEXW","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKJYX6DTYPGYFYEQ1YEVE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.179Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.791Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}