EPISODES 



233 



reached the lowest part of a ravine, no doubt well known 

 to him, hoppled (tied together the fore-legs of) his stolen 

 horse, to enable it to feed during the night without chance 

 of straying far, and concealed himself in a hollow log to 

 spend tht night. The plan was good, but proved his 

 ruin. 



The E^egulator, who knew every hill and hollow of the 

 woods, marked the place and the log with the eye of an 

 experienced hunter, and as he remarked that Mason was 

 most efficiently armed, he galloped off to the nearest house 

 where he knew he should find assistan:e. This was easily 

 procured, and the party proceeded to the spot. Mason, 

 on being attacked, defended himself with desperate valor; 

 and as it proved impossible to secure him alive he was 

 brought to the ground with a rifle ball. His head was cut 

 off, and stuck on the end of a broken branch of a tree, by 

 the nearest road to the place where the affray happened. 

 The gang soon dispersed, in consequence of the loss of 

 their leader, and this infliction of merited punishment 

 proved beneficial in deterring others from following a 

 similar predatory life. 



The punishment by castigation is performed in the fol- 

 lowinrr manner. The individual convicted of an offence is 

 led to some remote part of the woods, under the escort 

 of some forty or fifty Regulators. When arrived at the 

 chosen spot, the criminal is made fast to a tree, and a few 

 of the Regulators remain with him, while the rest scour the 

 forest to assure themselves that no strangers are within 

 reach, after which they form an extensive ring, arranging 

 themselves on their horses, well armed with rifles and 

 pistols, at equal distances and in each other's sight. At a 

 given signal that " all 's ready," those about the culprit, 

 having provided themselves with young twigs of hickory, 

 administer the number of lashes prescribed by the sen- 

 tence, untie the sufferer, and order him to leave the 

 country immediately. 



