# An Arrest explained — Can Such Things Be?

> Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

Orrin Brower, a fugitive who murdered his brother-in-law, escapes from jail and flees into a forest. Lost in the dark, he encounters a motionless figure on an old road. Under moonlight, he sees it is the jailer, Burton Duff, who silently directs him back toward town. Brower submits and walks to the jail, where he finds the jailer's dead body waiting.

## Themes in this chapter

### Guilt and Retribution

Brower's guilt manifests in his submission to the spectral jailer, leading him inexorably back to justice.

### Death and the Supernatural

The dead jailer appears as a ghostly embodiment of law, guiding the murderer to his fate.

## Character check-ins

### Orrin Brower

A fugitive murderer who escapes jail and is guided back by the ghostly jailer.

### Burton Duff

The jailer, killed by Brower's iron bar, appears as a spectral figure to lead him back.

## Key lines

> Having murdered his brother-in-law, Orrin Brower of Kentucky was a fugitive from justice.

Orrin Brower, a Kentuckian, became a wanted man after killing his brother-in-law.

_Establishes Brower's crime and status at the story's outset._

> His captor was Burton Duff, the jailer, as white as death and bearing upon his brow the livid mark of the iron bar.

The figure leading him was the jailer Burton Duff, pale as a corpse with the bruise from the iron bar on his forehead.

_Reveals the supernatural nature of the jailer's appearance._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters/an-arrest
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/can_such_things_be_se/chapters