mod_rewrite problems in Apache 1.3.x

Greetings.

I'm stumped by a "it used to work..." problem on Apache 1.3.29 (although it
doesn't appear to be important, this is on FreeBSD 4.8-STABLE, but also
occurs on Apache 1.3.28 on Linux w/ kernel 2.4.22). This worked fine,
apparently, in 4.6-STABLE, which had (i think) Apache 1.3.24.

So, the problem: when i request http://127.0.0.3/foo.html, i get
redirected to http://127.0.0.3//bar/index.php (note the // between
the path and domain). I'd hoped to get a redirect to
http://127.0.0.3/bar/index.php (see the .htaccess RewriteRule
below).

Anyway, the .htaccess in my top-level directory has this (these are on my
local Linux box, FWIW):

-snip-
RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^foo\.html$ bar/index.php [R]
-snip-

And here's the relevant virtual host config:

-snip-
<VirtualHost 127.0.0.3>
DocumentRoot /home/scott/nut_design/ybh
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/scott/nut_design/ybh/cgi-bin/
ServerName 127.0.0.3
ErrorLog /var/log/httpd/ybh_test-error_log
RewriteEngine On
RewriteOptions inherit
RewriteLog /var/log/httpd/ybh_test-rewrite_log
RewriteLogLevel 3
<Directory "/">
order allow,deny
Allow from all
AllowOverride FileInfo Options Indexes
Options FollowSymLinks
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
-snip-

I turned on RewriteLog, and can see it happening (sorry if the wrapping
makes it too weird):

-snip-

127.0.0.3 - - [06/Jan/2004:13:31:24 -0500]
[127.0.0.3/sid#808a220][rid#808f870/initial] (2) [per-dir
/home/scott/nut_design/ybh/] explicitly forcing redirect with
http://127.0.0.3/home/scott/nut_desi.../bar/index.php

127.0.0.3 - - [06/Jan/2004:13:31:24 -0500]
[127.0.0.3/sid#808a220][rid#808f870/initial] (2) [per-dir
/home/scott/nut_design/ybh/] trying to replace prefix
/home/scott/nut_design/ybh/ with /

127.0.0.3 - - [06/Jan/2004:13:31:24 -0500]
[127.0.0.3/sid#808a220][rid#808f870/initial] (1) [per-dir
/home/scott/nut_design/ybh/] escaping http://127.0.0.3//bar/index.php for
redirect

-snip-

It works fine with .htaccess files in subdirectories. I've tried to
figure out a way to simply rewrite the // to /, but keep getting stymied.
Of course the ideal solution would be to simply keep this from getting
messed-up in the first place!

Help? Dope-slaps are fine, if I deserve it!

Thanks,
-s.

--
Scott Hepler
System Administration and Security
Web Development
(802) 457-3796