fe there is hope; but it is always best to be
prepared for the worst--he who is thus prepared never can meet with a
disagreeable surprise. Messrs. Executioners"--for there were two, that
of the king, and that of the queen, or one at each end of the unhappy
criminal--"Messrs. Executioners, I pray you to give the culprit a moment
to arrange his thoughts, and to communicate his last requests in behalf
of his distant family and friends!"

To this reasonable petition neither of the higher functionaries of the
law made any objection, although both insisted if they did not forthwith
bring the culprit to the last stages of preparation, they might lose
their places. They did not see, however, but a man might pause for a
moment on the brink of the grave. It would seem that there had been a
little misunderstanding between the executioners themselves on the point
of precedency, which had been one cause of the delay, and which had
been disposed of by an arrangement that both should operate at the same
instant. Noah was now brought down to his hands and knees, "moored head
and starn," as that unfeeling blackguard Bob, who was in the crowd,
expressed it, between the two blocks, his neck lying on one and his
tail on the other. While in this edifying attitude, I was permitted to
address him.

"It may be well to bethink you of your soul, my dear captain," I said;
"for, to speak truth, these axes have a very prompt and sanguinary
appearance."

"I know it, Sir John, I know it; and, not to mislead you, I will own
that I have been repenting with all my might, ever since that first
vardict. That affair of the lord high admiral, in particular, has given
me a good deal of consarn; and I now humbly ask your pardon for being
led away by such a miserable deception, which is all owing to that
riptyle Dr. Reasono, who, I hope, will yet meet with his desarts. I
forgive everybody, and hope everybody will forgive me. As for Miss Poke,
it will be a hard case; for she is altogether past expecting another
consort, and she must be satisfied to be a relic the rest of her days."

"Repentance, repentance, my dear Noah--repentance is the one thing
needful for a man in your extremity."

"I do--I do, Sir John, body and soul--I repent, from the bottom of my
heart, ever having come on this v'y'ge--nay, I don't know but I repent
ever having come outside of Montauk Point. I might, at this moment, have
been a school-master or a tavern-keeper in Stunnin'tun; and