of it; "let's see the feller,
an' I'll strike a bargain with him, if he seems a likely chap."

"You will have strike de bargin vid _me_," said the dealer. "I vill
charge you ver' leetle, suppose you take full cargo."

The whole party, who were ignorant of the man's profession, started at
this remark, and looked at the dealer in surprise.

"Wot!" exclaimed Tim Rokens, withdrawing his pipe from his lips; "do you
_sell_ niggers?"

"Yees, to be surely," replied the man, with a peculiarly saturnine
smile.

"A slave-dealer?" exclaimed Briant, clenching his fists.

"Even so, sare."

At this Briant uttered a shout, and throwing forward his clenched fists
in a defiant attitude, exclaimed between his set teeth--

"Arrah! come on!"

Most men have peculiarities. Phil Briant had many; but his most
striking peculiarity, and that which led him frequently into extremely
awkward positions, was a firm belief that his special calling--in an
amateur point of view--was the redressing of wrongs--not wrongs of a
particular class, or wrongs of an excessively glaring and offensive
nature, but _all_ wrongs whatsoever. It mattered not to Phil whether
the wrong had to be righted by force of argument or force of arms. He
considered himself an accomplished practitioner in both lines of
business--and in regard to the latter his estimate of his powers was not
very much too high, for he was a broad-shouldered, deep-chested,
long-armed fellow, and had acquired a scientific knowledge of boxing
under a celebrated bruiser at the expense of a few hard-earned
shillings, an occasional bottle of poteen, and many a severe thrashing.

Justice to Phil's amiability of character requires, however, that we
should state that he never sought to terminate an argument with his
fists unless he was invited to do so, and even then he invariably gave
his rash challenger fair warning, and offered to let him retreat if so
disposed. But when injustice met his eye, or when he happened to see
cruelty practised by the strong against the weak, his blood fired at
once, and he only deigned the short emphatic remark--"Come on,"
sometimes preceded by "Arrah!" sometimes not. Generally speaking, he
accepted his own challenge, and _went_ on forthwith.

Of all the iniquities that draw forth the groans of humanity on this sad
earth, slavery, in the opinion of Phil Briant, was the worst. He had
never come in contact with it, not having been in the Southern States of
Ame