sic invariably recurs and so at a signal from the
captain the slaves who performed the functions of deck-hands, waiters or
musicians as the exigencies of the occasion demanded, brought in their
musical instruments and the rafters were soon ringing with their simple
melodies to the accompaniment of banjos and guitars. The deep rich
voices blended harmoniously with the tingle of the stringed instruments
and the clicking of the bones. Plantation songs were followed by revival
hymns, and these by coarse and licentious ditties. At a second stage of
every orgie, desire for the dance is kindled by music, and so, at the
command of their master, two of the slaves began to execute a "double
shuffle."

The clatter and the beating of negro feet to the accompaniment of the
banjo and the bones, and the shouting of the spectators gave vent to the
boisterous emotions of the revelers. Even the melancholy mate caught the
enthusiasm, and for a time at least forgot his misery. Of them all, the
judge alone preserved his gravity. He sat looking unmoved at these wild
antics, and murmured to himself:

"If music be the food of love, play on.
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.
That strain again! It had a dying fall.
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets
Stealing and giving odor."

Nothing could be more horrible than the sight of this gifted man herding
with these beasts. It was like a lion devouring carrion with wolves.
Aside from the pleasure of the palate, his enjoyment of the scene was
derived from the cynical contempt with which he regarded it. Having
descended to the lowest depths of human degradation, he had arrived at a
point where he drew his keenest relish from the inconsistencies, the
absurdities and the sufferings of his fellow-men. In order that he might
behold a scene in which all the elements of the horribly grotesque were
combined, he determined to provoke the egotism and complacency of the
quack to the very highest activity at this moment when his fortunes and
his hopes were being undermined.

After the excitement of the dance had abated, the concluding phase of
all such orgies came in its inevitable sequence, and they began to drink
great bumpers to each other's health. After all had been pledged, the
judge proposed a toast to the "gypsy bride."

The tongue of the quack was loosened in an instant and he p