ook that name to show his
enmity to the race of blacks! But this gentleman is now, and has been
for years, to my certain knowledge, a regular translator of the human
body from one State to another. I have dealt with him in my time, and a
cheating dog he is! No more honour in him than meat in my stomach. I saw
him here in this very town, the day of your wedding. He was in company
with his wife's brother, and pretended to be a settler on the hunt for
new land. A noble set they were, to carry on business--seven sons, each
of them as tall as your sergeant with his cap on. Well, the moment I
heard that your wife was lost, I saw at once that Abiram had laid his
hands on her."

"Do you know this--can this be true? What reason have you to fancy a
thing so wild?"

"Reason enough; I know Abiram White. Now, will you add a trifle just to
keep my throat from parching?"

"Go, go; you are stupified with drink already, miserable man, and know
not what you say. Go; go, and beware the drummer."

"Experience is a good guide"--the fellow called after the retiring
Middleton; and then turning with a chuckling laugh, like one well
satisfied with himself, he made the best of his way towards the shop of
the suttler.

A hundred times in the course of that night did Middleton fancy that the
communication of the miscreant was entitled to some attention, and
as often did he reject the idea as too wild and visionary for another
thought. He was awakened early on the following morning, after passing a
restless and nearly sleepless night, by his orderly, who came to report
that a man was found dead on the parade, at no great distance from his
quarters. Throwing on his clothes he proceeded to the spot, and beheld
the individual, with whom he had held the preceding conference, in the
precise situation in which he had first been found.

The miserable wretch had fallen a victim to his intemperance. This
revolting fact was sufficiently proclaimed by his obtruding eye-balls,
his bloated countenance, and the nearly insufferable odours that
were even then exhaling from his carcass. Disgusted with the odious
spectacle, the youth was turning from the sight, after ordering the
corpse to be removed, when the position of one of the dead man's hands
struck him. On examination, he found the fore-finger extended, as if in
the act of writing in the sand, with the following incomplete sentence,
nearly illegible, but yet in a state to be deciphered: "Captain, it i