have a talk with Hinson
about raft-building on the Tombigbee."

"Do you believe this?"

"I don't know what to think. He is a civil man--very civil--as soft
spoken as a girl, and he has the nicest table manners I ever seen in a
_man_. I couldn't turn strangers away on such a raw night."

"No," said the sheriff, "you could not; we must be neighborly; but I
have my doubts of Jeremiah Hodge. Good-bye, Jane. Drop over and see
Fanny and the new baby."

The officer, highly satisfied with his cunning detective work, slipped
out and joined his impatient companion, Perkins, who agreed to
communicate straightway with Lieutenant Gaines, commandant at Fort
Stoddart, a post on the Tombigbee. Having secured a canoe and a
colored boy to paddle it, Colonel Perkins, on the following morning,
descended the river, and told Gaines his story.

While Perkins was floating down the Tombigbee, the polite boatman,
Jeremiah Hodge, was writing letters, eating breakfast, and chatting
most agreeably with his admiring hostess. At about nine-o'clock he
requested his fellow-traveller to saddle the horses, and within the
few minutes required for this to be done he surprised Mrs. Hinson by
disclosing his real name.

"Madam, if you should ever chance to meet a boatman by the name of
Jeremiah Hodge, which is not probable, please make my apologies to him
for borrowing his name, as I have borrowed also another man's clothes.
I am Aaron Burr, of New York, a name pretty widely known and much
bandied about in these scandalmongering days. I know your husband
well; Colonel Hinson and myself are old friends; I saw him lately in
Natchez, and he was kind enough to invite me to make his house my
home, in case I had need of a comrade soldier's hospitality. Under the
circumstances now existing I cannot remain longer."

Mrs. Hinson looked incredulous and scared.

"Mercy me!" was her suppressed interjection.

"Pardon me for giving a false name, and not a pretty one, either. A
reward of two thousand dollars is offered to any one who will give
information leading to my arrest. Such a snug sum might serve you for
pin-money." This was jocularly said and with a smile. Mrs. Hinson
found a tongue to protest.

"Don't fear I'll blab. I wish I could help you to get out of danger.
Now I see why cousin Brightwell was Paul Prying here last night.
There's your horse saddled and bridled. Take keer of yourself."

"Good-bye, my dear madam. I cannot, of course, offer to pay