ed me, as
much astonished as I was; and kneeling round the dying man, while Prior
took out his tablet to make notes if required, we listened to the
following strange story, which, with many interruptions, he narrated to
us.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

"I was born and bred in the State of New York. My father I never knew.
My mother was kind and good; but she yielded to the dictates of her
heart rather than to those of her judgment. She over-indulged me; she
neglected to root out the bad seeds Satan is always striving to sow in
the heart of man; and they grew up and flourished, till they brought me
to what I now am. I was of a roving, unsettled disposition. I required
excitement. I believe that I might, with care, have been led into the
right way, but that care was wanting. I was fond of excitement; when I
could not obtain it in reality, I sought it in fiction, and therefore
eagerly devoured all books which could satisfy my craving; but never did
I look into one which would confer any real benefit upon me.

"The adventures of robbers and pirates delighted me most, and the
history of a man, whose name I by chance bore, had a fatal influence on
my destiny. I thought him a hero, and fancied it would be a grand thing
to become like him.

"It did not occur to me, that the stories about him were mostly false;
that the book was a fiction, dressed up to please the vicious palate of
the uneducated public, and that the man himself was a miserable wretch,
little better than a brute, who dared not think of the past or
contemplate the future. What he was I am too well able to tell, from
knowing what I myself now am. I was well educated; but my knowledge was
ignorance. I soon grew weary of the trammels of home, and fancying that
I should have greater licence afloat, with a vague notion that I would
imitate some of the heroes of my imagination, I, without even wishing my
mother farewell, ran away to sea. I had no difficulty in finding a
ship; and if Satan himself had wished to choose one for me, he would not
have fixed on a craft where I could more certainly have learned to
follow his ways. The master set an example of wickedness, in which the
crew willingly followed; and thus I grew up among the scenes of the
grossest vice. It was not long before I engaged in transactions
considered criminal by the laws. My companions and I succeeded so well
without detection, that the rascally merchants, who had employed us,
engaged