father back to Delaware County to his forge for a living, and to the
day of his death he was nothing more than a hard-working,
hand-to-mouth-living, common blacksmith.

But my uncle stayed there, and, as time went on, he bought hundreds of
acres of land for a mere song, which were now immensely valuable, and
had made his children almost the richest people in that region. My
Cousins were great farmers, extensive raisers of stock, wool-growers,
and everything else that could make them prosperous. There seemed to be
no end to their wealth, and their fiat farms, spread out on every side
as far as the eye could see.

And if my father had only stayed there, I could not help but think what
a different life mine might have been. Instead of being the adventurer
I was, and had been ever since I separated from my first and worst
wife--doing well, perhaps, for a few weeks or a few months, and then
blundering into a mad marriage or other difficulty which got me into
prison; well-to-do to-day and to-morrow a beggar--I, too, might
have been rich and respectable, and should have, saved myself a world of
suffering. This was but a passing thought which did not mar my visit,
or make it less pleasant to me. I went there to be happy, not to be
miserable, and for three months I was happy indeed.

From there I went to my birthplace in Columbia County, revisiting old
scenes and the very few old friends and acquaintances who survived, or
who had not moved away. I spent a month there and thereabouts, and at
the end of that time I felt full restored to my usual good health, and
was ready to go to work again, not in the matrimonial way, but in my
medical business, that was enough for me now.

CHAPTER XIV. MY OWN SON TRIES TO MURDER ME.

SETTLING DOWN IN MAINE--HENRY'S HEALTH--TOUR THROUGH THE
SOUTH--SECESSION TIMES--DECEMBER IN NEW ORLEANS--UP THE
MISSISSIPPI--LEAVING HENRY IN MASSACHUSETTS--BACK IN MAINE AGAIN--RETURN
TO BOSTON--PROFITABLE HORSE TRADING--PLENTY OF MONEY--MY FIRST WIFE'S
CHILDREN--HOW THEY HAD BEEN BROUGHT UP--A BAREFACED ROBBERY--ATTEMPT TO
BLACKMAIL ME--MY SON TRIES TO ROB AND KILL ME--MY RESCUE--LAST OF THE
YOUNG MAN.

Where to go, not what to do, was the next question. Wherever I might go
and establish myself, if only for a few days, or a few weeks, I was sure
to have almost immediately plenty of patients and customers enough for
my medicines--this had been my experience always--and unfortunately for
me, I was