but Forrester, who is a mighty, powerful built fellow,
he gets the better in the long run, and both come down together in the
road. Then Forrester, being uppermost, sticks his thumb into Master
Colleton's eye--the left eye, I think, it was--yes, the left eye it
was--and the next moment it would have been out, when your nephew, not
liking it, whipped out his dirk, and, 'fore Forrester could say Jack
Robinson, it was playing about in his ribs; and, then comes the hatchet
part, just as I told it you before."

"And is none of this truth?"

"God bless your soul, no! Do you suppose, if it was the truth, it would
have taken so long a time in telling? I wouldn't have wasted the breath
on it. The witnesses would have done that, if it were true; but in this
was the beauty of my art, and had I been permitted to say to the jury
what I've said to you, the young man would have been clear. It wouldn't
have been gospel, but where's the merit of a lawyer, if he can't go
through a bog? This is one of the sweetest and most delightful features
of the profession. Sir, it is putting the wings of fiction to the
lifeless and otherwise immovable body of the fact."

Colonel Colleton was absolutely stunned by the fertility and volubility
of the speaker, and after listening for some time longer, as long as it
was possible to procure from him anything which might be of service, he
took his departure, bending his way next to the wigwam, in which, for
the time being, the pedler had taken up his abode. It will not be
necessary that we should go with him there, as it is not probable that
anything materially serving his purpose or ours will be adduced from the
narrative of Bunce. In the meantime, we will turn our attention to a
personage, whose progress must correspond, in all respects, with that of
our narrative.

Guy Rivers had not been unapprized of the presence of the late comers at
the village. He had his agents at work, who marked the progress of
things, and conveyed their intelligence to him with no qualified
fidelity. The arrival of Colonel Colleton and his daughter had been made
known to him within a few hours after its occurrence, and the feelings
of the outlaw were of a nature the most complex and contradictory.
Secure within his den, the intricacies of which were scarcely known to
any but himself, he did not study to restrain those emotions which had
prompted him to so much unjustifiable outrage. With no eye to mark his
actions or to not