practice that flatly contradicts them. It was only too apparent to all
who chose to look into the matter, and that by evidence which could not
mislead, that the great body of the tenants in various counties of New
York were bent on obtaining interests in their farms that were not
conveyed by their leases, without the consent of their landlords, and
insomuch that they were bent on doing that which should be
discountenanced by every honest man in the community. The very fact that
they supported, or in any manner connived at, the so-called "Injin"
system, spoke all that was necessary as to their motives; and, when we
come to consider that these "Injins" had already proceeded to the
extremity of shedding blood, it was sufficiently plain that things must
soon reach a crisis.

My uncle Roger and myself reflected on all these matters calmly, and
decided on our course, I trust, with prudence. As that decision has
proved to be pregnant with consequences that are likely to affect my
future life, I shall now briefly give an outline of what induced us to
adopt it.

It was all-important for us to visit Ravensnest in person, while it
might be hazardous to do so openly. The 'Nest house stood in the very
centre of the estate, and, ignorant as we were of the temper of the
tenants, it might be indiscreet to let our presence be known; and
circumstances favoured our projects of concealment. We were not expected
to reach the country at all until autumn, or "fall," as that season of
the year is poetically called in America; and this gave us the means of
reaching the property unexpectedly, and, as we hoped, undetected. Our
arrangement, then, was very simple, and will be best related in the
course of the narrative.

The packet had a reasonably short passage, as we were twenty-nine days
from land to land. It was on a pleasant afternoon in May when the
hummock-like heights of Navesink were first seen from the deck; and, an
hour later, we came in sight of the tower-resembling sails of the
coasters which were congregating in the neighbourhood of the low point
of land that is so very appropriately called _Sandy_ Hook. The
light-houses rose out of the water soon after, and objects on the shore
of New Jersey next came gradually out of the misty back-ground, until we
got near enough to be boarded, first by the pilot, and next by the
news-boat; the first preceding the last for a wonder, news usually being
far more active, in this good republic, than