ural enough; and I'm not the man to oppose it.
I hope she'll be happy, poor girl; and I hope Garibaldi will beat the
Neapolitans. I 'm sure Sam is worthy of a good wife; but I don't know
whether these Sicilian fellows deserve a better government. At all
events, my course is clear,--here I mustn't stay. Sam does not know that
I am the obstacle to his marriage; but _I_ know it, and that is enough.
I wonder would Garibaldi take me as a volunteer? There cannot be much
choice at such a time. I suppose he enrolls whoever offers; and they
must be mostly fellows of my own sort,--useless dogs, that are only fit
to give and take hard knocks."

He hesitated long whether he should tell Sam M'Gruder of his project; he
well knew all the opposition he should meet, and how stoutly his friend
would set himself against a plan so fatal to all habits of patient
industry. "And yet," muttered Tony to himself, "I don't like to tell
him that I hate 'rags,' and detest the whole business. It would be so
ungrateful of me. I could say my mother wanted to see me in Ireland;
but I never told him a lie, and I can't bear that our parting should be
sealed with a falsehood."

As he pondered, he took out his pistols and examined them carefully;
and, poising one neatly in his hand, he raised it, as marksmen sometimes
will do, to take an imaginary aim. As he did so, M'Gruder entered, and
cried out, laughing, "Is he covered,--is he dead?"

Tony laid down the weapon, with a flush of shame, and said, "After all,
M'Gruder, the pistol is more natural to me than the pen; and it was just
what I was going to confess to you."

"You 're not going to take to the highways, though?"

"Something not very unlike it; I mean to go and have a turn with
Garibaldi."

"Why, what do you know about Garibaldi or his cause?"

"Perhaps not a great deal; but I've been spelling out these newspapers
every night, and one thing is clear, whether he has right or wrong on
his side, the heavy odds are all against him. He's going in to fight
regular troops, with a few hundred trampers. Now I call that very
plucky."

"So do I; but courage may go on to rashness, and become folly."

"Well, I feel as if a little rashness will do me a deal of good. I am
too well off here,--too easy,--too much cared for. Life asks no effort,
and I make none; and if I go on a little longer, I 'll be capable of
none."

"I see," said the other, laughing, "Rags do not rouse your ambition,
Tony."

"I do