the earth, and half buried among the leaves, weeping, I shame to
confess it, the bitter tears of impotence and mortification.

Meantime, the news of my capture went through the country;--not _my_
capture, mark me, but that of the famous madman, Archy Dargan, who had
broke Hamilton jail. This was an event, and visitors began to collect.
My captors, who kept watch on the outside of my den, had their hands
full in answering questions. Man, woman and child, Squire and
ploughboy, and, finally, dames and damsels, accumulated around me, and
such a throng of eyes as pierced the crevices of my log dungeon, to see
the strange monster by whom they were threatened, now disarmed of his
terrors, were,--to use the language of one of my keepers--"a power to
calkilate." This was not the smallest part of my annoyance. The logs
were sufficiently far apart to suffer me to see and to be seen, and I
crouched closer to my rushes, and buried my face more thoroughly than
ever, if possible, to screen my dishonoured visage from their curious
scrutiny. This conduct mightily offended some of the visitors.

"I can't see his face," said one.

"Stir him with a long pole!"--and I was greatly in danger of being
treated as a surly bear, refusing to dance for his keeper; since one of
mine seemed very much disposed to gratify the spectator, and had
actually begun sharpening the end of a ten foot hickory, for the
purpose of pricking me into more sociableness. He was prevented from
carrying his generous design into effect by the suggestion of one of
his companions. "Better don't, Bosh; if ever he should git out agen,
he'd put his ear mark upon you." "Reckon you're right," was the reply
of the other, as he laid his rod out of sight.

Meanwhile, the people came and went, each departing visitor sending
others. A couple of hours might have elapsed leaving me in this
humiliating situation, chained to the stake, the beast of a bear
garden, with fifty greedy and still dissatisfied eyes upon me. Of
these, fully one fourth were of the tender gender; some pitied me, some
laughed, and all congratulated themselves that I was safely laid by the
heels, incapable of farther mischief. It was not the most agreeable
part of their remarks, to find that they all universally agreed that I
was a most frightful looking object. Whether they saw my face or not,
they all discovered that I glared frightfully upon them, and I heard
one or two of them ask in under tones,