at to make her sail lighter, or a crittur
that will be a-movin' his saddle, now on the withers, now on the croup,
but it won't do, never a bit, when there's a sore back underneath.' It
was reflectin' over these things I fell into a sort of dreamy way, and
did n't remember about the leeches for some time. At last I got 'em, and
hastened back to the inn.

"'There's a note for you, sir, at the bar,' said the landlord. I took
it, and read:--

"'Dear Colonel,--Thinking a little fresh air might serve me, I have gone
out for a short drive.--Yours, till we meet again,

"'J. T.'

"Yes, sir, he was off; and worse, too, had carried away with him that
great book with all the writin' in, and that account of Hawke's poison
in'. I started in pursuit as quick as they could get me a wagon hitched,
but I suppose I took the wrong road. I went to Utica, and then turned
north as far as Albany, but I lost him. Better, perhaps, that I did so;
I was riled considerable, and I ain't sure that I mightn't have done
somethin' to be sorry for. Ain't it wonderful how ill one takes anythin'
that reflects on one's skill and craftiness?--just as if such qualities
were great ones; I believe, in my heart, we are readier to resent what
insults our supposed cleverness than what is an outrage on our honesty.
Be that as it may, I never came up with him after, nor heard of him,
till I read his name in that sheet."

"His theft of that book, connected with his companionship with Winthrop,
suggests strongly the thought that his business here is the same as our
own," said the doctor.

"That's the way I reasoned it too," said the Colonel.

"It is not impossible, besides, that he had some suspicion of your
own object in this journey. Did the name of Winthrop ever come up in
conversation between you?"

"Yes. I was once describin' my brother's location down in Ohio,--I
did it a purpose to see if he would show any signs of interest about
Peddar's Clearin's and Holt's Acre,--and then I mentioned, as if by
chance, one Harvey Winthrop.

"'Oh, there was a man of that name in Liverpool once,' said he, 'but he
died about two years gone.'

"'Did he?' said I, lookin' him hard.

"'Yes,' said he,--' of a quinsy.'

"It was as good as a play the way we looked at each other arter this. It
was jest a game of chess, and I said, 'Move,' and he said, 'It ain't me
to move,--it's _your_ turn.' And there we was."

"The fellow was shrewd, then?"

"Yes, sir, arter his fas