been. Have you found it?"

Here was a long pause. At length the negro asked,--

"Is de lef eye ob de skull pon de same side as de lef hand ob de skull,
too?--cause de skull aint got not a bit ob a hand at all--nebber mind! I
got de lef eye now--here de lef eye! what mus do with it?"

"Let the beetle drop through it, as far as the string will reach--but be
careful and not let go your hold of the string."

"All dat done, Mass Will; mighty easy ting for to put de bug frue de
hole--look out for him dare below!"

During this colloquy no portion of Jupiter's person could be seen; but
the beetle, which he had suffered to descend, was now visible at the end
of the string, and glistened, like a globe of burnished gold, in the
last rays of the setting sun, some of which still faintly illumined the
eminence upon which we stood. The _scarabaeus_ hung quite clear of any
branches, and, if allowed to fall, would have fallen at our feet.
Legrand immediately took the scythe and cleared with it a circular
space, three or four yards in diameter, just beneath the insect, and,
having accomplished this, ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come
down from the tree.

Driving a peg, with great nicety, into the ground, at the precise spot
where the beetle fell, my friend now produced from his pocket a
tape-measure. Fastening one end of this at that point of the trunk of
the tree which was nearest the peg, he unrolled it till it reached the
peg, and thence further unrolled it, in the direction already
established by the two points of the tree and the peg, for the distance
of fifty feet--Jupiter clearing away the brambles with the scythe. At
the spot thus attained a second peg was driven, and about this, as a
centre, a rude circle, about four feet in diameter, described. Taking
now a spade himself, and giving one to Jupiter and one to me, Legrand
begged us to set about digging as quickly as possible.

To speak the truth, I had no special relish for such amusement at any time,
and, at that particular moment, would most willingly have declined it; for
the night was coming on, and I felt much fatigued with the exercise already
taken; but I saw no mode of escape, and was fearful of disturbing my poor
friend's equanimity by a refusal. Could I have depended, indeed, upon
Jupiter's aid, I would have had no hesitation in attempting to get the
lunatic home by force; but I was too well assured of the old negro's
disposition to hope that he would