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Show 348 HiCUAHD JIUI\DIS. your apology, if it may Lu c:~llrd such, is ~carcely sntisfuct~ry to me. But I Jenve my personnl atonement over, and W:l.IYO my own claims to tile iutrn~~ts of our collfcderncy. I t.:laim to pursue this nmn Eberly - to pursue mal}Hit him to cka.th. T ho privilege is mine, for several reasons: ti1C })l'incipal nrc enough. I will establish my claim to tl•c confidence of the confederacy; :mel, as tl10 denth of Eberly seems now essential to our secret, secure til at. Instruct me where to seck fo r l1im. I will pursue l1im to Grafton's, and put a stop to this wedding in the most effectual mnnncr. G ivc me the necessary (lircctions, :mel you s]Jall sec that I am neither a sleeper nor a traitor. You will nlso sec whether I am bold enough to str ike either in om com· mon cause or in defence of my own honor." " S hrewdly crowed, young chicken, nnd to the purpose,'' was the chuckling rcspouse of VVcbbet·. "Now, that's what I like -that's coming out like :.t man ; ancl if you succeed in doing what you promise, you will undoubtedly have an equal claim on me and the confederacy. But don't misunderstand me, Williams. I never had any doubt of your honor, ancl, if I lmd, your offe1· now sufficiently proves me to lw,Ye been wrong. I spoke from the haste and disappointment of the moment; and I have not the slightest question that ]~bcrly took off the mo. ment after leaving l!..,oster. lle took tlte alarm at something or other-and men who ltave in them a consciousness of wrong, find cause of ala rm in everything; or it may be tl~;lt he medi· tated flight from the first-for, now I think of it, I observed, when l1e fi rst c::nne, tltnt he fastened his horse on the edge of the swamp, by' Pigeon-lloost branch,' which you know, ll aller, is scarce a stone's throw from the main road : though that\\ ould be a stranger plan than all, since, if he meditated fliglt t, !te need not have come; he only incurred useless r isk Ly doing so." u H e's lwlf mad - tltat's it," said H aller. "But let t:s look if his horse is gone. 'l'!tat will settle our doubts. It mny bo that he is still on the island somewhere." 'l'o ascertain this fact did not take mnny minutes, and the absence of the horse confirmed tho flight of tho fugit ive. I now demanded of 'Vebber if my proffer was accepted. To go upon a mission of this k ind, which would enable me to seck out nnd confer with Colonel Grafton, was now the dearest desire of mr FLTGII1' OP Tll8 WE.\ K BROTHER. heart. To saxe !tis daughter was a sufficient motive for t hi3 desire i to wrcn.k the measure of my great revenge upon the damnable fraternity with which I had herded for this sinrrle object, ·was no less great, if not, in a public point of view, nn~ch great('r. lltad a stomach for the lives of all -nll. 'rhe mc1n· ory of my murdered friend took all mercy from my heart. ' ['o my question, \\' eLbcr answered:- " \V e must see what J/oster says. "iVe will go to bim at once. I'm will ing that you shonld go nbout this business, and wi11 help you to all infOrmation; but I'm scarcely in a buny about it now. l'vo been th inking it would ple:tse me better to let him marry the girl before we kill him. 'l'hen, if it so happened that I could ever lay my foot on Grafton's throat, as I hope to do before long, I could howl it in his cars, till it hurt him worse than my Lullet or my knife, that his sweet J ul ia, his darling, of whom he is so fond, and proud, and boastful, was the wife of a common robber-a thief of the highway-a. rogue to all the world, :md worse than a rogue to his own comrades! 'l'hat would Le a triumph, H aller; and Grafton, if I know the man rigl1tly, would go out of the world with a howl when l cried it in !tis ear!" Sickening at the fiendish tltougl• t, I turned with 1·cvulsion from the fiend, and felt llllmblcd nnd sad as I was constrained to follow such a ruffian in silence, and witlwut any show of thnt natural resentment which I felt. But I conquered my impatience ns I reflected that, by delay, I hoped to obtain at once a complete and certain sat isfact ion. An image of my sanguinary revenge rose before my eyes ns I then went forward; and, in fancy, I beheld streaming wounds, and I felt my feet }Jlnshing in rivulets of stagnating blood !- nnd a &trange but shuddering pleasure wont through my bosom at the f<mcy. |