OCR Text |
Show 94 that it should condescend in vain ; and the silence and coldness of llam~, and the utter insensibility with which llC heard the good things of his c:~ptain, and which occa.sioncd the ready laughter of all the rest, finally extorted a comment from AlbClrt, which gave full utterance to his spleen. " By my life, Lieutenant Barrt!,"-such was the rank of this conspirator-" but that I know thee better, I should hold thee to be one of those unhappy wretches to whom all merriment is a hateful thing-to whom a clever jest gives offcmcc only, and whom a cheerful laugh sends off sullenly to bed. Pray, if it be uot too serious a humor, tell us the cause of thy present dullness." "Verily, Captain Albert," replied the person addressed, fixing his eyes steadily upon him, and speaking in the most delibC'rate accents, "1 was thinkiog of the deer that we shall strike to·day. Doubtless, he i3 C\'en now making as merry as thyself among his comrades-little dreaming that the hunter Lath Lis thoughts already fixed upon the choice morsels of hi!! flanks, which, a few hours hence, shall be smoking above the fire. TI'Uly, are we but little wiser than the thoughtless deer. Tho merriest of us mo.y be struck as soon. The man ho.th as few securities from the morrow as the beast that runs." Captain Albert was not tho most Ba.gacious tyrant in the world, or the moral reflections of our conspirator might have tcnd~d to his disquiet. He saw no peculiar significance in tho remark, though the matter of it was all well remembered, when the subsequent events came to be known. Little, indeed, did ihe victim then dream of the fate which Jay in wait for him. He laughed at the shallow reflection of Dam5, which seemed so ('qually mllltimed ~nd unmeaning, and his merriment inecca.scd with every LACIIA:SE1 THE DELIVERER. 95 Gtl-okc of the oar wl1ich sent the pinnace towards tho scene chosen f.Jr tho tragedy. All his severities were tl~rown aside; llC\'er l1ad hll shoim himself more grncious; and, though his gooJ lmmor was rather the condescension of one who is secure in his authority, and can resume his functions at any moment, than the proof of nny sympathy with his comrades, yet he seemed willing fur once that it slJOuld Dot lose any of its pleasant qualit.y by any frequent exhibition of his usual cnpl'icc. Dut for an occasional sarcasm in which he sometimes indulged, and by which he continued to keep alh·c the antipathies of the conspirators, the gentler mood in which be now suffcrcd them to behold him, might have rendered them reluctant to prosecute their purpose. They might have relented, even at the last moment, had tl10y been prepared to beliC\'C tlmt his present good humor was tho fruit of any sinecro rclcntin~s in him. But he did not succeed to this extent, and, with a single significant look to his comrades, tl~c stern Nicholas llnrrC showed to them that he, at least, wns firm in tho secret pm·pose which they had in view. His silence nnd gravity for a time scrvcll to amuse hL-; superior, who exercised J,is wit at the expense of the su\lf'n soldier, little dreaming, all the while, nt what a price he should be required to pay for his temporary iodulgeneQ. But as J3arrC continued in Lis mood, the pride of the haugl1ty superior was nt length hurt; and, when they reached tbo shore, the insolence of Albert had resumed much of it.9 old asccndaMy. Albert was the first to 11p1·ing to land. He was impatient to bezin the chase, of which he was pttSSionatcly fond. The sport, as conducted in that day and region, was after a very simple fa.shton . It consisted rather in a judicious distribution of tho hunters, at Vlll'ious places of watch, than in the possession of any |