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Show 120 HH.:HAHD UUIWJS. world, my compauion and myself entered our strange lodgings in 'l'uscaloosa, with feelings of s~1tisfaction amounting to cnthu. siasm. The town wns little more than lLcwn out of the woods. Piles of Urick and timber crowtlcd the main, indof'd the only street of the place, and douotcd the rawness :md poYcrty of the r('gion in oil things whicil could please the eye, and minister to tile taste of the traveller. But it had other resources in my sight. 'J'hc very incompleteness, and mdc want of fini sh, imlicntcd the fermenting clwractcr of life. 'l'hc stagnation of the forests was disturbeU. '!'he green and sluggish waters of its inactivity were drained ofl' into new channels of enterprise :md cfl'ort. Life hnd opened upon it; its veins were fil ling fast with the· life-l,loocl of human greatness; active aml sleepless endeavor::;, and a warm sun, seemed pouring down its rays for the first time upon the cold and co\·ered bosom of its swamps and caverns. To t\,e young, it matters not the roughness and the storm. Eni husiasm loves the encounter with biting winlls, and act ive opposition; but there is death in inaction-death in the sluggish torpor of tl•e old community, where ancient drones, like the old man of the sea on the sh oulders of Sin bad, keep down the cboicc spirit of n. country, and chill :md palsy all its energies. rl' lJCrc was more mcanillg in the vote of tl1e countryman who ostracised Aristides, because he hated to hear him continually called" the Just," than is altogether visible to the understanding. 'J'he customary names of a couutry arc very apt to become its tyrants. Our lodging-house was poor enough, but by no means wanting in pretension. You woulll vainly look for it now in rrusct~loosa. It lws given way to more spacious and better conducted establislnncnts. '\Vhen we arrived it was filled to overflowing, and, much against our will, we were assigned n chamLcr in common with two other persons, who were strangers to us. To this arrangement we vainly opposed all manner of objections. '\V e were compelled to submit. Our landlord was a turbulent sort of savage, wl10 bore down nil opposition, and held to his laws, which were not often consistent with one another, with as hardy a tenacity as did the Modes and Persians. rl'he long and short of it was that we must share our chamber with two other men, 'l'IH: 'lRAVELLEI!.S FALL AMONG Tl!IEVES. 121 or seck lodgings elsewhere. 'll1is, in a strange town wl•crc 110 other tavern wns yet dreamed of, was little else than a downrigllt declaration, tl1at we migl1t "~o to tl1e d- 1 nnd shake oursch ·es ;" and witl1 whatever grace given, we were compelled to take the accommocbtions as tl1cy were accorded to us. '\\'e insibted on separate beds, however, and here we gainGd our point. "Ay, you may have two a-piece," wns tl1e cold nnd ready nnswel'; "one for each leg." Our objections to a chamber in connection with strangers, did us no service in that wild comnnmity; and t l1e rough ad\·cntnrers about, seemed to hold us in no fair esteem on the strength of" I hem. llut they saw that we were able to hold om own, and that, in our controversy with the lamllord, tJ,ough we hnd been compelled to yield our poiut, we had yet given l1im quite m; gt>Od as he sent; and so I hey suffered tl1cir COHICllljlt to escape in wi11ks to each other, and muttered sentences, w),ich, as we only saw nnd heard them indistinctly, we were wise enough to tnke 110 heed of. Not that we did not feel in the lnm10r to do so. i\ly comrade 1idgctted more than once with his hen.vyl1endcd wl1ip-bandlc, and my own hnnd felt rnonstrously disposed to tap the lnncl lord on his crown; but it was too obviously our 11olicy to forbear, nnd we took ourselves ofl' to om chamber as soon as we could beat a ret rent gracefully. ' yell might ou.r landlord have given us two or four beds each. 'there were no less than twelve iu tl1e one apartmeut which had been assigneJ us. "rc cl1ose dl1r two, getting them as nigh each other ns possible; and havillg put our saddle-Lngs in a corner behind them, and got our dirks <HH\ pistols in rendincss, some on the table and some uuder our pillows, we llreJJ:lrcd to get to bed as fast ns possible. llefOre we batl eutirely undressed, howcvrr, our two other occupants of tile ci JamLcr appeared, one of wbom we remembered to have seen in the bar-room Lelow, at tbo t ime of ou•· discussion with the landlord. They were, 11citlJCr of them, calculated to impress me favorably. Tl•cy were cvideutly too fond of their persouul appearance to lliCHSC OllC who was rather {lvt to be stuc\i]css of his. rl'hey were dnudies-a sort of New York dandies-men with long coats and stccplc-crowucd llats, great brem:ll-Ilins, thick gold ch ains, nnJ a Lig bunch of seals haugiug ut their hips. " VVhat 'o |