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"Leave him to me!" said the captain with great dignity, as these proffers of assistance met him on every side. "Leave him to me-I'll settle his hash

in a minute!" and scrambling over the chairs to reach the culprit, a brawny fellow rose in the centre of the room, and impeded his further progress.

"Hold!" said the 66 man, 'you pass not this way. Be quiet. Your years unfit you for drunken brawls. Lay but a finger end upon that gentleman, and I'll strike you to the earth-surrounded as you are by your friends,—with as little ceremony as I now toss off this cognac." The muscular arm was extended to a glass placed before it, the contents of which speedily disappeared.

"Devilskin!" exclaimed the captain with amazement. "Devilskin, you have again crossed my path, and tremble for the consequence! No man shall insult me with impunity-least of all a discarded servant, and a smuggler."

Pot valiant, he struggled hard to close with his burly adversary, but his friends gathered round him to prevent the consequences. The presence of the smuggler under any circumstances would have tested his mettle, but boiling with indignation, and labouring under the influence of the potent spirit he had been inhaling, he called lustily for the place to be cleared that he might settle accounts with Devilskin. "Let him come on," coolly exclaimed the latter, -"if he dare! I know him better than any of ye,

gentlemen. Look at him, now! See his face blanched with cowardice! In every lineament ‘villain' is palpably written! What care I for his threats? Take care, Captain Carlos, that a hempen handkerchief does not close your account with the world! Better men have swung ere this. I hurl defiance at you, sir, and it will go hard with me if I can't make some return for your kind compliments to-night."

It would have been a relief to the captain if his pent up anger could have escaped in words; but, like many choleric men, he could not speak freely under excitement, and a few expressive monosyllables, not, of course, very polite, nor easily rendered into the vernacular, constituted his reply to the threat and the imputation. In the meantime, the abolitionist, who had so cleverly contrived to set the company by the ears, made his escape in the midst of the dust he had raised, like certain quadrupeds which fasten for a moment on each other, raise horrid yells, attract more powerful antagonists to the fray, and quietly walk off, leaving the new comers to fight it out as they please. The landlord made his appearance for the purpose of casting oil on the troubled waters. The chairman had vacated his seat, the company were fast separating, and soon after Captain Carlos was on his way home, vowing vengeance against the smuggler, who seemed likely to prove the blight of his existence.

It was star-light, the heavens clear, the air

mild, the streets nearly deserted.

A few strag

gling lamps-for the use of gas was unknownthrew faint twinkling rays around. The footpaths had not risen to the dignity of flagging; small sharp stones reared their heads, like so many spikes, to test the temper of the pedestrian. The antiquated watchmen, those somnolent guardians of the night, had just proclaimed the hour which precedes morning, and retired to roost in their small boxes, to avoid the contaminating influence of low company, as Captain Carlos turned into Dale-street, then narrow, dirty, and dingy. Proceeding towards Water-street, footsteps followed in his track, and two men sprang upon him at a bound, as the tiger, with unerring precision, pounces upon his prey. He fell, and his assailants fell with him. While they were struggling on the ground, the captain roared as only persons who have been at sea can roar, "Murder! watch! help! help! murder! murder!" The strength of lungs with which these terrible cries were given reverberated through the lonely street, and a young man crossed rapidly from the opposite side to the assistance of the sufferer. Whether the assailants intended to rob or to abuse the captain, it is needless to inquire, for they had time to do neither, owing to the speedy arrival of aid. They fled instantly, and the new comer, with many professions of sorrow for the calamity, helped to raise the prostrate mariner from the ground. He was stunned by the fall, and compelled to rest upon

the arm of his deliverer. The latter, glad to have rendered assistance when it was most needed, and under circumstances which could not fail to gratify the sufferer, accompanied him home. The captain two or three times thanked the stranger heartily for his kindness, attention, and timely relief. He asked him into his house, and when, after emerging from the darkness of midnight, a couple of candles in the parlour threw their light upon the face of the stranger, who shall picture the astonishment of Captain Carlos as his eyes rested for the first time at his own fireside on the denounced and execrated Peter Laurel !

CHAPTER VIII.

The fool hath planted in his memory
An army of good words; and I do know
A many fools that stand in better place,
Garnished like him, that for a tricky word
Defy the matter.

Merchant of Venice.

But light and airy, stood on the alert,
And shone in the best part of dialogue,
By humouring always what they might assert,
And listening to the topics most in vogue.
Now grave, now gay, but never dull or pert,
And smiling but in secret-cunning rogue !
He ne'er presumed to make an error clearer-
In short, there never was a better hearer.

BYRON.

The events of the preceding night had materially improved the position of Peter Laurel. Fate smiled propitiously, and "the tide in the affairs of men" he determined to take at the flood. A flattering conversation with the daughter,and services so unexpectedly rendered in a moment of imminent danger to the father, were strokes of fortune as unlooked for as they were gratifying. He resolved to improve them to the utmost. His course was clear-to wait upon Captain Carlos immediately. Something of importance he had to communicate respecting the attack

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