46 THE RIVALS. 



I answered his interrogatory, for such I considered it, in the af- 

 firmative. 



" And did you see any other person than yourself on the road 

 since you were overtaken by the storm ?" he continued. 



" No one," was my answer. 



Nothing further passed between this second stranger and myself, 

 at this time. From the few words however which I heard him utter 

 it struck me he was a Scotsman. There was, too, a certain some- 

 thing in his appearance and the manner in which he conducted him- 

 self that considerably excited in me a curiosity to know something 

 more of his history. Still, in all the circumstances of the case, I did 

 not deem it a matter of prudence to endeavour to gratify that curi- 

 osity by asking any questions in reference to his past life. 



The stranger by whom I had been led into the hut now suggested 

 to me that as I must be much exhausted with the fatigue I had 

 lately undergone, I would better *' lie down to rest," telling me at 

 the same time there was a bed in the other apartment which I should 

 be welcome to possess for the night. I thanked him for his hospi- 

 tality, and intimated to him that I would gladly accept of his prof- 

 fered kindness. I was accordingly shown to the bed, such as it was, 

 in the other apartment. By this time it was past eight o'clock, and, 

 though the rains had ere now entirely ceased, it had become some- 

 what dark in consequence of the shades of night beginning to fall. 

 For about an hour and a half after I had stretched myself on the 

 wretched pallet to which I had been shown my mind was so intently 

 occupied in ruminating on the events of the past few hours that sleep 

 deigned not to visit my eyes ; but at the end of that time I fell into 

 a partial slumber, from which, however, I was soon awakened by 

 my imagination again bringing to my view the terrific scenes I had 

 so lately witnessed. 



The first thing I heard on awakening was a kind of conversation 

 which the two strangers in whose cabin I was, were carrying on to- 

 gether in a low suppressed tone of voice. I caught one sentence 

 quite distinctly, and that one was of fearfully ominous import to me. 

 It was nothing else than the alarming question which the one put to 

 the other, namely, " Whether shall we cut his throat or strangle him ?" 

 I could not, in all the circumstances of the case, doubt for a moment 

 that I was the intended victim ; and a feeling of the deepest horror 

 came over me as the dreadful words fell on my ear. What was to 

 be done ? Not a moment was to be lost, for the very next one 

 might usher me into eternity. There was no window in the wretched 

 apartment in which I was domiciled out at which I might make my 

 escape, and to have attempted to get out by the door would have 

 been equally fruitless, for, from the sound of their voices, I knew they 

 were both at the door of my apartment. There seemed no possi- 

 bility therefore of escape for me, and I considered my murder as a 

 matter of certainty. A short pause to their whispering now ensued, 

 during which I every moment expected to be hurried into the invisi- 

 ble world with all my sins and imperfections on my head. I even 

 imagined, dark as it then was, that I saw my ruffian murderers, with 

 the deadly weapon in their hands, standing- bv mv bed-side and 5n 



