574 LEAVES FROM A LOO. 



jsaid I ; and turning over the leaves, I pointed out to him a more con- 

 soling passage. 



" But what did the first-born man reply to his Creator, when with 

 awful voice he demanded of him/ Cain, Cain, where is thy brother ?' " 

 exclaimed the, pirate, his eyes glaring fearfully : "Oh!" he added, 

 shutting the book with a shudder, " would I could persuade myself, 

 as I for years have tried to do, that that volume is a lie ! But no 

 like a fiend I believe and tremble." He grasped his hair with his 

 hand, and then applied it to the part of his skull where he had been 

 wounded ; as though he felt a sudden pain there : he added, " Re- 

 pentance ! ha ! ha ! ha !" then burst into a demoniac laugh. 



I now felt that my weak reasoning was unable to cope with the ter- 

 rible despair that had taken possession of the unhappy man. This, to- 

 gether with the recollection that Fitz-Allen possessed both a good 

 -knowledge of theology and flow of language, induced me to leave a 

 theme I had so unsuccessfully urged. I therefore inquired the symp- 

 toms of his corporeal disease, and after informing him that there was 

 no physician in this thinly populated district, I offered my services, 

 as I understood something of the treatment of diseases incident to the 

 country. 



" I accept your kindness, Sir, because I would not deprive you of. 

 the pleasure of doing a humane act ; and because, in my cool mo- 

 ments, I am coward enough to fear death. Yes ! the pirate the man 

 who, to avoid the gibbet, has rushed a thousand times on destruction 

 he who, when this wound in his head maddens him, has attempted 

 suicide even he fears death I" 



Feeling his pulse, I said that I supposed he had not slept well of 

 late. 



" What has a wretch like me to do with sleep ? I am miserable 

 enough while awake : but when I sleep I dream ; and if there be a 

 terrestrial hell, it is during these dreadful moments." 



I attributed much that he said to mental aberration, which not 

 only his language, but his features indicated. Observing that his 

 eyes were red, his temporal arteries distended, and his pulse full and 

 quick, I thought it necessary to bleed him. To this he made no ob- 

 jection. I called the nurse to bring bandages, a small case of lancets, 

 and other necessaries for venesection. While these were preparing, 

 I stripped his athletic arm ; on viewing this, I saw that which made 

 me quit my hold and recoil with horror. The fact was, I beheld the 

 words Alfred Fitz-Allen tattooed with Indian ink and gunpowder, to- 

 gether with a quantity of anchors and other devices with which sailors 

 generally disfigure their limbs in their youth. The dreadful truth 

 now flashed across my mind, that he was Alfred Fitz-Allen, the fra- 

 tricide ! Nor was the name written on his arm the only proof I had 

 of his being so : although sixteen years separated from his brother, 

 and possessing a person much taller than Albert's, yet the form and 

 features were so strikingly alike, that I wondered at my own stupi- 

 dity for not discovering the resemblance sooner. Albert spoke slow ; 

 ^nd his voice was rendered weak by sorrow. Alfred's mode of ut- 

 tering, though not boisterous, had evidently been rendered loud by 

 his profession ; and yet the notes of the finest-toned flutes could not 



