LEAVES "FROM A LOG-, 577 



that his mind was not in a state to admit of our continuing our 

 visit. 



Slowly the shivering fit ceased, and as usual, a burning fever suc- 

 ceeded; during which he raved terribly, exclaiming that he still saw 

 the spirit of his father, who pointed to the bleeding corpse of his 

 brother Henry. Reason slowly returned, and on my asking him if 

 he knew me, he stared wildly at me for a few seconds, and then said 



" Know you ? Surely, you are my kind host ; but say, why did 

 you introduce my father to my bedside ?" I knew not what to say, 

 lamenting that I had not at once told Albert the truth ; I endeavoured 

 to assure him that he whom he took for his father was an old planter. 



" No, Sir," said Quashita, with her usual loquacity, " dat no you 

 fader been here just now ; dat Massa " She was about to pro- 

 nounce the name " Fitz-Allen," when I hastily checked her. 



" It was my father !" exclaimed the pirate ; " I knew him too well ! 

 I knew his features ! his benevolent look ! How did the old man quit 

 his grave to visit me here, for I heard when off Norway that he died 

 of a broken heart?" He paused, and applied his hand to the silver 

 plate in his head. " I believe the deep gash the Dutchman gave my 

 head has distorted my vision : can you not give me a few drops of 

 laudanum ?" I assured him that they would add to his malady ; and 

 causing him to take a glass of weak tepid wine and water, I wished 

 him a good night, charging the nurse and overseer to wake me if he 

 became worse. Worn out with anxiety, I retired and slept sounder 

 than usual. At day-break the overseer came into my room in a state 

 of alarm : I asked no questions, for he was not in a state to answer 

 them ; but hurried in my night-gown to the pirate's chamber, where 

 I found his corpse ! It appears that the old woman, negro-like, had 

 slept soundly during the night, too much so to be woke by the ravings 

 of the unhappy man. On examination, I found Alfred had gone to 

 the medicine chest, which had unfortunately been left open, and by 

 the light of a small cocoa nut oil lamp had found the laudanum phial. 

 This he must have done while he enjoyed a comparatively calm mo- 

 ment ; the phial was full ere he opened it, and from the quantity 

 missing he could not have taken more than twenty-five, or at most 

 thirty drops by no means an over-dose for one who had been long 

 in the habit of swallowing it. It perhaps was not enough to produce 

 in him a somnorific effect ; but its stimulating qualities acted violently, 

 for the overseer heard him rave terribly ; his exclamations were 

 principally addressed to his father ; at times he appeared to have partly 

 recovered his reason ; he exclaimed that it was all a dream. The 

 overseer heard no more, save a few sighs. It further appeared, that 

 for the purpose of destroying himself, he had stripped the bandage 

 from off his arm ; but the orifice I had made in his vein being partly 

 healed, did not, I suppose, allow the blood to flow freely : he, there- 

 fore, made a deep incision with his penknife, insomuch that he pricked 

 the radial artery, which runs immediately into the vein I had opened. 

 This act gave an outlet to the stream of life, so that in a few minutes 

 his heart must have ceased to beat. 



Whether my keeping Albert from the knowledge of his brother 

 was hitherto right or wrong, I now conceived it my duty, for obvious 

 M.M. No. 102 4 E 



