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chief. He robbed very often, and murdered occa- 

 sionally; but gallantry was his every day occu- 

 pation. Indeed, being a remarkably tall athletic 

 young fellow, among the beauties of his own com- 

 plexion he found but few Lucretias ; and his re- 

 treat in the mountains was as well furnished as 

 the haram of Constantinople. Every handsome 

 negress who had the slightest cause of complaint 

 against her master, took the first opportunity of 

 eloping to join Plato, where she found freedom, 

 protection, and unbounded generosity ; for he 

 spared no pains to secure their affections by grati- 

 fying their vanity. Indeed, no Creole lady could 

 venture out on a visit, without running the risk of 

 having her bandbox run away with by Plato for 

 the decoration of his sultanas ; and if the maid who 

 carried the bandbox happened to be well-looking, he 

 ran away with the maid as well as the bandbox. 

 Every endeavour to seize this desperado was long 

 in vain : a large reward was put upon his head, but 

 no negro dared to approach him ; for, besides his 

 acknowledged courage, he was a professor of Obi, 

 and had threatened that whoever dared to lay a 

 finger upon him should suffer spiritual torments, 

 as well as be physically shot through the head. 



Unluckily for Plato, rum was an article with him 

 of the first necessity ; the look-out, which was kept 

 for him, was too vigilant to admit of his purchasing 

 spirituous liquors for himself ; and once, when for 

 that purpose he had ventured into the neighbour- 



