ALEXANDER WILSON. 
Ixv 
a man of notoriously bad character, and strongly suspected, 
even by his neighbours, of having committed a foul 
murder of this kind, which was related to me, with all its 
minutiae of horrors. As this man’s house stands by the 
roadside, I was induced by motives of curiosity to stop 
and take a peep of him. On my arrival I found two 
persons in conversation under the piazza, one of whom 
informed me that he was the landlord. He was a dark 
mulatto, rather above the common size, inclining to 
corpulency, with legs small in proportion to his size, and 
walked lame. His countenance bespoke a soul capable of 
deeds of darkness. I had not been three minutes in com- 
pany, when he invited the other man (who I understood 
was a traveller) and myself to walk back and see his cave, 
to which I immediately consented. The entrance is in the 
perpendicular front of a rock, behind the house ; has a door, 
with a lock and key to it, and was crowded with pots of 
milk, placed near the running stream. The roof and sides 
of solid rock were wet and dropping with water. Desiring 
to walk before with the lights, I followed, with my 
hand on my pistol, reconnoitring on every side, and 
listening to his description of its length and extent. After 
examining this horrible vault for forty or fifty y arils, he 
declined going any farther, complaining of a rheumatism ; 
and I now first perceived that the other person had staid 
behind, and that we two were alone together. Confident 
in my means of self-defence, whatever mischief the devil 
might suggest to him, I fixed my eye steadily on his, and 
observed to him, that he could not be ignorant of the 
reports circulated about the country relative to this cave. 
4 I suppose,’ said I, 4 you know what I mean?’ 4 Yes, 
I understand you,’ returned he, without appearing the 
least embarrassed, — 4 that I killed somebody, and threw 
them into this cave. I can tell you the whole beginning 
©f that damned lie,’ said he ; and, without moving from 
the spot, he detailed to me a long story, which would fill 
