p in the carpet here, and t'other
we can roll into yonder bed-curtain. You shall carry the one and I the
other, and, the harbor being at no great distance, we can easily bring
them thither and tumble them overboard, and no one will be the wiser of
what has happened. For your own safety, as you may easily see, you can
hardly go away and leave these objects here to be found by the
first-comer, and to arise up in evidence against you."

This reasoning, in our hero's present bewildered state, appeared to him
to be so extremely just that he raised not the least objection to it.
Accordingly, each of the two silent, voiceless victims of the evening's
occurrences were wrapped into a bundle that from without appeared to be
neither portentous nor terrible in appearance.

Thereupon, Jonathan shouldering the rug containing the little gentleman
in black, and the sea-captain doing the like for the other, they
presently made their way down the stairs through the darkness, and so
out into the street. Here the sea-captain became the conductor of the
expedition, and leading the way down several alleys and along certain
by-streets--now and then stopping to rest, for the burdens were both
heavy and clumsy to carry--they both came out at last to the harbor
front, without any one having questioned them or having appeared to
suspect them of anything wrong. At the water-side was an open wharf
extending a pretty good distance out into the harbor. Thither the
captain led the way and Jonathan followed. So they made their way out
along the wharf or pier, stumbling now and then over loose boards,
until they came at last to where the water was of a sufficient depth
for their purpose. Here the captain, bending his shoulders, shot his
burden out into the dark, mysterious waters, and Jonathan, following
his example, did the same. Each body sank with a sullen and leaden
splash into the element where, the casings which swathed them becoming
loosened, the rug and the curtain rose to the surface and drifted
slowly away with the tide.

As Jonathan stood gazing dully at the disappearance of these last
evidences of his two inadvertent murders, he was suddenly and
vehemently aroused by feeling a pair of arms of enormous strength flung
about him from behind. In their embrace his elbows were instantly
pinned tight to his side, and he stood for a moment helpless and
astounded, while the voice of the sea-captain, rumbling in his very
ear, exclaimed: "Y