y or thirty miles
off,--replied Captain Stackpole.

"Too far for the Regulators to follow, Ralph," said Colonel Bruce; at
which the young men present laughed louder than ever, and eyed the
visitor in a way that seemed both to disconcert and offend him.

"Cunnel," said he, "you're a man in authority, and my superior officer;
wharfo' thar' can be no scalping between us. But my name's Tom Dowdle,
the ragman!" he screamed, suddenly skipping into the thickest of the
throng, and sounding a note of defiance; "my name's Tom Dowdle, the
ragman, and I'm for any man that insults me! log-leg or leather-breeches,
green-shirt or blanket-coat, land-trotter or river-roller,--I'm the man
for a massacree!" Then giving himself a twirl upon his foot that would
have done credit to a dancing-master, he proceeded to other antic
demonstrations of hostility, which when performed in after years on the
banks of the Lower Mississippi, by himself and his worthy imitators,
were, we suspect, the cause of their receiving the name of the mighty
alligator. It is said, by naturalists, of this monstrous reptile, that he
delights, when the returning warmth of spring has brought his fellows
from their holes, and placed them basking along the banks of a swampy
lagoon, to dart into the centre of the expanse, and challenge the whole
field to combat. He roars, he blows the water from his nostrils, he
lashes it with his tail, he whirls round and round, churning the water
into foam; until, having worked himself into a proper fury, he darts back
again to the shore, to seek an antagonist. Had the gallant captain of
horse-thieves boasted the blood, as he afterwards did the name, of an
"alligator half-breed," he could have scarce conducted himself in a way
more worthy of his parentage. He leaped into the centre of the throng,
where, having found elbow-room for his purpose, he performed the gyration
mentioned before, following it up by other feats expressive of his
hostile humour. He flapped his wings and crowed, until every chanticleer
in the settlement replied to the note of battle; he snorted and neighed
like a horse; he bellowed like a bull; he barked like a dog; he yelled
like an Indian; he whined like a panther; he howled like a wolf; until
one would have thought he was a living managerie, comprising within his
single body the spirit of every animal noted for its love of conflict.
Then, not content with such a display of readiness to fight the field,
he darted