s own
risk."

"But will they not contest _your_ will?"

"If they do, I shall find the means of proving what the document
affirms, and my case will then stand just as well. As a kind of
assurance for the witnesses my brother affixed a character,--a kind of
cabalistic design,--upon the will, assuring them it was placed on the
will alone. You have a copy of this design?"

"I have. Maxwell gave it to me, and I have practised till I can do it to
perfection. Your brother had an odd way of doing business."

"He had; but his oddity in this instance is a God-send."

"But the _other_ document, Mr. Dumont! My stay is already too long!"

Jaspar, taking the keys from the table, opened the secretary, and took
from a small iron safe in the lower part of it a large packet, on which
were several large masses of wax bearing the impress of Colonel Dumont's
seal.

"Now, De Guy," said he, "do your best."

"Do not fear! I never yet saw a name I could not imitate."

"So much the better; but be careful, I entreat you! Think how much
depends upon care!"

"O, I can do it so nicely that your brother himself would not deny it,
if he should step out of his grave!"

"Silence, man!" said Jaspar, angrily, as a superstitious thrill of
terror crept through his veins.

Jaspar took up the packet, and was about to snap the seals, when,
quicker than thought, the window through which De Guy had entered flew
open, and Hatchie leaped into the room. Without giving Jaspar or his
accomplice time to recover from the surprise of his sudden entrance, he
levelled a blow at the lawyer, and another at the perfidious brother,
which placed both in a rather awkward position on the floor. Hatchie
then seized the envelope containing the will, and made his escape in the
manner he had entered, well knowing that Jaspar would not hesitate to
take his life rather than be foiled in his purpose.

[Illustration: Hatchie knocking down De Guy and Jasper, and stealing the
will. Page 46.]

The mulatto's blows produced no serious effect upon the heads of the
two villains, and, recovering from the surprise and shock the act had
occasioned, they lost not a moment in pursuing their assailant. Hatchie
directed his course to the river, and scarcely a moment had elapsed
before he heard the steps of his pursuers. Leaping down the bank, he ran
along by the edge of the water, with the intention of reaching a boat
which he knew was moored a few rods further down. In his flight,