riment had somewhat subsided, I stepped toward the
assemblage, and inquired if the landlord were present. There was no
reply for a few moments; then one of the embryo planters, speaking to a
showily-dressed young man near him, remarked:

'Get up, and tend ter the stranger; ye arn't fit to tote vituals to a
nigger.'

The young man rose very deliberately, and said:

'Want ter see the keeper, do ye?'

'Yes, sir, I want, a room, and supper for two, at once.'

'Room and supper fur two?'

'Yes, a room with a fire and two beds.'

'Whar d'ye come from?'

'From Goldsboro'; just in by the stage.'

'Oh! stage's in, is it?'

'Yes, sir, the stage is in. You'll oblige me by attending to us at once;
we are hungry and tired.'

He looked at me for a moment without speaking, then leisurely walked out
of the front door. Two or three of the loungers followed, but the young
gentleman who had first spoken rose and politely tendered me a seat.
Thanking him, I took the chair vacated by the bartender, and proceeded
to warm my hands and limbs, which were thoroughly chilled by the long
ride in the cold air.

'Cold, riding after nightfall, sir,' said the young man, who I now
observed was the Mr. Gaston whom the trader had so unceremoniously
ejected from the shooting ground.

'Yes, sir, it _is_ cold riding on the box.'

'And our rattle-down coaches are so mighty slow; you don't have such
fixin's at the North.'

'No, sir; but why do you suppose I'm from the North? I've passed for a
Southerner to-day.'

'Oh, I know you Yankees all to pieces; I've lived among you.'

'At college, I suppose?'

'Yes, at Harvard.'

'You graduated early.'

'No, I didn't graduate, I _left_--left for my health. Ha! ha I' and he
broke into a merry fit of laughter, in which several of his companions
joined.

'Taken with sudden illness, as you were at the turkey-match, to-day?' I
inquired good humoredly, and in a tone that could not give offence.

'Yes, the same disease, I swear. Ha! ha!'

'Ha! ha!' echoed his companions,

'The stranger's inter ye, Gus--inter ye a feet! Come, ye must treat,'
shouted the teller of the horse story.

This last individual was tall, raw-boned, and squarely built, with
broad, heavy features, and dull, cold, snake-like eyes. His black,
unkempt hair, and long, wiry beard, fell round his face like tow round a
mop handle, and his coarse linsey clothes, patched in many places, and
smeared with tar and tobacco juice, fitt