ast, and when next you try to
be insulting, count upon your man in advance."

Saying which, and with a quiet good evening to the astonished
company, he walked out of the house, and mounting his horse, rode
slowly homeward.

The discomfited Nat slowly arose, and gaining his feet, glared around
at his wonder-stricken friends, in whose faces, however, he failed to
discover the faintest evidence of sympathy or support.

These honest, good-natured Germans were far too sensible and
fair-minded to justify such an unwarrantable and unexpected insult as
that which had been put upon one of their favorite friends, and
consequently not one of the company lifted their voice or expressed
any regrets for the punishment which Nat had so justly received.
Henry had, in their opinion, acted in a manner which accorded
entirely with their own views upon such matters, and much the same as
they themselves would have done under similar circumstances.

Raising his clenched hand, and with face deadly pale, Nat Toner faced
the silent group, and cried out, in the intensity of his passion:

"Henry Schulte shall pay dearly for this. As truly as we both live, I
will have a full revenge, and in a way he little dreams of."

Uttering these words, he strode fiercely from the room, and
disappeared in the darkness of the night. His companions, realizing
that their pleasure for that evening was ended, silently took their
leave, and wended their way to their several homes.

How well Nat Toner kept his oath will hereafter be seen, but many of
the old men of Hagen yet recall with a shudder his dreadful words,
and their fulfillment.

CHAPTER X.

_A Curse._--_Plans of Revenge._

As Nat strode onward to his home, after leaving his companions, his
mind was in a chaotic state of excitement and rage. He was still
smarting from the blows he had received, and the blood was flowing
from his nostrils and lips. He paid no heed to this, however, for
there was murder in his heart, and already his plans of revenge were
being formed--plans which fiends incarnate might well shrink from,
and from the execution of which even demoniac natures would have
recoiled in horror.

As he walked on, the dark, lowering clouds that had been gathering
overhead, broke into a terrific storm of rain; the wind whistled and
howled through the valleys, and from the mountain gorges the
lightning flashed with a vividness almost appalling; but, undismayed
by the storm and the