kind, I
would refuse to aid you--but the case is different.--But what is your
plan?'

'I will get into one of these boxes, and you will nail on the cover, and
I shall be conveyed on board the sloop, which will sail in less than an
hour hence. When the vessel arrives at New York I shall perhaps have an
opportunity to get on shore unperceived, and escape into the city, where
I know of a place of refuge which the devil himself could not
find,'--and the Dead Man chuckled inwardly as he thought of the Dark
Vaults.

'The plan is a good one, and worthy of a trial,' said the other. 'But
the overseer has his eye constantly upon you--how can you escape his
vigilance?'

'There's the only difficulty,' replied the Dead Man--and his subtle
brain was beginning to hatch some plan of surmounting that difficulty,
when a large party of visitors, among whom were several ladies, entered
the shop.

Now the overseer was a young man, and withal a tolerably good-looking
one; and among the ladies were two or three whose beauty commended them
to his gallant attentions.

He therefore left his station on the platform, and went forward to
receive them, and make himself agreeable.

'Now's my time, by G----d!' whispered the Dead Man to his fellow
prisoner; instantly he lay down in one of the boxes, and the other
nailed on the cover securely. A few moments afterwards, the box which
contained the Dead Man was carried down to the wharf, by two convicts,
and placed on board the vessel.

Meanwhile, the overseer had become the oracle of the party of ladies and
gentlemen who had visited the shop; surrounded by the group, he occupied
half an hour in replying to the many questions put to him, relative to
the prison discipline, and other matters connected with it. In answer to
a question addressed to him concerning the character of those under his
charge, the overseer remarked in a tone of much self-complacency:

'I have now in this shop a convict who is the most diabolical villain
that ever was confined in this prison. He is called the Dead Man, from
the fact that his countenance resembles that of a dead person. He was
sentenced here for life, for a murder, but contrived to escape about a
year ago. However, he was arrested on a burglary not long since, sent
back here, and placed under my particular care. I flatter myself that he
will not escape a second time. Step this way, ladies and gentlemen, and
view the hideous criminal.'

With a smirk of sa