Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1846-02-26
From Blackwood's Magazine.
ADVENTU RES In TEXAS.
No. III.
a TRIAL BY JURY.


the bank of small but deep river. My horse was
grazing quietly few yards of, and beside me stood
man with folded arms, holding a wcker-covered
flask in his hand This was all | was able 10
observe for my state of weakness prevented me
from getting up and looking around me.
Where am 7 lgusPed.
Where are you strangerl BY Jacinto and that
you are by it and not in it, is no fault Of your'n
reckon.
There was something harsh and repulsive in the
tone and manner IN which these words were spoken,
and in the grating scorniuI laugh tina, accompanied
them, that Jared upon my nerves, and inspired me
with feeling OF aversion towards the speaker.
knew that he was my dellverer; that he had saved
my life when my mustang raging with thirst, had
sprung head foremost into the water that without
him, | must, inevitably, have been drowned even
had the river been less deep than il was and that
il was BY his care, and the whskey he had made
me swallow, and Of which still felt the flavor on
my tongue, that had been recovered from the
deahke swoon into which had fallen. But had
he done ten times much for me, could not
have repressed the feeling OF sepugnance, the in
applicable dislike, with which the mere tones Of
his voice filled me. turned my head away in
order not to see him. There was silence Of some
moments duration.
Don't seem as if my company was over and a
bove agreeable, said the man at last.
Your company not agreeable This is the
fourth day since saw the face OF human being
During that time not bit drop has passed
my tongue
Halo That's le, shouted the man with
another strange wild laugh. You've taken
mouthful out OF my flask not taken it, certainly,
but it went over your tongue all the same Where
do you come from The beast amt yourn.
Mr. Neals's,' answered ].
See it is by the brand But what brings you
here from Mr. Neal'sl It's good seventy miles
to his plantation, right across the prairie. Amt
stole The horse, have youl
Lost my way-four days-eaten nothing
These words were all | could ariiculate. | was
too weak to talk.
-Four days without eatin,' cried the man, with
laugh like the sharpening Of saw, and that in
Texian prairie, and with islands on all sides Of
you Ha see how it is. You're gentleman
that's plain enough. / was sort Of one myself
once You thought our prairies was like the
prairies in the States Hh, ha And so you
didn't know how to help yourself Did you see no
bees in the air, no strawberries on the earthF
Bees! Strawberries 7 repeated l.
Yes bees, which live in the hollow trees Out
OF twenty trees there's sure to be full Of honey
So you saw no bees, ehi Perhaps you don't know
the creturs when you see 'em! Amt altogether so
big as wild geese or turkeys. But you must know
what strawberries are, and that they don't grow up
on the trees
All this was spoken in the same sneering savage
manner as before, with the speakers head half
turned over his shoulder, while his features were
distorted into contemptuous grin.
And if had seen the bees how was | to get
al the honey without an axer
How did you lose yourselfP
MY mustang-ran away
Il see. And you after him. You'd have done
better TO let him run But wha, dye mean to do
now p
Il am weak-sck to death. | wish to get to
the nearest house-an inn-anywhere where men
are
Where men arc, repeated the stranger, with his
scornful smile. Where men are, he muttered a.
| gain, taking few steps on one side
was hardly able to turn my head, but there
was something strange in the mans movement
that alarmed me g. making a violent effort, |
changed my head sufficiently 10 get him in sight
again. He had drawn long knife from his girdle,
which he clutched in one hand, while he ran the
| fore finger OF the other along its edge. now for
the first time got full view of his face, and the
| impression it made upon me was anything but IA
yorabe. His countenance was the widest had
ever seen; his bloodshot eyes rolled like balls OF
/ FIRE in their sockets while his movements and
manner were indicative o. violent inward struggle.
/ He did not stand still for three seconds together,
/ but paced backwards and forwards with hurried
/ irregular steps, casting wild glanees over his
shoulder, his fingers playing all the while with the
knife, with the rapid and ohjectiess movements Of
| a manic.
felt convinced that was the cause Of the strug-
gle yisbly going on within him that my life OF
| death was what he was deciding upon. But m
the state then was death had no terror Tor me-
The image Of my mother, sister and father, passed
before my eyes gave one thought to my peace
ful happy home, and then looked upwards and pray