Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-03-18

giant; together with the account he gave of the
manly bearing, and the manly beauty of Her.
bert; added immensely, in the estimate of Mr..
Sabine, to the value of the lives of two of an
early friends children who were mere toys, and
playthings of considerable promise, when he
saw them last and produced an excitement in
system habitually nervous, which he could not
suppress.
" Stay here,' said he to Clovis, " and be quiet
till | come back"
Then calling for his horse and ordering that
the wants of Clovis should be provided for, he
hastened to an adjoining town where, after con-
sultation, he mustered eighteen stalwart Green
Mountain men the guondam neighbors and
friends of Hartman, whose hearts had never
known such sentiment as fear, though always
open, like their hands, to sympathy and pity.
These were to start on the following day, by
different routes and meet at eleven o'clock in
the evening of the second day thereafter, on a
certain open plain ten miles from the residence
Oh Musgrave. Clovis was to be delayed till
nightfall; when, with letters from Mr. Sabine
to confidential, and trustworthy persons on the
route, to whom, however, the real nature of his
business was not to be disclosed, he was to begin
his homeward journey travelling only by night,
and resting secreted through the day, with some
OF the persons to whom his letters should be ad-
dressed; and at the hour and place fixed for as
sembling, Clovis was to meet with the rest and
thence conduct them to the Retreat
These preliminaries being arranged, Mr.. Sa-
bine returned home and dispatched messen-
ger with letter to Captain Bornkil, man of
great energy, resolution and courage, residing
in border township in the Canadian Province,
who was well known over large section of
that country for the possession of these, and
other sterling qualities. In the letter Mr. Sa-
bine informed Captain Bornkil of his discover
les, advised him of the plans then afoot, the
time and place Of meeting on the evening of the
third day thereafter, urged his intercesson
with the Canadian authorities for official aid,
and especially besought the pren,o9oF Captain
Bornkil. To this letter the latter replied in a
brief note not with egotsm, but with cautious
significance
"At the time named /, ,ciH meet you at
PhiIhppi."
Before the receipt of this note, which came
to MIR. Sabine's hand late in the evening, Clovis,
refreshed, confident Of success, with dogged
resolution in his heart, and brooding over hopes
of revenge for fancied wrongs received at Mus
grave's hands, was on his return.
AT a late hour in the evening on which Clovis
left, traveller called for lodgings at the Inn of
MIR, Sabine. lie was stout-built, portly man.
apparently ffty-fve years ofaga, or thereabouts
whose shining red face and purple nose, indi-
Gated exposure to the weather as we'll as ndul-
gence in worldly cheer. On his right check
bone he wore a large black patch to cover
wound received, he said, by falling from his car
riage; his horse having been frightened and
thrown him out. The stranger was Musgraye
He had been to the farm formerly occupied by
Hartman, which was about seven miles from
the place where he now stopped for the night,
His business being only with the occupant, who
wasa tenant of Musgrave, the paper title to the
land being still in the latter, he avoided obser-
walton as much as possible, and hastened home
ward by a circuitous route which led him to
Mr.. Sabine's, with as much speed as his horse
could endure Tho mastering of men by Sa-
bine was done with so much regard to socresy,
that neither Musgraye or his tenant, both of
whom were closely housed while Sabine was
operating, had any consciousness of the fact
! Having declared himself to Sabine as the
owner of the farm, and expressed wish to sell
it, the way was opened for many enquiries con-
cerning the former owner, and the inducements
offered to Hartman to SELL On these points
Sabine pressed him hard, but Musgrave answer
ed with so much adroitness and so freely, that
Sabine's suspicious Of Musgrave's villainy were
aroused only to be lullod again, or were SO far
controyerted, that he doubted if his guest was
really the man he WAS, and he dared not ven
ture on an arrest. He may have been an hon
est purchaser, thought Sabine; and an i'm
pulse originating elsewhere may have been
Harrman's evil guide yet if he is the man
believe him to be, then Hartman shall say it,
and shall have his own again
But Musgrave's apprehensions were more So,
rious than he betrayed. Fearful of discovery
and representing his business to be urgent, he
proposed to sleep couple of hours, when he
wished to be called and resume his Journey
Sabine having shown him to sleeping room,
had left him but few minutes when he heard
the voice of Musgrave in loud, and seemingly
earnest and importunate prayer. The deep,
heavy groans which were mingled with his
words. and the sharp, frenetic manner in which
he occasionally jerked out words and sentences,
were distressing to the hearer, and indicated to
the ear of Sabine a state of excessively wild fa-
naticsm or, if it was Heayen-daring, of terri
BILE hypocrisy. Sabine stood and listened he
could not move. The language, tone, passion,
and what he could not but imagine to be, ac-
ton of the man, kept him spell-bound, till the
words had ceased, and Musgrave uttered fear
fully agonizing groan as if his spirit had gone
out with its last expiring throe; and his body
was heard to fall cumbrously on the floor. Sa-
bine stood a moment doubling whether he would
not seek an entrance to Musgraves room then
turned and stole silently away, for he began to
feel sense of loathing, and to believe Mus
grave to be just such hypocrte as he was.
At the expiration of the time named by Mus
grave, he was called, and soon after departed.
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK