And then he pointed to the foot of his bed, where I had not seen before
a great map of the United States, as he had drawn it from memory, and
which he had there to look upon as he lay. Quaint, queer old names were
on it, in large letters: 'Indiana Territory,' 'Mississippi Territory,'
and 'Louisiana Territory,' as I suppose our fathers learned such things:
but the old fellow had patched in Texas, too; he had carried his western
boundary all the way to the Pacific, but on that shore he had defined
nothing.

"'O Captain,' he said, 'I know I am dying. I cannot get home. Surely you
will tell me something now?--Stop! stop! Do not speak till I say what I
am sure you know, that there is not in this ship, that there is not in
America,--God bless her!--a more loyal man than I. There cannot be a man
who loves the old flag as I do, or prays for it as I do, or hopes for it
as I do. There are thirty-four stars in it now, Danforth. I thank God
for that, though I do not know what their names are. There has never
been one taken away: I thank God for that. I know by that that there has
never been any successful Burr, O Danforth, Danforth,' he sighed out,
'how like a wretched night's dream a boy's idea of personal fame or of
separate sovereignty seems, when one looks back on it after such a life
as mine! But tell me,--tell me something,--tell me everything, Danforth,
before I die!'

"Ingham, I swear to you that I felt like a monster that I had not told
him everything before. Danger or no danger, delicacy or no delicacy, who
was I, that I should have been acting the tyrant all this time over this
dear, sainted old man, who had years ago expiated, in his whole
manhood's life, the madness of a boys treason? 'Mr. Nolan,' said I, 'I
will tell you everything you ask about. Only, where shall I begin?'