interrogation:--"Why is this? Why should we cross the river? What
service can I do for you? I ought to know the purpose of my voyage
before I enter it."

He checked himself and surveyed me for a minute in silence. "What do you
fear?" said he. "Have I not explained my wishes? Merely cross the river
with me, for I cannot navigate a boat by myself. Is there any thing
arduous or mysterious in this undertaking? we part on the Jersey shore,
and I shall leave you to your destiny. All I shall ask from you will be
silence, and to hide from mankind what you know concerning me."

He now entered the boat and urged me to follow his example. I
reluctantly complied, I perceived that the boat contained but one oar,
and that was a small one. He seemed startled and thrown into great
perplexity by this discovery. "It will be impossible," said he, in a
tone of panic and vexation, "to procure another at this hour: what is to
be done?"

This impediment was by no means insuperable. I had sinewy arms, and knew
well how to use an oar for the double purpose of oar and rudder. I took
my station at the stern, and quickly extricated the boat from its
neighbours and from the wharves. I was wholly unacquainted with the
river. The bar by which it was encumbered I knew to exist, but in what
direction and to what extent it existed, and how it might be avoided in
the present state of the tide, I knew not. It was probable, therefore,
unknowing as I was of the proper track, that our boat would speedily
have grounded.

My attention, meanwhile, was fixed upon the oar. My companion sat at the
prow, and was in a considerable degree unnoticed. I cast my eyes