indistinct recollection, he yet strove, impelled as he
was by his confusedness of intention to retain his seat,
but was eventually unhorsed and handed over to the care
of his pretty daughter in law, whose office it was to
dispose of him for the night, while her husband rubbed
down, fed, and otherwise attended to Silvertail.

A few hours of sound sleep restored Sampson to his voice
and his recollection, when his desire to follow the two
individuals he had seen in the yard of the inn the
preceding night, and whom he felt persuaded he must have
passed on the road, was more than ever powerfully revived.
And yet, was it not highly probable that the favorable
opportunity had been lost, and that, taking advantage of
the night, they were already departed from the country,
if such (and he doubted it not) was their intention.
"What a cursed fool," he muttered to himself, "to let a
thimbleful of liquor upset me on such an occasion; but,
at all events, here goes for another trial. With the
impatient, over-indulged Sampson, to determine on a course
of action, was to carry it into effect."

"Hilloa! Bill, I say Bill my boy," he shouted from the
chamber next to that in which his son slept. "Hilloa!
Bill, come here directly."

Bill answered not, but sounds were heard in his room as
of one stepping out of bed, and presently the noise of
flint and steel announced that a light was being struck.
In a few minutes, the rather jaded-looking youth appeared