himself of more powerful currents of the tide. He plainly knew the river even better than Arrison.

The countenance of the refugees had been darkening with sullen despair for some time, when at last Arrison's lieutenant broke the silence, by addressing their leader. "They gain on us, captain," he said. "Yes," was Arrison's curt reply.

"That fellow knows how to steer."

"Yes! curse him."

Nothing could exceed the intense bitterness with which this was pronounced.

"Couldn't you manage to put a ball through him?” continued the lieutenant.

Arrison half started from his seat as if he had himself been shot.

"By the Lord," he cried, a gleam of savage delight breaking over his face, "it's the very thing. Why didn't I think of it?"

He seized a loaded musket as he spoke, turned, took rapid but sure aim, and fired.

It was all done so quickly, that Kate, who had sprung up as soon as she comprehended the plan, in order to knock down the refugee's gun, had not time to effect her purpose, before the report sounded heavily on the evening air.

"He's hit," cried Arrison, with a hurrah, not seeming to notice Kate, and leaving his lieutenant, who pulled the stroke oar, to drag her down again. "See, they stop."

As he spoke, the crew of the pursuing boat ceased rowing, and the two nearest rushed aft, for the coxswain had fallen across the seat, as if dead. When they lifted him up he had every appearance of being lifeless.

For the first time, on that agitating day, Kate burst into tears. The hopes of rescue, but a moment before, had amounted almost to a certainty; but now it would be

impossible, she knew, for the pursuers to overtake the refugees.

The patriots apparently had come to the same conclusion, for one of them suddenly took up a musket, as if their only hope was in disabling the refugees in turn; but just as he was about to fire, a companion knocked the gun down, pointing vehemently, as if at Kate.

"Oh! if they would but disregard me and fire," she cried to herself.

But her agonized exclamation was in vain. After a few moments, apparently employed in eager consultation, the patriots turned the head of their boat down stream, and reluctantly gave up the chase.

All this time the refugees had been rapidly increasing the distance between them and their pursuers. But at this sight, they burst into a huzza.

"Now you can take it more easily, lads," cried Arrison. "These fellows have had pepper enough for their supper.'

The men laughed at his coarse wit, and relaxing their exertions, rowed slowly up the river, wiping the perspiration from their heated brows; and in the general hilarity, Kate's daring attempt at interference was either pardoned or forgotten.

Faint from physical exhaustion, from the blow she had received, and from the utter destruction of her lately awakened hopes, Kate lay, or rather reclined in the sternsheets, where she had been thrust down by the lieutenant. More than once, in her despair, she was tempted to throw herself overboard and seek refuge in death. Perhaps Arrison suspected her of such a purpose, for he kept his eye almost constantly on her, so that, even if she had made the attempt, he would have been able instantly to frustrate it.

The night now began to fall. Yet, for nearly an hour, the refugees continued to urge forward their boat. At last, landing on the southern bank of the river, they rudely bade

Kate arise. Resistance was in vain. While Arrison proceeded to cut off the superfluous part of her riding-skirt, so that she might walk, one of the gang took her by either arm. In this way they led, or rather dragged her, over rough wood-paths, and by circuituous ways, deep into the forest.

After a journey that appeared to her to extend to hours, they reached a house, surrounded on all sides by swamps. A savage bloodhound came forth baying to welcome them, eyeing Kate curiously, and by no means in a friendly spirit.

"Down, sir, down," said Arrison, addressing the dog: and entering the house he said to his prisoner, “we have but two rooms here. You will occupy that," and he pointed to an inner one.

With these words, he pushed her unceremoniously in.

OUR heroine was so completely prostrated by physical fatigue and mental excitement, that she sank into the first chair which presented itself, when the door closed; and covering her face with her hands, remained in a sort of stupor, till she was aroused by some person endeavoring to effect an cntrance. Starting to her feet, she was only in

time to see Arrison enter, bearing some food, which having deposited he was about to address her, when voices were heard calling him from without, on which he abruptly departed.

Those few minutes of rest had, however, partially refreshed Kate, and, alive now to her unprotected situation, she looked about her to see if there was any prospect of escape, and failing in this, if she could preserve her apartment from intrusion. Though she had eaten nothing since breakfast, the instinct of safety predominated over that of hunger, and therefore she left the coarse, and by no means tempting food, untasted for the present.

Her chamber was comparatively small, quite one half of it being taken up by the bed, which, to her surprise, was neatly arranged, as if female hands had been occupied about it. Opposite its foot, and where the light from the solitary window fell strongest, stood a dressing-table, made of common pine, but cushioned on top, and covered with spotless dimity, another proof that some person of her own sex, and one not without germs of refinement at least, occupied the apartment generally. This discovery cheered Kate's spirits wonderfully. Her naturally sanguine character whispered to her that, with a woman by, she could not be foully wronged.

But this bright coloring to her thoughts was not destined to be of long duration. An examination of the room satisfied her that escape was impossible. There were no outlets but the window and the door, and while the former was secured without, the latter led, as we have seen, into the common apartment. There was but one consolatory feature, which was that the door opened inwards, so that by barricading it, ingress would be effectually prevented, except with considerable difficulty.

The refugees, meantime, appeared to be preparing for a debauch. They had called for something to eat, as soon as

they arrived, and Kate now thought that she heard a woman's step, moving about as if preparing a meal. She listened in vain, however, to detect a female voice amid the increasing din of jokes, laughter, snatches of coarse songs, and noisy conversation. The uproar, however, served her purpose, since in consequence of it, she was enabled to move the bedstead unheard, and barricade the door with that comparatively heavy article of furniture. After this, reflecting that she would need all her strength, she forced herself to partake of some of the food which had been brought by Arrison.

The clink of glasses, and the increasing boisterousness of the mirth, showed that the refugees, in the contiguous apartment, had now finished their meal and were beginning their debauch in earnest. It was impossible for Kate, in such close vicinity to the revellers, not to hear much that was said. Her attention was soon arrested by her own name being mentioned in connexion with that of her cousin and listening with awakened curiosity, she gradually made out that she had been betrayed into the hands of her captors by Aylesford himself. She had not dreamed that such baseness and perfidy could exist in the world. With ashen lips she asked herself, "if this was the conduct of her own relative, who was a gentleman by birth and education, what had she to expect from a ruffian like Arrison ?"

Breathless with interest she listened to what should come next. At last, after much had passed, but little of which, however, she could distinguish, in the uproar, though chat little confirmed the connexion of Aylesford with the murderers, the conversation took a new turn, and now consisted principally of boasts of their exploits, on the part of the ruffians, alternated with jests at each other's courage. The narratives of their several butcheries, though loathsome to Kate as a woman, were yet terribly fascinating to her as a prisoner in the unrestrained power of such villains. On