recognised one or two others, but did not dare to look on death in such hideous shapes. I took to my heels as fast as I could, not knowing what I did, until I reached a tuft of trees, under which lay a heap of leaves, wherewith I covered myself, resolved to wait where I was until the military had taken their departure from the neighbourhood.

I was not wrong in my determination, for I had accidentally taken the very route which the soldiers were also to take on their return to the town where they were quartered, and which I felt perfectly convinced was the town, of all others, that I desired to see, and where the dear Von Doddles were located; but at my time of life, having been immured from the world for upwards of two years, I could not decide whether I ought to give myself up to the officer and tell my own storywhich I now see would have been the thing to do-and therefore lay perdu as they passed me, having in the midst of them five of my intimate friends, with their hands tied behind them, and Helen and her fair companion tied together.

It was not very long after this that I shook off the leaves, and followed, as I thought, the track through the forest by which the troops had left it. However, I certainly missed that particular path, and, bearing away more to the right, found the forest get less thick and dark, until, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, I reached a high-road. I looked round, but saw no object that I recognised. It was in a valley, and I could discern nothing which indicated to me the course I should pursue, and I determined, being, moreover, a little tired, to sit myself down on a stone by the road-side, and wait until somebody should come by, of whom I might inquire the nearest way to my native town, and to the house of the dear Mr. and Mrs., and Miss-Von Doddle.

I waited-and watched-but it seemed a dull part of the country, and nobody came; until, at last, I saw approaching two caravans full of wild beasts and birds, driven by a huge black man in a pair of crimson short breeches, spangled theatrically, without stockings, and having a long brown great-coat over his gay costume; he being armed with a long whip, and walking by the side of his moving menagerie.

Whango Jang-for such I found to be his name-looked at me as he approached. I rose from the stone upon which I was seated, and asked him, in the most plaintive voice, if he could tell me the way to Mr. Von Doddle's.

"Von Doddle !" said the black. "What, the protestant clergyman?"

"Yes," said I.

"Get upon this first cart, my boy," said he, " and I will set you down at his door before supper-time."

"Thank you," said I. "I promise you he will reward you for your

trouble."

The black man smiled, and showed his white teeth. Up I got, and in less than five minutes began to think of Bertha, casting into the deep shade of a long perspective the cave and all its horrors, my long captivity, and every thing else; never thinking to myself that, as I must have been accounted dead, Bertha might probably have got married. That never occurred to me-and on I went, watching every glade and every tuft of trees, to see amidst them the roof of my dear pastor, and almost parent's house. But no!-on we went. The black man sang,

and his beasts roared; but the sun began to decline, and no Von Doddle. After a good long drag, we stopped at a very small and very bad inn; but to me, unused to travelling, and young enough to care for nothing, it seemed snug, although the rooms were dark, and by no means delicately clean.

"When shall we reach home ?" said I to the black man. "Not to-night, I'fear," said the black man to me. "One of my horses has fallen lame, and we shall be obliged to sleep here. Tomorrow, you will be snug at Mr. Von Doddle's."

Now although I had passed one-seventh of my life in the society of the greatest villains on or under the earth, I myself was as innocent as Bertha in all worldly matters, and if I had had any suspicions that Whango Jang was playing me false, the lessons which my excellent pastor had taught me, that every black I might meet with was my friend and brother, would have set my suspicions to sleep-but I had no suspicion, for why should he deceive me? So when morning came I helped to clean the horses, to which I was pretty well accustomed, and get them harnessed all ready for a start. Start we did, and travel we did; we stopped on the road to feed the beasts, and after them-ourselves. We were again in motion; again" the shepherd (to use the words of Dr. Zlippzlopp) drove home his flock, again the reapers quitted the golden field, again the shadows lengthened, again the glorious sun dipped his bright beams in the western sea." But no red-tiled roof appeared; another hour passed and the black man, and the tiger, and the lion, and the porcupine, and the ostrich, and the monkeys, with myself to boot, had passed the Neapolitan frontier. In one hour more, and when Whango Jang thought himself secure, he changed his manner towards me, and instead of speaking humbly and encouragingly, said,

"Now, you young vagabond, I have got you safe, you may thank your lucky stars I did not give you up to justice. Look at your jacketwhere did you get that, but in the cave of some banditti-eh? Is it not so? You are a young thief."

"No," said I," I am no thief-I was forced to live with thieves." "Ha, ha, ha," said Whango, "I thought I was right-and how long did you live among them ?"

"Two years and fourteen days," said I, innocently.

Well," said Whango, "now look you: by your own confession I have your life in my hands; especially after the murder of the Viceroy's son by your particular friends, at least if I may judge of the place where I picked you up; but if you behave well, and do as I bid you, I shall say nothing about it. My boy who used to look after the tiger, affronted him last week, and the tiger killed him-I want just such a fellow as you to take his place."

"To be killed," said I," to please the tiger!"

"No," said my sable patron, "not so; I will take care of the tiger myself, you must look after my ostrich-you need not be afraid of a bird; are you content? if not I shall hand you over to the officers of justice."

I did not like to affront the black man-I did not like to be handed over to the officers of justice, and I did not mind taking care of a bird, provided that I might, by patient suffering for a certain time, lull the suspicions of Whango, and so eventually get out of his

clutches. I therefore professed my readiness to do his bidding, not altogether prepared for one circumstance, which certainly did not transpire in the early part of the negotiation, namely, that I was to be locked up every night in company with my charge, a precaution, for which, as I have since found out, Whango Jang had a double reason. The one founded on the fear of my running away from him, and the other on the apprehension that if I went about, even without the intention of eloping, my story might get wind, and he become amenable to the laws for his abduction of me; so that while he was trembling lest I should quit him, I was trembling lest he should make good his charge against me of having voluntarily joined a band of robbers. To invalidate these statements I could by no possibility adduce a single witness. It will scarcely be believed that under the influence of our varied feelings, Whango Jang remained my master, and I little better than his slave for more than a year and a half, in fact till I was just eighteen; during which period I had, in addition to the care of the ostrich, the occupation of stirring up the beasts. with a long pole whenever we were in a town where they were exhibited. As for the ostrich, it loved me, would run after me playfully, and at last Whango Jang having found that I could make it dance by dancing about before it, with the skirts of my jacket up, I had to perform that feat some twenty times in each day.

We traversed the greater part of Germany, zig-zagging about, in order to make the tour more profitable, and I suppose such is the force of habit, that I should have been to this moment a bird-keeper if I had not been, fortunately for myself, seized with a fit of zoological inquisitiveness which shortly put an end to my career in that line.

One day our porcupine died-and Whango, lamenting over his loss, was collecting its quills, of which he hoped to make something in the way of curiosity, when we fell into discourse as to the power which that animal has of darting those quills at an enemy, which Whango declared he had never seen it do; and so from one thing we got talking of another, and when I was going to my den-literally-I said to myself, "I wonder whether the story of an ostrich being able to digest iron is fabulous too." Whereupon, the opportunity being excitingly at hand, I resolved upon trying the experiment; and accordingly, instead of its ordinary supper, I administered to my pet, the key of the kitchen door, which was hanging up close by, and two or three smooth-edged stones which I picked up in the yard. The bird, which was more than usually hungry, made no scruple of swallowing the whole collection, in addition to its ordinary food; after which, I was, as usual, locked into my retreat, and in due time fell fast asleep.

It was with infinite satisfaction I found in the morning that the ostrich, although not so lively as heretofore, was looking well after its night's repast; and so perfectly satisfied with it, that it declined its usual breakfast; a circumstance which I intended to turn to account in getting into the good graces of my master, by announcing to him the great saving in provisions which my proficiency in natural history was likely to ensure him; and when we began our move for the day, every minute seemed an hour, until I could open to him the valuable secret of my success. About noon we arrived in a valley, formed by the mountains of Hartzburg, when we called a halt, and Whango having drawn the caravans up under a large tree, we ate some cold meat and bread, and drank

some very light wine, and then, being tired, he laid himself down to sleep, giving me strict orders to be watchful and wake him on the appearance of any travellers. Scarcely, however, had he settled himself comfortably when he was suddenly alarmed by the screams of his ostrich, and the flapping of its wings against the sides of the caravan. He Jumped up, and opening the door of the cage, beheld the unhappy bird lying on its back in the greatest agony. It gave one last look at Whango and-died.

Never shall I forget the expression of Whango's countenance—a black man turning almost white with anger is a fearful sight. I presume my looks betrayed my feelings; for, seizing me by the collar, and anathematizing me in the coarsest terms, he insisted upon knowing what I had been doing to his treasure-his ostrich-his bird of birds, the like of which was nowhere to be found upon earth.

I shook myself out of his grasp, and falling on my knees, told him the whole truth as related to the experiment I had made. Whereupon he seized, what he called in his menagerie, the "taming whip," and began to belabour me over the head and shoulders as if I had been a refractory tiger; the which correction, much as I might have deserved it, I could not stand: whereupon I made a start and taking to my heels, ran as hard as I could from the scene of my mishap, perfectly assured that Whango Jang dare not run after me, and leave his beasts-for bird he now had none-by themselves, and equally satisfied that fifteen stone of sable mortality was not likely to come up with somewhat about half the weight of youthful elasticity. In vain did the big black man call to me- -beckon to me-assure me I was forgiven-that nothing more should be said about the bird.--No, no; I had seen what his temper could be, I had felt the lash of his "taming whip," and on I ran, leaving him, panting and blowing as he was, to pack up his dead ostrich and travel by himself.

I confess I was very sorry for the poor bird, yet, nevertheless, the result of the experiment was perfectly satisfactory, as exhibiting the fallacy of a generally-received vulgar error.

In my present state, aware exactly that Whango could journey only on the high-roads, I struck off into a forest, which lay on my right hand; not without an instinctive apprehension of being clawed up by some new robber, who might consign me again to mother earth before my time. However, I proceeded cautiously, having now plenty of time upon my hands, in hopes, if I could, of penetrating the wood, and getting out upon some other road, which I surmised might be on the other side of it. But in the midst of my cogitations and projects, I was overtaken by a tremendous storm of rain and hail, which came pattering down amongst the leaves like small shot. Wind, flashes of lightning, accompanied with terrific claps of thunder, soon added their appalling influence in this attack of the elements, and by the same code of philosophy to which the ostrich was indebted for its death, having learned that nothing is more dangerous than remaining under lofty trees during a thunder-storm, I was delighted to find myself at the edge of the wood, although I was absolutely saturated by the rain, which poured down in torrents. Judge what was my delight, at seeing a small cottage on the wood's side, within fifty yards of me. I ran towards it as fast as I could, and found easy admittance, inasmuch as the

door was open, and I observed a gentlemanly-looking man, in a shootingjacket, with two dogs at his feet, assiduously shaking off the wet from his clothes and his hat; while an old woman, apparently by his direction, was kindling a fire, summer as it was, for the purpose of drying him. The gentleman was evidently startled at my appearance, as a stranger in so wild and unfrequented a country; but seeing, I suppose, that I did not look very guilty or very wicked, he asked me what brought me there, in a tone which implied, as I thought, that he was disposed to be kind to me. So I told him the truth-that is as far as my natural experiment upon the ostrich, and my escape from Whango Jang went,sinking of course, the history of the cave and the robbers.

As I anticipated, the gentleman behaved with the greatest goodnature; he gave me some brandy from the bottle which he carried, and finding that I was really ignorant of the locality into which I had fallen, told me if I chose to follow him to his house some three miles off, he would see what he could do for me. I was enraptured at his offer, and kissed his hand in token of my gratitude.

As we walked towards his residence, he never exchanged a syllable with me. He talked to his dogs, who jumped about him in playful acknowledgment of his attentions; nor did I feel myself much cheered during our progress, until I saw smoke issuing from three or four goodly chimneys, from amongst a clump of lofty trees. A few minutes more brought us to his gate. We entered the court-yard, where there were plenty of servants, and plenty more dogs. He spoke to his men, and encouraged his hounds, and then told me to follow him to his own room. I did so, and entered a large, oak-panelled kind of parlour, ornamented with the horns of numerous stags, which had been killed during the last half-century. A very few books lay huddled together upon one small table, while on a larger one, near the middle of the room, was laid a cloth covered with all the preparations for a substantial meal, such as I had not seen for many months.

We were received exceedingly well by a lady, whom I afterwards found out was the housekeeper, and two boys of fifteen and sixteen, who struck me very much to resemble the said housekeeper's master. One helped him off with his wet boots, another brought him a comfortable loose woollen gown; his pipe was handed to him, and he threw himself upon a sofa, and smoked while the dinner was getting ready.

Well," said the worthy gentleman to me, come here. You have interested me about you; if what you have told me is true, I will see what I can do for you. I am the superintendent of the mines here. I may be of use-but your history must begin much earlier than the period at which you joined the showman-what is your name?"

"My name, sir," said I," is Widdlezig, of Zizzlestein."

"What!" cried mine host, dropping his pipe, and jumping from the sofa, "Widdlezig! who ran away from the house of Mr. Von Doddle, in Naples?"

"I am he!" said I, astonished to find any body who knew, and seemed so much interested about me," but I did not run away."

I cannot express the warmth of manner in which the superintendent seized me by the hand, and pressed it to his heart; he seemed quite overcome; he caught me to his heart, and almost sobbed aloud.

"This is most extraordinary-it seems incredible-are you indeed