“ She was mistaken ; the next day Conway circumambulated the metropolis for a recipe to remove stains. “Are they in your cravats?” “No.”— “In your boot-toops?” “No.”—In your reputation?” “No.”—“In the name of Satan, where then?” “Satan be praised, in Maria’s nose.”—It would have convulsed the sides of Crassus, who laughed but once in his life; or those of Heraclitus, who lived without laughing.
“The man is not born for happiness,” said Conway, condemning his own irresolution: “nothing more pointedly displays than this—that he suffers every trifle to obstruct it.—Gracious powers! ”

“ The chief now commanded the party to remain stationary, and led Colter out on the prairie three or four hundred yards, and released him, bidding him save himself if he could. At this instant the horrid war-hoop sounded in the ears of poor Colter, who, urged with the hope of preserving life, ran with a speed at which himself was surprised. He proceeded towards the Jefferson Fork, having to traverse a plain six miles in breadth, abounding with the prickly-pear, on which he was every instant treading with his naked feet. ”

“ The wounded dog crawled after him ; when, on examining every part, he perceived in one corner, an opening into the inn yard, by a kind of trap door, to which some broken steps descended. The dog seated himself on the steps; but there was nothing to be seen but a common sack. Nor was any thing visible upon the floor, except some drops of blood, part of which were evidently those which had issued from the wound of the dog himself, and part must have been of long standing, as they were dried into the boards. His lordship went back into the bed-chamber, but the dog remained in the closet. ”

“ His visits at Mr Hargrave’s now began and ended with the day. He wondered why he did not marry, and, profoundly ignorant of his battles against himself, generously exclaimed, “Love should be unconstrained : that is not given, which is not given willingly.” ”

“ Scarcely had he secured himself, when the Indians arrived on the river screeching and yelling, as Colter expressed it, “like so many devils.” They were frequently on the raft during the day, and were seen through the chinks by Colter, who was congratulating himself on his escape, until the idea arose that they might set the raft on fire. In horrible suspense he remained until night, when, hearing no more of the Indians, he dived under the raft, and swam silently down the river to a considerable distance, where he landed, and travelled all night. ”

“ Excited by this new mystery, his lordship now assisted the poor dog in his labour, and, though that labour was not light, curiosity, and the apprehension of discovering something extraordinary, on the part of his lordship, and unabating perseverance on that of the dog, to accomplish his purpose, gave them strength to bring at length the sack from the closet to the chamber. ”

“ The maid servant was an accomplice in the guilt; and tho ruffian travellers, who were confederating with the innholder and his wife, were the murderers of the bloody remains that had been just emptied from the sack, whose intent it was to have buried them that night in a pit, which their guilty hands had dug in an adjacent field belonging to the innholder ; whose intention it was likewise to have murdered the nobleman, which was providentially prevented by the wonderful sagacity of the dog. ”

“ That there is but one good reason for being in love, namely, the impossibility to avoid it, is an idea so truly good in itself, that, had it not sprung from my own pericranium, I should have attributed it to the most venerable antiquity, and classed it for wisdom, with the wisest sayings of the ancient sages.
Fortunately for Cupid, business recalled Conway to Mr Hargrave’s, and fortunately for Maria, his visit ended in an invitation at pleasure. The wise profit by every acquisition ”

“ In contempt of himself, Conway loved ; not but the fall of stocks, tho risc of winds, the mortality of a favourite lapdog, or the tedious vitality of a rich aunt, gave a temporary check to his love, by producing a fit of the spleen; ho then saw nothing through the mist of partiality, and Maria’s nose glowed with renovated redness.
By continually dwelling on the subject, we forget it ; it becomes familiar ; familiarity produces inattention ; and inattention sinks into indifference. So it happened to Conway ”

“ His lordship, on going to his chamber, after the maid and his own servant, heard a fierce growl, as from tho top of the stairs. “Here is the dog again, my lord,” exclaimed the servant.—“Ho is often cross and churlish to strangers,” observed the maid, “yet he never bites.” As they came nearer the door, his growl increased to a furious bark; but upon the maid speaking to him sharply, he suffered her to enter the chamber, and the servant stepped back to hold tho light to his lord. ”

“ They were examining their traps early one morning, in a creek about six miles from that branch of the Missouri called Jefferson’s Fork, and were ascending in a canoe, when they suddenly heard a great noiso, resembling the trampling of animals ; but they could not ascertain the fact, as the high perpendicular banks on each side of the river impeded their view. Colter immediatly pronounced it to be occasioned by Indians, and advised an instant retreat, but was accused of cowardice by Potts, who insisted that the noise was caused by buffaloes ”

“ He therefore adopted the only alternative between life and death, by making his escape. In the course of the evening, while tho same servant was waiting at table, his lordship demanded if his order had been obeyed respecting the dog. ”

“ With this purchase he went a few doors farther, and entering an alley, ascended a pair of stairs. The boy crept up after him to the fourth story, where ho saw him go into a room, that had no other light than what it received from the moon, and peeping through a crevice, he perceived him throw it on the floor, and burst into tears, saying, “there, eat your fill, there’s the dearest loaf I ever bought: I have robbed a gentleman of three louis ”