shorter than it should have been. Never was seen such headlong
eagerness in pursuit of an object that could not possibly be attained;
never was heard such a tremendous outbreak of growling, snarling,
barking, and snapping,--as if one end of the ridiculous brute's body
were at deadly and most unforgivable enmity with the other. Faster and
faster, round about went the cur; and faster and still faster fled the
unapproachable brevity of his tail; and louder and fiercer grew his
yells of rage and animosity; until, utterly exhausted, and as far from
the goal as ever, the foolish old dog ceased his performance as
suddenly as he had begun it. The next moment he was as mild, quiet,
sensible, and respectable in his deportment, as when he first scraped
acquaintance with the company.

As may be supposed, the exhibition was greeted with universal
laughter, clapping of hands, and shouts of encore, to which the canine
performer responded by wagging all that there was to wag of his tail,
but appeared totally unable to repeat his very successful effort to
amuse the spectators.

Meanwhile, Ethan Brand had resumed his seat upon the log, and moved,
it might be, by a perception of some remote analogy between his own
case and that of this self-pursuing cur, he broke into the awful
laugh, which, more than any other token, expressed the condition of
his inward being. From that moment, the merriment of the party was at
an end; they stood aghast, dreading lest the inauspicious sound should
be reverberated around the horizon, and that mountain would thunder it
to mountain, and so the horror be prolonged upon their ears. Then,
whispering one to another that it was late,--that the moon was almost
down,--that the August night was growing chill,--they hurried
homewards, leaving the lime-burner and little Joe to deal as they