"Whew--but that's cool," whispered Ginsling, "but old fellow you
are not going to escape me that easily. I have come down here for
a purpose, and I am going to succeed in my undertaking, or my name
is not Stanley Ginsling."

And I might here give the reader to understand that it was not
mere accident which brought Ginsling to Charlotte that day, he had
come with a fixed purpose of meeting Ashton, enticing him to
drink, and then accompanying him upon his journey and getting as
much out of him as possible. He had heard Ashton say it was his
intention to start for Canada, and he concluded that he was too
good a quarry for an old hunter like himself to lose. And as it
did not matter to him whether he spent the instalments, which were
regularly forwarded from home, in the United States or in Canada;
he resolved to meet Ashton at Charlotte, and be the companion of
his voyage. This accounts for his coming upon the latter as we
have just narrated.

He did not allow Ashton, who was walking rapidly away after he had
done speaking, to proceed far before he called after him, "Stop!"

The latter turned to learn what he wanted, for he began to have a
little compunction of conscience, because he had treated him so
rudely, and under the impulse of the new change of feeling waited
until Ginsling had caught up.

"Now Ashton," he said, "I think you have treated me in a manner
which is very hard for a gentleman of spirit to endure." As he
said this he saw the faint outline of a sneer curling the lip of