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where we had just buried our dead,' hanging on to the top with my hands, to avoid too low a descent. In a moment our followers were about me. They had noticed our pause at this spot, and supposing that we had abandoned the subject, commenced a careful search for it. Of course I maintained a strict reserve as to my whereabouts. An unlucky cough or sneeze would betray me; and in that case I was elected for an 'imprisonment of not less than two, nor more than five years;' all of which I thought of during their tedious stay. At last they left, with an agreement to return in the morning and complete their search.

But my troubles were not over. I had hung so long suspended at arms' length by the hands, that on attempting to swing up again to the top of the stub, I found it was no go; and after several attempts, my cramped hands gave way, and down I went upon the head and shoulders of my departed friend and fellow-prisoner. The position was disagreeable, but I was ever a plucky fellow, and felt no wise discouraged until, after resting a while, I tried to clamber up out of my long chimney of a grave, and found the sides so smooth and slippery with damp as to serve an effectual 'ne exeat' upon me. Verily, thought I, 'the way of the transgressor is hard!'

I consoled myself for a while with the hope of a speedy return of my party, but hour after hour passed on, and they did not come. Day broke, and as the sun rose in the heavens, the light crept down into my prison and illuminated the ghastly countenance of my fellow-captive. His eyes were half opened; and at last, my nerves growing weak from hunger and long confinement in one position, I fancied that I saw upon his upturned face a strange and cunning leer; a triumphant expression, as if he were chuckling over the horrible scrape into which my attempt to disturb his rest had brought me. I shifted my position so that I could only see the back of his head and his bare shoulders, but the rascal had a kind of French shrug in the latter, which still left the same impression on my excited fancy.

It grew cloudy and cold, and sleet and rain began to fall. My enemies of the night before returned, and completed their unsuccessful search. I felt a strange temptation to cry out and reveal my hiding-place; and had they come later in the day, I believe I should have done so. Noon came. Hitherto my position had been one of great discomfort, but not of actual suffering; but as the day wore on, (and oh, how slowly!) I began to feel the effects of fatigue, hunger, wet, and cold. I grew terribly nervous! I wept, and prayed, and cursed by turns. My companion too-how I grew to hate him, and at last to look upon him as a sentient and intelligent demon, who, by some horrible diablerie, had drawn me into a living grave with him-and then I thought of how, when the old tree should have crumbled down with time, two skeletons would be found there, and only one suit of clothes; and how people would wonder; what they would say about me, should the truth become known; and whether they would pity me or not. Perhaps they would burn the field over, and we should both be burned up, 'burned up with fire;' and I repeated it over and over again, 'burned up with fire.' Then I thought how cold and hungry I was, and what my mother would say, could she know my situation; and I grew childish, and wept with

the same passionate grief as when a child. Toward the close of the day I had fretted myself into a quarrel with the dead man, and curling down within reach, I struck him with my fist, and stamped upon him.

When night came, I was glad. I was so cold and benumbed that I felt no longer the gnawings of hunger, and from sheer exhaustion my nerves had grown quiet. For the first time I wished to sleep. I fixed myself as easily as possible, and repeating the old nursery lines,

'Now I lay me down to sleep,'

I dropped off into a quiet slumber. I had slept some hours when I woke suddenly at the sound of a foot-fall. In a moment the whole truth

flashed over me. The boys had returned in search of me, and, without waiting to ascertain the facts, I called out, 'Here I am! Here I am! Come and pull me out!' A moment more, and after a word of explanation, a strong arm grasped me, and I was drawn out to the living world again.

Few words were spoken then, but half an hour later, seated once more in the wagon beside old H well wrapped up in a buffalo-robe, my pleasant companion of that long, weary day beneath our feet, my hunger satisfied by sundry dough-nuts and cold sausages, and my nerves set right by a pull at the brandy-bottle, so long and uninterrupted that Seth inquired if I had ever been a pearl-diver, I listened to their explanations of the impossibility of any earlier relief to me, and of the anxiety they had suffered during the day, lest I had been captured.

I slept soundly that night, but for many nights thereafter, horrid dreams of ghouls and vampires; of going down and down through Simms' Hole with a dead man's arms locked around my neck, haunted my pillow, and destroyed my rest.

Reader, do you wonder that an adventure like this should be graven with a deeper pencil on my memory than any or all of the scenes of battle, tempest, and wreck I have since encountered?

A N

ANACRE ON TIC.

LOVE came to me the other day,
His wings down drooping by his side;
Sad was his face, till now so gay;

Gone was his joy and look of pride;
His bright eye spoke no mirthful trick;
In truth, the little lad looked sick.

'Ha! ha! young boy; I know some dame
Hath robbed thee of all thy treasured flame:
Is it not so?' I laughing said;

He sadly shook his curly head.

'Why, then the maid that all men wheedles

Hath pricked thee sick with damnéd needles.'

'Not that.' 'Not that? Then some sweet wench

Hath made thee sit and study French.'

Not that,' he cried, while his cheeks grew

ale as a ghost's, and paler too:

Not that: a man -a crime far blacker-
Forced me to chew some damned tobacco.'

G. H.

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THE above engraving is a faithful representation of the Steam-Yacht 'North Star,' which recently left this port for a cruise of pleasure in European waters. The magnitude of the enterprise, the liberality of all its accessories, and the interest felt in it by the public, have induced us to collate from the daily journals an account of the vessel, and to add to that a sketch, known to be authentic, of the career of the owner of the North Star,' CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, Esq. We begin with a description of the Yacht, communicated to The Tribune' daily journal:

"THE NORTH STAR' was built expressly for this pleasure-excursion by Mr. SIMONSON, under the immediate supervision of Mr. VANDERBILT. She is two hundred and sixty feet on the keel; two hundred and seventy feet on the spar-deck; thirty-eight breadth of beam; thirteen feet from floor-timber to lower-deck beams; seven feet eight inches between decks; seven feet six inches between main and spar-decks; making her whole depth twenty-eight feet six inches. Her keel, of white oak, is fifteen inches sided by fourteen inches wide, stem and stern-posts of the same material, with double aprons, and inner posts of live oak, bolted through with one and three-eighth copper bolts; deadwoods of white oak, and thirteen inches through, fastened with one and a half inch copper bolts, in the most substantial manner. The floor-timbers are sided twelve inches and moulded thirteen inches, being placed close together, and bolted through sideways with one and a half inch bolts. The main kelsons, of which there are five rows extending the entire length of the ship, are of white oak, sided fifteen inches by thirty-two inches deep, the first tier being fastened with two copper bolts, one and a half inches in diameter, through every floor-timber, the upper tiers secured to the lower one with large iron bolts. The bed upon which the engine rests is composed of four rows of kelsons, two feet two inches by five feet deep, secured by iron screw-bolts driven from the bottom before the vessel was planked. The outside planking of white oak, three and a half inches thick, increasing to five inches, is secured with copper bolts and locust treenails, there being thirty-two thousand of the latter driven through and wedged upon both sides. There are six bilge-streaks on the inside of the ship, covering the floor-heads and futtocks 12 x 14 inches, fastened to the timbers with iron bolts, and bolted edgelays between every frame. The ceiling is of six-inch yellow pine, and bolted in the same manner as the bilge-streak, forming one substantial mass of timber fourteen feet in depth. The lower deck-clamps, on which the beams rest, are seven inches thick, thoroughly fastened with iron bolts driven from the outside, and riveted

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