12
THE BATTALION.
between the innkeeper and his wife which he now overheard
though neither spoke in a very loud tone of voice. “Wife,”
said Basmorne, the traveler recognized his burly tones, ‘‘I’ve
a good fat hog for you, if you’re ready to sonse him and rid
him of his bristles.”
“Well, you’ve got him safe in the hogstye, have you?”
was the answer,“I’ll be ready for him when the time comes.”
A laugh followed this, that hardly was human. It seemed
to curdle the blood in his veins. “I don’t think I care to
see Mistress Basmorne,” he said to himself.” I don’t like
the tones of her voice and I shudder at her laugh. I hope
she will be too buisy with household affairs to show up.”
He now turned to the basin of water, and, after washing
face and hands, went down stairs to try the landlord’s fare.
Basmorne was waiting to carve and pour for him. There
was no one else in the big dining-room, except when from
time to time a negro had brought in hot waffles or hot rice
cakes from the kitchen. All other- provisions were already
on the table.- The guest ate like a hungry man. but he
drank sparingly in spite of the fact that Basmorne pressed
flagon and glass after glass upon him.
“This punch, your honor,” said Basmorne in a wheedling
voice quite unlike his usual tone, which might almost be de
scribed as bluff, “I have won a large repute for the brewing
of. General Greene and Colonel Lee like it so well, they
wsuld have no other drink when they stopped here. Let me
fill a bumper for you. You do not give my house a fair
chance to keep well in your memory.”
“No,” said the stranger, “I am no heavy drinker. Believe
me, worn as I am with foil of travel, I shall sleep soundly
enough without any need of sleep-wooing beverages.”
“When would your honor be waked?” Asked Basmorne,
and for the first time the traveler fancied he caught just a
trace of a sinister smile in the fellow’s eyes.
“Call meat daydawn, if I am not already down stairs by
that time,” replied the traveler. “I must be in Charleston