To my surprise, and perhaps not exactly to my liking, he at once assented.
“Why, that’s easily done. I always have a spare suit along. We can go to-morrow, if you like.”
Several of my acquaintances were within hearing, and I saw they would have a laugh at my expense if I backed down; so I responded with equal promptitude:
“All right, just count me in; but say, I don’t want to leave from here. The whole town will be down at the wharf watching me floating about like a sick turtle. That would never do.”
PAUL BOYTON.
“Oh,” said the jolly captain, “I’ll fix that. You shall have a paddle, and when you are tired I’ll tow you; besides, we will start after dark if you want to; we can go down with the tide. It will be running out at a lively rate about then.”
Now I had no notion I would be taken up so suddenly by Captain Boyton; and although I did my best to look happy at the prospect, I am afraid it was a sorry effort.
A man in Texas described to me, once, his feelings after engaging to fight a duel; and I suppose that my sensations and reflections were, during the succeeding twenty-four hours, not unlike his. I lay in bed that night and thought of the watery couch that had been chosen for my next resting-place.
It was a long, very long night, full of forebodings and regrets. In the morning the clerk of the hotel kindly inquired if I wished my effects sent home by express, or detained until my friends could arrive “for the body;” the folks at the breakfast-table rallied me about it; and some of my acquaintances made bets that I would back out. When I went down the main street it seemed as though every one was pointing a finger at me, with a look that said plainly: