"What's that?" asked the Professor.
Toney now informed him of the sale of the sand-hill, and of their intention to return to the States. A long consultation ensued, and by the time it had ended, Hercules had cooked the deer and it had grown dark. While they were eating the venison, two men encamped, and kindled a fire under a pine-tree, at a distance of about fifty yards from where they sat. After Hercules had satisfied the keen demands of hunger, he walked off, and, laying himself down by the trunk of a fallen tree, was soon in a sound sleep. Toney, Tom, and the Professor continued their conversation until a late hour.
"And now, Charley," said Toney, "as this is to be our last night in the mines, let us have some music."
"Give us 'Oft in the Stilly Night,'" said Tom.
The Professor drew a flute from his pocket and played the air which had been requested. As he concluded, a clear, manly voice, at the neighboring camp-fire, was heard singing:
The voice! the voice of music!
The melancholy flute!
Mournfully on the midnight air,
When all else is mute!
As if some gentle spirit,