you  are  a   stranger  in   the  city,  and  they  are   after  your
money."

The  young  man's  liquor  had  robbed  him  of  his  discretion,
and  he  answered,  thickly,  that  he  had  over  two  hundred  dol-
lars with  him,  that  he  had  collected  that  day.  A  look  of  in-
(elligence  passed  between  the  two  men.  One  of  them  asked
the  young  man  if  he  would  not  go  into  a  neighboring  bar-
room and  drink  with  them.  He  muttered  something  about
wanting  to  go  to  his  hotel,  but  they  assured  him  that,  after  a
friendly  drink,  they  would  take  him  there.  He  went  with
them.  Glasses  were  filled  and  drained,  and  the  young  man
was  in  high  spirits  with  his  new  friends.  If  the  bar-keeper
suspected  anything,  he  held  his  peace.
The  three  men  then  left  the  "  Gin  palace  "  together,  and
the  young  man,  relying  upon  their  promise  to  conduct  him
o  his  hotel,  went  with  them  without  suspicion.  They  led
him  down  dark,  crooked  streets,  assuring  him  that  he  was
almost  at  his  lodgings.  The  air  grew  fresher  and  fresher,
and  at  last  the  low  ripple  of  the  waves  was  heard  as  they
dashed  in  upon  the  shore.  A  momentary  ray  of  prudence
flashed  through  the  drunken  helplessness  of  the  doomed  man,
and,  alarmed  by  the  strangeness  of  the  scene  and  the  sight
of  the  river,  he  stopped  short,  and  declared  he  would  go  no
farther.
His  prudence  came  too  late.  In  an  instant,  he  was  felled
to  the  ground  by  a  heavy  blow  from  one  of  his  companions.
