and some candles they sat down on the ground in a circle, and began to play. The game had gone round about six times, when a voice which seemed to issue from the grave, called, "Beltramo !" “Have you woke, Drengotto? I will be with you; after this throw the box comes to me; I will throw the dice and be with you." "Beltramo!" "Coming-I am ready-give me the dice-a good throw! six and four are ten, and three are thirteen; mark, Cagnazzo, the game is not lost yet." Then rising, he approached the bed of the wounded man, who said to him, "Beltramo, while I was in a swoon "How! were you not asleep?" interrupted Beltramo, with seeming surprize. "While I was in a swoon," continued Drengotto, without minding him, "whether I stirred, or whether the bandage--" "Three! three!" shouted a brigand. "Come, Beltramo, it is your throw." "A moment, Drengotto; I will throw the dice, and--" "The bandage was badly put on, and the blood "The blood?" repeated Beltramo, carelessly. He had retired one step, but he turned back, and added, "Cagnazzo, play for me; I cannot now." "Almost all the blood in my body has flowed from my lacerated veins, and I am dying-see!" and he showed himself—a miserable spectacle-weltering in a lake of blood. "Thirteen! I win! We have won! Beltramo, the five loses." "Mark it on the wall, to prevent disputes. Holy Virgin! why did you not call me sooner, Drengotto?" said Beltramo, and he hastened to bind up the wound anew. "It is well," said Drengotto, smiling; "but all your labour is in vain. I called you to witness my nuncupative will; and you, comrades, come and listen to my last bequests." The three robbers, who had finished their game, and who could not well go on without the fourth, rose cach with his goblet in his hand, and went towards the wounded man. The latter, seeing them ready to listen, said, "Considering myself to be near death, which is the conclusion of life, but being of sound mind-that is, as much as I have ever been-I leave, first, my soul to whomsoever it belongs to, and my body entire, as the skin is of no use, to the earth. Item-I leave my arms and my clothes to whichever can first lay hold of them. Item-my money to you four, that you may perform, or cause to be performed, sundry games of hazard. Item also to you four the wine I have in store in my hut, that you may pass this night merrily, and the next night, if you leave enough. 66 "Oh, we have already drank the wine!" exclaimed the robbers. "Then let the notary cancel this bequest," said the dying man, smiling. "I constitute, further, as general heir to all my debts, Beltramo di Tafo, who has taken such affectionate care of me in my illness." "Oh, never mind that, Drengotto! you would have done the same for me in a similar case.' "I believe so, indeed, Beltramo. I request one sole favour from you, and I entreat you not to refuse it, for the sake of our ancient friendship. When my body is carried to the grave, look for my hand, which must have remained somewhere in the middle of the wood, and take care to lay it by my side, so that I can readily find it; for when the archangel shall call us to receive judgment (justice I have never had) I should like to present myself among the first, and to know at once my fate, whether for good or evil; otherwise, who knows where the devil would stick my hand, and how much time I should lose in poking about for י ? it He smiled, but it was his last smile, when the agonies of death came upon him. His curled-up lips trembled; his teeth chattered; the expression of his face was infernal; his eyelids opened and shut as rapidly as we see the new-caught butterfly flutter his wings. The convulsion was of short duration; by degrees it grew weaker, then ceased, and of the created being there remained but the clay. The brigands who surrounded the bed, goblet in hand, saw him expire, and lifted the vessels to their lips, saying, "It is all over-to the repose of his soul !" and drained off the wine. Then they covered the corpse, and began again to play at hazard with the dead man's money. LINES WRITTEN FOR THE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN, APRIL 16, 1846. BY MRS. CHARLES TINSLEY. BOLD thoughts and true, bold hearts and few, o'er which shall fall to-day And while we live the meed we'll give of praise to each brave heart That played an hundred years ago on earth a noble part. For a noble thing it was to cling, when his star was waning fast, And a noble strife it was that life, and name, and fortune set On the single chance that wreck'd them all in the dark storm where they met. It had been no wrong had it been strong in numbers as in zeal, And shall they die because they lie on the wastes of their renown? Stand forth and tell, as ye may well, that ye suffer'd not that day Tell how ye met on scaffolds wet with the rich blood shed before, And boldly paid, through the headsman's blade, for the right ye would not yield, To raise an honest voice and arm in the senate or the field. Let men cast still what stain they will upon your fallen cause, Strathallan thou lift up thy brow, with Balmerino bold And thou, brave man, whose life-blood ran thy prince's life to save, When earth has said its worst, brave dead, of this it robs ye not- THE SORTES SCOTTIANE; OR, TWO LEAP YEARS!! A TALE. BY MRS. GORDON, AUTHORESS OF THE FORTUNES OF THE FALCONARS," &c. CHAPTER III. Beneath an Indian palm, a girl Of other blood reposes; Beneath a northern pine, a boy Cool grows the sick and feverish calm, The pine-tree dreameth of the palın, Sooner shall nature interlace The widely-severed boughs, Than these young lovers, face to face, R. M. Milnes. LATE in the month of October, in the same year wherein our story commenced, the circumstance of the Caledonian Hunt's Races taking place at the period of the northern meeting, had assembled an immense concourse of gay visitors at the ancient town of, in that district of Scotland. It was the night of one of the Hunt's balls, in the County Rooms, which was, as usual, numerously and brilliantly attended; and at the moment when our narrative looks in there, the dancing and mirth were at their height. A waltz was just going on, from which several couples disengaged themselves, and paused to rest, ere joining in it again. One of these couples approached near to a window, where stood two gentlemen talking. The lady, a young and pretty_woman, scated herself, and her partner-no other than Grantley Forbesremained standing beside her. The latter was somewhat altered in appearance since the summer. He looked paler and thinner, 1 Continued from page 351, vol. xlv. and his countenance, when silent, wore an expression of deep melancholy. This expression, however, was contradicted by his manner, which, in talking to his partner, was gay, lively, and even rattling, to a degree very different from its wont in former days. An acute observer, nevertheless, would have detected no inconsiderable proportion of effort under this mask of high spirits, as well as of relief in the look with which he turned away his head, and ceased talking, on the young lady's attention being called off by some one on her other side. Just as this took place the ear of Forbes was caught by some words pronounced by one of the gentlemen beside him, which sent the blood rushing to his temples, then suddenly driving it back to the heart, left him as pale as death. "Colonel Lindesay," said the speaker. "Yes, Colonel Lindesay, who lives at the Holms, near Edinburgh, and has one very pretty daughter. It is he I mean." "You don't mean to tell me that my old acquaintance, James Lindesay, is ruined?" exclaimed the other, in a tone of great concern. "I am very sorry to say I do," was the reply. "At least, if not utterly ruined, something very like it. He has parted with the remainder of his lease of the Holms, advertised everything for sale, and broken up his establishment. What he means to do, at his time of life, poor man, I don't know." "But how-how on earth did all this occur?" enquired the second speaker. "Why, in the way that the same thing has occurred to half-adozen other Indians within the last three months, to my certain knowledge. He had left the greater part of his money in one of the great Calcutta houses of agency, for the sake of the high interest, and you know there has been a terrible smash amongst them lately. All he had in this country is safe enough, but I fancy it is a mere trifle compared to what he had invested there. It is a cruel case." "Cruel!" exclaimed the other. "Good heavens! that lovely girl! What will become of them ?" "Is anything the matter, Mr. Forbes ?" enquired the partner of our hero, a few minutes after this, in a tone of considerable interest. "I fear--" "I beg your pardon, Miss Dunbar !" exclaimed he, with a start; "you spoke to me, I believe?" "Yes, several times," replied the young lady, smiling. "I was afraid you were not well from your looks. Is anything the matter with you?" "No-yes-nothing of consequence, thank you," he replied, passing his hand across his forehead, as one who tries to arouse himself from a dream. "I am subject to slight attacks of giddi |