Thoughts similar to these might float through the brain of the old gentleman, for Giles Blizard was a lover of conviviality, and many a festive scene had those old walls witnessed; but the hands of an antique clock, painted in various devices, pointed to the hour of midnight, and once more adjusting his head, the planter sank to sleep. The two slaves, the intended murderers, who, through a crack in the shutter, had been watching the movement of their master and his youthful attendant, perceiving by his unaltered position and deep breathing that he slept, and having full proof of the other’s being in that oblivious state from the sound of his nasal organs, quietly took off the shutter, and entered the apartment, armed with a blunderbuss. Placing their hands upon the shoulders of the old gentleman, and holding the deadly weapon to his ear, they demanded where he kept his cash. In vain their victim prayed for mercy—in vain solicited the boon of one short hour to collect his scattered thoughts; the murderers were not to be turned from their fell purpose; the finger was pressed upon the fatal trigger, and the deed was done; the soul of Giles Blizard winged its way to the vast shores of eternity, and the sofa where he laid him down in full confidence of safety was covered with his brains, and blood, and silver hairs. Shocking as it is to humanity to relate, one of the criminals was the natural son of the old man, who, although he was not the actual murderer, was the instigator of the dreadful act; for when, at his master’s earnest prayer for mercy, the black man seemed to relent, Geoffry (the name of Mr. Blizard’s coloured son) told him to do it at once, and make sure of it, or else he would himself. After the perpetration of this atrocious crime, the murderers placed the blunderbuss upon a table, close to the side of their victim, with a glass of brandy and water near it, supposing that, when discovered, it would be surmised that it was an act of self-destruction; but murder is an offence “that’s rank, it smells to heaven,” and, in most instances, the slayer is discovered. The boy, who really slept upon the entrance of the men, was awakened by the noise; but perceiving the blunderbuss, and hearing the conversation which ensued between his master and his murderers, he became alarmed, and, to ensure his own safety, counterfeited sleep. Upon the morrow’s dawn he hastened to relate the circumstance, and by these means the offenders were brought to justice. They were carried before a magistrate, and condemned to suffer death by decapitation on the following day, which was Christmas-day; but Mr. Rose, the then marshal, got it postponed until the day after, thinking that a greater number of spectators would be present, to whom it would act as a warning. The culprits were taken down to a spot where such scenes were generally performed, and which still goes by the name of Gallows Bay, and there, after being blindfolded, they were bound to the upright