"Surely some terrible fever is seizing on me!" I exclaimed, and in the terror of the thought I started up and paced my room rapidly. But the fire increased, and my head swam. I meditated ringing the bell and alarming the household; but the thought of this quieted me, and gradually I became calmer. It was at this moment that my former resolution returned upon me with tenfold violence. "I'll submit to this no longer," I growled between my teeth; "I _will_ run away!" The instant I said that, I felt as if I were imbued with a determination that nothing could shake. Jack's reasoning never once came into my mind. I took down the knapsack that hung on a nail ready packed for the intended fishing expedition of the morrow. I buckled it on; put on my thickest shoes, and, seizing a stout cudgel, issued softly from my apartment, and tapped gently at Jack's door. "Come in!" I entered, and was overwhelmed with surprise at finding my friend standing in the middle of the room accoutred for the road just like myself. He put his finger to his lips. "Hush! Bob. I was on the point of going to your room to say that I've made up my mind to run away with you." I was staggered. I did not relish this unaccountable change. If I had persuaded him to go, it would have been all right; but to find him thus ready and eager was unnatural. I felt as if I were accountable for this change in his opinions and actions, and immediately, strange to say, experienced a tendency to dissuade him. "But, Jack, you forget what you said to me some hours ago." "No, I don't," he answered, gloomily. "Perhaps we'd better think over it again." "No, we won't. Come, Bob, don't show the white feather now. Don't waste time. It's about dawn. It's too late to reason. You have tempted me, and I have given in." Saying this, he seized me by the collar and pushed me before him. And now the mysterious events which I am about to relate began. The conduct of my friend Jack on this occasion was in itself a mystery. He was by nature the gentlest and most inoffensive of human beings, except when circumstances required him to act vigorously: then he was a lion-- irresistible. Since the commencement of our acquaintance, which was of many years' standing, he had never by word or look given me the slightest cause for anger; and yet here he was grasping me violently by the collar and pushing me forcibly before him. I did not get angry. My conscience smote me. I said to myself; "Ah! this is the result of evil conduct. I have tempted Jack to act against his judgment; he is no longer what he was." Instead of melting under this feeling, I became hardened. I stepped out, and so dragged my friend after me down the back stairs which led to the lower part of the house, where the servants slept. Jack whispered, "All right," and let go his hold.