"Surely," said he, "this is not the voice of praise; 'tis rather, I fear, the noise of drunkenness." And so it was indeed; for it being a day of election, the friends of the candidates had dealt out their brandy so liberally that the street was filled with sots of every degree, from the simple _stagger_ to the _dead drunk_. Among the rest, he beheld his Indian convert, poor Dick, under full sail in the street, reeling and hallooing, great as a sachem. Mr. Tenant strove hard to avoid him; but Dick, whose quick eye had caught the old pie-balled horse that Tenant rode on, instantly staggered towards him. Tenant put forth all his horsemanship to avoid the interview. He kicked old Pie-ball in one flank, and then in the other; pulled this rein and then that; laid on _here_ with his staff, and laid on _there_; but all would not do; unless he could at once ride down the drunken beasts, there was no way of getting clear of them. So that Dick, _half shaved_ as he was, soon got along side of old Pie-ball, whom he grappled by the rein with one hand, and stretching forth the other, bawled out, "_how do? how do, Mr. Tenant?_" Tenant could not look at him. Still, Dick, with his arm full extended, continued to bawl, "_how do, Mr. Tenant, how do?_" Finding that there was no getting clear of him, Mr. Tenant, red as crimson, lifted up his eyes on Dick, who still, bold as brandy, stammered out, "_High, Mr. Tenant! d-d-d-don't you know me, Mr. Tenant? Don't you know Indian Dick? Why, sure, Mr. Tenant, you are the man that converted me?_" _"I converted you!" replied Tenant, nearly fainting._ "_Yes_, roared Dick, _I'll be d-d-d-nd, Mr. Tenant, if you an't the very man that converted me_." "Poor fellow!" said Tenant, with a heavy sigh, "you look like one of my _handiworks_. Had God Almighty converted you, you would have looked like another guess sort of a creature." From Ben's constantly relating this story of old Tenant and Indian Dick, whenever he mentioned the aforesaid case of Ralph's baseness, many of his acquaintance were of opinion, that Ben thereby as good as acknowledged, that at the time he took Ralph in hand, he did not altogether understand the art of converting; or, that at any rate, it would have been much better for Ralph, if, as Mr, Tenant said of Indian Dick, _God Almighty had converted him_. He would hardly, for the sake of a harlot, have so basely treated his best friend and benefactor. CHAPTER XXIX. _Ben resolves to return to America.--Anecdote of a rare character._ "A wit's a feather, and a chief's a rod, An _honest_ man's the noblest work of God."