"Will you allow him to be carried to your father's villa, Miss Leslie?" said Mortimer; "I will accompany him thither." "Ah, Mr. Percy," exclaimed Cora, "you are all goodness." "A hundred dollars for your trouble, Bowen, if you'll assist us in carrying this poor fellow to the boat," said Mortimer. "A hundred dollars--I'm your man!" replied the American. "You'll excuse me, Mr. Horton, business is business, you know," he added, to Augustus. Mortimer Percy and the mulatto gathered together several strong branches from the fallen wood lying beneath the trees, and twisted them into a rude litter on which they laid the unconscious Englishman. One end of this litter was carried by Toby, and the other by William Bowen, Cora and Mortimer walking by the side of the wounded man. In this order they started for the landing-place, where Gilbert's boat was to await them. Augustus Horton stood for some moments watching their receding figures in the moonlight. "My curses on them," he muttered; "I thought tonight's business would have settled for my proud Cora's English lover, and I have but favored my rival's chance by what I have done. If this Gilbert Margrave should recover, of course he will be all love and gratitude for his beautiful nurse, who will watch and tend him in his hour of danger. But, no matter, Craig and I have a powerful hold on Gerald Leslie, and his daughter's love shall be the price of his safety. She would not like to see her father penniless. Or, if to the last she refuses to hear reason, the public auction will soon settle her scruples. If I cannot win her as my mistress, I can, at least, buy her as--my slave!" CHAPTER XIX. THE HUMAN BLOODHOUND. The morning after the duel, Augustus Horton returned to New Orleans. Even in his jealousy of Gilbert Margrave and his guilty passion for the beautiful Octoroon, he did not abandon the thought of more ambitious schemes; and he was still determined to win the hand and the fortune of Camillia Moraquitos. The first intelligence that greeted him on his return was the news of Paul Lisimon's escape from prison. The planter was furious. This dreaded rival was, then, at liberty. The trial, which was to have ended in his disgrace and condemnation, would, perhaps, never take place, and Camillia might still believe in the honor and honesty of her lover. That which he sought was to render Paul utterly contemptible in the sight of the haughty Spanish girl, and he felt that he had, in a great measure, failed. He dispatched a special messenger to Iberville with a letter for Silas Craig, informing him of the young Mexican's escape. "Lose no time in returning to New Orleans," he wrote. "I need the help of your craft in this business. There must be some mystery in this Lisimon's escape, and you are the man to unravel it."