A strippling of fourteen, I was very naturally
regarded as the head of the household; so, with many
misgivings, I advanced to the door, which I slowly opened,
holding the candle tremulously above my head and peering out
into the darkness. The feeble glimmer played upon the
apparition of a gigantic horseman, mounted on a steed of a size
worthy of such a rider,--colossal, motionless, like images cut
out of the solid night. The strange visitant gruffly saluted me;
and, after making several ineffectual efforts to urge his horse in
at the door, dismounted and followed me into the room,
evidently enjoying the terror which his huge presence excited.
Announcing himself as the great Indian doctor, he drew
himself up before the fire, stretched his arms, clinched his fists,
struck his broad chest, and invited our attention to what he
called his "mortal frame." He demanded in succession all
kinds of intoxicating liquors; and on being assured that we had
none to give him, he grew angry, threatened to swallow my
younger brother alive, and, seizing me by the hair of my head
as the angel did the prophet at Babylon,(1) led me about from
room to room. After an ineffectual search, in the course of
which he mistook a jug of oil for one of brandy, and, contrary
to my explanations and remonstrances, insisted upon
swallowing a portion of its contents, he released me, fell to
crying and sobbing, and confessed that he was so drunk already
that his horse was ashamed of him.
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