said he , trembling . `` I never shall be my own man again till I see whether Mr. Higginbotham is hanging on the St. Michael 's pear tree . '' He leaped from the cart , gave the rein a turn round the gate-post , and ran along the green path of the wood-lot as if Old Nick were chasing behind . Just then the village clock tolled eight , and as each deep stroke fell Dominicus gave a fresh bound and flew faster than before , till , dim in the solitary centre of the orchard , he saw the fated pear tree . One great branch stretched from the old contorted trunk across the path and threw the darkest shadow on that one spot . But something seemed to struggle beneath the branch . The pedler had never pretended to more courage than befits a man of peaceable occupation , nor could he account for his valor on this awful emergency . Certain it is , however , that he rushed forward , prostrated a sturdy Irishman with the butt-end of his whip , and found -- not , indeed , hanging on the St. Michael 's pear tree , but trembling beneath it with a halter round his neck -- the old identical Mr. Higginbotham . `` Mr. Higginbotham , '' said Dominicus , tremulously , `` you 're an honest man , and I 'll take your word for it . Have you been hanged , or not ? '' If the riddle be not already guessed , a few words will explain the simple machinery by which this `` coming event '' was made to cast its `` shadow before . '' Three men had plotted the robbery and murder of Mr. Higginbotham ; two of them successively lost courage and fled , each delaying the crime one night by their disappearance ; the third was in the act of perpetration , when a champion , blindly obeying the call of fate , like the heroes of old romance , appeared in the person of Dominicus Pike . It only remains to say that Mr. Higginbotham took the pedler into high favor , sanctioned his addresses to the pretty schoolmistress and settled his whole property on their children , allowing themselves the interest . In due time the old gentleman capped the climax of his favors by dying a Christian death in bed ; since which melancholy event , Dominicus Pike has removed from Kimballton and established a large tobacco-manufactory in my native village . LITTLE ANNIE 'S RAMBLE . Ding-dong ! Ding-dong ! Ding-dong ! The town-crier has rung his bell at a distant corner , and little Annie stands on her father 's doorsteps trying to hear what the man with the loud voice is talking about . Let me listen too .
Oh , he is telling the people XXXXX an elephant and a lion and a royal tiger and a horse with horns , and other strange beasts from foreign countries , have come to town and will receive all visitors who choose to wait upon them .
If along at by for in of on that to