Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/459

OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 219 civilized community should have maintained. But the great and most powerful foe of justice, in cases of this sort, is SLANG ; and SLANG in this instance carne very near being too much for law. The jury were divided, ten going for the people, and two for the right ; one of the last be ing Bigelow, who was a fearless, independent fellow, and cared no more for the bug-bear called the c people, by the slang-whangers of politics, than he did for the Emperor of Japan. The day after this fruitless trial, which left Mark s claim in abeyance until the next court, a period of six months, the intended travellers repaired on board ship, and the brig, with her party, went to sea, under her owner, captain Betts, who had provided himself with a good navigator in the person of his mate. The Rancocus, however, crossed over to the Peak, and the passengers all ascended to the plain, to take leave of that earthly paradise. Nature had done so much for this place, that it had been the settled policy of Mark Woolston to suffer its native charms to be marred as little as possible. But the Peak had ever been deemed a sort of West-End of the Colony ; and, though the distribu tion of it had been made very fairly, those who parted with their shares receiving very ample compensations for them, a certain distinction became attached to the residence on the Peak. Some fancied it was on account of its climate; some, because it was a mountain, and was more raised up in the world than the low islands near it ; some, because it had most edible birds, and the best figs; but none of those who now coveted residences there for their families, or the name of residences there, would allow even to themselves, what was the simple fact, that the place received it highest distinction on account of the more distinguished individuals who dwelt on it. At first, the name was given to several settlements in the group, just as the Manhattanese have their East and West Broadway ; and, just for the very same reasons that have made them so rich in Broadways, they will have ere long, first-fifth, second-fifth, and third-fifth avenue, unless common sense begins to resume its almost forgotten sway among the aldermen. But this demonstra tion in the way of names, did not satisfy the minor-majo rity, after they got into the ascendant; and a law was