Little did I expect to hear anything further from Mr. Rugg. for he was now more than twelve hours in advance of me. I could hear nothing of him on my way to Elizabethtown. I therefore concluded that during the night he had turned off and pursued a westerly direction. But just before I arrived at Powles's Hook, I observed a considerable collection of passengers in the ferry boat all standing motionless and steadily looking at the same object. One of the ferrymen, Mr. Hardy, who well knew me, observing my approach, delayed a minute in order to afford me a passage, and coming up, said, "Mr. Dunwell, we have got a curiosity on board that would puzzle Dr. Mitchill." "Some strange fish, I suppose, has found its way into the Hudson."
"No," said he, "it is a man who looks as if he had lain hid in the ark, and had just now ventured out. He has a little girl with him, the counterpart of himself, and the finest horse you ever saw, harnessed to the queerest looking carriage that ever was made." "Ah, Mr. Hardy," said I, "you have indeed hooked a prize; no one before you could ever detain Peter Rugg long enough to examine
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THE MISSING MAN.
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