much attintion alriddy for a private rehearsal.

"There was n't a soul aboar-rd the whole fleet, nor a boat left, and I was no shwimmer, havun' been born in a barony thot, excipt for the usquebaugh, was as dry as the back of your hand. And where would I be shwimmun' to, annyway, whin I did n't know where I was shtartun' from? So I shtayed where I was till there was more light.

"I got ut at tin the nixt marnun', whin all at wance the sun burned the fog away, and there was me fine fleet run home to uts mither, ye might say, right undher the walls of the fort, and ut shwarmun' wid the Gonzalez ar-rmy. And I looked slyly out of a port-hole, and there on top of the fort was a long line of the heads of thim soldiers, and a-starun' down at the fleet as if they wantud to be introduced, but was too bashful to do more than peek around the corner of the house. And I shtepped over to the ither side of me flagship, and there was a long jetty, and ut was lined along the tops of the rocks wid heads, too, and watchun' the fleet in the

same way.

" 'I'm in a hole,' says I to mesilf, 'but I'll seem not to know ut.' And wid thot I walked out to the deck and looked up at the fort bowld-like.

"And whin thim brave soldiers seen me, the whole line of thim ducked behint the wall of the fort as if I'd been a rapidfire gun aimed at thim.

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Thot 's queer,' says I to mesilf. 'Are we playun' the game of I-spy?' And I called to thim to come down and tak' their fleet off of me hands.

"And at thot their heads bobbed up again, and afther we 'd parleyed a bit in two languages thot nayther parthy undherstood at all, down comes two fine officers to the causeway in front of the fort. And they knew English, and they asked me nervous-like what I wantud, as if they thought I wantud too much, and they towld me to tak' the fleet away. And I was mad.

"And why should I tak' ut away?' 'Come and get ut, and tak' me

says I. off.'

ut is safe to go near. Ut 's very strange business.'

"Ut came to me thin all at wance what ailed thim to be hidun' behint the walls in the way I towld ye: they thought 't was a plot to blow the fort up, wid me a-ridun' to glory on the pinnacle of a fir-rst-class ixplosion. And I roared; but ut made me mind aisier and belikes a bit over-bowld.

" 'Do I look like wan of your pathriots?' says I, scornful. And is ut strange business thot I want me salvage-money afther bringun' the fleet in whilst direlict on the high seas?'

"So afther a bit they tuk me off, and cartud me in to the commandant of the fort. And I towld him the same tale, and demanded to be taken to the British consul. And afther a bit wan officer and two min tuk me to the consul undher guard. 'T is there I made a misthake. In common sinse I sh'u'd have tipped the three into the harbor as we wint along the causeway, and thin tuk to me heels; but I'd lost me head dreamun' of salvage-money, and so wint wid thim peaceful', like a lamb to the slaughter, as they say.

"Thot consul was a fine mon. He heard me expurgatud shtory in a room alone, and thin says he:

'Where did ye find the fleet?'

"'Where?' says I. 'Did ye shtick your nose out of the door last night? If ye did, ye 'd know that no wan but God knows where I found the fleet. The fog was like cheese. But the fleet was cavortun' through ut, breathun' fire and destruction to all, fri'nd and foe, and single-handed I brought ut back safe to uts fri'nds, undher the walls of the fort.'

"And he rubbed his chin wid his hand thoughtful' and said:

"""T is a queer tale,' says he.

"And at the fort they had the pilot I 'd putt in ir-rons and half a dozen of thim spies on the fleet to swear to me indenthity. And they swore to ut. And thim officials decidud thot I was William J. Stanton, a Yankee; and what was more to the point, they decidud thot I was to be shot on the nixt Sunday marnun' for tryun' to dishrupt a fri'ndly counthry. They're the gr-reat wans down here for takun' their pleasure on Sunday.

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""T was along about the sicond day of me incarceration thot they shoved a young mon into me lonely cell and thin wint away; and he looked at me har-rd and thin grinned. He was a fine, tall young felly, and well set up, wid a divilmay-care eye. And, as I said, he looked at me and grinned.

"And do I look like thot?' says he, eying me up and down slow-like.

"If ye do, ye look like a handsomer mon than even your mither ever thought

ye to be-and a betther wan,' says I. 'And why, in hiven's name, did they putt your nose on crooked like thot?' says I, just to keep the ball of reparthee a-rollun'. "And he laughed, and rubbed his nose thoughtful'.

"Ye can't help the things thot are, putt on ye,' says he; 'and by the same token,' says he, 'how do ye like me name, which they 've putt on ye, I hear?'

"'Are ye William J. Stanton, the Yankee?' says I, wondherun'-like.

"So me father and mither have always given me to undherstand,' says he. "T is a good name.'

says I.

'Ut covers a multitude of sins-yours and mine,' says he; 'for we 're in the same boat.' And thin he explained.

"He'd been a midshipmon in the United Shtates navy, ut seems, but had found ut too slow for his taste, and so afther a bit had wandhered down to these parts, lookun' for trouble. And comun' across Gomez down the coast, he had offered his services to him, and had been made admiral of the fleet of the counthry. Thot Gonzalez thin held the counthry meant nothun' to the b'y; he 'd have all the more fun gettun' ut. Comun' up to the town overland, he had been lost in the

name. But some wan who had seen him wid Gomez had spottud him the nixt day, and now we were to be shot together, two bir-rds wid wan shtone, ye might say.

"Well, the American consul and me fri'nd the English consul got busy. The American wan was a bit of a lawyer back home, and says he to thim señors:

'Can two min be punished for the same offinse, whin wan did n't do ut at all, and the ither has been indictud falsely undher the name of the fir-rst? 'Tis conthrary to the sinse of justice of the nations and to the code. The whole wor-rld will shtand aghast,' says he.

"'We shtand aghast oursilves,' said the señors; 'but war is a terrible thing-so terrible thot ut is nicessary to tak' some slight liberthy wid the law. The executions will tak' place at the hour and place appointud.'

"Thot was wan day, and on the nixt the consuls wint about on a new tack. They brought ashore all the captains of the vessels me fleet had fouled thot night, and marched thim up to the señors wid claims for damages as long as your ar-rm. And the consuls said thot I w'u'd be needud as a witness thot the damage had been done by the fleet, and if the witness was tampered wid, the navies of their counthries w'u'd know the r'ason why. And to show thim thot he meant ut, the English consul tilegraphed to Jamaica for a war-ship at wance. And thim señors looked thoughtful, and said they'd consider the matther. And thot was the third day.

"And the fourth day nothun' happened. at all, and me and me fri'nd William J. Stanton began to wondher if thim señors w'u'd putt off thinkun' till 't was too late. They 're the gr-reat wans for puttun' off things down here. But sometimes they do thim too soon. 'T w'u'd be like thim to shoot us on Friday, and think of ut aftherwards. And the fifth day passed the same way, wid no wor-rd.

"Thin along about dar-rk on Sathurday in comes wan of thim officers who spake English, and he set down on me cot as if he 'd come to spind the day. But prisently he asked how we was, and I towld him poorly, and I had me doubts I 'd keep me hilth long in their climate. And he looked at me sharp.

""Thot depinds on the señor himsilf,' says he; and thin he asked me w'u'd I swear thot I was actun' for Gomez whin I navigathud thot fleet through the harbor to the dithrimint of the vessels of fri'ndly nations. "Thot was a gr-reat sorrow to us,' says he; 'but shtill we 'd like to spare the señor, and we have a plan to do ut. Only we must be frank wid aich ither,' says he.

"I'm riddy to be as frank as the nixt wan if 't will spare me annything I don't want,' says I, dilicate-like, not mentionun' their little shootun'-parthy on Sunday.

'And thin he towld us the plan.

"The trisury is exhaustud,' says he; 'we have no money at all, and the claims for damages done by the fleet thot night is tin times gr-reater nor the fleet is worth. Señores, ye see the unjustus of our payun' thim whin the har-rm was all done in a way by Gomez himself, the arch-thraitor? But if the señor will swear he was operatun' the fleet for Gomez at the time, and the fleet sh'u'd aftherwards be found in Gomez's possission, will he not be responsible for thim claims? "T w'u'd be a case for the courts, annyway,' says he; ''t is worth tryun'.'

"'Ut is all very interestun',' says William J. Stanton; 'but, Señor, the pomps and vanithies of the wor-rld, and even uts, law-suits, are little to us. We 're thinkun' more of your little entertainmint for us on Sunday. And what about thot?'

"I was just comun' to thot,' says he. 'Now, 't is known thot the city is full of Gomez's spies; me own brither may be wan, I don't know. There's no depindun' on anny wan. So what is more likely than thot some of thim even in the fort here sh'u'd open the door of your room to-night whin we loyal min are sleepun' peaceful', and conduct ye to the fleet, now lyun' off in the harbor again? The steam is up. 'T is the custhom on war-ships, I undherstand. Gomez is at Punta Gorda, fifty miles down the coast. But the señor knows thot, I believe,' says he, bowing to William J. Stanton.

"'So I've been towld,' says William J. Stanton, aisy-like.

"'Well, Señores?' says the officer. "But what about Gomez?' says I. 'Won't he look thot gift-horse in the mouth whin he hears ut 's libeled by half the counthries of the wor-rld? He may be findun' some ither long-winded Yankee name to be shootun' me undher.'

"I can't speak for Gomez,' says the But why cross thot bridge till ye

señor.

come to ut?'

And so we agreed to his plan, and he wint away. And airly in the marnun' before light two min in masks opened our door and tiptoed us down to a boat thot was waitun' for us, and they took us off to the fleet. Four min who 'd been captured from Gomez were aboard for engineers and coal-passers, and shlippun' our cable at wance, we wint away at halfspeed, wid the three war-ships lashed abreast as before, but only the middle wan undher steam. And no wan shtopped

us.

"'T was along about eight that marnun' thot I was asleep on a locker whin William J. Stanton woke me up.

'Come here,' says he, and I wint. 'T was a war-rm day and shtill, wid only a bit of a swell on, and half a mile ahead a British tramp rollun' up to meet us.

"'Our boat 's astern yet,' says William J. Stanton. 'We 'll drop into her quiutlike and get picked up by the tramp.' 'And where is she bound?' says I.

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'What matther?' says he. 'Ut 's not to Gomez, unliss she 's steamun' stern first.'

"He putt the wheel a bit to starboard, catchun' a spoke in the becket, and thin called down to the engine-room for more steam. We heard thim shovelun' on coal whin we dropped in our boat and cast off, and whin, fifteen minut's later, we wint over the side of the tramp, the fleet was shtill turnun' in towards the land, and no wan in sight on the decks. Sometimes I 've wondhered where ut fetched up and who paid thim damages."

trophe took place 'cross de riv' from my lan', de river, she twis' 'erself suddenly an' begin to chew de bank 'cross from my pointe, an' to spit it up on my side-an' so she ees still t'rowing me up one fine batture. Twen'y year an' more ees pass, an' de lan' she make so fas' I am almos' to say nearly rich, wid dat beautiful bat

ture.

"An' so, from dat, w'en somebody call me 'Cave-in-Charlie,' me, I say nutting, h'only put my finger on de side my nose an' wink my h'eye. So, dat way, bimebye dey begin to change my name, an' dey call me Batture Baptiste, an' me, I accep' de name. Mais, like I tol' you, I deen' solic' it!

"Mais, I like de name, biccause it represent to me dat Almighty God keep ees h'eye on one po' ol' lame nigger, even tu'n de riv' upside down to get eem ees rights. An so, eef yo' Honor will excuse me, de river, she ees chris' me, Batture Baptiste."

"Although not so really baptized?" "Non, M'sieu', yo' Honor, mais so summonsed to appear in dis court to-day, an' here I am."

The name was allowed to stand. Then quickly, as if repenting the courtesy, or so it seemed to me, the judge said:

"I noticed just now that you spoke of 'all your wives.' Kindly explain. This is a Christian community, and you say you are a Catholic?"

The man changed color. A tinge of copper burnished his cheek as, drawing himself to his height, he answered:

"I h'always drive tandem, yo' Honor, one at a time-no double team." Then, after a pause, "You 'ristocrat w'ite gen'lemen, I am sure you understan' all dat."

This is meager enough, I know, but as a vagrant memory, it has served to set the man apart all these years, although I doubt that I should ever have recalled him but for the incident which gives me my story.

A VERY little, very wrinkled, very black woman, "Aunt Bella," had for several seasons peddled her wares at our gate in town, which is to say in New Orleans, and she had always referred so freely to her "old man," appealing for patronage through her reports of his invalidism, that when we bought her field mushrooms or

blackberries or ferns-"ferms" she called them the purchase seemed to bear a relation to the lonely old husband at home, and into her emptied basket occasionally went small gratuities for the invalid.

As she had thus for several years kept herself in perpetual remembrance, when we began to miss her in lily-time and then in fig season; when autumn passed without a mushroom from the Jefferson pastures, and no one brought us frost-sweetened persimmons, we began to be uneasy lest some trouble had befallen the old woman. But when a second spring was well advanced and her place was being unsatisfactorily filled by relays of strapping darky girls topped by gaudy vegetable-baskets, she passed out of our minds, so that when, one morning, while I sat reading my newspaper on the back porch and quite under my vision suddenly appeared a flat Indian "fanner" filled with blooming fleur-de-lis which proceeded noiselessly to the foot of the steps at my feet, it never occurred to me to suspect that the little black hands which cautiously removed the basket from their owner's head might belong to the loved and lost Bella.

Indeed, even when I found myself dimly recognizing a hole burned by my own cigar in the sleeve of the old red smokingjacket she wore, it took several seconds to get my impressions into line; and before I had clearly remembered the sending of the jacket to Bella's husband, the lily of France was blooming at my feet and the little old woman, grotesque but delightful in red coat and wrinkles, was curtseying in old-time fashion, her wizened face in a broad grin.

"Well!" I exclaimed, really delighted; "Aunt Bella, back again!"

"Yas, sir, here I is!" She chuckled, while she removed the coil upon which she had balanced her basket. I glanced involuntarily behind me into the library window, hoping to see the mistress; but she had not come down, so I said:

"How glad the Madam will be! She has been worried about you. And the old man? Is he still living?"

"Oh, vas, sir," she sighed, fanning herself with the coil as she dropped on the step beside her basket. "Oh, yas, sir, he 's settin' dar yit-de Lord's will be done!”

It was hard to suppress a smile as she thus frankly voiced her resignation.