"draw a bead on his ugly carcase," with his
revolver, unless the desired refreshment were
instantly produced. Nor did Cornelius seem to
regard this threat as a mere flower of speech, for
he hurried off, muttering between his teeth, but
outwardly obedient.

I was left alone. Not for long, however.
One of the gentlemen who had attracted my
observation very civilly came forward, and invited
me, as a stranger and an Englishman, to take a
seat at their table.

"We may be able," said the American, "to
afford you some reliable information respecting
the productions and noteworthy points of the
country we are skirting, and I need scarcely say
that to assist a traveller in forming a correct
estimate of the South will be a pleasant task to
us all."

Very civil this. I willingly complied, and
met with a genial welcome. Two of the party
were fine-looking men, of an appearance
eminently prepossessing, and seemed to combine
keen intelligence with the bland suavity of
citizens of the world. The others were much
younger, and had rather a haggard aspect, but
their dress was faultless—at least, from an
American point of view—and their display of
jewellery and spotless linen was equal to that of
their elder companions. "Well!" thought I,
"if all American sportsmen are as elegant in
dress and deportment, it is plain that, in the
New World at least, out-door amusements have
a tendency to refine instead of brutalise." And
I thought with a contemptuous pity of British
fox-hunters, and still more of British turfites, as
I surveyed these dandy Nimrods of the West.
Still, I am bound to say that not one word of
sport did I hear. On the contrary, my new
friends conversed on politics, commerce, the
cotton crop, the snags and sawyers of the river,
the last revival, the last explosion, and the
difference between New York and London.

"You seem to know New Orleans well,
gentlemen," said I, after listening to two or
three anecdotes, the scene of which was
invariably laid in the metropolis of the Western
Delta.

"No place like it!" cried one of the younger
men, with a sort of enthusiasm; "it's right
down, thorough going, and slick through, the
cream of all creation. Life goes faster there
than in other places."

"So I have heard,'' said I, with a smile, but
rather diffidently; "life, I understand, goes a
good deal more abruptly than is pleasant. In
duels I mean," added I, seeing that I was not
understood.

"Sir," said another of the party, "you have
been misinformed. Not that I insinuate that
our free citizens will tamely brook affront. No,
sir! But there is great exaggeration prevalent
on the score of duels and fatal affrays, pretended
to be of continual occurrence down South. We
have chivalry, sir, we have fire, but we air not
the monsters we air depicted.''

I told him I had always understood that the
state of Mississippi in especial was renowned for
its lawless condition, and for the slight value set
on human life by its inhabitants. The four
gentlemen shook their heads with one accord.

"These air slanders," said one of the seniors
of the party, whose name I understood to be
Alphonso P. C. Jones—"these air slanders, I
give you my sacred word of honour. We live,
it is true, in a land where the blushing bloom of
Eden has not yet wholly faded away; in a land
where the luxuriant beauty of airth sometimes
attracts the spoiler and the rowdy, and
occasional difficulties will happen. But peace is our
idol, and the olive-branch———"

Here some confusion was caused to the orator
by the trifling circumstance of his bowie-knife
tumbling from its concealment somewhere in
the roll-collar of his waistcoat, and coming with
a bang on the mahogany table. He turned very
red, and was shuffling the unwelcome implement
away, when I stretched out my hand, saying,
"Would you allow me to look at it? I have
often wished to inspect a bowie-knife."

Mr. Alphonso P. C. Jones solemnly handed
over the weapon in its shagreen sheath, and I
looked with great interest at the sharp and
heavy blade, the strong cross-bar to increase the
purchase in close conflict, and the silver mountings
of haft and scabbard. Meanwhile, Mr.
Jones muttered something about the necessity
of self-preservation, and the number of Irish
and Germans about.

"You must often have found this sort of
thing useful in your mode of life," said I, poising
the heavy dagger as I gave it back.

"What way of life? What might you mean?"

Such were the questions rather fiercely
propounded, and every brow was overcast. But I
had spoken in perfect innocence; and when I
went on to talk about buffalo-chases and bear-
hunts, and the rough forest sports of America,
the frowns relaxed, and my new acquaintances
gave me a good deal of surprising information
on the subject of woodcraft. Suddenly my eye
lit upon a remarkable object. This was no other
than the face of Cornelius, the black steward,
now expressing, with its rolling eyes and open
mouth, as much astonishment as the face of a
negro can convey. He was gaping and glaring,
first at me, and then at my companions, quite
oblivious of the tray and napkin he carried. I
jumped up:

"What on earth is the matter, steward?"
said I.

The black drew me aside: " Me tell massa
no lie! When Britisher ask if me sabe who
gentlemen wid lily-white hands and plenty gold
rings—me say, sportsmen. Den Cornelius come
back, and find massa sit down along wid dem,
as tick as tieves."

"And why not?" asked I, in bewilderment.
"What possible objection could I have to their
company? Or, indeed, what better company
could I expect to meet with than those gentlemen
who, by your own account ———"

"Curm hyar, you biack-faced chatterbox!"
thundered a voice from the pantry, the voice of
the captain himself. "How's dinner to be true