train for Glasgow, the port from which I intended embarking for the United States.

The old companions were together as of yore, but the night being chilly, they occupied the dining room.

Conversation had flowed in the usual channel, till about eight o'clock, when my father took his pipe from his mouth, drew down his spectacles from his forehead to his nose, and turned round so as directly to face me. "Jack, my son, as you leave us in the morning let us have a little business talk. It will be short, for I hate business."

So do I," said the Captain, emphatically.

Here, in this bag, are fifty sovereigns. It's all I had at my bankers. Not much, truly; but in two weeks I draw a quarter's half-pay, when I will send you a letter of credit for as much more as I can spare. If it should not be enough—well, Kitty, the red-cow, will have calved; she's worth twenty pounds at least, and can well be spared, so through her I shall make up the deficiency. And remember, while I have a roof over my head that it is yours. That's all, my lad."

"You are done, Swan," said the dear old Captain. "You have had your turn, and it would not be like a blue-jacket to keep the marines out of action, or refuse them a chance to win their share of glory. Here are fifty sovereigns. Your father and I always keep fifty at the bank (little did I know then that it was to provide a respectable funeral), and you will also find a bill now due for fifteen pounds, drawn by a most respectable livery stable keeper in Carlisle, for some oats I sold him in the summer, and when your father sends you the

letter of credit, I must have a word to say in it. You shan't run short of money, by I nearly swore there. Sooner than he should do that, Swan, you and I will go without grog and tobacco. And remember while I have a room over my head that it is yours. That's all, my boy."

My father stretched his hand across the table, and took that of his comrade. "Thanks, thanks, my dear old friend; thanks again," he said.

"No need of that," answered the other; "no need of that. Isn't Jack as much mine as yours ? "

"I don't know that," quietly smiled my father.

But he is," emphatically exclaimed the Captain. "Make it so," said my father.

"Aye! aye, sir!" responded the dear old Captain, and a diamond tear stood in the eye of each of the veterans, fit homage to affection, for it could not have been wrung from either by any enemy on earth.

L

CHAPTER III.

FIRST ADVENTURES.

PARTING scenes are at the best but painful affairs. Mine was eminently so. I would have liked to cry, but was determined not to give way, although several times I was on the verge of doing so. Just before the road makes a turn that shuts my home out of view, I took a final look. The old gentlemen were together watching the rapidly retreating conveyance. I waved my handkerchief, both of theirs responded, and the world was before me, but not as it is to some; for if disaster or misfortune overtook me, had I not a safe haven to run to for shelter?

Christmas found me in New York. By March I had reached St Louis. To get so far westward I had travelled by rail, ridden in stages, and sometimes even walked. To the West was my motto; for, even so long ago as the time I write of, the labour market was overstocked in the Atlantic States, unless for such as could wield the pick-axe and shovel.

Those that knew the capital of the State of Missouri in the days I speak of, know how different it was then from what it is now. What the child is to the man, is the best simile I can think of.

I stopped at “The Planters," then the principal hotel, and now associated with the memory of one of the most charming of writers and the most adventurous of tra

vellers, Lieutenant Ruxton. He had just returned from the Indian country, and the newspapers teemed with his adventures, wonderful escapes, and extraordinary feats of endurance. These I resolved, if possible, to rival.

One evening I lounged into a half bar, half readingroom to peruse the evening papers. There was nothing unusual in this arrangement, for the room devoted to the one purpose was usually devoted to the other, especially in Western cities. I paid my piccaune, received my paper, and sat down to read. I had not been long thus engaged when my ear was attracted by a very musical foreign voice. Looking up, I observed that it came from a very gentlemanly-looking young man about two or three and twenty, and, if I mistook not, a German. After procuring his paper he took his seat on the bench beside me, apologising in the most courteous manner for the inconvenience. Again and again I looked at him unperceived, and the more I did so the more was I charmed with his faultless air. I should have liked to introduce myself to him, but hesitated to do so, consoling myself with the hope that something or other might occur to enable me to make his acquaintance. Little as I had seen of America, I could not help perceiving that his manners were not those of the country, and that he had probably not been there much longer than myself.

I had just laid aside my paper, and was thinking of returning to the hotel, when a noisy crowd of the class usually denominated roughs entered the reading-room and advanced to the bar. From their conversation I

imagined that they might have been at a trotting match, and that there was a difference of opinion among them as to the time made by some favourite horse. For a quarter of an hour they continued wrangling, and calling for fresh drinks every few minutes, when one of them, the tallest and burliest of the party, exclaimed angrily, "I tell you it's so, and no other. Barman, give me the evening paper." "Not got it. Well, I guess I'll find one somewhere abouts." And off he started round the room in search of one. Perceiving that the stranger had one in his hand, he did not take the trouble to look farther, but deliberately walked up to him, and pulled it unceremoniously away, saying, "What does an infernal Dutchman like you want with a paper?" stranger was on his feet, and, rushing at the bully, endeavoured to seize him by the throat; but his efforts were for some time futile. At length, however, they closed, and the blackguard being the taller and heavier of the two, threw his antagonist.

In an instant the

With this one would have supposed he should have been satisfied; but no; he continued to strike his antagonist in the face, uttering with every blow such exclamations as-" I'll give you a beauty spot. There's another for you. I'll teach you manners," &c. Nor was he satisfied with this, but deliberately proceeded to shove his finger in the eye of his almost insensible antagonist foreigner. I could not longer endure the sight of such barbarism; and as I considered a creature who could act as this wretch was doing, a brute and not a man, I gave him a kick on the head close to the