ly, were on their way, in company with the good-
hearted skipper to his "shanty," as he called it, on Narraganset Bay--a
comfortable, old-fashioned house, as Fritz presently found out,
commanding a fine view of the Providence river on one hand, and of the
wide Atlantic, rolling away into the illimitable distance, on the other.

"Nat" declined to accompany the party, on the plea of an engagement He
made an appointment, however, with Fritz for the morrow, promising then
to introduce him to some business men, who, he said, would probably find
the young German employment; after which he took leave of the Yankee
skipper and the two brothers, with a brief parting, "So long!"

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

ERIC'S PROJECT.

Fritz was not long in the company of Mr Nathaniel Washington Slater on
the following day before he discovered, much to his disappointment, that
he was one of those superficial characters who are given largely to
dealing in promises that they either have no intention of keeping when
making them originally, or which they never were or would be in a
position to carry out.

When coming up Long Island Sound on board the Rhode Island steamer and
having that friendly chat in the bows of the boat, the deck hand had
been lavishly expansive as to what he would be able to accomplish for
his newly-made acquaintance, in the way of procuring him employment;
but, when Fritz met him again, according to their arrangement of the
previous afternoon, "Nat" did not appear to exhibit that eager alacrity
in introducing him to business men--or "big bugs," as he termed them--
which his words of the night before had led Fritz naturally to expect.

Whether this arose from the fact that the deck hand's desire to aid the
young German had evaporated as rapidly as it had arisen, or because his
morning reflections had convinced him that he had too rashly promised
something which he was unable to perform, Fritz, of course, could not
precisely tell. Whatever was the reason, the result came to the same
thing, that Mr Slater showed a most unmistakable inclination to "back
out" of the matter in the same easy way in which those double-ender
floating palaces Fritz had noticed on the way up could go astern in
order to avoid an obstruction; albeit Nat was prolific in the extreme
with all manner of excuses--excuses that were as baseless and
unsubstantial as the foam churned up by the steamboat's paddle-wheels!

He "felt ugly" and was "no end sorry