which at length was broken by the old man saying, "Well,
good luck be with you; any way, 't is the best thing you could do!"

I saw that I had overshot my bolt, and with difficulty concealed my
annoyance at my own failure. My irritation was, I conclude, sufficiently
apparent, for Joe quickly said, "We 're very sorry to part with you; but
if we could be of any use before we go--"

"Which way do you travel?" said I, carelessly.

"That's the puzzle, for we don't know the country. 'T is New Orleans
we'd like to go to first."

"Nothing easier," said I. "Take the steamer to Montreal, cross over into
the States, down Lake Champlain to Whitehall, over to Albany, and then
twenty hours down the Hudson brings you to New York."

"You know the way well!" said Joe, with an undisguised admiration for
my geography, which, I need not tell the reader, was all acquired from
books and maps.

"I should think so," said I, "seeing that I might travel it blindfold!"

"Is it dangerous? Are there Injians?" said the old man, whose mind
seemed very alive to the perils of red men.

"There are some tribes on the way," said I; "but the white fellows you
meet with are worse than the red ones,--such rogues, and assassins too!"

"The saints presarve us! How will we ever do it?"

"Look out for some smart fellow who knows the way and thoroughly
understands the people, and who can speak French fluently, for the first
part of the journey, and who is up to all the Yankee roguery, for the
second. Give him full power to guide and direct your expedition, and
you 'll have both a safe journey and a pleasant one."

"Ay, and where will we get him?" cried one.

"And what would he be askin' for his trouble?" said another; while Joe,
with an assenting nod, reiterated both questions, and seemed to expect
that answer from me.

"It ought to be easy enough in such a city as this," said I,
negligently. "Are you acquainted with Forbes and Gudgeon? They are my
bankers. They could, I am sure, find out your man at once."

"Ah, sir, we know nobody at all!" exclaimed Joe, in an accent of such
humility that I actually felt shocked at my own duplicity.

"By Jove!" said I, as though a sudden thought had struck me, "very
little would make me go with you myself." A regular burst of joy from
the whole party here interrupted me. "Yes, I'm quite in earnest," said
I, with a dignified air. "This place will be excessively distasteful to
me henceforth. I have placed myself