ll the consequences, both
here and hereafter: but my word is pledged,--I have taken the oath with
every ceremony that can give it solemnity; and--I 'll go through with
it!"

"There is a mystery in all this," said the Padre; "you must recount the
circumstances of this singular pledge, ere I can give you either comfort
or counsel."

"I look for neither,--I hope for neither!" said I, wringing my hands;
"but you shall hear my story,--you are the last to whom I can ever
reveal it! I arrived at New Orleans about a fortnight ago, on a yacht
cruise with a friend of mine, of whose name, at least, you may have
heard,--Sir Dudley Broughton."

"The owner of a handsome schooner, the 'Firefly,'" said the Padre, with
an animation on the subject not quite in keeping with his costume.

"The same; you are, then, acquainted with him?"

"Oh, no; I was accidentally standing on the wharf when his yacht came up
the river at New Orleans."

"You did n't remark a young man on the poop in a foraging-cap, with a
gold band round it?"

"I cannot say I did."

"He carried a key-bugle in his hand."

"I did not perceive him."

"That was me; how different was I then! Well, well, I 'll hasten on. We
arrived at New Orleans, not quite determined whither next we should bend
our steps; and hearing by mere accident of this Texan expedition, we
took it into our heads we would join it. On inquiring about the matter,
we found that a lottery was in progress, the prizes of which were
various portions of equipment, horses, mules, baggage, negroes, and so
on. For this--just out of caprice--we took several tickets; but as, from
one cause or other, the drawing was delayed, we lingered on, going
each day to the office, and there making acquaintance with a number of
fellows interested in the expedition, but whose manner and style, I
need scarcely say, were not good recommendations to intimacy. Broughton,
however, always liked that kind of thing; low company, with him, had
always the charm of an amusement that he could resign whenever he
fancied. Now, as he grew more intimate with these fellows, he obtained
admission into a kind of club they held in an obscure part of the town,
and thither we generally repaired every evening, when too late for any
more correct society. They were all, or at least they affected to be,
interested in Texan expeditions; and the conversation never took any
other turn than what concerned these objects; and if at first our Old
World