s well as if we planned it all. In fact, if we had tried we
could not have adjusted the present company better."

[_Club_.--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"]

[What Buttons said he said.]

"He says he wouldn't have come out here to-day, but had a little
difficulty just before he joined our party. He was landing from
the American ship of war, and on stepping on shore a man trod on
his foot, whereupon he put him into the water, and held him there
till he was drowned."

[Bandits looking more respectfully.]

[What the Senator said.]

"Listen now, Buttons. We will arrange a signal, and at a certain word
we will fall on our neighbors and do with them as they propose doing
with us. But first let us arrange carefully about the signal; for
every thing depends on that."

[_Club_--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"]

[What Buttons said he said.]

"It makes him feel amused, he says, when he thinks how odd that
guide looked at him when he made him go down into the crater of
Vesuvius; gave him five minutes to say his prayers, and then lifted
him up in the air and pitched him down to the bottom. He thinks
he is falling still."

[Bandits exchange glances.]

[What the Senator said.]

"First, we must keep up our uproar and merriment to as great an
extent as we can, but not very long. Let it be wild, mad, boisterous,
but short. It will distract these vagabonds, and throw them off their
guard. The first thing on the programme, then, is merriment. Laugh as
loud and long as you can."

[_Club_.--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"]

[What Buttons said he said.]

"He doesn't know but what he'll have a little trouble about a
priest he killed last night. He was in a church, and was walking
about whistling, when a priest came up and ordered him out;
whereupon he drew his revolver, and put all six of the bullets in
the priest's head."

[Bandits cross themselves, and look serious.]

[Illustration: The Bandits Captured.]

[What the Senator said.]

"The next thing is, to have some singing. They seem to like our
glorious national songs. Give them some of them. Let the first one
be 'Old Virginny.'"

[_Club_.--"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!"]

[What Buttons said he said.]

"He heard that the priest was not dead. As he always makes sure
work, he intends to look in the morning, and if he's alive, he'll
cut his throat, and make all his attendants dance to the tune of
'Old Virginny.'"

Buttons had to work on that word "Old Virginny," for the quick ears