ngth Mr. Sander made up his mind. He sent Mr. Arnold to
Tovar in New Grenada.

Masdevallias are reckoned among the most difficult of orchids to import.
From their home in cool uplands they must be transported through some of
the hottest regions on the globe, and they have no pseudo-bulbs to sustain
them; a leaf and a root, one may say, compose each tiny plant.

Mr. Arnold, therefore, was provided with some sacks of Sphagnum moss in
which to stow his finds. These sacks he registered among his personal
baggage. At Waterloo, however, the station-master demurred. Moss, said he,
must travel by goods train. Arnold had not allowed himself time to spare.
The Royal mail steamer would leave within an hour of his arrival at
Southampton; to go without his moss was useless; and a pig-headed official
refused to pass it! Mr. Arnold does not profess to be meek. He
remonstrated with so much energy that the station-master fled the scene.
There was just time enough to load up the article in dispute and jump into
a carriage, helped by a friendly stranger.

The stranger had showed his friendliness before that. Standing at the open
door, he supported Arnold's cause with singular warmth and vociferation.
The latter was grateful, of course, and when he learned that his ally was
a fellow-passenger to Caracas he expressed the hope that they might share
a cabin. There was no difficulty about that. In short, they chummed.

This young man announced himself as Mr. Thompson, a traveller in the
hardware line, but he showed an intelligent curiosity about things in
general--about orchids, for instance, when he learned that such was
Arnold's business. Would it be possible for an ignoramus to make a few
pounds that way?--how should he set about it?--which is the class of
article most in demand just now, and where is it found? Before the voyage
ended, that traveller in the hardware line knew as much about Masdevallia
Tovarensis as Arnold could tell him. He bade goodbye aboard ship, for
pressing business obliged him to start up country forthwith.

Late in the afternoon Arnold, who was to stay some days at Caracas, met
his agent on the Plaza. 'By the bye,' said that gentleman, 'are you aware
that Mr. Blank started this morning in the direction of Tovar?'

Now Mr. Blank was a man of substance who began orchid-growing as an
amateur, but of late had turned professional.

'Bless me!' cried Arnold, 'is he here?'

The agent stared. 'Why, as I understood, he