they
were was attempting to play off some smart jest upon him. But all
that Miss Eliza could tell him when he questioned her concerning the
messenger was that the bearer of the note was a tall, stout man, with
a red neckerchief around his neck and copper buckles to his shoes, and
that he had the appearance of a sailorman, having a great big queue
hanging down his back. But, Lord! what was such a description as that
in a busy seaport town, full of scores of men to fit such a likeness?
Accordingly, our hero put away the note into his wallet, determining to
show it to his good friend Mr. Greenfield that evening, and to ask his
advice upon it. So he did show it, and that gentleman's opinion was the
same as his--that some wag was minded to play off a hoax upon him, and
that the matter of the letter was all nothing but smoke.

Nevertheless, though Barnaby was thus confirmed in his opinion as to the
nature of the communication he had received, he yet determined in his
own mind that he would see the business through to the end, and would be
at Pratt's Ordinary, as the note demanded, upon the day and at the time
specified therein.

Pratt's Ordinary was at that time a very fine and well-known place of
its sort, with good tobacco and the best rum that ever I tasted, and had
a garden behind it that, sloping down to the harbor front, was planted
pretty thick with palms and ferns grouped into clusters with flowers and
plants. Here were a number of little tables, some in little grottoes,
like our Vauxhall in New York, and with red and blue and white paper
lanterns hung among the foliage, whither gentlemen and ladies used
sometimes to go of an evening to sit and drink lime juice and sugar and
water (and sometimes a taste of something stronger), and to look out
across the water at the shipping in the cool of the night.

Thither, accordingly, our hero went, a little before the time appointed
in the note, and passing directly through the Ordinary and the garden
beyond, chose a table at the lower end of the garden and close to the
water's edge, where he would not be easily seen by anyone coming into
the place. Then, ordering some rum and water and a pipe of tobacco, he
composed himself to watch for the appearance of those witty fellows whom
he suspected would presently come thither to see the end of their prank
and to enjoy his confusion.

The spot was pleasant enough; for the land breeze, blowing strong and
full, set the leaves of th