ant to his sitting-room. The
confusion which whirled in the brain of the Commandant, made him
appear most ridiculous. He hardly knew whether to be imperative or
civil; whether he was really speaking to the first mate of the vessel,
or to another party; or whether he had insulted a noble, or been
cajoled by a captain of a vessel: he threw himself down on his sofa,
and Krantz, taking his seat in a chair, stated as follows:

"You have been partly deceived and partly not, Commandant. When we
first came here, not knowing what treatment we might receive, we
concealed our rank; afterwards I made known to you the rank of my
friend on shore; but did not think it worth while to say anything
about his situation on board of the vessel. The fact is, as you may
well suppose of a person of his dignity, he was owner of the fine ship
which was lost through the intervention of that one-eyed wretch; but
of that by-and-bye. Now for the story.

"About ten years ago there was a great miser in Amsterdam; he lived
in the most miserable way that a man could live in; wore nothing but
rags; and having been formerly a seaman, his attire was generally of
the description common to his class. He had one son, to whom he denied
the necessaries of life, and whom he treated most cruelly. After
vain attempts to possess a portion of his father's wealth, the devil
instigated the son to murder the old man, who was one day found dead
in his bed; but as there were no marks of violence which could be
sworn to, although suspicion fell upon the son, the affair was hushed
up, and the young man took possession of his father's wealth. It was
fully expected that there would now be rioting and squandering on the
part of the heir, as is usually the case; but, on the contrary, he
never spent anything, but appeared to be as poor--even poorer--than he
ever was. Instead of being gay and merry, he was, in appearance, the
most miserable, downcast person in the world; and he wandered about,
seeking a crust of bread wherever he could find it. Some said that he
had been inoculated by his father, and was as great a miser as his
father had been; others shook their heads, and said that all was not
right. At last, after pining away for six or seven years, the young
man died at an early age, without confession or absolution; in fact,
he was found dead in his bed. Beside the bed there was a paper,
addressed to the authorities, in which he acknowledged that he had
murdered his fathe