tently in and saw me leaning carelessly against
the counter with my face partially turned to the street. As soon as I
had paid for the licorice I continued my walk in the same direction, but
saw nothing of the men, they having evidently stopped in some place to
let me get ahead once more. In a short time I approached an inclosure
over the gate of which was a sign that informed me I had come by
accident direct to the wharf of the New York steamers. Entering I found
the place crowded and the tugboat ready to convey the passengers to the
steamer Atlantic. Before attempting to step aboard the tug I took a
covert look around and saw my two detectives standing back in one corner
with their eyes fixed upon me, all but their heads being concealed
behind the crowd waiting to see their friends off for America.
Apparently unconscious of their presence, I threw my papers, one by one,
down among the passengers; and as the deck of the boat was eight or ten
feet below, the detectives could not see to whom they were thrown. I
stood leaning on the rail a short time gazing at the scene, then left
the wharf not even glancing in the direction of the detectives. I felt
that any attempt of mine to embark would precipitate their movements,
therefore I at once abandoned all ideas of taking passage from
Queenstown.

"Now mark the irony of fate! That was the last passage ever made by the
magnificent steamer Atlantic! Some magnetic influence deranged her
compass so that she ran twenty miles out of her course, striking on the
coast of Nova Scotia, at Meager's Head, Prospect Harbor, broke in two,
then rolling into deep water sank in a few minutes. Out of 1,002 persons
on board 560 perished, including most of the saloon passengers and all
the women and children. The elegant cabins and staterooms became their
tombs--and one might have been mine. But not for me such favoring fate;
a moment's struggle ended their sufferings, while I was left to undergo
the pangs of a thousand deaths!

[Illustration: A CORRIDOR OF THE TOMBS, NEW YORK.]

"I continued my walk up a hill among the private residences of the city,
and, hailing a cab, told the driver to take me back to the station.
Eager for a job, he asked to drive me a mile beyond on the railway.
Thinking I might elude the detectives at the Queenstown station, I
acceded, and he made his little Irish horse rush along at a pace
which brought us to the stopping place just before the train arrived.

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