nd remain in Havana until
steamer day, and then sail without fail to Mexico. But fearing the
ridicule of my friends, I went, persuading myself that there could be no
danger and that everything in London was buried in so dense a fog bank
that the detectives would struggle in vain to find a way out of it or
any clue to our identity.

Had I known of the clever work of the Pinkerton brothers in London and
the discoveries in Paris I should have been ill at ease; but had I known
that Capt. John Curtin--then a member of the Pinkerton staff in New
York, but now (1895.) of San Francisco--had with perfectly marvelous
intuition and rare detective skill let daylight into the whole plot, and
had reported to his chief that whenever F. A. Warren was discovered he
would prove to be Austin Bidwell; I say if I had known this, instead of
going off on a ten days' pleasure jaunt into an isolated corner of the
world I should have taken instant flight, leaving Cuba, not by the usual
modes of departure, but by sailing boat, and alone, for one of the
Mexican ports.

Capt. Curtin had been detailed to work on the New York end of the case,
to look for clues. It seemed a hopeless task. He is a warm friend of
mine now, after twenty years, and has long forgiven me for the bullet I
lodged in him in 1873. A few years after arresting me in the West Indies
he went to San Francisco and started a private inquiry office of his own
at 328 Montgomery street. When, after twenty years' incarceration, I
arrived there one lovely May in 1892, he was waiting for me at the
ferry, and gave me warm greetings, and as hearty congratulations, too,
as any man could give another; then introduced me to his friends
everywhere, and, in fact, from the hour of my arrival until my
departure, three months afterward, was never tired of doing me a service
and forwarding my business, so that by his kind offices I made a great
success out of what, by reason of the great financial depression, might
otherwise have proved a failure. But as Capt. Curtin, after effecting my
arrest, having recovered from his wound, was one of the four who took me
to England, I will wait until a later chapter to tell how it was he
discovered my name and located me in Cuba.

On Saturday morning our party of four, accompanied by a following of
black fellows and half a dozen dogs, set out by train. Before reaching
San Felipe our bones had a shaking. The roadbed was execrable, the
trucks of the cars were wit