o deliver the
security by ten o'clock, A.M. The discount is immense, but the
exigencies of the case are weighty.'

A consultation ensued. The bill for the kitchen crockery had just come
in, and a set of three-tined forks were badly needed; but Roseton's
intellect grasped the necessities of the operation, and the necessary
funds were ordered to be advanced; and the pledge, now forever forfeited
by the loan clause of the Revised Statutes, lay upon the floor of the
vault.

The aged butler delicately lifted a flask from its encampment of straw,
and bore it to that section of the apartment where the light was
clearest. 'I wonder if the boss would miss it, if we should just smell
of this here bottle,' said the faithful servitor. Turning it his hand,
it flashed brilliant rays on every side. Entangled among these played
vivid and beautiful pictures, changeable as auroras, yet perfect, during
their brief instant of existence, as the imaginations of Raphael, or the
transcripts of Claude.

Here then you saw a sunny hill, and troops of vintagers dispersed along
its sides, whose outlines wavered in the afternoon heats. But you
rapidly outlived this scene, and now the broad plains of Hungary lay
before your gaze. Speeding over the contracted domains of the Tokay, you
entered upon the Sarmatian wastes, where the wild vines fought for life
with the icy soil and the chill winds of the desert. Uncouth proprietors
urged on the unwilling peasants to the acrid press, and rolled out
barrels of the 'Rackcheekzi' and the 'Quiteenough-thankzi' vintage,
curiously labeled to a New York destination. Soon you beheld Water
Street, and long low cellars, where groups of boys cleansed now the
clouded flask, and now the imperfectly preserved cork. Now bubbles of
the rarest carbonic acid gas flow, in obedience to the powerful machine,
in all directions through the glassy prison; and rows of gleaming
bottles indicate the activity of the enterprise. Then you saw the dining
rooms of the Saint Sycophant and the Cosmopolitan Hotels. Here flew the
resounding cork, to be instantly snatched up by the attendant Ethiopian,
and scarcely were the champagne flasks emptied before they were reft
from the tables with unimpaired labels. At the rear doors, there seemed
to wait handcarts, and soon in these the corks, the bottles, and the
baskets were carefully bestowed for their down-town journey, and money
appeared to pass from hand to hand. Then you saw a sleighing pa