r a ludicrous examination were acquitted. The best room of
their boat was fitted up with carpets, hangings, and a suite of
furniture taken from the chambers of the White House, soon to be
deserted. The unplaned, unpainted cabin, perfumed by the sour odor of
oaken planks and the scent of pine resin, was transformed into an
Eastern boudoir--couches, divans, gorgeous colors and all, for the
accommodation of Mrs. Blennerhassett.

The ill-starred gentlewoman whose passion for the magnificent prompted
her to adorn her floating bower thus luxuriously, and who, like
Cleopatra, was attended on her barge by Ethiop slaves, had not
relinquished her faith in Burr's dream of conquest and empire.

"Where are we going," asked Harman, when the boat which was to convey
the family to Bayou Pierre had been pushed off from their island, and
the mother and her children realized that they were afloat upon the
river.

"We are going to meet your father in a splendid city far away in the
South."

"Will Colonel Burr be there?"

"Yes, but we shall not then call him Colonel; he will be Emperor."

"And what will you be, mamma?"

"A duchess, my son."

The weary mother sank back upon her oriental divan, which was piled
with cushions, and closed her eyes in fragrant slumber, a luxury she
had foregone for many days and nights.

XXVI. OUT OF THE NET INTO THE TRAP.

December was well-nigh spent when Blennerhassett's bateau reached the
mouth of the Cumberland and joined Burr's flotilla of a dozen similar
boats. The number of men ready to embark for the Wachita counted only
three or four score. This informidable showing discouraged
Blennerhassett, but the "general," for so Burr was now styled, saw
fleet and men with the multiplying eye of faith, and he rejoiced to
have actually begun the campaign. Followers yet unseen were surely on
their way to join his resolute band. The miscarriage of plans at the
island imposed only a temporary delay on the five hundred expected to
descend from the Alleghany country. That recruits would flock the
Mississippi shores to look for the coming of the leader, and to offer
themselves--blanket, gun and soul--for the bold venture, was to be
expected of men whose names were written in the "Roster of the
Faithful."

The motley forces drawn up on the bank of the Cumberland for review
and instruction made up in fantastic variety for what they lacked in
number. There was much of the grotesque and somewhat of the