nd locked it; then he took off his clothes and went to bed.

Mr. Belcher's entrance upon the vessel had been observed by a policeman,
but, though it was an unusual occurrence, the fact that he was received
showed that he had been expected. As the policeman was soon relieved
from duty, he gave the matter no farther thought, so that Mr. Belcher
had practically made the passage from his library to his state-room
unobserved.

After the terrible excitements of the two preceding days, and the
sleeplessness of the night, Mr. Belcher with the first sense of security
fell into a heavy slumber. All through the morning there were officers
on the vessel who knew that he was wanted, but his state-room had been
engaged for an invalid lady, and the steward assured the officers that
she was in the room, and was not to be disturbed.

The first consciousness that came to the sleeper was with the first
motion of the vessel as she pushed out from her dock. He rose and
dressed, and found himself exceedingly hungry. There was nothing to do,
however, but to wait. The steamer would go down so as to pass the bar at
high tide, and lay to for the mails and the latest passengers, to be
brought down the bay by a tug. He knew that he could not step from his
hiding until the last policeman had left the vessel, with the casting
off of its tender, and so sat and watched from the little port-hole
which illuminated his room the panorama of the Jersey and the Staten
Island shores.

His hard, exciting life was retiring. He was leaving his foul
reputation, his wife and children, his old pursuits and his fondly
cherished idol behind him. He was leaving danger behind. He was leaving
Sing Sing behind! He had all Europe, with plenty of money, before him.
His spirits began to rise. He even took a look into his mirror, to be a
witness of his own triumph.

At four o'clock, after the steamer had lain at anchor for two or three
hours, the tug arrived, and as his was the leeward side of the vessel,
she unloaded her passengers upon the steamer where he could see them.
There were no faces that he knew, and he was relieved. He heard a great
deal of tramping about the decks, and through the cabin. Once, two men
came into the little passage into which his door opened. He heard his
name spoken, and the whispered assurance that his room was occupied by a
sick woman; and then they went away.

At last, the orders were given to cast off the tug. He saw the anxious
looks