at was a matter which yet rested in a sealed envelope in my pocket;
and at best it must be three or four days.... But then, with a great
flash of arrested intelligence, it was borne in upon me that perhaps,
after all, it was not so much a question of the tardy United States
mails! Because yon varlet, fat and saucy, and well content with life,
already, by some means and for some reason, had outrun the mails. He
was here, and we had met. It need not be four days before I could
learn my fate.... I reached into my pocket and looked at my sealed
orders. No matter what Davidson's letter held, here was Davidson
himself.

"Oh, I say, there, you Harry, confound you!" roared Davidson to me in
his great voice above the heads of everybody. "I say, what did I tell
you?"

Now I had not the slightest idea what Davidson had told me, nor what
he meant by waving a paper over his head. "They've signed Dingleheimer
for next year! Now what do you think of that? World's championship,
and good old Dingleheimer for next year--I guess that's pretty poor
for them little old Giants, what?" And he smiled like one devoid of
all care as well as of all reason.

I myself smiled just a moment later--after I had greeted the Manning
ladies, had seen Helena step up and kiss Sally Byington fervently,
directly on the cheek, whose too keen coloring I once had heard her
decry; had slapped Edouard joyously on the shoulders and pointed to my
pirate flag and gloomy black-visaged crew--I say I also smiled
suddenly when I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder.

'Polyte, the pilot, stood, cap in hand, and asked me to one side.

"Pardon, Monsieur," said he, "but those _gentilhommes_--those fat
one--ees eet she'll was Monsieur Davelson who'll H'I'll got letter on
heem from those lighthouse, heem?"

"Why, yes, 'Polyte--the letter you said would take four days to get to
New Orleans."

'Polyte smiled sheepishly. "He'll wouldn't took four days now,
Monsieur! H'I'll got it h'all those letter here. H'I'll change the
coat on the _lighthouse_, maybe, h'an H'I'll got the coat of Guillaume
witt' h'all those letter in her, yass?" And he now handed me the
entire packet of letters, which I had supposed left far behind us on
the previous day!

I took the letters from him, and handed all of them but one to
Edouard's old body servant to put in the office mail. The remaining
one I held in the same hand with its mate: and I motioned Davidson
aside to a spot under a live oak