im in a small coastwise trading
venture, and later he developed a flatboat freight service running
upriver to Nashville."

"But didn't he ever try to get in touch with the Ralestones?" Val asked.

"No. When Roderick Ralestone sailed from New Orleans he seems to have
determined to cut himself off from the past entirely. As I said, he used
an anagram to hide his name all the way through the log, and doubtless
his son never knew that there was anything strange about his father's
past. Laurent St. Jean, the son, prospered. Just before the outbreak of
the Civil War he was reckoned one of the ten wealthiest men of his
native city.

"But that wealth vanished in the war when shipping no longer went forth
from the port. I did come across one interesting fact in Laurent's notes
covering those years. In 1861 Laurent St. Jean built a blockade-runner
called the _Red Bird_. His backer in the venture was a Mr. Ralestone of
Pirate's Haven. So once Ralestone did meet Ralestone without being aware
of the fact.

"Laurent St. Jean was imprisoned by 'Beast' Butler, along with other
prominent men of the city, when the Yankees captured New Orleans. And he
died in 1867 from a lingering illness contracted during his
imprisonment. His son, Rene St. Jean, came home from war to find himself
ruined. His father's shipping business existed on paper only. Having the
grit and determination of his grandfather, he struggled along for almost
ten years trying to get back on his feet. But those were dark years for
the whole country.

"In 1876 St. Jean gave up the struggle. With his Creole wife and their
two sons he moved into the swamps. Working first as a guide and trapper
and then as a hunter of birds, he managed to make a sparse living. His
eldest son followed in his footsteps, but the younger took to the sea.
Roderick St. Jean, the eldest son, died of yellow fever in 1890. He left
one son to the guardianship of his brother who had come home from the
sea. That son came to look upon his uncle as his father and the real
relationship between them was half forgotten.

"But Rene St. Jean the second was curious. He knew something of the
world and he was interested in the past. It was his custom to do a great
amount of reading, especially reading which concerned the history of his
own state and city. And once he was inclined to get out the old sea
chest which had been moved with the family for so many years. Then he
must have discovered his relationship