d him to much bodily harm.

As it was, they bolted as though an evil spirit had suddenly dropped
down between them from the upper regions. They were terribly
frightened, as indicated by their rapid flight. The steward had not
even obtained his coveted view of their faces and forms, and was no
wiser in the end than he was in the beginning. The treacherous timbers
had defeated his purpose, while, perhaps, they had saved him from a
greater calamity than his fall.

For the second time that day, the steward lay senseless on the ground.
Though Mr. C. Augustus Ebenier was not wanting in intelligence, his
skull seemed to have a capability for enduring hard knocks which was
really surprising. Doubtless his head was his strong place; if it had
not been, his brains must have been dashed out. According to the
tradition, it was safer for him to strike on his head than on his
shins. Certainly he was not badly injured, and if reduced to extremity
he might have let out his head for use as a blacksmith's anvil.

Before the two men who had been conferring together in the Hotel de
Poisson could muster courage to return, the steward had in a great
measure recovered from the effects of the fall. Perhaps the
superabundance of stars which dawned upon his vision had not all ceased
to shine; and perhaps his ideas, which had all been thrown into a
confused mass, were not altogether detached and restored to their
original channels; but Augustus was practically himself again. His
first thought was one of regret that he had failed to obtain a sight of
the two men; that he had not even learned whether they were black or
white, old or young, seamen or landsmen.

He rubbed his head to relieve the pressure on his brain, and to vivify
his ideas. The incident which had occurred seemed to render the Hotel
de Poisson an unfit place for him to remain during the balance of the
night; but he was not willing to leave till he had examined the
locality, and obtained whatever evidence it might afford him in regard
to the mysterious couple who had met there. Kicking about the ground,
he disturbed the fractured glass of the lantern. The globe had been
broken, but the lamp was still whole.

Though Mr. C. Augustus Ebenier had a great many bright parts, he was
inclined to be a "swell." He smoked a pipe on the forecastle of the
yacht, but when he walked through the principal streets of Rockport, in
his plaid pants and bobtail sack, he smoked an Havana cigar, with