y one morning. Alfred Scanlon,
with an air of gloom, deprecatingly coughed his way into the bedroom,
and handed the consul a letter. It was written on pale pink note-paper,
of the kind Samoans like best, with two lavender love birds embossed in
the corner. It was from Satterlee. The letter ran thus:

DEAR FRIEND: _When this reaches you I shall be far
to sea. My excuse for so long subsisting on your bounty must
be laid to my ignorance, which was only illuminated two days
ago by accident. I had no idea that you were paying for me
out of your own private purse, or that my ease and comfort
were obtained at so heavy a cost to yourself. Regretfully I
bring our pleasant relations to an end, impelled, I assure
you, by the promptings of a heartfelt friendship. I loved
the simple people among whom my lot was cast, and looked
forward, at the termination of my sentence, to end the
balance of my days peacefully among them. The world, seen
from so great a distance, and from within so sweet a nest,
frightened me, old stager that I am. God knows, I have never
seen but its ugliest side, and return to it with profound
depression. Kindly explain my abrupt departure to the
Scanlons, and if you would do me a last favor, buy a little
rocking-horse that there is at Edward's store, price three
dollars, and present it in my name to my infant goddaughter,
Apeli Scanlon. To them all kindly express my warmest and
sincerest gratitude; and for yourself, dear friend, the
best, the truest, the kindest of men, accept the warm grasp
of my hand at parting. Ever yours,_

JOHN SATTERLEE.

"It must have been the Hamburg bark that sailed last night," quavered
Scanlon.

Of course, Skiddy blew that Scanlon up. He wiped the floor with him. He
roared at him till the great hulking creature shook like jelly, and his
round black eyes suffused with tears. He made him sit down then and
there, swore him on the consular Bible, and made him dictate a
statement, which was signed in the presence of the cook. This
accomplished, Alfred was ingloriously dismissed, while the consul went
out on the back veranda, and sat there in his pajamas, to think the
matter over.

It seemed a pity to rouse the Department. The Department's interest in
Satterlee could at no time have been called brisk, and it had now ebbed
to a negligible quantity.