ently to
take an observation, he found himself stranded keel uppermost, in the
gutter, with his rigging considerably damaged, and his timbers somewhat
shaken."

Such was the discipline to which the obstreperous Locos were subjected,
and neither their general disposition, nor their particular temper of
mind at the time, was such as to induce them to bear the infliction with
Christian resignation. Accordingly, they repaired in a body to the
head-quarters of their party (at Tammany Hall, about half a mile
distant), and there reported the indignity they had suffered. The thing
was not to be endured, and steps were instantly taken to exact a
terrible retribution. The more belligerent of the Locos had formed
themselves into various associations for purposes of offence, rejoicing
in the classic names of "Spartans," "Ring-tailed Roarers," "Huge Paws,"
and "Butt-enders." Some two hundred of this last body chanced to be in
attendance, all armed with bludgeons, and they instantly started off to
make an assault upon the Masonic Hall, where the friends of the registry
law were assembled. The surprise bid fair to be a complete one, and so
doubtless it would have been, but for a circumstance, to explain which
it will be necessary for us to go back to the morning of this eventful
day.

Bill Travis, as his friends familiarly called him--or W. Thompson
Travis, Esq., as his tradesmen used to address him on the back of their
frequently-sent-in and occasionally-paid bills--was a senior at Columbia
College; not precisely the first of his class in Latin and Greek, but
decidedly the best waltzer and billiard-player in it, and _the_
exquisite, _par excellence_, of his juvenile contemporaries. He never
went down Broadway, even to go to College, without light French kids and
a gold-headed cane; and his stock of enamelled chains, opal studs,
diamond pins, and the like vanities, would nearly have fitted up a
bride's _corbeille_. To see him fully got up--polished boots, palm-leaf
waistcoat, gorgeous cravat, and all--mincing over the gutter, you would
take him for a regular man-milliner, and say that the greatest exertion
he was capable of, would be holding a trotter, and that only with the
aid of a pair of pulleys. But scrutinize him more closely, and you would
see that, for all his slim waist and delicate extremities, he had a good
full natural chest of his own, and powerful limbs. Put him into action,
and you would find that he could hit straigh