intently at him. In the
brightness of the moonlight our hero could see that the little
gentleman possessed but a single eye, and that he carried a
gold-headed cane in his hand. He had hardly time to observe these
particulars, when the other approached him with every appearance of
politeness and cordiality.

"Sir," said he, "surely I am not mistaken in recognizing in you the
supercargo of the ship _Susanna Hayes_, which arrived this afternoon
at this port?"

"Indeed," said Jonathan, "thou art right, friend. That is my
occupation, and that is whence I came."

"To be sure!" said the little gentleman. "To be sure! To be sure! The
_Susanna Hayes_, with a cargo of Indian-corn meal, and from my dear
good friend Jeremiah Doolittle, of Philadelphia. I know your good
master very well--very well indeed. And have you never heard him speak
of his friend Mr. Abner Greenway, of Kingston, Jamaica?"

"Why, no," replied Jonathan, "I have no such recollection of the
name--nor do I know that any such name hath ever appeared upon our
books."

"To be sure! To be sure!" repeated the little gentleman, briskly, and
with exceeding good nature. "Indeed, my name is not likely to have
ever appeared upon your employer's books, for I am not a business
correspondent, but one who, in times past, was his extremely intimate
friend. There is much I would like to ask about him, and, indeed, I
was in hopes that you would have been the bearer of a letter from him.
But I have lodgings at a little distance from here, so that if it is
not requesting too much of you maybe you will accompany me thither, so
that we may talk at our leisure. I would gladly accompany you to your
ship instead of urging you to come to my apartments, but I must tell
you I am possessed of a devil of a fever, so that my physician hath
forbidden me to be out of nights."

"Indeed," said Jonathan, who, you may have observed, was of a very
easy disposition--"indeed, I shall be very glad to accompany thee to
thy lodgings. There is nothing I would like better than to serve any
friend of good Jeremiah Doolittle's."

And thereupon, and with great amity, the two walked off together, the
little one-eyed gentleman in black linking his arm confidingly into
that of Jonathan's, and tapping the pavement continually with his cane
as he trotted on at a great pace. He was very well acquainted with the
town (of which he was a citizen), and so interesting was his
discourse that they had gone a cons