e greatest caution, the ruffian slipped
out, and as soon as he had got clear of the village hurried away at the
top of his speed.

The Swiss drover had shown great cunning in his scheme to get possession
of the money from Walter, and he carried it out with equal boldness. He
had often helped to drive cattle to Paris before, and knew the roads
well. He had frequently been at the inn at Boissy, and its distance from
Paris, and the character of the man who attended to the business,
recommended it as well suited to his purpose. Andre, like many others of
his kind, was greedy of money, and the golden bribe quieted all his
doubts as to the truth of the story about his companion. Seppi, on his
side, knowing that the sleeping powder which he had secretly mixed with
Walter's wine was sufficient to prevent him waking for nearly a whole
day, gave himself no further trouble as to what might happen in the way
of pursuit. It was enough for him that his stratagem had been
successful, and he hastened along the well-known by-paths until he had
left Boissy far behind.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

GOLD-FISH.

[Illustration: STRANGE GOLD-FISHES.]

Some time during the seventeenth century, about two hundred years ago,
Portuguese sailors saw swimming in the lakes and rivers of China and
Japan a very beautiful variety of fish, which glistened like gold. They
captured some specimens, and brought them to Portugal. The little fish
found the lakes of Europe as pleasant to live in as the lakes of China,
and they at once domesticated themselves, and raised their little
families, until the European streams became well stocked with these
beautiful creatures. They are also found in many brooks and streams in
the United States.

The glistening gold-color of these fishes made them much sought for as
household ornaments, and the demand for them became so general that
establishments were opened for raising them for the market. One of the
largest and most celebrated of these places for gold-fish breeding is in
Oldenburg, Germany, where more than a hundred small ponds contain the
fish in all stages of growth, from the tiniest baby to the big stout
fellow eight and even ten inches long. The little ones are carefully
kept apart from larger ones, for the gold-fish is a wicked cannibal, and
devours its little brothers and sisters, and even its own children,
whenever it has an opportunity. At the same time it is a great coward,
and will hide away from fi