'I presume I am at liberty to depart?' said Frank; and the Captain
returned a polite affirmative. Our hero left the hall of judgment,
thoroughly disgusted with the injustice and partiality of this petty
minion of the law; for he well knew that had he himself been in reality
nothing more than a poor sailor, as his garb indicated, the three words,
'lock him up,' would have decided his fate for that night; and that upon
the following morning the three words, 'send him over,' would have
decided his fate for the ensuing six months.

When Frank was gone, the Captain said to the under official:

'That is Mr. Sydney, the young gentleman who was convicted of murder a
short time ago, and whose innocence of the crime was made manifest in
such an extraordinary manner, just in time to save his neck. He is very
rich, and of course I could not think of locking _him_ up.'

The Captain proceeded to examine other prisoners, and Frank went in
quest of other adventures, in which pursuit we shall follow him.

As he turned into Broadway, he encountered a showily dressed courtezan,
who, addressing him with that absence of ceremony for which such ladies
are remarkable, requested him to accompany her home.

'This may lead to something,' thought Frank; and pretending to be
somewhat intoxicated, he proffered her his arm, which she took, at the
same time informing him that her residence was in Anthony street. This
street was but a short distance from where they had met; a walk of five
minutes brought them to it, and the woman conducted Frank back into a
dark narrow court, and into an old wooden building which stood at its
further extremity.

'Wait here a few moments, until I get a light,' said the woman; and
entering a room which opened from the entry, she left our hero standing
in the midst of profound darkness.--Hearing a low conversation going on
in the room, he applied his ear to the key-hole, and listened, having
good reason to suppose that he himself was the object of the discourse.

'What sort of a man does he appear to be?' was asked, in a voice which
sent a thrill through every nerve in Frank's body--for it struck him
that he had heard it before. It was the voice of a man, and its tones
were peculiar.

'He is a sailor,' replied the woman--'and as he is somewhat drunk now,
the powder will soon put him to sleep, and then--'

The remainder of the sentence was inaudible to Frank; he had heard
enough, however, to put him on his gu