to the frontier having that same morning
arrived, and to this lucky accident were they indebted for this
abundance.

An apple-brandy "smash" of Mr. Heron's own devising wound up the meal,
and the two lighted their cigars, and in all the luxurious ease of their
rocking-chairs, enjoyed their post-prandial elysium.

"Them boots of yours is English make," was Mr. Heron's first remark,
after a long pause.

"Yes, London," was the brief reply.

"I 've been there; I don't like it."

Layton muttered some expression of regret at this sentiment; but the
other not heeding went on:--

"I 've seen most parts of the world, but there ain't anything to compare
with this."

Layton was not certain whether it was the supremacy of America he
asserted, or the city of Bunkumville in particular, but he refrained
from inquiring, preferring to let the other continue; nor did he seem
at all unwilling. He went on to give a half-connected account of a
migratory adventurous sort of life at home and abroad. He had been a
cook on shipboard, a gold-digger, an auctioneer, a showman, dealt in
almost every article of commerce, smuggled opium into China and slaves
into New Orleans, and with all his experiences had somehow or other not
hit upon the right road to fortune. Not, indeed, that he distrusted his
star,--far from it He believed himself reserved for great things, and
never felt more certain of being within their reach than at this moment.

"It was I made this city we 're in, sir," said he, proudly. "I built all
that mass yonder,--Briggs Block; I built the house we 're sitting in;
I built that Apollonicon, the music-hall you saw as you came in, and
I lectured there too; and if it were not for an old 'rough' that won't
keep off his bitters early of a mornin', I 'd be this day as rich as
John Jacob Astor: that's what's ruined me, sir. I brought him from
New York with me down here, and there 's nothing from a bird-cage to
a steam-boiler that fellow can't make you when he's sober,--ay, and
describe it too. If you only heerd him talk! Well, he made a telegraph
here, and set two saw-mills a-goin', and made a machine for getting the
salt out of that lake yonder, and then took to manufacturing macaroni
and gunpowder, and some dye-stuff out of oak bark; and what will you
say, stranger, when I tell you that he sold each of these inventions for
less than gave him a week's carouse? And now I have him here, under lock
and key, waiting till he comes to