r a veil, to protect the eyes from the dust which rises
in heavy clouds, and at times obscures the sun like a thunder squall,)
and walked off, hoping that I should hear his voice calling me back, but
in this I was disappointed. Mr. Hennetit thought that I would repent,
and come to his terms, and so determined to stand the pressure one day
more, at all hazards.

I walked directly to the river, and found that the wind was blowing off
shore like great guns. This elated me, although I remembered the words
of the tarry mariner, and wondered how it was out upon the broad ocean.

For two days I had not slept an hour's time, or eaten more than a crust
of bread; but when I saw how the wind was blowing, I returned to my
hotel, and supplied my nearly exhausted system with food.

No sooner had I finished dinner than I was told that a gentleman wished
to speak to me in the bar room. I went there, and saw one of the
merchants from whom I had purchased one hundred sacks of Chilian flour,
and one hundred barrels of American brand.

"Well!" he exclaimed, shaking hands with some warmth, "you have _dished_
us, and no mistake! Who, in the devil's name, would have supposed that
those two ships could have made such long passages--did you?" and then,
without waiting for me to answer, he marched up to the bar and called
for drinks, and I must confess that I gratified him, and pleased myself,
in taking a very good glass of wine and water at his expense.

"Come, now to business," my acquaintance said, wiping his lips on a
richly embroidered handkerchief, imported from Manilla.

"Very well, to business it is," said I.

"You have got all the flour in the market in your hands," he began.

"I know it," I answered.

"Yes, I suppose that you do," he said, dryly; "now, I want the flour
that I sold you, and which still remains in my store. What is the
figure, sir?"

Here was a man that I could trade with, and not resort to art. He was
never schooled in diplomacy, and his blunt nature rejected all
subterfuge. I saw that he was willing to allow me to make all that I
could, knowing that he would have done the same, had he been situated as
I was.

"Fifty-five pounds per ton," I answered.

"I'll take it at that figure," he replied, promptly; "come with me to
the store, and I will settle the amount immediately."

I did not require to be invited a second time; and after I had received
my money, I calculated how many more tons I should have to di