me slightly alarmed for my welfare, and placed
himself between us, and showed his strong teeth with perfect frankness.

"Call off your dog," our visitor said, finding that it was useless to
intimidate, "or I will make short work of him, and sell him to the
Chinamen as a luxury."

"You would never have another chance to trade with the Celestials," I
answered, carelessly.

"Why?" demanded the black ruffian, with a grim smile, as he walked
towards that portion of the store where Fred was sitting, Mr. Critchet
having entered his room.

"Because, if you harmed my dog, I should take the liberty of shooting
you without a moment's delay."

"Well, that is a question that two would have to study over," the
stranger answered, in a more subdued tone, and with less inclination to
swagger. "I suppose that you little think that I carry these things
about me, and that they sometimes bark when I say the word, and more to
the purpose than any dog you ever owned." And he tapped the butts of his
pistols with a confident air, but the announcement was not such as he
had anticipated.

"We sometimes do a little in that line ourselves," I answered, "and we
take care that the tools we use shall be the best that money can obtain.
When this speaks it means something."

I quietly drew from my coat pocket a revolver, and held it before him,
and then as quietly returned it to its resting-place.

"I'm satisfied with your word," the dark-haired stranger said, a grim
smile spreading over his face. "When gentlemen meet they should know how
to treat each other with courtesy. By your weapon I judge that you are
an American."

"My friend and myself both claim that country as the land of our
births," I replied, pointing to Fred, who sat smoking his pipe for the
purpose of keeping the insects, attracted by our light, at a distance.

"O, I didn't see that you had a companion," the stranger exclaimed,
spying Fred for the first time, which somehow rather disconcerted him;
but he quickly rallied, and continued to converse in a free and easy
manner, like a man who had seen much of the world, and had opportunities
of enjoying it.

"I am glad to know that you are Americans, for I have visited that
country, and was kindly treated by those with whom I came in contact. A
great and fast country, as I can bear witness, for while travelling in
the southern part I suffered a railroad collision and a steamboat
explosion on the same day, and yet escaped with wh