e, to refresh himself, there were appearances, which came to
the eye and the corners of his mouth, which made the observer conclude
that he was not lacking the sense of humor; and, if his experience had
been most unfortunate, there was in him an ability to appreciate the
ludicrousness of its changeful situations. Indeed, one could but
conclude that originally he must have been of a buoyant, not to say
sanguine disposition; and, if one could but prevail upon him to narrate
the incidents of his life, they would be found to be most entertaining.

It was something like an hour before our melancholy-looking guest had
fully improved the opportunity with which a benignant Providence had
supplied him,--a freak in which, one might conclude, she seldom
indulged. He ceased to eat, and sat for a moment gazing pensively at the
dishes. It seemed to me--but in this I may possibly be mistaken--that a
darker shade of sadness possessed his face at the conclusion than the
one that shadowed it so heavily at the beginning of the repast. "The
pleasures of hope," I said to myself, "are evidently greater to my
species than are those of recollection. Now that there is nothing left
for my guest to anticipate, it is evident that memory ceases to excite."
And I could but feel that, had our provisions been more abundant, the
stranger's appetite would not have been so easily appeased. With
something of regret in my voice, I sought to divert his mind from that
sense of disappointment which I judged from his countenance threatened
to oppress his spirits.

"Friend," I said, "I doubt not that you have trailed a goodly distance,
and your fasting has been long?"

"I have not eaten a meal in two days," was the response.

"Heavens!" exclaimed Dick in an aside to the major. "Is it credible that
that man ate two days ago!"

"Gad!" exclaimed the major, "the man's stomach is nothing but a pocket."

"A pocket! I should call it an unexplored cavern!" retorted Dick.

"The direction and reason of your long trail would be interesting," I
resumed. "And, if not impertinent, friend, may I ask you whence you have
come?"

"I have journeyed from Texas," replied the man, and his voice nearly
broke as he said it.

"_Oh!_" exclaimed the ladies, and they sympathetically grouped
themselves, anticipating, with true feminine sensitiveness, some
terrible denouement.

"_Texas!_" I ejaculated.

"_Gad!_" said the major.

"The _Devil!_" said Dick.

"Yes, _Texas!_" re