ou do with the boat while we are absent?"

"Leave it where it is."

While they were talking, an old negro came down the pier, and very
politely saluted the strangers. He appeared to come from a small house a
short distance from the shore, and passed along to a boat which lay near
the Eleuthera.

"Is that your boat?" asked the detective, calling him back.

"Yes, sir; I am a fisherman, though I've got the rheumatism, and don't
go out much; but I have to go to-day, for we have nothing to eat in the
house," replied the negro, whose language was very good.

"What is your name?"

"Joseph, sir."

"Do you speak French?"

"Oh, no, sir!" exclaimed Joseph. "I don't speak anything but plain
English; but I used to work sometimes for a French gentleman that kept a
boat at this pier, six or seven years ago."

"What was his came?" asked the detective, who had had a suspicion from
the first that he knew the man, though he had changed a great deal as he
grew older.

"Mounseer Gillflower," replied Joseph; "and he was very kind to me."

"I am a Frenchman, Joseph; and, if you don't want to go fishing, I will
employ you to take care of my boat, and carry my valise to a hotel,"
continued the detective, as he handed an English sovereign to him, for
he had taken care to provide himself with a store of them in New York.

"Thank you, sir; but I can't change this piece," protested Joseph very
sadly.

"I don't want you to change it; keep the whole of it."

"God bless you forever and ever, Mounseer!" exclaimed the fisherman.
"I haven't had a sovereign before since Mounseer Gillflower was here.
I am a very poor man, and I can't get any work on shore."

Probably, like the rest of his class, he was not inclined to work while
he had any money. He promised to take good care of the Eleuthera, and he
asked no troublesome questions. The detective gave his name, and ordered
Christophe, calling him by his name, to bring the valises on shore. Then
the Frenchman locked the door of the cuddy, for they left their
overcoats there, as they had no use for them.

"To what hotel shall I carry the valises?" asked Joseph.

"To the Atlantic; that will be the most convenient for us. Do you know
anything about these vessels in the harbor, Joseph?"

"Not much, Mounseer Roobump; but they say the two steamers near the
island are going to run the blockade into the States; but I don't know.
They say a Confederate man-of-war came into St. George's harbor
y