r
heels upon the floor, &c.

How long they danced I know not, for the prospect of a long row on the
morrow sent me to rest in the storehouse, from which I was called by a
kind old couple sending for me to take tea with them at half an hour
after midnight. Unwilling to wound the sensitive feelings of these
hospitable people, I answered the summons _in propria persona_, and
found it was the mother of bride No. 1, to whom I was indebted for the
invitation. A well-filled table took up the space in the centre of the
room, where a few hours before the timbers creaked beneath the weight
of the curious crowd; and there, sitting on one side in the same
affectionate manner I have described, were the bride and groom,
apparently unmoved by the change of scene, while the bride's mother
rocked in her chair, moaning, "O John, if you'd taken the other gal, I
might have stood it, but this yere one has been my comfort."

At dawn the canoe was put into Core Sound, and I followed the western
shore, cheered by the bright sun of our Saviour's natal day. At noon the
mouth of the thoroughfare between Harker's Island and the mainland was
unintentionally passed, and I rowed along by the side of the island next
Fort Macon, which is inside of the angle made by Cape Lookout.

Finding it impossible to reach Newbern via Morehead City that day, the
canoe was beached upon the end of Harker's Island, where I breakfasted
at the fashionable hour of two P. M., with men, women, and children
around me. My mode of cooking the condensed food and liquid beef, so
quickly prepared for the palate, and the remarkable boat of _paper_, all
filled the islanders with wonder. They were at first a little shy,
looking upon the apparition--which seemed in some wonderful way to have
dropped upon their beach--with the light of curiosity in their eyes.

Then, as I explained the many uses to which paper was put, even to the
paying off of great national debts, my audience became very friendly,
and offered to get me up a Christmas dinner in their cabins among the
groves of trees near the strand, if I would tarry with them until night.
But time was precious; so, with thanks on my part for their kind offers,
we parted, they helping me launch my little boat, and waving a cheerful
adieu as I headed the canoe for Beaufort, which was quietly passed in
the middle of the afternoon.

Three miles further on, the railroad pier of Morehead City, in Bogue
Sound, was reached, and a crowd