w about you? What can I do?"

"Oh, I don't suppose we shall want you to help us much," I said.

"Well, hold up your beans, and we'll see," said Corny.

CHAPTER X.

THE QUEEN ON THE DOOR-STEP.

We found that Corny had not been mistaken about her influence over her
family, for the next morning, before we were done breakfast, Mr.
Chipperton came around to see us. He was full of Nassau, and had made up
his mind to go with us on Tuesday. He asked us lots of questions, but he
really knew as much about the place as we did, although he had been so
much in the habit of mixing his Bahamas and his Bermudas.

"My wife is very much pleased at the idea of having you two with us on
the trip over," said he; "although, to be sure, we may have a very
smooth and comfortable voyage."

I believe that, since the Silver Spring affair, he regarded Rectus and
me as something in the nature of patent girl-catchers, to be hung over
the side of the vessel in bad weather.

We were sorry to leave St. Augustine, but we had thoroughly done up the
old place, and had seen everything, I think, except the Spring of Ponce
de Leon, on the other side of the St. Sebastian River. We didn't care
about renewing our youth,--indeed, we should have objected very much to
anything of the kind,--and so we felt no interest in old Ponce's spring.

On Tuesday morning, the "Tigris" made her appearance on time, and Mr.
Cholott and our good landlady came down to see us off. The yellow-legged
party also came down, but not to see us off. They, too, were going to
Nassau.

Rectus had gone on board, and I was just about to follow him, when our
old Minorcan stepped up to me.

"Goin' away?" said he.

"Yes," said I, "we're off at last."

"Other feller goin'?"

"Oh, yes," I answered, "we keep together."

"Well now, look here," said he, drawing me a little on one side. "What
made him take sich stock in us Minorcans? Why, he thought we used to be
slaves; what put that in his head, I'd like to know? Did he reely think
we ever was niggers?"

"Oh, no!" I exclaimed. "He had merely heard the early history of the
Minorcans in this country, their troubles and all that, and he----"

"But what difference did it make to him?" interrupted the old man.

I couldn't just then explain the peculiarities of Rectus's disposition
to Mr. Menendez, and so I answered that I supposed it was a sort of
sympathy.

"I can't see, for the life of me," said the old man, reflectively,