gether and keep their
old name, too. They look a good deal like Spaniards, Mr. Cholott said,
and many of them are very excellent people.

Rectus took the greatest interest in these Minorcans, but we didn't take
board with any of them. We went to the house of a lady who was a friend
of Mr. Cholott, and she gave us a splendid room, that looked right out
over the harbor. We could see the islands, and the light-house, and the
bar with the surf outside, and even get a glimpse of the ocean. We saw
the "Tigris" going out over the bar. The captain wanted to get out on
the same tide he came in on, and he did not lose any time. As soon as
she got fairly out to sea, we hurried down, to go to the fort. But
first, Rectus said, we ought to go and buy straw hats. There were lots
of men with straw hats in St. Augustine. This was true, for it was just
as warm here as we have it in June, and we started off to look for a
straw-hat store.

We found that we were in one of the queerest towns in the world. Rectus
said it was all back-streets, and it looked something that way. The
streets were very narrow, and none of them had any pavement but sand and
powdered shell, and very few had any sidewalks. But they didn't seem to
be needed. Many of the houses had balconies on the second story, which
reached toward each other from both sides of the street, and this gave
the town a sociable appearance. There were lots of shops, and most of
them sold sea-beans. There were other things, like alligators' teeth,
and shells, and curiosities, but the great trade of the town seemed to
be in sea-beans.[A] Rectus and I each bought one for our watch-chains.

I think we tried on every straw hat in town, and we bought a couple in a
little house, where two or three young women were making them. Rectus
asked me, in a low voice, if I didn't think one of the young women was a
Mohican. I hushed him up, for it was none of his business if she was. I
had a good deal of trouble in making Rectus say "Minorcan." Whenever we
had met a dark-haired person, he had said to me: "Do you think that is a
Mohican?" It was a part of his old school disposition to get things
wrong in this way. But he never got angry when I corrected him. His
temper was perfect.

I bought a common-sized hat, but Rectus bought one that spread out far
and wide. It made him look like a Japanese umbrella. We stuffed our felt
hats into our pockets, and started for the fort. But I looked at my
watch and fou