paniard, with that hat. I told you you'd
make a show of yourself. But what are you going to do with your
Minorcans, Rectus, when you catch them?"

He laughed, but didn't mention his plans.

"I didn't know how you got clams," he said. "I thought you caught them
some way. It would never have entered my head to dig for them."

"There's lots to learn in this town about fish, and ever so many other
things besides; and I tell you what it is, Rectus, as soon as we get
through with the fort,--and I don't know how long that will take us, for
I heard on the steamer that it had underground dungeons,--we'll go off
on a first-class exploring expedition."

That suited Rectus exactly.

After breakfast we started for the fort. It is just outside of the town,
and you can walk all the way on the sea-wall, which is about a yard wide
on top,--just a little too wide for one fellow, but not quite wide
enough for two.

The United States government holds the fort now, of course, and calls it
Fort Marion, but the old Spanish name was San Marco, and we disdained to
call it anything else. When we went over the drawbridge, and across the
moat, we saw the arms of Spain on a shield over the great gate of the
fort. We walked right in, into a wide hall, with dark door-ways on each
side, and then out into a great inclosed space, like a parade-ground, in
the centre of the fort, and here we saw a whole crowd of Indians. We
didn't expect to find Indians here, and we were very much surprised.
They did not wear Indian clothes, but were dressed in United States
military uniform. They didn't look like anything but Indians, though,
for all that. I asked one of them if he belonged here, and he smiled
and said "How?" and held out his hand. We both shook it, but could make
nothing out of him. A good many of them now came up and said "How?" to
us, and shook hands, and we soon found that this meant "How d' ye do?"
and was about all they knew of English.

[Illustration: "HOW?"]

We were lucky enough, before we got through shaking hands with our new
friends, to see Mr. Cholott coming toward us, and he immediately took us
in charge, and seemed to be glad to have a job of the kind. There was
nothing about the fort that he didn't know. He told us that the Indians
were prisoners, taken in the far West by United States troops, and that
some of them were the worst Indians in the whole country. They were safe
enough now, though, and were held here as hostages. Some