et, but it is just as you turn out of the street where the
'Picayune' newspaper-office stands."

"Right!--all right, by the father of Moses!" cried Joe, stretching out
a brawny hand, and shaking mine with the cordiality of friendship. Then,
stepping forward to where the rest of the party were walking, with two
most loquacious guides, he said, "Molly! here's a boy knows Dan! Biddy!
come here, and hear about Dan!"

Two young girls, in long cloth cloaks, turned hastily round, and drew
near, as they exclaimed in a breath, "Oh, tell us about Dan, sir!"

"T is betther wait till we 're in a house," said the old man, who was,
however greedy for news, not a little desirous of a fire and something
to eat. "Sure, you 'll come with us, and take yer share of what 's
going," said he to me,--an invitation which, ere I could reply to, was
reiterated by the whole party.

"Do you know where we're going here?" asked Joe of me, as we continued
our way through mazes of gloomy lanes that grew gradually less and less
frequented.

"No," said I, in a whisper, "but 'tis best be on our guard here: we are
in a bad neighborhood."

"Well, there's three boys there," said he, pointing to his sons, who
walked in front, "that will pay for all they get. Will you ax the
fellows how far we 're to go yet, for they don't mind me."

"Are we near this same lodging-house?" said I, bluntly, to the guides,
and using French, to show that I was no unfledged arrival from beyond
the seas.

"Ah!" cried one, "a gaillard from the battery."

"Where from, a la gueule de loup, young mounsieur?" said the other,
familiarly catching me by the lapel of my coat.

"Because I am not afraid of his teeth," said I, with an easy effrontery
my heart gave a flat lie to.

"Vrai?" said he, with a laugh of horrible meaning.

"Vrai!" repeated I, with a sinking courage, but a very bold voice.

"I wish we were in better company," whispered I to Joe; "what directions
did you give these fellows?"

"To show us the best lodging-house for the night, and that we 'd pay
well for it."

"Ah!" thought I, "that explains something."

"Here we are, mounseers," said one, as, stopping at the door of a
two-storied house, he knocked with his knuckles on the panel.

"Nous filions, slick, en suite, here," said the other, holding out his
hand.

"They are going!" whispered I; "they want to be paid, and we are well
rid of them."

"It would be manners to wait and see if they 'll let us in,