e jugs, or took the uncouth orders so freely given to
her, she seemed to have the eye of a hawk; nor did I escape her glance,
for I had not been seated before the marble table a moment when she
shuffled up to me and stood glaring with her shining eyes, the very
presentment of an old-time witch.

"Ha!" she said sharply, "ha! a sailor boy in proper sailor clothes; ho,
little man, will ye wet yer throat for a pretty gentleman?"

I did not like her mock courtesy, or the way in which she pronounced
the word "gentleman"; but I called for some beer to get her away, and
when she brought it I remembered that I had no American money; but I
put an English florin before her and waited for the change. She hissed
at the sight of it like a serpent about to strike.

"Ha! Englishman! and no money; ho! ho! ye've got to find it, little
man. Mother Catch likes you; but she spits on it!"

She spoke the last words in such a loud voice that several men near me
turned to look, and I feared to become the centre of a brawl. This
would have defeated everything, so I threw her a half-sovereign, and,
feigning her own savage merriment, I said--

"Gold, little woman, English gold; spit on it for luck, little woman";
and I am bound to say that she did so, hobbling out of the room with
the gold piece clenched in her nut-cracker jaws. Then I began to search
with my eyes for Paolo; and, although the smoke was very thick, I saw
him seated near the drinking-bar, a tumbler of brandy before him, his
arms resting on the edge of the counter where the liquor was sold. I
judged then that he had made no idle visit to this place; and in a
quarter of an hour or so my surmise was proved. The glass door again
swung open; three men entered through it, and I recognised the three of
them in a moment. The first was the Irishman, "Four Eyes"; the
second-was the lantern-jawed Scotsman, who had been addressed in Paris
as "Dick the Ranter"; the third was "Roaring John," into whose face Dan
had emptied the contents of his duck-gun three days before. The ruffian
had his mouth all bound in a bloody rag, so I hugged myself with the
knowledge that he had been well hit; but he was in nowise depressed;
and, although the gun had stopped his speech, he smacked Paolo on the
back when he greeted him, and the others soon had their faces in the
great brown jugs.

The sight of this company warmed me to the work. I seemed to stand on
the threshold of discovery. If only I could follow