n into the brimming river on the other
side of the levee--they were kept there for that purpose by Lafitte, Eph
found out--and then they paddled away for the city.

It was a very different business from the navigation in the slack waters
of the bayous. The current of muddy water ran with great swiftness, and
great swirls, as of a whirlpool, sometimes almost turned the canoe
round.

But she had Lafitte's best crew, and they shot her across the wide,
yellow expanse of water in a way which surprised Eph, as much as he had
seen of boats and canoes.

As it was, they only brought up at the lower part of the town, where
they landed.

There were some people there who seemed to know the canoe very well, and
one long-bearded old Frenchman led Eph and Eric up to his house, where
he gave them some dinner, and then told them they had better go to bed
and rest.

He was Lafitte's principal agent, and when he had read the letter his
chief had sent him he at once began to prepare for an interview with the
governor.

Everybody in New Orleans knew that an invasion by the British forces was
now near at hand.

Governor Claiborne called his council together on the very day after Eph
Clark got there.

Governor Claiborne was the first American governor of Louisiana, and he
had a pretty hard time to reconcile American notions and laws with the
long-settled customs of the district.

But he had a powerful advocate in Judge Edward Livingston, who spoke the
language perfectly, and was a thorough lawyer.

Then there was General Villere, of the Louisiana militia, a brave and
honest man.

When the governor heard that there was a messenger from Lafitte, he was
at first much put out; but he called his council together, and summoned
Eph Clark to appear.

Eph was under a sort of arrest--as two men followed him about--but he
kept up a good face, and at ten o'clock appeared before the governor and
his council with the letter Lafitte had charged him to deliver.

With it he delivered the letter of the English Captain Lockyer, with its
proposals. They were opened and read aloud by a clerk, while Eph stood
at the foot of the table, gazed at by all the council. Then a member of
the council spoke and said:

"I do not believe in making terms with pirates. This story about the
English captain is no doubt merely a scheme to get his brother, who is a
prisoner here, released. He is here on a charge of smuggling, as you all
know."

Eph Clark's tem