lay! I might let fall
a suggestion here and there; how to set a flat, or where to drop a
fly; to plan an entrance, or to arrange an exit! No, no; let the
shoemaker stick to his last! It takes"--with deference--"a scholar to
write a drama."

"Thus you disqualify me," laughed the other, drawing out a pipe which
he filled; and lighted with a coal held in the iron grip of the
antique tongs. "If it were only to help plant a battery or stand in a
gap!" he said grimly, replacing the tongs against the old brick oven
at one side of the grate. "But to beset King Bacchus in three acts! To
storm his castle in the first; scale the walls in the second, and blow
up all the king's horses and all the king's men in the last--that is,
indeed, serious warfare!"

"True, it will be a roundabout way to New Orleans," continued the
manager, disregarding his companion's response, "but there is no
better way of seeing the New World--that is, if you do not disdain the
company of strolling players. You gain in knowledge what you lose in
time. If you are a philosopher, you can study human nature through the
buffoon and the mummer. If you are a naturalist, here are grand
forests to contemplate. If you are not a recluse, here is free, though
humble, comradeship."

His listener gazed thoughtfully into the fire. Was the prospect of
sharing this gipsy-like life attractive to him? An adventurer himself,
was he drawn toward these homeless strollers, for whom the illusions
of dramatic art shone with enticing luster in the comparative solitude
of the circuit on the wilderness?

As he sat before the glow, the light of the burning shagbark, playing
elfishly above the dying embers, outlined the stalwart, yet active
figure and the impenetrable, musing features. But when, with an upward
shower of sparks, the backlog fell asunder and the waning flame cast
yet more gloomy shadows behind them, he leaned back in his heavy, hewn
chair and again bent an attentive look upon the loquacious speaker.

"Or, if you desire," resumed the manager after some hesitation, "it
might become a business venture as well as a pleasure jaunt. Here is a
sinking ship. Will the salvage warrant helping us into port; that is,
New Orleans? There hope tells a flattering tale. The company is well
equipped; has a varied repertoire, while Constance"--tenderly--"is a
host in herself. If you knew her as I do; had watched her art
grow"--his voice trembled--"and to think, sometimes I do not know