said, "Go and fetch me a cab quick as you can," and disappeared in
the general's room. Half an hour later he was spinning down the levee
towards the French Market, and before ten o'clock was seated in the
captain's cabin of the big British steamer Ambassador, which had arrived
at her moorings during the night. Cram and Kinsey were already there,
and to them the skipper was telling his story.

Off the Tortugas, just about as they had shaped their course for the
Belize, they were hailed by the little steamer Tampa, bound from New
Orleans to Havana. The sea was calm, and a boat put off from the Tampa
and came alongside, and presently a gentleman was assisted aboard. He
seemed weak from illness, but explained that he was Lieutenant Waring,
of the United States Artillery, had been accidentally carried off to
sea, and the Ambassador was the first inward-bound ship they had sighted
since crossing the bar. He would be most thankful for a passage back to
New Orleans. Captain Baird had welcomed him with the heartiness of the
British tar, and made him at home in his cabin. The lieutenant was
evidently far from well, and seemed somewhat dazed and mentally
distressed. He could give no account of his mishap other than that told
him by the officers of the Tampa, which had lain to when overtaken by
the gale on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning when they resumed
their course down-stream they overhauled a light skiff and were
surprised to find a man aboard, drenched and senseless. "The left side
of his face was badly bruised and discolored, even when he came to us,"
said Baird, "and he must have been slugged and robbed, for his watch,
his seal-ring, and what little money he had were all gone." The second
officer of the Tampa had fitted him out with a clean shirt, and the
steward dried his clothing as best he could, but the coat was stained
and clotted with blood. Mr. Waring had slept heavily much of the way
back until they passed Pilot Town. Then he was up and dressed Thursday
afternoon, and seemingly in better spirits, when he picked up a copy of
the New Orleans _Picayune_ which the pilot had left aboard, and was
reading that, when suddenly he started to his feet with an exclamation
of amaze, and, when the captain turned to see what was the matter,
Waring was ghastly pale and fearfully excited by something he had read.
He hid the paper under his coat and sprang up on deck and paced
nervously to and fro for hours, and began to grow s