t rained heavily all the morning, and the Duke, who, as may be
imagined, was not generally given to spending his days in steamboat
offices, was wonderfully and horribly bored. He smoked and kicked the
chairs and read his novel, and was generally extremely uneasy, so that
the clerks began to find him a nuisance, not having any idea that he
was a real living swell. And still it rained, and the newspaper vendors
looked in, all drizzly and wet, and the gay feathers of New York
business seemed draggled.

Suddenly--it might have been at two o'clock--there was a stir in the
office, a rattling of feet on the board floor, and a sort of general
revival.

"She's in sight," a clerk called out to the Duke. His Grace stretched
himself and departed. He had ascertained that the Custom-House tug did
not start for two hours after the ship was sighted. So he sent a
telegram to Margaret to announce that her waiting was over, and then, to
pass the time, he went, and got something to eat. In due season he was
seated in the single cabin of the little high-pressure boat, as it
ploughed its way bravely through the waves and the rain to meet the
great ocean monster. The Custom-House officials, cheery well-fed men,
who know the green side of a XX[4], and are seldom troubled with gloomy
forebodings, chatted and chaffed merrily together. One of them was very
bald, and appeared to be a perpetual laughing-stock for the rest.

[Footnote 4: Twenty dollars.]

"Well, Ike," shouted one of his companions between two pulls of a small
black bottle, "you _hev_ got a skatin' rink on to the top of _your_
head, and no _mistake_". The other grinned, and retorted to the effect
that it was better to have the outside smooth than the inside soft.

"Well, I guess you got both, like a water-melon," returned the first
speaker.

There are seldom more than one or two passengers on the Custom-House
tug, and on this occasion the Duke was alone. He could not stand the
atmosphere of tobacco and whisky in the cabin, and made his way along
the side to the engine-room, leaving the Custom-House men to their smoke
and their repartee.

It was almost five o'clock, and already nearly dark, when they came up
with the great steamer. In five minutes the Duke was over the side,
hurrying down to find his friend. Not seeing him anywhere, he found the
bursar and inquired for Dr. Claudius. The officer replied that he had
not made his acquaintance on the voyage, but offered the Duke a