of officers as they slid by his port-hole, and then he realized
that he was free.

The anchor was hoisted, the great engine lifted itself to its mighty
task, and the voyage was begun. They had gone down a mile, perhaps,
when Mr. Belcher came out of his state-room. Supper was not ready--would
not be ready for an hour. He took a hurried survey of the passengers,
none of whom he knew. They were evidently gentle-folk, mostly from
inland cities, who were going to Europe for pleasure. He was glad to see
that he attracted little attention. He sat down on deck, and took up a
newspaper which a passenger had left behind him.

The case of "Benedict _vs._ Belcher" absorbed three or four columns,
besides a column of editorial comment, in which the General's character
and his crime were painted with a free hand and in startling colors.
Then, in the financial column, he found a record of the meeting of the
Crooked Valley Corporation, to which was added the statement that
suspicions were abroad that the retiring President had been guilty of
criminal irregularities in connection with the bonds of the
Company--irregularities which would immediately become a matter of
official investigation. There was also an account of his operations in
Muscogee Air Line, and a rumor that he had fled from the city, by some
of the numerous out-going lines of steamers, and that steps had already
been taken to head him off at every possible point of landing in this
country and Europe.

This last rumor was not calculated to increase his appetite, or restore
his self-complacency and self-assurance. He looked all these accounts
over a second time, in a cursory way, and was about to fold the paper,
so as to hide or destroy it, when his eye fell upon a column of foreign
despatches. He had never been greatly interested in this department of
his newspaper, but now that he was on his way to Europe, they assumed a
new significance; and, beginning at the top, he read them through. At
the foot of the column, he read the words: "Heavy Failure of a Banking
House;" and his attention was absorbed at once by the item which
followed:

"The House of Tempin Brothers, of Berlin, has gone down. The failure is
said to be utterly disastrous, even the special deposits in the hands
of the house having been used. The House was a favorite with Americans,
and the failure will inevitably produce great distress among those who
are traveling for pleasure. The house is said to have n