g, and
conjectured that the savages were attacking some party or other. We
dashed on for a mile or two, and came to a hollow. About fifty
rascally Sioux were there. They had surrounded two or three whites,
and captured them, and were preparing to strip each for the purpose
of indulging in a little amusement they have--that is, building a
fire on one's breast. They didn't do it that time, at any rate; and
the fight that followed when we came up was the prettiest, without
exception, that I ever saw. We drove them off, at any rate; and as we
had revolvers, and they had only common rifles, we had it all our own
way. Thirty of those Sioux devils were left behind, dead and wounded,
and the rest vamosed.

"This was my first introduction to Neville Pomeroy. I cut his bonds
first, and then introduced myself. He had no clothes on, but was as
courteous as though he was dressed in the latest Fifth Avenue
fashion. We soon understood one another. I found him as plucky as the
devil, and as tough and true as steel. He seemed to like me, and we
kept together on the prairies for three months--fighting, hunting,
starving, stuffing, and enjoying life generally. He came with me to
New York, and stopped with me. I was a broker and banker. Don't look
like one, I know; but I was, and am. The American broker is a
different animal from the broker of Europe. So is the American
banker, one of whom you see before you.

"I won't say any thing more about our personal affairs. We became
sworn friends. He went back home, and I took to the desk. Somehow we
kept writing to one another. He heard of great investments in
America, and got me to buy stock for him. He was rich, and soon had I
a large amount of money in my hands. I got the best investments for
him there were, and was glad to do any thing for a man like that.

"I'll now go on straight and tell you all that you care to hear. Some
of this--in fact, most of it--I did not find out till long afterward.

"Neville Pomeroy then had a younger brother, named Pemberton Pomeroy.
He was an officer in the Guards. He was very dissipated, and soon got
head over heels in debt. Neville had done all that he could for his
brother, and had paid off his debts three times, each time saving him
from ruin. But it was no use. There was the very devil himself in
Pemberton. He was by nature one of the meanest rascals that was ever
created, though the fellow was not bad-looking. He got deeper and
deeper into the mire,