t was a great place to
catch the little flappers. They said, when they came back to the
city, that no law down here would do anything with that fellow,
and his name ought to be "Devil" instead of Devol. They thought
I must be some relation to Claude Duval, the highwayman. They were
Vermonters. They said if they had me down East they would fix me
for the balance of my life; but I was not down East, and I had
often been, before I met those suckers, "Fixed for Life."

THE BRILLIANT STONE.

We were on board the steamer _Southern Belle_, bound for New Orleans.
There were several planters aboard that I was acquainted with, and
we were drinking wine, telling stories, and enjoying ourselves,
when a large, fine-looking gentleman stepped up to the bar and took
a drink. He had a diamond stud in his shirt that was so large and
brilliant that it attracted the attention of us all; so after he
went out we began commenting on it.

I finally said to one of the planters, "What would you give for
that stone?" He said, "I would give $1,000 for it, but I bet it
could not be bought for the money." "What will you give me for
it?" I asked them. They all laughed, for they understood by my
question that I thought the man was a sucker, and I could win it
from him. One of them said: "Devol, you are a good one, but that
fellow is too smart to be caught by any of your tricks." I said,
"Gentlemen, I will bet two bottles of wine that I will have that
stone inside of an hour. Who will take me?" They all wanted to
take the bet, and raise it to a basket; but I told them the odds
were too much in their favor, and I would bet but two bottles; so
it was settled that I was to win the stone, or pay for the wine.
Then we all went out in the cabin, and I called everybody to join
me in some wine. My partner went up to the man with the brilliant
stone, and asked him if he knew the man that was treating. He said
he did not. Then my partner told him that I was a planter; that
I owned six plantations, and so many niggers that I did not know
the number myself. The gentleman was introduced to me and the
other planters, when he said: "I am very glad to form the acquaintance
of you Southerners; I'm a New Yorker." The compliment cost me the
wine for the entire party. While the barkeeper was serving the
wine, I told him to bring me some of those tickets that they played
the whisky game with. He brought the tickets, and I began to mix
them. One