en taking the doors and
shutters off the hinges; while the hold and decks he saved to be
filled with dry pine knots. Besides, he engaged the steamer
_Paragoad_ to go up above Baton Rouge, loaded down with the choicest
of fuel. The _Paragoad_ was a very fast boat; and when Baton Rouge
was reached, the _Lee_ never stopped her engines, only slackened
her speed a little, while the _Paragoad_ lay alongside and dumped
the fuel on to the _Lee_. The _Natchez_ had to land and take a
coal-boat in tow, and by this management made a difference of over
three hours. This gave the _Lee_ a start of perhaps five hours,
as when she did land it was for a moment only. The _Natchez_ kept
everything on board, and caught all the winds, while they whistled
through the _Lee_.

On the day of the race the excitement was so great in New Orleans
that when the _Mayflower_ advertised to take people up about twenty
miles to see the fun, it was not long before she was loaded to her
gunwales with all the young bloods of the Crescent City. A jollier
set of fellows never got together; and as money was plenty, they
made the wine fly with a whirl. I hunted up old Bill and Dad Ryan,
and made up my mind we would tackle the gentry and given them
something to spend their money for. Bill opened up, and the young
sprigs of the aristocracy began to pile up the bills, which Bill
was not slow to rake in. There was nothing mean about Bill, and
he didn't refuse to take gold watches and sparklers; and after the
game closed, some of the fellows resembled picked ducks. They
wanted to redeem their watches and diamonds, so Bill agreed to meet
them at a certain well known saloon the next day, as all he wanted
was the stuff. Nearly all of them wished to make me a nice present,
and none of them ever met me afterwards without asking me up to
smile. Just as Bill was closing up, an old fellow, who knew me
well, came up and said:

"Devol, who is that old fool trying to play that game?" My friend
had been up on the hurricane roof, and had not noticed the game
going on; so I remarked to him:

"Hold on. I have been watching him, and am going to take him in
pretty soon." I then gave Bill the wink to keep on, and turning
to the old fellow, I observed, "Don't leave here, as I may want
you to hold stakes for me."

"All right," was the answer; and then I turned to Bill and said,
"Let me see your cards;" so I picked up the one with the old woman
on it and put a penci