her from Macao, a Portuguese
port near Canton and Hong Kong, and that the captain and crew, after
taking her far north in the ice, had abandoned her altogether. In
support of this part of their story they showed furs procured from the
natives. These gave plausibility to the ice experiences; but the rest
of the account, unlikely in itself, had been disproved by inquiry in
Macao, where nothing was known of any vessel answering to the
descriptions. At last, however, a rumor had come, how conveyed I know
not, that such a bark, with coolies and twelve thousand dollars in
gold on board, had sailed from Callao, in Peru, the previous January,
and had never since been heard from; that she had a Peruvian captain
and crew, but carried American colors, probably merely as indicating
American property. To claim full American privilege, ships must be
American built; but one bought abroad and owned by Americans may carry
the flag, in proof of nationality, though without the right of
entering an American port like those to the manner born. They thus
become entitled to the same national regard as any other possessions
of American citizens under foreign jurisdiction.

So information stood when the _Iroquois_ arrived--false on one hand,
and on the other vague. Soon after the captain and consul began their
investigation they stumbled upon the vessel's papers, concealed in a
manner which had hitherto baffled careful search. These showed that
she was the missing _Cayalti_, which on the previous January 18th had
cleared from Callao for another Peruvian port; that she was American
in ownership, while the captain and crew were Spanish in name. This
fixed her identity; but how account for the disappearance of the
ship's company, and for her presence in Hakodate, on the other side of
the Pacific, three thousand miles north of Callao. To this inquiry the
captain and consul addressed themselves in the cabin of the
_Iroquois_. Two or three Japanese two-sworded officials were in
attendance, and memory recalls their grave, impassive faces, as seen
at times when some routine communication called me in to speak to our
captain.

Contracted though the captain's quarters were, the unaccustomed
scene, absent from their companions and from the familiar surroundings
of their probable crime, was calculated to impress the culprits; and
the methods pursued to instigate admissions savored, I fancy, more of
the Orient than of modern Anglo-Saxon ideals. But the pr