ak of him with
aggressive loyalty. If at his eccentricities they smiled, it was with
the smile of affection. It was easy to see De la Boissiere regarded him
not only with the affection of a friend, but with the devotion of a
true subject. In his manner he himself was courteous, gentle, and so
distinguished that I felt as though I were enjoying, on intimate terms,
an audience with one of the prime-ministers of Europe.

And he, on his part, after the ridicule of the morning papers, to have
any one with outward seriousness accept his high office and his king,
was, I believe, not ungrateful.

I told him I wished to visit Trinidad, and in that I was quite serious.
The story of an island filled with buried treasure, and governed by a
king, whose native subjects were turtles and seagulls, promised to make
interesting writing.

The count was greatly pleased. I believe in me he saw his first
bona-fide settler, and when I rose to go he even lifted one of
the crosses of Trinidad and, before my envious eyes, regarded it
uncertainly.

Perhaps, had he known that of all decorations it was the one I
most desired; had I only then and there booked my passage, or sworn
allegiance to King James, who knows but that to-day I might be a
chevalier, with my name in the "Book of Gold"? But instead of bending
the knee, I reached for my hat; the count replaced the cross in its
pasteboard box, and for me the psychological moment had passed.

Others, more deserving of the honor, were more fortunate. Among my
fellow-reporters who, like myself, came to scoff, and remained to pray,
was Henri Pene du Bois, for some time, until his recent death, the
brilliant critic of art and music of the _American_. Then he was on
the _Times_, and Henry N. Cary, now of the _Morning Telegraph_, was his
managing editor.

When Du Bois reported to Cary on his assignment, he said: "There is
nothing funny in that story. It's pathetic. Both those men are in
earnest. They are convinced they are being robbed of their rights. Their
only fault is that they have imagination, and that the rest of us lack
it. That's the way it struck me, and that's the way the story ought to
be written."

"Write it that way," said Cary.

So, of all the New York papers, the _Times_, for a brief period, became
the official organ of the Government of James the First, and in time
Cary and Du Bois were created Chevaliers of the Order of Trinidad, and
entitled to wear uniforms "Similar to those