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WILD JWORK; A Study of Western Life. BY MARY E. BRYAN. CHAPTER XY. The spring, now close at hand, would make it just two years since Zoe met this man, who had taken such a hold upon her sympathy or her imagination as to make her feel it a duty to tell Royal of her interest in hiun She had then been in New Orleans waiting the departure of the steam-ship that would take her to Havana to visit her father, who had gone there a year before, and, entering into the tobacco business had endeavored to repair his damaged fortune. He had had yellow fever the fall before, and had ever since been rather weak in health and depressed in spirits. His usually cheerful mind was clouded with presentiments, and he longed to see his daughter. In this mood, but without frightening Zoe by any gloomy expressions, he wrote to her to come to him—for a visit, if she should not fancy living on the island, or the warm climate did not agree with her health. It would be a pleasant trip, and she would be well taken care of by any of the captains of the three U. S. packets plying regularly between New Orleans and Cuba and touching at various ports along the gulf coast to put off freight- much of it supplies for the U*S. troops station ed at various points on the coast or along the rail road line in the interior. He knew the commanders of these government vessels; had had business transactions with them and found them gentlemanly aud honorable. Zoe had come down to the city in company with some .friends, had found the Lavaca in port, and advertised to leave on next Tuesday. The Captain, who called on her and gave her a letter from her father, assured her his vessel would leave promptly on time. He had the brusque manner of a seaman—a tall, lean, sandy haired giant with quick, blunt speech; active, calculating and shrewd—Yankee to the core, which evidently did not prevent him from being struck with Zoe’s dark southern eyes and dusky bloom. Tuesday, at the hour announced for the steamer to leave, Zoe drove up to the levee, but on looking from the carriage window, she saw no sign of preparation on board the Lavaca; no smoke issuing from its chimneys and no hurrying and shouting of deck-hands or sailors. Instead, she saw groups of people turning away from the boat, with disappointed looks, and grumb ling discontentedly. The captain saw her, and coming up to the carriage apologized for unex pected delay in the time of his vessel’s leaving. She could not get away before the next morn ing owing to the fact that a portion of her cargo had not arrived, and he had recieved official orders by telegraph to wait for it. ‘ Government stores I presume,’ said Royal, who with his sister, had accompanied Zoe to the ship. The Captain bowed, but he looked embar rassed and under restraint some way. In spite of his very reasonable explanation of the ckuse of his ship’s detention, Zoe could not help feel ing there was something cpneealed—some mys tery about the Lavaca’s delay. She did not find out what it was until next day—some hours after the vessel had left the harbor of New Or leans and when it was just leaving the mouth of the grand river and entering upon the broad, blue gulf. Zoe had gone to the rear of the ship for an undisturbed look at the prospect. On the deck in front, there were a number of strange passengers end some United Stites sol diers under a burly Lieutenant, whose staring regards annoyed her. ( Here, she leaned unmo lested on the railing.and gazed in calm lenjoy- ment at the lessening shores—the wide eipacse of colorful sea, ruffled with light waves that here and there were fleeked or crested with foam. The chatter of some birds behind her, drew her attention at last, and she turned round and admired the plump, active little creatures, hupping about their rough cage, with green-blue baoks, white breasts and short bills, red as coral—‘Jamaica sparrows;' so the old sailor who was feeding them, called them. He, himself was not an unpicturesque figure—a little wiry, weather-beaten man, in a red shirt and tar paulin cap, but with a bright, kindly eye set like a round black bead under his browned and wrinkled brow. He laughed merrily at the frolics of his pets, let them peck bits of banana from his mouth through the bars of their cage, scolded them for not having taken their bath, and played with them as if he and they were children. ‘I wish all captives could be as happy as your birds are,’ Zoe said, amused at their antios. ‘Yes, Miss; so do I: for instance, them poor prisoners here on board with us. If they could take more kindly to their fate, ’twould be better for them. Their stubborn independent ways will only provoke the Lieutenant in charge of ’em and our Captain, what’s none too good natured already. ’ ‘Prisoners on board this vessel! What do you mean ?’ ‘What! you don’t know about 'em, Miss? Maybe I ought’nt to spoke then. I knew ’twas a secret on land, but I don’t see how it can be hid here, when we’re all in one ‘hollow oak,’ together, as the song says. The prisoners was brought to the city last night, and brought on board here after midnight, for fear of there being a row and a rescue by the mob, if they come through the streets in the day. They tell me that it was in the night, too, that they took ’em out of jail in some town in Alabama, where they had been since committing the offense. It was feared there’d be a rush to get ’em and set ’em free if they took daylight to bring ’em •at,’ ‘What had the prisoners done?’ ‘Went to the house of a Northern man that was teaching the darkies, Miss, and rode him on a rail, tarred and feathered him and sent the purty bird back to his country, where he set up such a croakin’ as scared and angered the big bugs so, they ordered the bunch of law-breakers clapped into jail, and when they got afraid there’d be a row, they telegraphed to the Lavaca to hold on and get the prisoners, and take ’em on to the Dry Tortugas—the black rock in the middle of the sea, Miss, where they’ve got Dr. Mudd for splin tering the leg of the chap that killed Lincoln.’ ‘Where have the prisoners been put?' 'In the ship’s hold, Miss,—a dirty, close box for the likes of them. I’m told they are gentle men, and belong to good families—all seven of them.’ ‘Then, there must be some error—some mis take as to their offense. Southern gentlemen, with good blood in their veins would not mal treat a man simply because he taught negroes.’ The man looked at her shrewdly from under his old cap. Then his little eyes twinkled with pleasure. ‘I see yon are not U. S., Miss. I mean yonr’e no Yankee. So I don’t mind telling you. You see this steamer's a United States packet, and everything a-board her, is U. S.—the captain most of all; he’s the strongest Rad you ever saw. But a few of the crew—myself amongst ’em—is just tother way, only we keep dark for the sake of the wives and babies, or the old fathers and mothers that have to be fed. Well, them chaps below are real gentlemen and good fellows, Miss. One of ’em was my lieutenant in the Confederate nfcvy during the war, and I got a chance to speak with him last night. [They’re being treated this way for doing just ■*‘t; for punishing a scoundrel that they had reported to the law, only to get insulted them selves, and nothing done to the thief, because he was a Northerner, and a Republican. Nigger school-teacher was what he pretended to be, but he was a rogue, and he lived by robbing the planters, getting the niggers to steal cotton and corn from their employers and bring them to him in the night and get whisky and tobacco for them. He bought a little cotton for a blind and packed and sent off his bales by thd dozen. The planters had stood it a long time, with only a little cursin’ and threatin’, that just tickled the thief; when a fellow, a Texan, I believe he is, happened to stop in the neighborhood, and being daring and hot-headed, put them up to taking the law in their own hands, and getting clear of the rascal in the way I told you of. He wasn't hurt, only scared out of his cowardly wits, and thought he’d do a good job by playing martyr to Southern prejudices. That’s the prisoners’ story, Miss, and I believe every word of it. They don’t look a bit like rowdies, not even the Texan,though he’s all torn and bloody.’ ‘Bloody ?’ ‘He fought before he’d let’em tako him, Miss. ‘Was he wounded badly?’ ‘I can’t tell. He doesn’t talk any, but he won’t eat, and he looks dreadful. Them hand cuffs are bad for him, in his fix.’ ‘Hand-cuffs! Have .they got chains upon them ?’ ‘You bet they have, though one of them sol diers told me the hand-cuffs was to be taken off as soon as we were fairly out at sea, aud only put on when we stop in port or go near the shore. The Texan though, is to have’em on all the time, to punish him for—Whist! here comes the captain. Be ruum about the prison ers, Miss,’ and the old sailor turned off and be gan to whistle unconcernedly, as the Captain approached. It was probable that the commander did not wish his passengers to know the nature of the ‘government stores’ he had delayed his vessel to take on board, but it had already transpired, and his passengers had been besieging him to give them a sight of the prisoners. He told Zoe he had just had the hatch-way thrown open, ‘and now,’ he said, sarcastically, ‘I sup pose you too have your feminine sympathies excited, and want beside a chance to rail at the government and the Yankees. So, will you come and see my show?’ She hesitated a little, before she went round with him to the forward part of the vessel, where the heavy iron clamped door of the hatch way had been thrown open and a group of men and ladies were standing around the ob long opening looking down into the hold. Mrs. Moss—a pretty young married woman, the pet of a husband twice as old as herself—was down upon her knees dropping flowers to the prison ers. ‘Flirting with them already,’ the Captain said, sardonically. He pushed a gentleman aside, and made room for Zoe and himself near the edge of the hatch-way. ‘There are your high-toned countrymen, Miss Vincent,’ he said. The men below heard the sneer. Eyes were raised and flashed defiance at the insolent speak er. Others stood in stoical quiet, a curl of con tempt just perceptible on their lips. They were no common out-laws. One could see that in spite of their soiled, disordered looks. Their hand cuffs had been taken off, and lay in a pile at the feet of the soldier, who had been sent to remove them. ‘Here are only six men,’ said some one to the Lieutenant, who was puffing at a cigar, and staring with bold admiration at the uncon scious Zoe. ‘Where’s the seventh ?’ ‘Yonder he lies. His bracelets are not to be taken off. He is too important a personage.’ ( ‘The lead wolf of the pack,’* put in the Cap tain. ‘Fought, a^d nearly killed a good soldier before he'd be taken. Stir him up. These ladies want to see the whole show; make him come out from under that hat—can’t you ?’ The man spoken of, sat, or rather lay apart from the others, upon an old wooden chest, with another box covered by a coat propping his heal. His shirt sleeve was torn and bloody, his manacled arms were folded on his chest, his hat slouched over his face. He did not move when the Captain spoke, nor when the soldier touching him, said: 'Look up, Hirne.’ ‘Stop.’ cried the Captain, and taking up a long bamboo cane that lay on the deck, he reached down and tipped off the prisoner’s hat from his head. The man sprang to his feet; his eyes blazed upon his insulter with the glare of a caged and maddened lion—The captain recoiled under the sudden fury of that look. ‘Yankee coward,’ said the prisoner, between his set teeth, ‘you would not dare insult a man unless his chains made it safe for you.’ The Captain was furious, but the Lieuten ant prevailed on him to say no more. ‘You brought it on yourself, by noticing the fellow.’ he said. That night the Lavaca reached Pensacola, and lay at anchor for some hours in its mag- nificient bay; and the next afternoon she was lying at the wharf of . the Navy Yard. It was warm and sultry; the hatch-way was open, and passing near it, Zoe saw that the men were in hand cuffs again, as the old sailor had said they would be whenever the vessel approached the shore. A tajl, bony woman, in black bomba zine and green spectacles, and with the look of a Yankee female lecturer, was standing up un der an umbrella, close to the edge of the open ing, haranging the unfortunates below, upon the error of their ways and dropping down upon them a shower of tracts. Most of them sat passive under her eloquence; a few smiled disdainfully as they took the tracts that flutter ed down to them in their manacled hands. As she turned off out of breath, one of them re turned thanks with humorous unction; another read the title.of his tract, ‘Bread of Life.’ ‘Considering our short rations, I’d thank the marm a little more, if this was literal instead of figurative bread,' he said. ‘If it was, be sure the close-fisted Yankee wouldn’t be so quick to give it,’ responded the bitter,bell-toned voice of the man with blood on his sleeve, as he turned his head on its hard pillow and smiled grimly. There was a small schooner from Cedar Keys loaded with oranges and bananas, that had come along side the Lavaca. Zoe bought the finest bunch of yellow bananas in the lot, and got the old sailor, Jack Barnes,to take them down to the prisoners. ‘With the compliments of a true-hearted Southern girl, my boys, who wants you to know there’s one friend you have on board if no more,’ said Jack as he deposited his luscious burden on the floor and looked up to see that none of the ‘blue coats’ or the ship officers were in hearing.’ 'Thank her for us Jack, and beg her to let us have a glimpse of her,’said one boyish young F risoner. ‘She’s even nicer than her bananas ; dare swear.’ ‘And you wouldn’t be wrong either, my hearty —Whist! there she is !’ he broke off as Zoe step ped near the edge of the hatchway and glanced down. Instantly all eyes were lifted, all heads bowed—all but the sick man’s. He did not see her, he had turned away his head, and closed his eyes again. The drawn brow and haggard cheek and the manacled hands moved the girl's pity. ‘Will not your comrade try some of the fruit?’ she asked, indicating him by the direction of her eye. ‘He’s feverish. Miss, and doesn’t care for any,’ said one of the prisoners; whereupon the man spoken of turned his head and nodded, Baying:/Butjhe thanks you all the same,Sonora.’ He smiled, too, a smile that lit his stern, rug ged features into singular attractiveness. His bronzed cheek was flushed with fever, his eyes watery bright, but the forehead, from which the hat had been pushed away, was broad and white, though it had lines of care upon it. It looked a totally different face from the one she had seen before with the scowl of sullen endurance, or the flash of scornful resentment, upon it. As she walked off, she said to the sailor: ‘He looks to be suffering; I wish I could do something for him.’ ‘It is his wound, Miss. It is an ugly bayonet thrust in the shoulder; the heat frets and fevers it, and I don’t think it’s been half dressed. The ship surgeon is sick—or, to tell the truth, he's on a spree. It’s hot and close down there, and the flesh flies are swarmin’.’ Zoe shuddered. ‘I musi try to help him,’ she said. ‘Does he complain ?’ ‘Only of thirst, Miss; the water is so bad.’ ‘And there is plenty of ice on board. At least, he shall have a cool drink.’ Going into the cabin, she sent at once for iced lemonade. It came in a glass pitcher, look ing cool and tebafliug. The Captain accompa- the boy who brought it. ‘It’s nice,’ he siJd; ‘I made it myself.’ ‘Thanks. As yin made it, I will drink a little of it, though I inraid it for another—the poor wounded man down stairs. He has fever, and is consumed with thirst.’ ‘If I had known that, I certainly would not have made the lemonade,’ the Captain said, gruffly. ‘Miss Vincent, do you make it a point to encourage law-breaking ?’ ‘No, Captain L/ster; but I try to follow the law of the highest Latf-giver, which enjoins upon us care for our fellow creatures. That prisoner is suffering from neglect, and want of proper food and medicine. His wound may mortify,and death ensue.’ ‘I can’t help that; it’s the place of Osborne and his fellows to see to their prisoners. If I had my way, I’d toss the lot of them overboard, and save expense to the government.’ Zoe made no reply, beyond a look under which the Captain changed countenance, though he affected to laugh. Presently she asked: ‘Will you not at least speak to Lieutenant Osborne about the sick prisoner ?’ ‘No, Mis3 Vincent, it’s no business of mine, and the fellow has been insolent to me.’ ‘Will you introduce me to Lieutenant Os borne ?’ He gave her a qjwck glance out of the corner of his eye, and no answer on the instant. At last, he said:—™ ‘I can introduce 'you; but I warn you that Osborne is not a man that a girl traveling with out her friends ou^ht to know.’ ‘I am not afraid he will do me any harm. I can take care of myself,’ she said coldly. ‘Oh ! in that case, I will give you the intro duction. Here, Osborne, come this way. Here’s a young lady who wishes to know you. You’re in luck, you see.’ The officer came up at once, and with a flush of anger on his forehead, the Captain introduced the two in his curtest way, and, turning on his heel, left them. The burly Lieutenant, much flattered, bowed low and began an elaborate compliment, which Zoe cut short, by telling him at once her reason for wishing to speak to him, and pleading the cause of the sick pris oner with so maj^i gentle earnestness that 03- borne, with his fa?hand on his heart, promised the man should beflooked after at once—a prom ise which he mm^.it convenient to forget, or whose fulfillment*!.'* indefinitely postponed. That evening, wyile most of the passengers were eating theirV^arly supper in the cabin,, and the Captain,’*ms%urser, the lieutenant, and some ladiesk wh£*T\.5ester ^Lad invited tot sup with him, were’ epjfjfag oysters, lobster salad and wine in the officer's private mess room, Zoe, who had declined tl ie Captain’s invitation to his supper, much to his chagrin, took the opportunity to stroll about the c eck; to look out over the sea where, low in the \ est, the sunset fires had not yet died into the si ver gray of the rest of the sky, through whicl the white stars were throb bing and casting tleir tremulous images in the gently heaving sea beneath. The hatchway door was down, and she heard nothing of the prisoners. Presently, however, confused sounds from below came to her ears, and in the midst of them, Jack Barnes came running towards her, having come up from that lower world by some ladder and trap door in another part of the ship. ‘ Hirne has a fainting fit; he looks like death. I believe he]will die if he is kept down there, ’ he said to her. Shocked and distressed, she ran at once to the door of the mess 300m and called Lt. Osborne. The officer, bowing gallantly, tossed off the glass of wine, he had just lifted to his lips, and coming out to t her, was told of the prisoner’s condition. ^ ‘Let him be brought up here, and his wound attended to’ pleaded Zoe. ‘ If there are extra charges for his being brought up here, I will pay them, and I will stand for his good conduct.’ Then, as she saw his hesitating, indifferent look —her indignation flamed.up. Coming close to him, she said, ‘If you do not do this Sir, I will report you, publish you for inhumanity. I can not believe that your orders were to treat your prisoners worse than brutes.’ He flushed. ‘Look here Miss’ he began excit edly, but he calmed down and took on an injured tone. ‘Miss Vincent, I hope I know my duty to my.fellow man as well as to my country,’ he said ‘I don’t need to be badgered about that prisoner. If he’s sick, I’ll have him attended to. There’s so much infernal shamming about his sort, it takes a smart one to know when there’s anything real the matter.’ He gave orders to have the prisoner brought up and laid on deck, under the canvas awning that had been put up during the day as a pro tection from the sub. Zoe found him there when she came with water and ice. He was lying on a blanket, and kneeling down, she put her folded shawl under his head. The light of a lantern, flashing over his face, showed that he had recovered consciousness, and his hands, as Zoe touched them, alinost scorched her, so hot were they with fever- „ ‘Take off these hand-cuffs for the love of mercy,'she said; ‘they are a mockery in his condition.’ ‘Better let them be; he’s only playing pos sum,’ sneered the Captain, who stood looking on; but the Lieutenant gave orders to have the manacles removed, and the poor prisoner gave a sigh of relief as they fell from his hands. The surgeon, still in no condition to attend the man, sent word that the dressing on his wound must be kept constantly wqt in cold water, and coid applications must be made to his head. Seeing that no one else offered to attend to these direc tions, Zoe set herself to the task. The Lieu tenant, seeing that she took no notice of him, and the Captain, finding that she would not reply to his sarcasms, went away after awhile; and then the ladies, whom curiosity or compas sion had drawn around the sick man, gradually dropped away, except the stewardess-an hon est, good-natured woman—whom Zoe detained and begged to stay with her. The two soldiers on guard hung the lantern near Zoe and with drew to the railing where they could chew their tobacco and wonder when they were going back to the oommand. The good stewardess talked herself tired, and began to nod. Zoe kept up unremittingly her applications of cold water to the bandages of the wound and to the hot fore head that throbbed so under her palm. He lay quiet; only at times, he seemed to lapse into delirium and muttered incoherently. Once, he started up and gave the word of command— “Forward, march,” then stared around, met the soothing look of Zoe, seemed to gather con sciousness and dropped back upon his pallet. Another time, he spoke in Spanish, and once, when Zoe had her hand wet in ice water on his forehead, he snatched it away, exclaiming: ‘ Ofl, snake ! All women are snakes. They creep into your heart and sting it. They poison your life.’ The instant after, as if vaguely remembering that he had said something unkind, he turned towards Zoe, and taking her hand pressed it mutely to his lips. It was hours before the fever cooled, and he feel asleep. Zoe sat watching him. He looked much younger now, with the long lashes lying against his thin cheeks, his wet hair in dark rings on his forehead, and the fierce, bitter look gone from his mouth. His face was strangely attractive to Zoe. At first sight she had seen a history written upon it—a record of stormy ex periences and strong passions; characters almost repelling in their fierceness. Now, that sleep had obliterated or softened these, one could see the fine points about the face—the intellectual breadth of the brow, a hint of tender strength in the mouth, Qf manly energy in the chin and the round, full throat exposed by the ojmn shirt; a broad breast was also laid bare, across which was seen a long, purplish scar, evidently a sabre cut. Jacli Barnes—the old sailor and ex-Confeder- ate, came up now, being at last relieved of duty, and took Zoe’s place beside her sleeping patient. At her direction he was covered with a blanket from the chillness that was apt to set in as a reac tion from the fever. Then leaving him with Jack, who promised to watch him till morning, she waked the stewardess, thanked her, and told her good-night and went into the cabin. The lights were turned almost down: she thought every body had retired until Captain Lester stood be fore her. ‘I have been waiting for you,’ he said: -Do you think your father w T ould approve of this noctur nal devotion to an outlaw, a desperado that has worn the handcuffs before to-day?’ ‘I do not think my father would disapprove of my trying to alleviate the sufferings of a sick and friendless man, and I am sure my consci ence does not.’ ‘It’s a great salve to conscience in such a case when the sufferer happens to be young and good looking,’ the Captain said with his short sneer ing laugh. ‘Miss Vincent, good night; don’t re fuse to shake hands. No doubt you think ms a savage, but I only hate to see sweet meats thrown to dogs. There are others in this ship would give its whole cargo for the sweet attentions you are wasting on that vagabond.’ Early next morning, before anyone but the sailors and soldiers on guard were stirring, Zoe was dressed and out on deck. The morning was fresh and delightful, the sea was furrowed by a light wind, and in the blue distance the coast line was visible, just edging the horizon. Jack came up, cap in hand, and gave a good ac count of his patient. He had slept pretty well, and was now almost clear of fever, but very weak. He (Jack) had prevailed on the cook to make the sick man some soup, as he had tasted nothing since he came on board, it being im possible for him to eat the bread and salt pork rations of the prisoners. Zoe went to him, and found him quiet, but by no means rid of fever. He put out his hand to her, and the slight pressure of his fingers and the look he gave her touched her more than any word of thanks. He reported himself ‘better— almost ready again for the hand-cuffs and the black hold,’and then, as he lay propped up, his eye went out over tha sea to the shore line not many miles distant, a^nd kindled with a,n eager; flash. r'u 'i J ‘I could swim it, I think,’ he said low, ‘and I’d make the jump and try it, in spite of this hole in my shoulder, if it was’nt that I know the bullets of those blue coats yonder would’ntgive me half a chance. I don’t want’to die at last by a Yankee ball. My work is not ended yet.’ ‘I hope you will not think of running such a risk,’ Zoe said earnestly. ‘I know you will not when I tell yon I made myself responsible for your good conduct. I pledged my word that you would not try to escape.’ ‘Then your word must not be broken. I’ll not abuse your confidence. You have been very good to me, Miss Vincent—disinterestedly good —and that’s rare with women.’ ‘Is it ?’ ‘Yes; their goodness has usually dregs of sel fishness at the bottom. In your case, there are none. You could havejno motive but pure be nevolence in being kind to a dirty, friendless outlaw, especially when your kindness to him drew on you the disfavor of your friends. I’ve seen that last well enough, and I don’t want you to make such a sacrifice for my sake, young lady. Best avoid me; I am an unlucky dog, and I always bring trouble op the few that espouse my cause.’ ‘I have no friends on board or acquaintances for whose favor I care. I will not avoid you, unless you wish it for your own sake.’ Again he gave her the look that had seemed bet ter than thanks. His blue-gray eyes, that could seem points of fierce, wild flame at times, had at other times a strangely soft and melancholy look, that in connection with the bloody sleeve, the wan cheek and throbbing temples, so moved Zoe’s sympathy that she determined to give him every attention, unmindful of the Captain’s sneers, the impertinences of the Lieutenant and the gossip of the women. She sat by him all the morning, listening to him. He had just fever enough to excite him and make him talk— a little wildly and disconnectedly at times, but peculiarly,—with such a charm of expression, such sudden flashes of quaint fancy, such wild, humorous, imaginative turns of thought, that Zoe, looking at him, said impulsively; ‘ You are a poet. Did you never write poetry ?’ ‘ Yes; once. Once I dreamed I was a poet and wrote things poured out of my heart because it v a; so full.’ * Where are some of them now?’ ‘Where? Oh! that was long ago,’ he said, passing his hand over his forehead. ‘Long ago it seems long long. Before ; the simoon passed through my heart and dried all its foun tains of fancy, and feeling, before ’ His brow gathered into a tumult, his long slender fingers grasped his temples convulsively as if to pluck out some memory that writhed within his brain. The spasm passed; his hand*fell to his side, and he turned to Zoe with a smile of self-mockery. ‘How grandiloquent that was! I meant to say young lady that I wrote verses in my green and tender youth; and thought myself destined to the poet’s crown. I have gotten bravely over that illusion, together with some others born of the same verdant imagination.’' His talk gave Zoe glimpses into his past life. She felt that he had suffered some hard trial, some cruel wrong that had warped his nature Northern men, Federal soldiers seemed in some way connected with this wrong, for his hatred of them amounted almost to mania. Whenever allusion was made to them, the fieroe fire leaped into his eyes, the expression, Zoe shuddered to see, came intd his face—that wild, troubled, savage look that transformed his features like a convulsion. A bloody cloud seemed to come over his faculties; when it passed, his face cleared. There were expressions of that change ful face almost as tender as a woman’s, almost as sweet and wiBtful as a child’s. He was without ties of blood or of law, neith er parents, brother, sister, wife nor child, he said; nor any to care if his bones Bhould be left to rot on the Dry Tortugas. And Zoe heard of this solitariness with pity, and yet with a satis faction that she never thought of analyzing. Strange, that she should forget that she had ties, if he had none. Strange, that not once did the thought of Royal West come into her mind. She was alone with Hirne the greater part of the morning: others came up, and stood or sat near for a while, but the stolid look that came into his face, and the silence he maintained while they stayed, was not encouraging and they soon moved off. The soldiers stood out of hearing of his low tones, and Zoe paid no attention to their occasional glances in her direction, nor to their hah audible jokes and occasional laughter. Mrs. Moss fluttered lip and made musical in quiries of the patient afeer his health, and ex pressed her detestation of Radical tyranny and iankee soldiers, but finding*- that he took no notice o! her pretty morning toilet, was off again, and was soon lending a willing ear to he broad flattery of the lieutenant. The female exhorter came and offered to read Hirne a little treatise with the cheerful title of “A Voice from the iomb,” but went off disgusted on his de claring that be was too sleepy to listen to it. i ie Lieutenant lounged up with some coarse, but good natured banter, and finding his wit unheeded, went to seek a more apnreciativo au dience. Captain Letter came up often, sometimes standing by with folded arms, and eyeing Zoe with a look ot haughty displeasure, sometimes uttering a sarcasm intended for her ears. ‘His tongue wags all right,’ he said once to the Lieutenant. ‘If he can use his legs and arms as well as he does his tongue (and I believe he can) you’d better call up your jeweler. I see he has put the bracelets on the others. I hear there’s a lot more of sympathetic females, who have got wind of our precious cargo,and are com- ingfrom Apalachacola in the Shamrock this after noon with pies and pound cakes, bouquets and tears, and such like feminine incense for our martyrs. Confound such nuisances! I wish the block-head government had found some quicker way of getting rid of these fellows, or some other vessel to send them off on. If there’s a thing I hate, it’s to be annoyed with aympa- thetic women.’ ‘Don’t let your jealousy run away with your patriotism, Lester,’ retorted the burly Lieuten ant, with a chuckle. The Captain, affecting not to hear him, strode away. The Lavaca was now anchored in the harbor of Apalachacola, half a mile or more from the picturesque little town. The bay was too shal low to admit of the steam ship’s nearer approach to shore, but a lighter—a little steamer called the Shamrock— was busy transporting the por tion of the cargo that was consigned to this pert. Little boats containing fresh fish and vegeta bles came up alongside the anchored steam ship. In one of them sat a bright-eyed, nut- brown woman, with a basket of green peas on her lap, a-top of which lay a bunch of fresh flowers. Seeing Zoe’s lovely face as she leaned for a moment over the deck railing, the wo man rose up, held out her bouquet, and laugh ing while her white teeth gleamed from her brown face, she threw the flowers up into the girl’s outstretched hands. Zoe carried them with her to her sent, and gave a cluster of the English honeysuckles to her patient. She sat with the other flowers in her hand, when the Lieutenant came up. He had been drinking ratner freely; his face was even redder than its wont; he leered at the girl as his small, sensuous eye took in the grace of her figure, the ivory curve of her neck, the dusk bloom of her cheek as she bent over the flowers she was rearranging. ‘Well, Miss Vincent,’ he said, ‘I’ve come to claim the fulfillment of your pledge. You promised to pay all extra charges if I would have your pet brought up here and give him the privilege of fresh air and.the light of your lovely face. I’ve done so, and now I’m come to claim my pay.’ Zoe saw the look that darkened over Hirne’s face, and thought it best for his sake to give a playful rejoinder. ‘Will you take my roses in pay?’ she said, smiling, and holding out her nosegay. ‘Kind acts should only be paid for in flowers.’ ‘I’d rather have one of the roses that bloom on your cheeks,’ he said, bending over her until bin whiskeyed breath was hot upon her face. ‘Come, now, it's only fair, and there’s nobody looking.’ His arm went around her neck and tightened as she struggled. The next instant he was stretched upon the deck and Hirne was stamp ing him. Instantly, three soldiers rushed up and caught him from behind. He turned on them furiously, but as he did so, he staggered, gasped, threw his arm up wildly, and fell back swooning from weakness, excitement and the pain of his re-opened wound. The Lieutenant scrambled to his feet, panting and cursing as he wiped his perspiring fore head and felt of the spot where the Texan had planted the blow. Most of the passengers were in the cabin; only one or two had seen the in cident, which had been all over in less than two minutes. The Captain came up, and quickly understanding what was the matter, seemed inwardly rejoiced. ‘Now,’ he said, pointing to Hirne, who had recovered from his swoon, ‘I guess you’ll have that fellow hand-cuffed, and send him below, as I told you to do. You’ll have him to account for else. He’s shamming for a purpose.’ Hirne was taken below. He nerved himself to walk firmly, but Zoe could see that he stag gered. As he passed her he held out his hand ; she had just time to give him hers, to feel* her fingers pressed in a convulsive clasp, when he was roughly pushed on by the soldiers. Fresh blood stains were on his arm and shoul der from his opened wound; his face was ghast ly, bis eyes shining. ‘He will die,’ moaned Zoe in the solitude of her stateroom, ‘l have hurt him, killed him instead of helping him.’ She saw him no more during the trip, save one glimpse she got of him by the light of the ship’s torches, as the prisoners were carried ashore at the Dry Tortugas. From her stateroom win dow she was watching with strained eyes ; she saw him oome out supported by Jack Barnes and walking with difficulty.The light of the torch flared one moment over his pale face and over the gloom and barrenness of the island prison. Then the file of prisoners, and the bine coats and flashing bayonets of the soldier guard were swallowed up in the shadows of midnight [to be continued.] At Prague Count Runnerskirch had a chair pulled from underneath him, and landed himself on the floor, for which he challenged Count Max Thun and had his finger slashed off, so the latter had his joke aud the other’s finger besides. Reuben Field, of Sharpsburg, Ky.,is a natural mathematician who knows not one figure from another, yet correctly solves intricate problems in his mind, without hesitation, computes the time of day almost in an instant, and tells how many revolutions the driving wheel of a loco motive will make between given points. He can not read or write. The Hindoos bolieve that India will be sub ject to England only so long as the Koh-i-noor of the Crown jewels remains in possession of the Queen. As it is to be exhibited at Paris it is believed that efforts may be made to steal it, a la Wilkie Collins’ moonstone. At a pentecostal ratio of 3,000 conversions a day it would take 3,000 years to convert the world. r*r«