"
"But how came you here?"
"Listen! My pirate brig, the 'Lively Mermaid,' now lies at
Meiggs's Wharf in San Francisco, disguised as a Mendocino lumber
vessel. My pirate crew accompanied me here in a palace car from
San Francisco."
"It must have been expensive," said the prudent Jenkins.
"It was, but they defrayed it by a collection from the other
passengers--you understand, an enforced collection. The papers
will be full of it to-morrow. Do you take the 'New York Sun'?"
"No; I dislike their Indian policy. But why are you here?"
"Hear me, Jenk! 'Tis a long and a sad story. The lovely Eliza J.
Sniffen, who fled with me from Doemville, was seized by her parents
and torn from my arms at New Rochelle. Reduced to poverty by the
breaking of the savings bank of which he was president,--a failure
to which I largely contributed, and the profits of which I
enjoyed,--I have since ascertained that Eliza Jane Sniffen was
forced to become a schoolmistress, departed to take charge of a
seminary in Colorado, and since then has never been heard from.
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