Nevertheless, I ran away and went to sea--"
"To see--what?" asked Legrande.
"Aller sur mer," said his neighbor, hastily.
"Go on with your piracy!" said Miss Jones.
The distinguished foreigners looked at each other and then at Miss
Jones. Each made a mental note of the average cold-blooded
ferocity of the young American female.
"I shipped on board of a Liverpool 'liner,'" continued our host.
"What ess a 'liner'?" interrupted Legrande, sotto voce, to his next
neighbor, who pretended not to hear him.
"I need not say that these were the days when we had not lost our
carrying trade, when American bottoms--"
"Que est ce, 'bot toom'?" said Legrande, imploringly, to his other
friend.
"When American bottoms still carried the bulk of freight, and the
supremacy of our flag--"
Here Legrande recognized a patriotic sentiment and responded to it
with wild republican enthusiasm, nodding his head violently.
Piccadilly noticed it, too, and, seeing an opening for some general
discussion on free trade, began half audibly to HIS neighbor: "Most
extraordinary thing, you know, your American statesmen--"
"I deserted the ship at Liverpool--"
But here two perfunctory listeners suddenly turned toward the other
end of the table, where another guest, our Nevada Bonanza lion, was
evidently in the full flood of pioneer anecdote and narration.
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