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 574 back-bone—to meet an army commanded by such generals. He has got that ass with the brown wig in his clutches, and he’ll take him back to New York as bare as the palm of my hand.”

“Is he not in reality a general?”

“Oh, yes, he is a general, sure enough, and there are plenty like him. But I tell you, sir, if the Northern and Southern States ever come to blows, the former must have very different generals from him, ay, and colonels and captains too, or they’ll fare the worse.”

This man, so gentlemanly, so quiet, so apparently unobservant, when the conversation turned upon such topics as these, became furious—his utterance was rapid, his voice was raised, his usually pale face flushed, and his eyes flashed fire. But there was a strange fascination in the man, and every day I became more and more interested in him. At length the steamer in which he was to proceed to New Orleans arrived, and he prepared for departure. Just before he embarked he came to me, pale with rage.

“Look here,” he said, “here is another instance of the extortion and rascality of these detestable Spaniards. I had got all my luggage on board, and was on the point of stepping into a boat, when I was stopped by a soldier.

‘Show me your passport,’ said he.

‘There it is,’ said I.

‘This won’t do,’ he said.

‘Why not?’

‘This passport must be visèd.’

“So I had to go to the office of the captain-general’s secretary, and pay a doubloon for my passport being visèd, which doubloon of course goes into his own pocket. It is an abominable extortion.”

When he had calmed down we shook hands, and he bade me farewell, saying, kindly—

“If ever you should chance to come to Mobile, I shall be glad to see you. I have not got a splendid house, but I have got a comfortable one, and I will give you a hearty welcome. Ask for me, and any person will direct you to my residence.”

“But you forget,” said I, “you have not yet told me your name.”

“True, true,” he said; “it is .”

Little did I, or could I, suppose, that this man would become the notorious filibuster, carrying fire and sword into a peaceful territory, drenching with blood the fertile plains of Nicaragua, and reducing its towns to ashes; little could I imagine that in a few short years he would be publicly shot by half-clad, savage soldiers as a robber, a pirate, and a murderer. How truly does the poor distracted Ophelia say, “We know what we are, but we know not what we may be.”