WE GAIN A NEW RECRUIT There could be no doubt regarding the complete emptiness of the Reverend Ezekiel Cairnes, if the breakfast he devoured from our stock of cold provisions was evidence.

I have been commonly blessed with robust appetite, yet where that man found space within his ribs to store away all he ate in that hour remains a mystery.

Nothing, except total inability to address him in intelligible language, held De Noyan quiet as our limited supply steadily diminished before the Puritan's onslaught, and long before the latter heaved a sigh of profound satisfaction the gallant soldier had fallen fast asleep.

But Madame remained in her place opposite, apparently fascinated by that vivid red crop of hair, now thoroughly dried in the sun, and standing erect above his odd, pear-shaped head.

I had whispered in her ear what the fellow claimed for himself, and being a most devout Catholic, and he the first specimen of his class she had ever met, she studied him with no small amount of curiosity and abhorrence.
I can clearly recall the picture, as these two, so widely different, sat facing each other in silence, the golden sunshine checkered over them through an arch of limbs, the broad river shining away to the southward, and De Noyan resting upon his back, with face turned up toward the clear blue sky.