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Show ., 108 PERSONAL ADVENTURES " So, sis I, 'Hector, my boy, you done wid hard work, now: haw! haw! You go into ometing large in de spek'lation line. Den yon do fust rate in your unnertakins ; you send for de little gal you leabe a 'veepin' out her eyes arter you in New York city, an' make her honest woman.' Soon arter, I meet a Frenchman, a capital good cook, I can tell you, an' him an' me agree to go into de hotel line togedder. We take a big place, to make an eating-house an' liquor store, an' I come down here to buy de stock of liquors an' pro· visions." '' Well, I am heartily glad of your good fortune,'' said my friend ; " but you had better keep a sharp look-out, Hector, or you'll get nabbed, and have no chance of enjoying your money." " Ob, dere be no danger ob dat. I so disguised, dat I meet several ob de officers about de town, an' debbil a bit if dey know me. Haw! haw!'' "Do, now, be cautious, Hector," said Mrs. Stevenson; "for it would be a pity that you IN CALIFORNIA. 109 should lose your liberty, when you have just got the means of enjoying it." The black no'v rose, and bade us good night. He had hardly been gone two minutes, when he returned in a great fright. His horse had been stolen. Stevenson and he 'vent out together, and having searched the town in every direction, at last found the animal standing at the door of a house in the subq.rbs, the saddle having been removed from his back. To their peremptory demands for the restoration of both ' the Spaniard who had carried them off in-variably made use of the ever ready reply, "No intiende, Senor;" until my friend took him by the collar, and threatened to bring him before the Alcalde, 'vhen he declared, in very good English, that the horse and saddle had been merely borro\ved, by a friend of his, to go to .a fandango, and that he would have much pleasure in restoring them to the owner. A few days afterwards, as I was sipping a c~p of coffee in Piscaro's billiard-rooms, oppoSite the quartel, I detected the sable mil- |