168 A KIND INVITATION. 



companions did. The host was much more like an English 

 country squire than a gambling-house keeper, and discussed 

 sport with me as if fond of it. 



F and I remained in New Orleans for five weeks, chiefly 



on account of my illness, and then left for Galveston, the 

 capital of Texas, in a miserable little steamer, with poor 

 accommodation. Galveston is a very prettily situated place, 

 being on a long island off the coast of Texas, with, on the 

 land side, the finest beach I ever saw. It is eight miles long 

 and at low tide half a mile wide. We put up at the Palmetto 

 House, kept by an Irish lady, a Mrs. McDonnell there was a 

 Mr. of that name, but he was a mere cipher in the establish- 

 ment. Here we had to wait some time for letters from home, 

 so we made numerous excursions into the surrounding country 

 for quail, pintailed grouse, and ducks. 



On one of our first trips to the mainland we stopped at the 

 house of a man named Gallagher, an Irishman, and happening 

 one day when shooting to come on the railway, we went into 

 a small store, which was also a railway-station, to buy some- 

 thing which we needed, and got into conversation with the 

 man who kept it, who introduced himself to us as Captain 

 Richardson, late of the Southern army. On our saying where 

 we were staying, and that the fare was bad, he very hospitably 

 pressed us to come back and stay the night at his house, where 

 he said he could give us something better. He so evidently 

 wished us to come, that we consented, Billy Breeze being with 

 us, and walked with him to a very pretty little wooden house, 

 covered with creepers and standing in a garden, where he 

 introduced us to his wife and daughter, who seemed very nice 

 also. Everything was beautifully clean, and our room was all 



