218 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



space. Per contra, a red hot stove in the little 

 cabin provided another extreme which I hope to 

 avoid, hereafter. It was afternoon of the 15th 

 when the Crescent City was sighted and we had to 

 lie square across her bows to stop her. It was 

 too rough for the small boat which was half filled 

 and nearly swamped while putting me aboard the 

 steamer where I was almost too frozen to talk, 

 which is a strong way of stating the case. There 

 were no apprehensions to be allayed, for my good 

 agent in Havana had "lied like a gentleman," 

 and exhibited to my family and friends a copy 

 of a bogus cablegram announcing our safe arrival 

 in New York, after a somewhat stormy passage. 

 A single annoying event disturbs an otherwise 

 unclouded memory of the most delightful excur- 

 sion of which I have ever heard. At the dock 

 when the custom house officers were examining 

 the baggage of the passengers, one of my nearest 

 friends, a man of scrupulous integrity — and I say 

 that to-day despite what I have to tell of him — 

 asked me to have his baggage passed by the Cus- 

 tom House official. At my request that officer 



