as any man, if he sets out to act pretty and do the thing
genteel.

"With that he jumped right in, and then he said somethin'
in French to the officers; some order or another, I
suppose, about comin on and fetchin' his hoss with them.
I have hearn in my time, a good many men speak French,
but I never see the man yet, that could hold a candle to
_him_. Oh, it was like lightnin', jist one long endurin'
streak; it seemed all one sentence and one word. It was
beautiful, but I couldn't onderstand it, it was so
everlastin' fast.

"'Now,' sais he, 'set sail.' And off we sot, at the rate
of sixteen notts an hour. Old Clay pleased him, you may
depend; he turned round and clapped his hands, and larfed,
and waved his hat to his officers to come on; and they
whipped, and spurred, and galloped, and raced for dear
life; but we dropped 'em astarn like any thing, and he
larfed again, heartier than ever There is no people
a'most, like to ride so fast as sailors; they crack on,
like a house a fire.

"Well, arter a while, sais he, 'Back topsails,' and I
hauled up, and he jumped down, and outs with a pocket
book, and takes a beautiful gold coronation medal. (It
was solid gold, no pinchback, but the rael yaller stuff,
jist fresh from King's shop to Paris, where his money is
made), and sais he, 'Mr. Yankee, will you accept that to
remember the Prince de Joinville and his horse by?' And