In addition, en to Colorado, Kansas, etc. large numbers are sent via the Gulf to New Orleans and Cuba. During the Cuban war a number of resident capitalists "cornered" all of the beef in the market, forcing prices to an unprecedented figure, but the inopportune arrival of several cargoes of Texan beef broke the ring, and ruined the ringsters. Large sums have been expended in experimental shipments of dressed beef to Europe. The future will probably develop this outlet, and through improved refrigerator compartments in ships built especially for the purpose, do much to solve the leading question which agitates the Texan mind: "What shall we do with our beef?" Hunters still roam over the half-explored western counties in quest of the buffalo, and the coach traveller may chance to come upon their picturesque but not oversavory camps. Skins are stretched about upon poles, spread upon the turf, and disposed of in various ways during the process of curing. They are then packed on mules to the nearest town, where the merchant bales them and ships them to the tanneries. Many buffaloes are shot in wanton sport; and indeed one can hardly find it in his heart to condemn the practice who has once experienced the exultant thrill at the moment he has seen a fine bull "drop in his tracks" beneath a well-aimed rifle. Going eastward from San Antonio, we have a glimpse of the great sugar tract, second only to that of the Bayou Teche, near New Orleans. We note the groups of field hands with horses dotting the serrated acres, and away in the distance the mill with its towering stack. It is worthy of note that a large proportion of the laborers are white. Many negroes emigrate hither from the old sugar, cotton, or rice lands, but they are often found desirous of getting back to Georgy." Plantation life as depicted in the literature of the South, and through the medium of negro minstrelsy, finds far less hold upon Texan soil than among the pines of the Atlantic coast. 66 Frequent stations are passed, where most of those in waiting look as though they had some specific errand. Waiting stage-coaches make up, with the train, a picture often animated and picturesque, and divert the mind from the monotone of the prairie vistas. work, and Galveston supports five. These ponderous machines cost from twenty-five to fifty thousand dollars each, and are usually highly profitable, often clearing a sum greater than their original cost in a single season. A first-class press will turn out from five to six hundred bales per diem, at a price varying from seventy-five cents to one dollar per bale. A visit to one of the compresses at night reveals an interesting sight. The monster machine rearing upward into the gloom; the glare of lamps reflecting upon salient points, and the active workers, who tumble the bales into the huge jaws, band them, and haul away the blocks of fleecy staple reduced to one-fourth of their former dimensions; the groaning, shuddering frame; and the loud, deep expiration of the steam -all these hold the visitor spell-bound. Compress rates are paid by transporta- of Captain James B. Eads at the South tion companies or ship captains, who Pass of the Mississippi. It is regarded as charge freight by the bale, and are large entirely successful, and may lead to the gainers by the compress system. Swedish unsealing of other Southern harbors by and Norwegian ships are doing a large the same method. Galveston bar has a portion of the carrying trade. Their depth of about sixteen feet of water at white gull-like forms are always seen at present, being more than double that exthe roadstead beyond the outer bar. Gal- isting formerly. Large ships are loaded veston still labors under the disadvantage by means of lighters, and lighterage tolls form a heavy item of expense in mercantile transactions. of a want of adequate depth of water at the harbor mouth for the admission of large ships. The national government The Cotton Exchange Building at Galhas expended, under the direction of able veston is extremely ornate, and as a speciengineers, a large amount of money in the men of mercantile architecture, has few construction of a system of jetties upon peers upon this side of the Atlantic. Galthe gabionade principle, by which the in- vestonians never forget to remind stran flux and reflux of the tides assist in scourgers of their fine beach, which reaches ing out a channel. The working of this system, it being a novel one, has been watched by the engineering fraternity with almost as much interest as the works along the Gulf for many miles. It is in deed fine, but not superior to those bordering the Georgian islands, or some por tions of the New Jersey coast. CHAPTER VIII. PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS. good-hearted Laird, "when I think of her condeetion-not at present, when she has, if I may be allowed to say so, several friends near her who would be glad to do what they could for her; but by-and-by, when she is becoming older-" The Laird hesitated. Was it possible, after all, that he was about to hint at the chance of Mary Avon becoming the mistress of the mansion and estate of Denny-mains? Then he made a plunge: "A young woman in her position should have a husband to protect her; that is what I am sure of. Have ye never thought of it, ma'am?" "I should like very well to see Mary married," says the other, demurely. "And I know she would make an excellent wife." "An excellent wife!" exclaims the Laird; and then he adds, with a tone approaching to severity: "I tell ye he will be a fortunate man that gets her. Oh, ay; I have watched her. I can keep my eyes open when there is need. Did OW the Laird has a habit-laudable or you hear her asking the captain about his half cup at breakfast, as an excuse for desultory talk; and thus it is, on this particular morning, the young people having gone on deck to see the yacht get under way, that Denny-mains has a chance of revealing to us certain secret schemes of his over which he has apparently been brooding. How could we have imagined that all this plotting and planning had been going on beneath the sedate exterior of the Commissioner for the Burgh of Strathgovan? "She's just a wonderful bit lass!" he says, confidently, to his hostess; "as happy and contented as the day is long; and when she's not singing to herself, her way of speech has a sort of-a sort of music in it that is quite new to me. Yes, I must admit that; I did not know that the Southern English tongue was so accurate and pleasant to the ear. Ay, but what will become of her?" What, indeed! The lady whom he was addressing had often spoken to him of Mary Avon's isolated position in the world. "It fairly distresses me," continues the man nature in that lass." There was no need for the Laird to be so pugnacious; we were not contesting the point. However, he resumed: "I have been thinking," said he, with a little more shyness, "about my nephew. He's a good lad. Well, ye know, ma'am, that I do not approve of young men being brought up in idleness, whatever their prospects must be; and I have no doubt whatever that my nephew Howard is working hard enough- what with the reading of law-books, and attending the courts, and all that-though as yet he has not had much business. But then there is no necessity. I do not think he is a lad of any great ambeetion, like your friend Mr. Sutherland, who has to fight his way in the world in any case. But Howard I have been thinking now that if he was to get married and settled, he might give up the law business altogether; and if they were content to live in Scotland, he might look after Denny-mains. It will be his in any case, ye know; he would have the interest of a man looking after his own property. Now I will tell ye persons in whom he took a warm interest would be benefited at once. "But then, Sir," says his hostess, with a smile which she can not wholly repress, "you know people never do marry to please a third person-at least, very seldom." "Oh, there can be no forcing," said the "THE EASEL IS HANDED OUT TO HIM, AND FINALLY MARY AVON HERSELF."-[SEE PAGE 725.] Laird, with decision. "But I have done a great deal for Howard: may I not expect that he will do something for me?" "Oh, doubtless, doubtless," says this amiable lady, who has had some experience in match-making herself; "but I have generally found that marriages that would be in every way suitable and pleasing to friends, and obviously desirable, are precisely the marriages that never come off. Young people, when they are flung at each other's heads, to use the common phrase, never will be sensible and please their relatives. Now if you were to bring your nephew here, do you think Mary would fall in love with him because she ought? More likely you would find that, out of pure contrariety, she would fall in love with Angus Sutherland, who can not afford to marry, and whose head is filled with other things." "I am not sure I am not sure," said the Laird, musingly. "Howard is a goodlooking young fellow, and a capital lad, too. I am not so sure." “And then, you know," said the other, shyly, for she will not plainly say anything to Mary's disparagement, "young men have different tastes in their choice of a wife. He might not have the high opinion of her that you have." that the White Dove is gently gliding out of the lonely Loch Scresorst, with its solitary house among the trees, and its crofters' huts at the base of the sombre hills. And as the light cool breeze-gratefully cool after the blazing heat of the last day or two-carries us away northward, we see more and more of the awful solitudes of Haleval and Haskeval, that are still thunderous and dark under the hazy sky. Above the great shoulders and under the purple peaks we see the far-reaching corries opening up, with here and there a white water-fall just visible in the hollows. There is a sense of escape as we draw away from that overshadowing gloom. Then we discover that we have a new skipper to-day, vice John of Skye, deposed. The fresh hand is Mary Avon, who is at the tiller, and looking exceedingly business-like. She has been promoted to this post by Dr. Sutherland, who stands by; she receives explanations about the procedure of Hector of Moidart, who is up aloft lacing the smaller top-sail to the mast; she watches the operations of John of Skye and Sandy, who are at the sheets below; and, like a wise and considerate captain, she pretends not to notice Master Fred, who is having a quiet smoke by At this the Laird gave a look of sur- the windlass. And so past those lonely prise, even of resentment. "Then I'll tell ye what it is, ma'am,' said he, almost angrily, "if my nephew had the chance of marrying such a girl, and did not do so, I should consider him -I should consider him a fool, and say so." And then he added, sharply: "And do you think I would let Dennymains pass into the hands of a fool ?" Now this kind lady had had no intention of rousing the wrath of the Laird in this manner, and she instantly set about pacifying him. And the Laird was easily pacified. In a minute or two he was laughing good-naturedly at himself for getting into a passion; he said it would not do for one at his time of life to try to play the part of the stern father as they played that in theatre pieces: there was to be no forcing. "But he's a good lad, ma'am, a good lad," said he, rising as his hostess rose; and he added, significantly, "he is no fool, I assure you, ma'am; he has plenty of common-sense. shores sails the brave vessel-the yawl White Dove, Captain Mary Avon, bound for anywhere. But you must not imagine that the new skipper is allowed to stand by the tiller. Captain though she may be, she has to submit civilly to dictation, in so far as her foot is concerned. Our young doctor has compelled her to be seated, and he has passed a rope round the tiller that so she can steer from her chair, and from time to time he gives suggestions, which she receives as orders. "I wish I had been with you when you first sprained your foot," he says. "Yes?" she answers, with humble inquiry in her eyes. "I would have put it in plaster of Paris," he says, in a matter-of-fact way, "and locked you up in the house for a fortnight; at the end of that time you would not know which ankle was the sprained one." There was neither "with your leave" nor "by your leave" in this young man's manner when he spoke of that accident. He would have taken possession of her. When we get up on deck again we find He would have discarded your bandages VOL LIX.-No. 353,-46 |