The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-25

came almost as enthusiastic as he: not so
much, perhaps, over the house and the sons
and the daughters and the quinquinia and
the CLAIMS and the Holsters as over the old
man himself Such heart at such an age
and amid such surroundings is worth more
than the gold of Midas or the luck Of Alad-
din.
On my way back to st. Pierre the tug was
crowded with fishermen who were returning
at the close of the season to that port
from which many of them expect to go
back with the fishing schooners to France
They have all had hard luck. One Of them
said to me: 81 left St Malo last spring
without a sou, and now / am just as rich
on my return" But these poor fellows. If
they had money. mad each bottle of
wine inside his pocket, and APPARENTLY one
or two more inside of himself, and they
were all gay and boisterous. One of them
was particularly friendly, even affectionate
toward myself. Putting his arms around
my shoulders he asked me in low whisper
and a confidential tone if L had come to
Miquelon to fish for whales. / told him
that my ambitions were not SO lofty as
that Then why did you conner he per-
sisted. "Only for promenade" l answered
1t must be explained that promenade is not
to be taken quite in its English significance.
L did not mean that / was taking a walk
across the over to these islands, but a
Frenchman takes q promenade whenever
he wanders about on sea or land with moth
ing particular to do. But this answer did
not satisfy my questioner; it seemed un-
natural and he frankly told me that it
could not be, that no one ever came to
Miquelon just for the fun of the thing.
Then he asked:
Where did you come from?'
From the United States"
'Ah that is impossible"
why is it impossible?"
Because people who come from the
United States do not talk like you
He did not say whether they talked bet
ter or worse, but on the whole l concluded
to accept his imputation on my veracity as
a compliment to my French, which l could
only account for on the ground that the
man was certainly pretty drunk. His in
ebriate logic evidently proceeded something
like this: Here is a stranger who con-
ceals not only the object of his visit but
even his nationality. This is significant"
and at this point he began to put his
cogitations into words.
Monsieur, you are a millionaire; you
have come to these islands for a purpose"
/ protested, but in vain. He continued:
Monsieur, what you need is a companion.
1 will be your companion. Give me a thou
sand francs"
When 1 protested that while his compan-
ionship would be delightful, 1t was quite un-
necessary, and that had not a. thousand
francs TO spare, he continues:
What is thousand francs to a million
aire? Nothingi Nothing! But / will show
you where to fish and where to hunt and
how TO invest your money. i will be worth
to you a great deal more than a thousand
francs. / will be your faithful servitor
forever" and he waxed eloquent over the
services he was to render. Others over
heard the conversation, and soon 1 per-
ceived that it began to be whispered round
that a millionaire was on board. This was
the first and only occasion in my life when
/ was ever taken for so fortunate charac-
ter and was surprised to see the immense
amount of awe and admiration inspired. I
was equally rejoiced TO reach my board
ing house at st. Pierre with my pocket
book and its contents quite intact.
ST. Pierre, Oct. TO-