"Pardon me, Sir," I began, and he turned toward me with a slight bow and with a slow motion made with his hat, "but will you tell me who is the master of this house?" "I am," he answered, with a smile. "But who are you, your name, please?" "Has no one told you? Hah, don't you know yet?" His voice conveyed a sense of injury that so important a preliminary had been overlooked. "No one has told me." "Then, Sir, I have the pleasure of introducing myself. I am Giles Talcom." "Oh, Senator Talcom." His eyes snapped, he touched his "dab" of beard, and said: "At your service, Sir." We shook hands, and he sat down. "I have heard of you, Senator." "Yes, I have introduced into the Mississippi Senate a great many reformatory measures, some of which have been adopted by our sister States." "And you are the man who whipped Lige Patton." "What!" he cried, snapping his eyes at me. "Hah, you got that nonsense from old Zack Mason, the pilot. Confound his old hide, he never will forget that. I was quite a young man in those days, Sir. I came here from Virginia, almost straight from the University, and was, if my examination should prove satisfactory, to take charge of a young ladies' school. But on the day before the examination took place Mr. Patton took it into his head to walk over me. He didn't, and, sir, without any examination at all, the good people gave me the _male_ academy. The trustees (most of them had been river men, you understand) said that I was too valuable a piece of timber to waste on a female seminary. They said it was too much like chasing butterflies with a bloodhound. I didn't keep the school long; I came into my inheritance, went into politics, and here I am." "Senator, I am under lasting obligations to you for--" "Not at all, Sir, not at all. I spent a very pleasant evening with you at the St. Charles Theatre in New Orleans, and I said then, as I always do when a man has entertained me, I hope to be able to do something for him. And, Sir, while the opportunity was brought about by a sad misfortune, yet--yet I am really gratified at being the instrument, you understand, of giving you shelter and attention at this sad hour." "How long have I been here?" "Three days. But don't let that worry you. You are to remain until you feel perfectly able to proceed on your way." "Were many people killed?" "Quite a number. Two were found yesterday at the island twenty miles below. A large number were hurt, but they are being cared for. Our city is making great strides, but we have no hospital as yet, so our citizens threw open their doors to receive the wounded. And the dead have been cared for." "How did our company fare?"