"I am going to tell you," replied my uncle; "the whole thing explains itself and becomes clear.--But I wonder, did not Rabassu with the news of my death bring some camels?" "Not a single camel, uncle." "That's odd! However, sit down, and I will tell you all about it." I sat down, and my uncle gave me the following narrative. I write it out for you faithfully, my dear Louis; but what I cannot render for you, is the inimitable tone of tranquillity in which he related it, just as if he were describing a fete at a neighbouring village. "In returning from Japan," he said, "I must tell you that I put in at Java. Of course I landed there. On the pier-head, I recognised Lefebure, a sea-captain and an old friend of mine; he had given up navigation in order to marry a mulattress there, who keeps a tobacco-shop. I said to him 'Hullo, how are you?' He embraces me and answers that he is very dull. 'Dull?' I reply, 'well, come along with me to Toulon for a few days; my ship is in the harbour here, I will give you a berth in her, and send you home next month by "The Belle-Virginie!" My proposal delights him, but his answer is that it is impossible. 'Impossible? Why?' 'Because I have a wife who would not hear of it!' 'We must see about that,' I say to him. Well, we go to their shop; the wife makes a scene, cries and screams, calling him all sorts of names, and they fight over it. At last, while they are taking a moment's rest, I add that I shall weigh anchor at six o'clock in the evening. 'I will wait for you until five minutes past six,' I say; and then I go off to my business. At six o'clock I weighed anchor, and began to tack about a bit. At 6:10 I was off, when I saw a barque approaching. I gave the order 'Stop her.' It was Lefebure, who was making signs to us to stop. He comes up, gets on board, and off we go."