Indeed, so impressed was Bill with the idea that the responsibility of Jimmie’s reception was pending upon himself, that he deliberately knocked down two of the ringleaders, who announced their intention to hoot and to hiss as much as they pleased. Bill’s warlike propensities were pretty generally understood in Rockland, and this energetic demonstration had the effect of quelling, to a certain extent, the Babel which would otherwise have reigned, when at last the train stopped before the depot, and the expected _lion_ appeared upon the platform, his identity proven by Bill, who whispered, “That’s him, with the rowdy hat,—that’s the chap;” then, with a proud air of self-assurance, he stepped forward and offered his hand to the embarrassed stranger, who was looking this way and that, in quest of a familiar face. “Halloo, Corporal!” he called out with the utmost _sang froid_, “you re-_cog_-nize me, I s’pose. I’m the critter that took you in the Virginny woods. I’ve gin all them contrabands to your sister, Miss Marthers. She and I has got to be considerable intimate. I think a sight on her,” he continued, as Jimmie showed no signs of reciprocating the coarse familiarity other than by rather haughtily offering his hand. But Bill was not to be put down, for “wasn’t he as good as Corporal Carleton? hadn’t they sustained to each other the relation of captor and captive, and if there were any preference, wasn’t it in his favor?” He thought so, and nothing abashed by Jimmie’s evident disgust, he was about announcing to him that a carriage was in waiting, when Jake made his way through the crowd to the spot where Jimmie stood. The sight of him suggested a new idea to Bill, and bowing first to one and then to the other, he said, “Ah, Mr. Jacob Sullivan, allow me to introduce you to my friend, Corporal Carleton, late of the Confederate army, supposed to be fitin’ for just such goods and chattels as you.” The African’s teeth were plainly visible at this novel introduction, while the good-humored smile which broke over the hitherto cold, haughty features of the stranger, changed into a general laugh the muttered groans and imprecations which the words “Confederate Army,” had provoked. It was strange what a difference that smile made in the looks of Jimmie’s handsome face, removing its haughty, sarcastic expression, and softening to a great extent the feelings of the crowd, many of whom instinctively dropped the brick-bats, stones, and bits of frozen mud, with which they were prepared to pelt the Rebel’s carriage so soon as they should be in the rear. Still they must have some fun, even if it were at _Bill’s_ expense, and just as the latter was button-holing the persecuted Jimmie, and escorting him to the carriage, one, more daring than the others, proposed “three groans and a tiger for the deserter.”