A Little Arrangement between Tom Leslie and Joe Harris--Going to West Falls and Niagara--A Detention and a Night Scene on the Hudson-River Road--Why Joe Harris hid her Saucy Face--Oneida Scenery--Aunt Betsey, Little Susy, and a Peep at the Halstead Homestead, with Pigs, Chickens and Cherries 332 CHAPTER XXIII. Josephine Harris in quest of Information--The Big House on the Hill--Extracting the Secrets of the Crawford Family--How a Big Fib may sometimes be told for a Good Purpose--Aunt Betsey made an Accomplice--Mary Crawford, the Country Girl, and a Terrible Revelation--A Bold Letter to a Bold Man 350 CHAPTER XXIV. The Piazza of the Big House on the Hill--John Crawford the Human Wreck, and Egbert Crawford on the Eve of Marriage--Chanticleer on the Garden Fence, with Remembrances of Peter and Judas Iscariot--John Crawford instructs his Expectant Son-in-law--Arrival of the Domestic Post, with a Letter of Import--A Hit or a Miss?--Strida la Vampa 372 CHAPTER XXV. Affairs in the Crawford Family in New York--The Two Brothers together--Marion Hobart the Enigma--How Richard Crawford thought that he was not able to ride to the Central Park, and found that he could ride to Niagara 391 CHAPTER XXVI. Tom Leslie at Niagara--A Dash at Scenery there--What he saw with his Natural Eyes, and what with his Inner Consciousness--The Wreck and the Rainbow--Another Rencontre with Dexter Ralston--The Eclipse on the Falls--Leslie under the impression that he can be discounted, and that he knows little or nothing on any subject 404 CHAPTER XXVII. Society and Shoulder-Straps at the Falls--The Delights and Duties of a Journalist--Leslie and Harding Exploring Canada--How one Fine Morning War was declared between England and the United States, and Canada annexed to New York--A Meeting at the Cataract--Another Rencontre with the Strange Virginian--An Abduction and a Pursuit 420 CHAPTER XXVIII. The Sequel at West Falls--How Colonel Egbert Crawford was supposed to have been telegraphed for from Albany--Mary Crawford once more at the Halstead's--The Final Instructions and Promises of the Chief Conspirator--Joe Harris returns to the Great City, and her Disappointment therein--Another Conspiracy hatched, threatening to blow Judge Owen's Domestic Tranquillity to Atoms 433 CHAPTER XXIX. Some Speculations on Moonlight and Insanity--Captain Robert Slivers, of the Sickles Brigade, makes his Appearance at Judge Owen's--He draws Graphic Pictures of the War, for the Edification of Colonel Bancker--A Controversy, with further inquiries as to the Age of the Colonel--The Market brisk for Hirsute Excrescences on the Cranium, and no Supply--Judge Owen laughs ponderously 446 CHAPTER XXX.