"Yesterday, through the courtesy of Capt. Rudlin (one of her new owners and future commander) we visited the old ship. On board we met the venerable Captain William Mitchell, who has had charge of the vessel for some years. He was busily engaged in packing his clothes into chests preparatory to going ashore. He remembers well the _Beaver_ in her early days. Every room, every plank possesses historic interest to him. He pointed out the Captain's room. 'Just the same,' said he, 'as when I first saw it in '36. There's the chest of drawers, there's the bunk, and there's the hook where the Captain's pipe hung, and many's the smoke I've had in these cabins nearly forty years ago. Nothing below has been changed,' continued Captain Mitchell, 'except--except the faces that used to people these rooms in the days long ago, and'--pointing to his thin, gray locks--'I was a deal younger then!' He led the way into the engine-room, chatting pleasantly as he went and relating incidents connected with the _Beaver_ and her dead people of an interesting character which we may some day give to the world. There are two engines, of seventy-five horse-power, as bright and apparently as little worn as when they first came from the shop of Bolton and Watt. From some cuddy hole the Captain drew forth the ship's bell, on which was inscribed '_Beaver_, 1835;' then he showed us into the little forecastle with the hammock-hooks still attached to the timbers, from which had swung two generations of sailors. Then the main deck was regained and we took leave of the gallant old gentleman and Captain Rudlin, who informed us that the _Beaver_ will be taken alongside of Dickson, Campbell & Co.'s wharf to-day to undergo the important changes necessary to the new trade in which she will henceforth be employed." CHAPTER XXVII. COLONEL WOLFENDEN--IN MEMORIAM. When I look back over my soldiering days the figure that I first remember is Colonel Wolfenden, then a sergeant in the volunteers, and I a full private. It was not, I think, until I was twenty years old and a member for two years, that I remember him, when he was elected captain from sergeant. I might say that the volunteers were a different organization from the militia. You enlisted for a term, the same as in the latter organization, and officers were elected from the company. Uniforms were paid for by each member, the cost being $26 for everything complete. Dues had to be paid also, fifty cents a month, and ammunition for target practice had also to be paid for. It was a good deal like the volunteer firemen of that day, who had to pay dues and buy their uniform. [Portrait: Colonel Wolfenden.]