When Ben anchored the "Floating Palace" at Pittsburg, he was well fixed in the matter of money. This, however, did not prevent him from endeavoring to add to his pile, which he did by patronizing that game commonly believed to have been named in honor of one of the kings of Egypt--faro. Every night, as regularly as the night came, he visited the bank, conducted by Tony and Johnny N----, and so good was his luck that he almost invariably went out of the place from thirty to forty dollars ahead. Making his way later than usual one night toward Shapsbury Bridge he made the unpleasant discovery that the "Floating Palace" floated no longer. In other words, the boat had sunk. This put an end to the project of visiting the South, and Ben concluded to go back to Parker's Landing. The loss of the remarkable craft was quite in keeping with its latter history. It had been the scene of many revels, and had been brightened with laughter, music, and wild merriment. Its brief career ended as suddenly as that of some of the revelers themselves. The river became its resting place, as it has often become the last haven of many a tempest-tossed soul. [Illustration: _KITTY BOWERS._] CHAPTER XIV. Return to Parker's Landing--His three years' Sojourn in that Town--Adventures and Incidents--Attempt to burn Ben's House. As intimated in the preceding chapter, Ben left Pittsburg after the sinking of the Floating Palace, and returned to Parker's Landing. There he bought a house from one Johnson, with the intention of fitting it up as a sporting resort. The town of Parker's Landing takes its name from one of its residents who is familiarly known as Old Parker. At the time of which I am writing, Old Parker owned a good deal of property, and wielded a large influence in the town. No sooner had he heard of Ben's purchase, than he informed Hogan that he could not remain in the place. Ben replied that he had bought the property and paid for it; that he intended to keep a thoroughly first-class establishment; that everything would be conducted in a quiet and orderly manner, and that there would be no disorderliness anywhere about the premises. Old Parker thought that there mas no such thing as a first-class variety hall, and that two women would be two too many for the morality of the neighborhood. The dispute waxed hot and hotter, until Ben finally lost his temper and resolved to go ahead and run any sort of an establishment he pleased. Accordingly, the next day he opened up with six people, and the day following procured six more. In a month's time he was doing a business big enough to justify the enlargement of his house, adding a wing forty feet in length. He also bought a nine hundred dollar piano, and with fifteen stars under his management, the establishment was in full blast. Ben remained in Parker's at this time three years. During that period, he met with innumerable incidents and adventures, only a part of which can here be narrated.