"Don't be down-hearted, anyway," said I; "distance is nothing here: we think no more of a hundred miles than you do in Ireland of a walk before breakfast. If it's any comfort to you, I'm going the same way myself." This very consolatory assurance, which I learned then for the first time also, did not appear to give the full confidence I expected, for Joe made no answer, but, with head dropped and clasped hands, continued to mutter some words in Irish that, so far as sound went, had not the "clink" of blessings.
"He knows Dan," said the old man to his son, in a whisper which, low as it was, my quick ears detected.
"What does he know about him?" exclaimed the son, savagely; for the memory of one deception was too strong upon him to make him lightly credulous.
"I knew a very smart young man,--a very promising young fellow indeed,--at New Orleans," said I, "of the name you speak of,--Dan Cullinane."
"What part of Ireland did he come from?" asked Joe.
"The man I mean was from Clare, somewhere in the neighborhood of Ennis."
"Whisht!" said the son, whose caution was not so easily satisfied; and, turning to me, added, "What was he by trade?"
"He was a shoemaker, and an excellent one,--indeed, I've no hesitation in saying, one of the best in New Orleans."
Here was a puzzler; for, as my reader knows, I was at the end of my information, and had not the slightest knowledge of New Orleans or its localities. The little scrap of newspaper I had picked up on Anticosti was the only thing having any reference to that city I ever possessed in my life. But, true to my theory to let nothing go to loss, I remembered this now, and, with an easy confidence, said, "I cannot recall the street, but it is just as you turn out of the street where the 'Picayune' newspaper-office stands."
"Right!--all right, by the father of Moses!" cried Joe, stretching out a brawny hand, and shaking mine with the cordiality of friendship. Then, stepping forward to where the rest of the party were walking, with two most loquacious guides, he said, "Molly! here's a boy knows Dan! Biddy! come here, and hear about Dan!"
Two young girls, in long cloth cloaks, turned hastily round, and drew near, as they exclaimed in a breath, "Oh, tell us about Dan, sir!"