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him one of the less successful of confidence-men in town. It was the Napper's genius that suggested this be turned to their advantage, and that they play a drama in which Ned would be cast as the villain, and the Napper as the honest hero. He has now worked up an atrocious stage-American manner, which I am surprised to think would fool a child" (I bridled at this, but then subsided; after all, I had not committed myself to Holmes on the matter) "and uses it to great advantage. Had the game continued, those two mercantile gentlemen would certainly have found themselves a great deal poorer by morning, and yet completely unsuspicious of the honest-dealing young fellow they had enriched. For had he not, after all, detected the blatant cheat in their midst? Well, well, they have shot their bolt now, and I do not ex pect to be troubled with them again."

Chapter Four
    Two days at sea is enough to give one the feeling that he has lived that kind of life for a very long time, and will continue to do so for an indefinite period. Hour by hour, one becomes more attuned to the ways of the sea and more removed from those of the land. Relaxation is one important element of this feeling, and so is, I must confess, boredom. It was with a certain amount of pleasurable excitement, then, that both Holmes and I became aware of the smoking-concert being organized by the purser for the third night out. A Cunard purser must be qualified to fill most of the diplomatic or intelligence posts any government of fers, for the Pavonia 's seemed to be aware of the interests and capabilities of every First Class passen ger. On that afternoon, he approached Sherlock Holmes and invited him to participate.
    "After all, sir," he said, "your virtuosity on the violin is well-known, and I venture to say that you have your instrument with you."
    Holmes admitted both to his ability and to the pres ence of his fiddle, and made only the feeblest of at tempts to beg off performing.
    "I shall be glad of the chance to give it a proper tuning," he told me, his manner a good bit less than convincing. "Without a little exercise, it will doubtless be woefully slack from the sea air by the time we reach New York."
    "I dare say. The plain fact is, Holmes, that you are idle and restless, and want the chance to show off."
    "And you, Watson, have your nose out of joint because you were not asked to appear at the concert —I confess it."
    I considered this, and finally nodded my head. "Well . . . I don't suppose I should have cut much of a figure reciting 'The Charge of the Light Brigade,' which is about my only concert turn!"
    "Mr. Sherlock Holmes?" We turned and saw a tall man in his twenties crossing the deck toward us. "Say, could I talk to you about the concert this evening?"
    Though, to my ear, his accent was twin to that of the fraudulent Napper's, Holmes appeared to accept him as a genuine American, and was soon in amiable conversation with him.
    "You see, they've got me booked to sing some cow boy songs, things the range hands sing around the campfires, and I don't know's I'm so set on doing it solo. I hear you're going to be playing the fiddle just before me, and I wonder if you could kind of stay on and give me some kind of accompaniment."
    Holmes shook his head.
    "I pretend to some expertise on the violin, Mr.—"
    "Mix. First name, Thomas. Though nobody uses it in full, much."
    "—but having, many years ago, traveled in America and heard your country fiddlers, I know my limitations too well to try to compete with their spirited perfor mance. I shall look forward to hearing your songs. Many such, I believe, contain the history of notable crimes of the past—which touches on my professional interest. You were, then, yourself a cowboy?"
    Mix shrugged.
    "Have been. Got to know horses that way. Served in Cuba in 'ninety-eight, with the cavalry, then joined up with your army in South Africa."
    "You were with Kitchener and Roberts?" said I, excited to meet a participant in