cisco. It was then the place ahke for prince, pianist, and porter. The forests of masts sporting the flags of all nations astonished him; likewise the bustle of business and the confusion of tongues that greeted his ears on landino;, but his enthusiasm cooled somewhat when on seeking lodgings he was shown a cloth-lined closet of a bedroom at six dollars a day.
"Never mind," thought he, "is it not something to be the pioneer pianist in these parts ? " A knock interrupted his meditations.
" Do not enter," cried Herz. Nevertheless, the door opened, and a slight young man with a fair complexion, long hair, earnest manner, and German accent stood at the entrance.
" Is this the celebrated Heinrich Herz," asked the visitor.
"I am he," replied the pianist, "and if you will come in, you must first permit me to go out, as the room will not hold two."
" I come, sir, on purpose to take you from it; to beg of you to accept a room in my house." " Ah ! you are a hotel keeper." " No, sir, I am a pianist."
" Pianist," cried Herz, thunderstruck at finding a brother artist before him in the mingled mudflats and sandhills of that town of tents and board shanties planted on a tongue of land at the very outer verge of the earth's confines. " How long have you been here ? "
" A year. When I arrived there were but fourteen huts; but I found an Italian who had a piano occupying one of them and giving lessons and concerts. One of his pupils, taking exceptions to his method of training, murdered him, and I inherited his piano and his patrons. I have bought me a house and shall be the happiest of men if Herr Heinrich Herz will accept my hospitality." The invitation was accepted as cordially as it was given. The home was perched on stilts under the brow of a steep hill, and the great
