“That’s an armed galleon,” said Paul.

“She’s a big ship an’ she’s got lots o’ men on her,” said Shif’less Sol, “but I wouldn’t trade our gall-yun fur her.”

“No, our boat suits us best,” said Henry.

They saw about them on the river many small craft like their own, ships, boats, canoes, barges, dug-outs, and other kinds, manned by white men, red men, yellow men, and brown men.  They heard strange cries in foreign tongues, and now and then the sound of a trumpet blown at one of the forts in the palisaded wall.  Officers in brilliant uniforms appeared on the levee.

The eyes of Long Jim Hart opened wider and wider.

“It shorely is a big town,” he said.  “Sol, I’d been thinkin’ that you an’ Paul wuz tellin’ a good deal that ain’t, but I reckon it’s the truth.  The world has a lot more people than I thought it had.  I’m pow’ful glad I came.”

They turned “The Galleon” toward the levee, and an officer in a boat pulled by four uniformed oarsmen hailed them in Spanish, which none of them understood.

“Must be a harbor master or something of that kind,” said Henry.

They brought “The Galleon” to a stop, and the other boat came alongside.  The officer in the bow was a Catalan, richly dressed, and small, but with a thin, alert face.  He looked at the five with as much curiosity as they looked at him.  Secretly he admired their splendid shoulders and chests, and their obvious strength.  He was acute enough, too, to guess whence they came.  Lieutenant Diego Bernal had not been two years in New Orleans for nothing.

“You come from Kaintock?” he said in fair and not unfriendly English.

“Yes,” replied Henry, “we are all the way from Kentucky, and we have an important message for the Governor General, Bernardo Galvez.  Can you tell us how to reach him?”

Lieutenant Diego Bernal glanced at “The Galleon,” which was obviously of Spanish build, but he was a shrewd officer who would make his way in the world and he knew that many strange things passed inspection in this great Franco-Spanish metropolis of New Orleans.

“His Excellency, the Governor General,” he replied, “is now at his house at the corner of Toulouse street and Rue de la Levee, but it is too late for you to see him to-day.  To-morrow morning you may secure audience with him if you have the important message that you say.”

The five disregarded the ironical tone in his voice.  They were good enough judges of character to surmise that Lieutenant Diego Bernal, whose name and career were unknown to them, did not care a particle how they had come into possession of the boat which was so obviously of Spanish build.  There was no advantage to him in asking too many questions, and he calmly waved them to a landing.

They pulled in and tied their boat to the levee, while men and women, white, yellow, brown, and black, and all the colors between, stood about and looked at the giants from Kaintock, where people were reported to be of such extraordinary size and ferocity, and where they certainly were, as their own eyes could tell them, of uncommon height and strength, even boys such as they saw Henry and Paul to be.