“Welcome to Napoleon, gentlemen, welcome.  I am proud to see you here Mr. Thompson.  You are, looking well Mr. Sterling.  This is the country, sir.  Right glad to see you Mr. Brierly.  You got that basket of champagne?  No?  Those blasted river thieves!  I’ll never send anything more by ’em.  The best brand, Roederer.  The last I had in my cellar, from a lot sent me by Sir George Gore—­took him out on a buffalo hunt, when he visited our, country.  Is always sending me some trifle.  You haven’t looked about any yet, gentlemen?  It’s in the rough yet, in the rough.  Those buildings will all have to come down.  That’s the place for the public square, Court House, hotels, churches, jail—­all that sort of thing.  About where we stand, the deepo.  How does that strike your engineering eye, Mr. Thompson?  Down yonder the business streets, running to the wharves.  The University up there, on rising ground, sightly place, see the river for miles.  That’s Columbus river, only forty-nine miles to the Missouri.  You see what it is, placid, steady, no current to interfere with navigation, wants widening in places and dredging, dredge out the harbor and raise a levee in front of the town; made by nature on purpose for a mart.  Look at all this country, not another building within ten miles, no other navigable stream, lay of the land points right here; hemp, tobacco, corn, must come here.  The railroad will do it, Napoleon won’t know itself in a year.”

“Don’t now evidently,” said Philip aside to Harry.  “Have you breakfasted Colonel?”

“Hastily.  Cup of coffee.  Can’t trust any coffee I don’t import myself.  But I put up a basket of provisions,—­wife would put in a few delicacies, women always will, and a half dozen of that Burgundy, I was telling you of Mr. Briefly.  By the way, you never got to dine with me.”  And the Colonel strode away to the wagon and looked under the seat for the basket.

Apparently it was not there.  For the Colonel raised up the flap, looked in front and behind, and then exclaimed,

“Confound it.  That comes of not doing a thing yourself.  I trusted to the women folks to set that basket in the wagon, and it ain’t there.”

The camp cook speedily prepared a savory breakfast for the Colonel, broiled chicken, eggs, corn-bread, and coffee, to which he did ample justice, and topped off with a drop of Old Bourbon, from Mr. Thompson’s private store, a brand which he said he knew well, he should think it came from his own sideboard.

While the engineer corps went to the field, to run back a couple of miles and ascertain, approximately, if a road could ever get down to the Landing, and to sight ahead across the Run, and see if it could ever get out again, Col.  Sellers and Harry sat down and began to roughly map out the city of Napoleon on a large piece of drawing paper.

“I’ve got the refusal of a mile square here,” said the Colonel, “in our names, for a year, with a quarter interest reserved for the four owners.”