When Ben anchored the “Floating Palace” at Pittsburg, he was well fixed in the matter of money. This, however, did not prevent him from endeavoring to add to his pile, which he did by patronizing that game commonly believed to have been named in honor of one of the kings of Egypt—faro. Every night, as regularly as the night came, he visited the bank, conducted by Tony and Johnny N——, and so good was his luck that he almost invariably went out of the place from thirty to forty dollars ahead.
Making his way later than usual one night toward Shapsbury Bridge he made the unpleasant discovery that the “Floating Palace” floated no longer. In other words, the boat had sunk. This put an end to the project of visiting the South, and Ben concluded to go back to Parker’s Landing.
The loss of the remarkable craft was quite in keeping with its latter history. It had been the scene of many revels, and had been brightened with laughter, music, and wild merriment. Its brief career ended as suddenly as that of some of the revelers themselves. The river became its resting place, as it has often become the last haven of many a tempest-tossed soul.
KITTY BOWERS.
CHAPTER XIV.
Return to Parker’s Landing—His three years’ Sojourn in that Town—Adventures and Incidents—Attempt to burn Ben’s House.
As intimated in the preceding chapter, Ben left Pittsburg after the sinking of the Floating Palace, and returned to Parker’s Landing.