specious story of his being so nearly related to the Sultan, and
succeeded in deceiving many. Of his ultimate fate nothing is known.




THE SELF-STYLED PRINCE OF MODENA.


In the beginning of the year 1748, a small French merchantman, which
was bound from Rochelle to Martinique, was so closely chased by the
British cruisers that the captain and crew were compelled to take to
their boat. By so doing they avoided the fate of the ship and cargo,
which fell a prey to the pursuers, and succeeded in effecting a safe
landing at Martinique. In their company was a solitary passenger--a
youth of eighteen or nineteen summers, whose dignified deportment and
finely-cut features betokened him of aristocratic lineage. His name,
as given by himself, was the Count de Tarnaud, and his father,
according to his own showing, was a field-marshal in the French
service; but the deference with which he was treated by his shipmates
seemed to suggest that his descent was even more illustrious, and his
dignity loftier than that to which he laid claim. He was unattended,
save by a sailor lad to whom he had become attached after his
embarkation. This youth, called Rhodez, treated him with the utmost
deference, and, while on an intermediate footing between friendship
and servitude, was careful never to display the slightest familiarity.

This strangely assorted couple had no sooner landed upon the island
than the _pseudo_ De Tarnaud asked to be directed to the house of one
of the leading inhabitants, and was referred to Duval Ferrol, an