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BOSIOH ^Yil\1.UfS .^S'i^H^^ftwAVCo. 
 
TALES 
 
 FOB 
 
 THE MARINES. 
 
 
 BY 
 
 HARRY GRINGO, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LOS GRINGOS." 
 
 « Nought but one Ions tale was left 
 In that once peaceful dwelling, 
 And a very toueh one, too, it was, 
 The same that I've been telling." 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, & COMPANY. 
 
 NEW YORK: J. C. DERBY. 
 18 5 5. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts 
 
 STEREOTYPED AT THE 
 BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 
 
 t » t t < 
 
 * t c « . ' « ' * ' 
 
z 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 As far back as the reign of old Canute the 
 Dane, and King Alfred of Britain, when navies 
 were first built, down to the present time, there 
 has existed a popular superstition, that every 
 item of a romantic or intellectual complexion 
 which happens on shipboard is immediately com- 
 municated to the Marines. 
 
 It would be preposterous in any mild- 
 mannered mariner of this century to gainsay so 
 time-hallowed a tradition ; and under the con- 
 viction that the Anglo-Saxon world on land 
 are somewhat curiously inclined to know what 
 really is told to the Marines, I have employed 
 
 A •> rr -;• .-■ i > 
 
 Oty 
 
 / I 
 
 u 
 
4 r' * .** f ! f ;*•.'!■ * * > R E'F ACE. 
 
 — as I trust the reader will admit after a careful 
 perusal of these Tales — considerable labor and 
 research in preparing the only authentic records 
 of the kind that have yet appeared in print. 
 
 HARRY GRINGO. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 '' Now for the pirates, uncle," said Fred to the Lieu- 
 tenant, as the boy planted both elbows on the table, and 
 looked up into his relative's face with an earnest gaze ; 
 " let us have the yarn you promised about the pirates ; 
 the baby is swinging in her little cot, and aunty has 
 declared she won't make fun of the story ; so begin, 
 uncle, do ! " 
 
 The Lieutenant could not, apparently, resist the eager 
 looks which complimented him through the youngster's 
 eyes ; and so, while the ladies were busy sewing for a 
 small Dorcas Society, he placed an unlighted cheroot 
 between his incisors, and began as follows : — 
 
 I intend to tell you of my first cruise in the Juniata ; 
 for the incidents connected with it made a very vivid 
 impression upon me at the time, which has never yet 
 been effaced. It is now considerably more than a 
 score of years, my child, when I was scarcely bigger 
 1* (5) 
 
6 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 than you, tliat I left scliool. '^ Ran away, you mean," 
 said a lady near, without, however, looking up from her 
 work upon a wee flannel pea-jacket intended for a ten 
 pound baby. Granted, smiled the Lieutenant, but it 
 was an excusable desertion, as you shall hear. The 
 facts are these : that I was placed under the parental 
 culture of a sanctimonious preacher, the Rev. Mr. Pyrus 
 Eelpie, who had his establishment away off in the 
 provinces, in shape of a boarding school, where the 
 only rewards of merit were, a ride on a spavined little 
 pony on Saturdays, and a cold wedge of apple pie on 
 Sundays. 
 
 JFor some reason which I have not to this day been 
 able to divine, I never had but one ride on that misera- 
 ble pony ; when, whether I went too far or too fast I 
 cannot remember, but the poor beast went dead lame, 
 and was confined to the stable for many weeks after- 
 wards — an instance of perversity on his part which 
 was the cause of extreme dissatisfaction to all the good 
 boys, myself included, of the institution. As for the 
 cold pie, I never had so much as even a bite, and was 
 forced to put up with the usual commons — a peculiarly 
 indigestible mass of food, of the consistency of bill 
 stickers' paste, called by the good Pyrus minnit puddin', 
 but by his students glazing putty, because it stuck pains 
 in their insides. 
 
 Owing to the unfortunate sagacity and fatigue of the 
 pony, I was, with several other lads, deprived of the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 7 
 
 pleasure of witnessing a grand display of fireworks, 
 prepared by the chemical class, and which were to be 
 let off on a certain festival, to delight and astonish the 
 townspeople. The evening previous, however, to this 
 display, with the assistance of a bosom friend, who, I 
 regret to add, was many years afterwards hung, we con- 
 trived to remove, for our private gratification in their 
 going off, a half barrel filled with Roman candles, Cath- 
 arine wheels, rockets, lights, and other pyrotechny, 
 which had been carefully prepared, and stored in the 
 cellars beneath the laboratory. 
 
 The night selected for the grand show, by our com- 
 rades and the worthy burghers, chanced unfortunately to 
 pour with rain, and their fireworks could not be induced 
 to burn. Our own little store, however, performed 
 admirably, and, indeed, rather more brilliantly than 
 we really intended they should. To guard them from 
 the dampness, we had rolled the barrel under a great 
 square recitation room, which rested on low posts, about 
 four feet from the ground, like a house on stilts ; the 
 space beneath being devoted to large broods of poultry, 
 which were at maturity devoured, we believed, at the 
 excellent Eelpie's private board. While our fellow- 
 students, headed by the principal and his assistants, were 
 striving unavailingly to coax their combustibles to fly 
 up into the sky, we merely threw two or three pounds 
 of loose powder into our barrel, made a slow match of 
 damp tow, applied a spark, and being tolerably fleet of 
 
8 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 foot, travelled to a safe distance before the explosion 
 took place. 
 
 There was not mucli of a report certainly ; but though 
 in my time it has been my fate to behold the battle of 
 Navarino, the taking of Amoy, the bombardment of 
 Algiers, and other gorgeous spectacles of the sort, yet ^ 
 on this occasion the brilliant mixture of sparks and 
 flames, the bursting of rockets, the whizzing wheels 
 and Bengal lights, added to the orchestral accompani- 
 ment of the startled cackling geese and fowls, positively 
 " beggars description." 
 
 I learned afterwards that the building itself was left 
 in a very lickety condition, and was not considered a • 
 safe habitation for the good boys until the underpinning 
 had been strengthened. However, long before the 
 alarmed Pyrus had returned to his classic abode, my 
 companion and I had skipped over many a rood, and 
 were racing away, with light hearts and very much 
 lighter pockets. We went on at a round trot for the 
 remainder of the night, and towards morning, wet and 
 weary, we took shelter in a barn, where, after a couple 
 of hours' sleep, we resumed our journey. We partook 
 of gingerbread for breakfast, purchased at an apple 
 stand in a village on our way, and then on we journeyed. 
 Towards noon we stopped, and seating ourselves on a 
 rail fence at the road side, began to discuss our future 
 prospects. " I'm going to sea," said my companion. 
 " And so will I ; but where shall we go now ? " I added. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 9 
 
 " 0, leave that to me/' said lie ; but just at that mo- 
 ment he cast his eyes up the road, and roared out, 
 '* Why, there's the blazed-face mare comin' like ven- 
 geance, with old Eelpie inside the gig ; now, don't let 
 him catch us." 
 
 For myself, I looked upon escape as next to impos- 
 sible ; for my friend threw a somersault over the fence, 
 and plunging into an open field with a rolling country 
 beyond, left me to my fate. I resolved, however, to 
 make an effort to create a diversion by trying my luck 
 on the opposite side of the road ; so just as the excited 
 Pyrus came up abreast of me I had crawled through 
 the fence, and gained a small patch of forest trees be- 
 yond. Here I gave a glance back, and saw our grieved 
 governor spring out of his vehicle, and hesitating an 
 instant, as if undecided which bird to pounce upon first, 
 and very naturally thinking, perhaps, that a short-legged 
 little runt of a boy like me could be overhauled at 
 pleasure, he made his own sticking plaster looking 
 pedestals, encased as they were in shiny bombazine, 
 move after the nimble heels of my agile companion. 
 
 I watched the chase with intense interest for some 
 minutes, until I saw my ill-fated friend seized by the 
 nape of the neck, when I turned my thoughts to my own 
 dismal plight. Running a race with the schoolmastei, 
 tired as I felt, was out of the question ; and I was on the 
 point of surrendering with the best grace possible, when 
 my eye caught sight of the gig standing in the middle 
 
10 TALES FOR THE MAR1NE3. 
 
 of the road. '- Ah, ha ! " thought I ; '^ now comes my 
 turn." In a moment I was seated within the comfortably 
 stuflfed vehicle, had taken the ribbons, and with a vigor- 
 ous touch of the whip, off I went at a full gallop. 
 
 I had only time to observe my pursuer standing on 
 the other side of the enclosure, with his prize in his 
 grasp, but looking the very personification of horror and 
 amazement. 
 
 " Stop, you thief ! " he gaspingly shrieked, as I flew 
 by ; but I heeded him not ; and this was the last glimpse 
 I ever was blessed with of the Kev. Pyrus Eelpie. I 
 went on for many miles at a slapping pace, until, find- 
 ing the mare was a little blown, and that I was approach- 
 ing a large town, I got down, turned her head in the 
 direction I had come, slipped off the bridle, and with 
 one swinging lash over the blazed-nose's flanks, I let 
 her go. 
 
 I presumed that the gig would be dashed into tooth- 
 picks in about the space of five minutes, as indeed 
 it was in less ; and if I remember aright, said the 
 Lieutenant, elevating his voice into the ear of an elderly 
 lady of the party, it was charged in the bill with the 
 fireworks ! 
 
 The course was now all clear before me, continued 
 the narrator, and by night I reached one of our noble 
 rivers, and embarked in a little steamer. The next day, 
 without sixpence in my pocket, I was in New York ; 
 but, nevertheless, I persuaded the skipper of a sailing 
 
I 
 
 TALES FOR THE MARIXE3. 11 
 
 packet to give me a passage to the Chesapeake. From 
 this skipper, too, I was taught my first lesson in practical 
 navigation ; for once on the voyage, about meridian, I 
 happened to take his quadrant off the rail, to discover 
 what he could possibly see inside of it, of such extraor- 
 dinary interest, for an hour each day. I had no sooner 
 raised it to my ovm vision, than the skipper shouted 
 out, "Drop that pig yoke, you infernal imp." His harsh 
 summons so startled me, that I dropped his instrument 
 like a hot copper, only it went overboard ! That I be- 
 lieve was charged in another bill, though the skipper 
 seemed inclined to drop me into the sea in search of his 
 quadrant, and thus balance and cancel the account. 
 
 I was, however, in the end safely restored to my good 
 old grandfather's care, who enjoyed my adventures, 
 gave me a boat and fowling piece, and intrusted me to 
 the charge of a colored man on the estate, named Kit 
 Dolphin. Kit had been born and bred in the family, 
 and had, as he always boasted, " minded " my father. 
 All the denizens of the plantation loved and respected 
 Christopher, for he was as brave and sagacious as an 
 elephant, and withal as kind and gentle as a woman. 
 In the war of 1812, Kit had followed my father to sea ; 
 and in one of the bloodiest actions, he had been wounded 
 by a bursting fuse, which had left a nearly white mark, 
 in a broad stripe from the lower part of his cheek, 
 straight up across the eye and forehead. In person Kit 
 was a very Atlas in muscle ; and though scarcely above 
 
12 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the ordinary height, his heavy, square shoulders and 
 deep chest, with arms woven like the wire of a suspen- 
 sion bridge, layer upon layer, of hard, seasoned thews 
 and sinews, made him more than a match for any two 
 men you would meet in a week. Added to this pro- 
 digious strength, he was a man of great and tried en- 
 durance and singular activity, whether afloat or on 
 shore. 
 
 But still he was the best and kindest creature in 
 existence, and his smile, lighted up by the comical white 
 seam in his face, made us shout with merriment when- 
 ever we met him. He was born a slave, but my father 
 had given him his freedom out of love for his early 
 playmate ; and although Kit at times would ramble away 
 for a few months, on short voyages to the West Indies, 
 or along our own coast, still he always returned to the 
 land where he was reared. Here he had a freehold of 
 a small house and bit of land resting on an arm of the 
 bay, where he was universally acknowledged as the king 
 of the seine and superlntendent-in-chief of all the boats, 
 oyster beds, and fishing spots pertaining to the planta- 
 tion. 
 
 The early affection which he had felt for my father 
 he transferred to me ; and many's the hour the faithful 
 black has held me in his arms, and related to me, with 
 wonderful powers of description, the scenes he had wit- 
 nessed " beyond seas ; " and through all my wayward- 
 ness and impatience of restraint, he never lost his rare 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 13 
 
 good humor, or chided me witli an unkiud word. Once, 
 however, I remember that when I had proved fractious " 
 beyond all reasonable measure, the cautious Christopher 
 had devised the happy expedient of curbing my childish 
 rambles, by digging a hole in the sandy flats of the sea 
 beach, and there immersing me up to the armpits, while 
 he pursued his search for soft crabs. 
 
 My grandfather had been, until far advanced in life, 
 a capital sportsman both in the chase and with the gun. 
 Kit had been a pupil of his master in these sports, and 
 by him I was taught to handle the fowling piece and 
 pistol, and dash through a pine forest on a thorough- 
 bred horse without a thought of accident. 
 
 Here I led a very delightful existence for more than 
 a year, paddling about the lagoons, shooting game, sail- 
 ing, hunting, and fishing, until one unlucky morning I 
 chanced to deliver a full charge of fine shot into the 
 breeches of a French gentleman, who had taken the 
 liberty of landing from a vessel in the bay, and without 
 leave or license was exercising his skill upon the wood- 
 cock in a small marsh which I had especially set aside for 
 my own amusement. The French gentleman, thereupon, 
 raised such a noise and commotion that it even attracted 
 the attention of my grandfather, who had very recently de- 
 clared his disapprobation of previous frolicsome exploits, 
 by intimating, in good set terms, that he " wished the 
 boy was with the devil, and that he had ten thousand 
 dollars for him." After the Frenchman had been heard, 
 2 
 
-14 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 pacified^ and carried off to his vessel, with the shot 
 carefully picked out of his breeches and his wounds 
 decently dressed, the vessel fortunately sailing that 
 afternoon for Bordeaux, my turn came, and Kit not 
 being near to shield or excuse me, in furtherance of the 
 benevolent wish expressed by my grandfather, it was 
 determined that I should be, as Kit expressed it, 
 " hustled " off to sea. 
 
 The navy was the branch of the profession chosen. 
 An appointment as midshipman was soon procured 
 through the influence of a noble-hearted relative in 
 power, and within a month I was hurried away to a 
 dock yard, where until a vessel was ready, I was ordered 
 to attend the naval school. 
 
 There was a large class of old midshipmen at this 
 embryo college, from whom, being a boy of considera- 
 ble observation, I picked up a great many of the first 
 rudiments of knowledge requisite for the profession I 
 was about to embark in ; but in the way of books^ I am 
 sorry to add, I gave very little heed to the drunken and 
 corrupt teacher or his lessons or threats. My chief 
 delight was, with two or three other sucklings of sailors, 
 in rolling round shot about the lower decks of a frigate 
 on the stocks, until the master carpenter complained of 
 us, and we were pulled up one morning by the post 
 captain of the dock yard. He was a gentleman of the 
 Benbow stamp, with a nose as red as a comet, and a 
 voice like a rusty cable grating out of a hawsehole. 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MAEINES. 15 
 
 " Halloo ! " he said in a base strong enougli to crack 
 a wine glass — " halloo ! so you've been smashing the 
 bulkheads of the Sabine, have ye ? and you don't larn 
 your lessons ; nor," he added, with an awful thunder, 
 " nor go to chapel either, you dam little wharf rats ! 
 I've written to the Hon. Soketary of the Xavy to send 
 you off to sea; so mizzle." As we turned to fly, I 
 heard him growl out to an attendant at his office door, 
 " William, what did my wife say when I sent you for 
 the prayer book ? " " Why, sir, she says there ain't a 
 prayer book in the house." "What!" he bellowed; 
 *' then tell her to send me a Bible, — there's one of 
 them, I know, as big as the dining room table, — for 
 I'm a-going to bury a marine." These were the last 
 words I ever heard the old sea dog utter ; and he died 
 soon after of apoplexy, while in a suppressed passion at 
 his chaplain for reading from the pulpit a proclamation 
 from the bishop without permission. At his death, 
 however, it was found that he had formally debased and 
 bequeathed the navy yard, shipping, and other public 
 property, to his natural heirs, under the mistaken belief, 
 no doubt, that after his long stewardship the property 
 rightfully belonged to him. 
 
 The orders for sea service soon came, recommended 
 as they were by so powerful an advocate ; and with as 
 nice a kit as ever a reefer had I proceeded to join my 
 ship. Speaking of kits, said the Lieutenant, turning to 
 his nephew, it's the most ill-judged thing in the world 
 
16 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 to carry too much with one to sea, as it is on the other 
 hand not to take enough. Now, in my time I've seen 
 boys carry chests as big as piano-fortes, crammed with 
 every useless article imaginable, from a plum cake to 
 long silk stockings ; and then again I've known lads 
 with only a couple of shirts, which they were obliged 
 of course to put on, watch and watch, who would have 
 got on better with a few more. 
 
 On my journey to the seaport where the ship to 
 which I was attached was fitting, I fell in company with 
 a mate, as noble and handsome a fellow as ever lived, 
 named Jack Gracieux. We have sailed many a year 
 together since, and shared many a sight of fun and 
 gravity which are now but dimly remembered ; but I 
 never shall forget the impression he made upon me on 
 the occasion of our first introduction. 
 
 The vessel we joined was a brand new corvette, scarcely 
 a month off the ways. Her battery was composed 
 of twenty thirty-two pounder medium guns, and two 
 beautiful long eighteens forward. She was, at the time 
 I speak of, supposed to combine the two requisites of a 
 ship of war of her class — space and speed. She had a 
 sharp entrance, a flat floor, with great beam, and a run 
 as fine as a needle abaft. Above the water line she 
 rested lightly with a full swell from the fore chains to 
 her taffrail, where she rounded ofl" in a graceful curve, 
 like the bill of a wild duck. Above she had the legs 
 and arms of a giant ; more than one not acquainted with 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 17 
 
 the qualities of the ship would suppose she could stand 
 up to ; but with seventeen feet hold of the water be- 
 low, it was rare to fall in with the breeze to make her 
 heel over beyond her bearings. Her immense beam, 
 too, gave great spread to the standing rigging, and the 
 masts could bear their canvas without complaining. 
 Such was the Juniata ! 
 
 I pass over the fitting out, during which period of 
 some weeks we were messed on board the receiving 
 hulk, where an old mate, Jo Powers by name, ca- 
 tered, as it were, forcibly for us. He made an invari- 
 able rule to lug in a charge for crockery every week, 
 and always gave secret instructions to the steward to 
 pause at his wife's lodgings in the town, and let her 
 have a shy at the market baskets. This old rascal was 
 a very sharp fellow of his kind in those days, when 
 even post captains did not consider it beneath their 
 dignity to steal slush or timber from the public stores 
 intrusted to their keeping ; but now I believe the race 
 has died out of the service, both morally and physically. 
 The age of our purveyor on board the hulk, Jo Powers, 
 was enveloped in the mists of the past ; so was his 
 birthplace. Of the former we knew, from contempora- 
 neous history, that he had served in the patriot service 
 in '21, where he did a little marauding in the Pacific ; 
 but whether he was Russ, Swede, Saxon, or Yankee, no 
 traditions were handed down to us. 
 
 When the dock yard men had completed their mission 
 
 Q * 
 
18 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 on board the corvette, and she had been stored and 
 watered, we were, with the crew, transferred from the 
 guardship and hauled out into the stream, where the 
 powder was received and all preparations made for sea. 
 Though the crew were rather short-handed, we were, by 
 contrast, over-manned with reefers. The accommoda- 
 tions were as roomy as the internal economy of the ship 
 would admit, but the fault lay in crowding too many 
 • midshipmen into the allotted space — more, in fact, than 
 were required for the duties of the corvette. I think 
 we numbered five and twenty, all told, packed into the 
 square berths, with narrow upright little lockers for our 
 traps, ranged around the sides and bulkheads. Of all 
 these my old messmates, and some twenty more who 
 entered the service when I did, there are scarcely a ba- 
 ker's dozen left. Dissipation and disease carried off the 
 greater part, while crime and violent deaths swept away 
 others. A few disappeared entirely, and may have been 
 
 ate by cannibals ; 
 
 Or else, beyond the seas, 
 
 Were scraped to death by oyster shells 
 
 Among the Caribbees." 
 
 Alas ! poor fellows, it was a sweepstakes race for all comers. 
 When the final preparations were made, and the 
 instructions came, the Juniata unmoored, got in her 
 boats, the booms alongside, and with a single anchor 
 under foot, she lay restlessly off the Castle, in readi- 
 
TALES FOR THE MAKINES. 19 
 
 ness to sail with the first of the ebb tide on the 
 morrow. 
 
 I remember as if it were yesterday how your kind 
 grandmother there, who had come to see me off, sat beside 
 me at my last meal on shore ; how the ripe strawberries 
 which she urged me to eat were made bitter by her 
 tears^ for her heart was full, as was that of her child, 
 and with one long, convulsive clasp to her bosom, — 
 " Be a good boy, Harry ; " " Good by, dear mother," — 
 I turned and left. You too, Fred, will treasure up 
 recollections such as these, though you may wonder, after 
 thirty years of roving, why you should. 
 
 I believe I have not yet mentioned that, to my great 
 delight, my faithful ally, old Kit Dolphin, had come on 
 to the port, and regularly enlisted for the cruise in the 
 corvette ; and I may add that he soon won the good will 
 of all on board. Before many weeks, owing to his 
 skill as a seaman, he was made second captain of the 
 forecastle. There, on every clear night, he had an eager 
 audience around him, listening to his graphic yarns, 
 or dancing the double shuffle to the music of his 
 Virginia jigs played on a cornstalk fiddle. Amid all 
 his duties, too, he managed to take care of my ham- 
 mock, and have an eye to my clothes, whenever they 
 needed a stitch, which was not seldom. 
 
 The morning after I had wiped away the tears which 
 had wet my cheeks on parting from your grandmother, 
 the cornet was flying from the fore of the Juniata, 
 
20 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the anchor was tripped, and with the new sails spread 
 to the yards, the ship for the first time felt their impulse, 
 and obeying her helm, moved rapidly down the beauti- 
 ful bay. There was a fleet of yachts and pilot boats, 
 who eased off their sheets to try our rate, as we dashed 
 through the Narrows ; but before we had rounded the 
 Hook, they had hauled their wind, being satisfied, per- 
 haps, that the corvette's heels were as long and nimble 
 as their own. As the day waned, the high hills of 
 Neversink fell in a bluish haze astern of us ; and when 
 the sun sank like a globe of fire in the west, there was 
 nought but sea and sky between my sad and aching gaze 
 and the land of my birth. 
 
 For some days after sailing, the wind proved unfavor- 
 able, and we beat up on the inner edge of the Gulf 
 Stream until we could get a fair start to cross it. I was 
 stationed on the forecastle in the watch with my friend 
 Jack Gracieux ; and although I was sufliciently verdant, 
 I soon discovered that there were others in that acropolis 
 of the ship who were no wiser than myself. There was 
 one incorrigible greenhorn, fresh from Vermont, who 
 was a source of unfailing mirth ; in which he, however, 
 joined with as much good humor as the rest of us. 
 One morning, as we were beating past the sandy hills 
 of the Elizabeth Islands, he was perched on the lee cat- 
 head, holding his head in both hands and groaning in 
 spirit, when " Ready about ! " sang out the lieutenant 
 of the watch ; and the quick chirrups of the boatswain 'sf 
 
« TALES FOR THE MARINES. 21 
 
 m 
 
 mates piped, " Eeady ! ready ! " " Helm's a-lee ! " came 
 from the trumpet as the ship came up in the wind ; and 
 as the rolling sound of the whistles followed to ^' rise the 
 head sheets," and no one moved to let them go, the cap- 
 tain of the forecastle cried out in a hoarse voice, " Let 
 go that jib sheet, will ye ? " The disconsolate youth, 
 supposing himself to be the one addressed, yelled out 
 in reply, " I ain't a-touchin' on it ; why can't you let a 
 feller be ! " This speech created one universal roar 
 around the deck ; but the seasick Verm outer resumed 
 the hold on his head again, and never spoke until the 
 ship had been tacked. Then, as she gathered way and 
 the yards braced up, the officer again sang out through 
 the trumpet, " Haul the sheets flat aft, and trim her 
 sharp." ^^ Wall! I swow," exclaimed the youth, as he 
 sprang up and shook his fist, "if that chap with the 
 eppilettes ever talked that way to my gal, I'd spile his 
 face in no time ! " " Come here, lad," said a hard- 
 featured old whaler, in a kindly tone, in an attempt to 
 draw off the gibes of the sailors, who were laughing 
 near ; " come here, boy ; sit by me, and tell me where 
 you hail from, and what's the trouble." " Wall," said 
 the person addressed, " you sea-goin' folks hain't got no 
 feelin', no how ! I come from hum, and I wish to all 
 fired smash I was back agin, doin' chores about the 
 house, or hazin' round with Charity Bunker and the 
 rest o' the gals at a squantum, instead of aboard 
 this busted big boat, and livin' down there in them 
 
22 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 holes of decks, and sleepin' wltli my heels up amongst 
 the logs ; and I jist like a tarnation fool come to sea to 
 see sights ; but I mout as well be in an oyster cellar, 
 with the winders shet, for all the sights I'll ever see ! " 
 He bolted this speech out like a soliloquy, in a whine 
 doleful enough to bring tears to one's eyes. 
 
 As he concluded, however, there was a sly twinkle in 
 the corners of the green boy's little eyes, while he in- 
 dulged the sailors with these painful experiences, which 
 might have indicated that he was not altogether so ver- 
 dant as many supposed him to be. In fact, the old 
 whaler screwed his lower jaw about considerably in the 
 process of masticating his tobacco, and rather hinted to 
 one or two of his intimate friends that *' that air boy was 
 a liar, and no mistake ; " but he continued in a louder 
 key, with, " Shipmets, / was born and bred myself on 
 the back of Cape Cod ; and when I was a little sucker, 
 like that eel boy on the anchor stock there, I used, when 
 the season for mackerel was over, to sow beach grass all 
 over the land, so as to keep the sand hills from blowing 
 away ; and the government gin the money, too, to pay 
 for the seed. In them days, I made a few vyges in the 
 summer months, for rekeation, to Greenland, aboard a 
 pink-starned schooner, arter seals ; and once, by way 
 of speculation, I brought back some big dogs from 
 them regions. But the climate hereabouts didn't seem 
 to agree with them, for though we kept 'em all the time 
 down in an icehouse, the animals died from heat, or 
 want of exposure p'haps." 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 23 
 
 *' Very sagacious creeters," chimed in an old salt, 
 who was carefully laying up nettles for his hammock 
 clews • " I know'd a dog once as would tell the time 
 "' day by the skipper's nose, and would drink grog too 
 like a Christian." 
 
 " Bless ye," again broke out the gaunt, bony fisherman, 
 " dogs isn't a circumstance to lobsters for sagaciousness ! 
 "Why, mateys, I was on the pint of tellin' you, that after my 
 trip to Greenland and the coast of Labrador, the old people 
 thought I had- 'bout sowed my wild oats." " I thought 
 you said grass," twanged in the young mountaineer ; 
 but the whaler,, without deigning a glance at the cub, 
 went on. " And I settled down stiddy at the lobster 
 business. Nat Pochick and me was 'prentices in a 
 smack for better nor five years, in war times too, until 
 our time was out, when we bought the old smack at a 
 bargain, and drove a lively trade in the same business. 
 We used to take the lobsters, where the best on 'em 
 comes from, along the moniment shore, down about 
 Plymouth, and we ran 'em through the Vineyard Sound 
 to York, by way of Montauk. Well, one day, when we 
 had the well of the schooner as full as ever it could stick 
 with claws and feelers, like darned fools we tried to shorten 
 the distance by runnin' outside of Nantucket ; but jest as 
 we got off Skonset, what should we see but the old Ram- 
 illies seventy -four, the admiral's ship, a-hidin' under Tom 
 Nevers' Head ; and in less than a minute an eighteen 
 pound shot come spinnin' across our bows, and two big 
 
24 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 double-banked boats was making the water white as 
 they pulled towards us. "VVe know'd, as well as could 
 be, that them Britishers didn't want the old smack, nor 
 care a snap for the lobsters ; but we did believe sartin' 
 that they wouldn't mind clappin' hold on two sich likely 
 chaps as my partner and me, to sarve under the king's 
 flag. So we up helm and ran the smack and the cargo 
 slap on to the Old Man's Shoal ; but jest afore she struck 
 we jumped into the yawl, and paddled to the beach, 
 where we saved being captured. Well, the smack was 
 knocked into splinters by the breakers in less than an 
 hour. Now, my hearties," said the whaler, as he paused 
 and gazed around the group of listeners, ^^ every blessid 
 one of them lobsters went back to the ground where 
 they was took, as much as a hundred miles from the 
 reef where the old craft was wracked ! and there's great 
 Black Dan, of Marshfield, will tell ye the same ; for ye 
 must bear in mind, that every fisherman has his partik- 
 lar shaped pegs to chock the claws of the lobsters with, 
 and every one of our lobsters was kitched agin with our 
 'dentical pegs in 'em ! This, boys, was the last trip as 
 ever we made in that trade, though Nat Pochick, out of 
 fondness for the things, established himself on the old 
 Boston bridge, where he is to this day, a-bilin', may be, 
 five or six thousand lobsters of a mornin', which he 
 sells off like hot cakes in the arternoons." 
 
 *^ Tack ship " was the order again from the quarter 
 deck, and the fisherman went to his station. That evening 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 25 
 
 the wind veered fair, and we struck into the Gulf Stream, 
 where, as every one else does, if they remain there long 
 enough, we caught a stiff gale, which lasted until we had 
 run through the warm water to the other side. Then we 
 groped about a few days in a nasty fog, when we emerged 
 once more into open sea, and Vv-ith dry flax overhead, and 
 dry decks beneath our feet, we stood swiftly on our course. 
 
 I shall have occasion, Fred, said the Lieutenant to 
 his attentive young listener, to describe to you many 
 characters in these sketches ; but I must of course begin 
 with the captain of the Juniata. 
 
 He was a man over sixty, with hair as white as snow ; 
 had as handsome a face and regular features, and was as 
 straight and proper a man in build, as you would care to 
 see. Out of the sixty years he had lived, fifty had been 
 passed at sea. He began, as you will remark, quite 
 early in life, and his first dip into the ocean was as a 
 boy on board a fishing vessel on the banks of New- 
 foundland. From there he took a leap to a coaster, 
 worked his way to mate of a trader to Europe, and on 
 his return home was pressed, just out of port, on board 
 an English frigate, where he served during the French 
 war, until he succeeded in making his escape. He then 
 roved about every part of the known world, and among 
 other adventures, once left the Leeward Islands of the 
 West Indies in a schooner with yellow fever on board. 
 All the crew died, except himself and a large dog ; and 
 vv-hen, after six weeks drifting about the ocean^ he was 
 
 I 
 
g6 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 picked up off Pemambuco, the authorities threw him into 
 prison on suspicion of piracy. When the war broke 
 out in 1812, he entered the navy as saihng master, and 
 for his gallantry was soon after promoted. He seemed 
 to have been born a sailor, as he had been bred one, 
 for even his enemies — and they were not few — ad- 
 mitted that he was a very paragon of a seaman. He 
 appeared to perceive by intuition all the exigencies 
 and requirements of his profession, and in the five 
 years that I sailed under him, I positively aver that in 
 those matters I never knew him to make the smallest 
 error in judgment. He was not a man of education, 
 but of excellent natural parts, which enabled him al- 
 ways to appear creditably and make his flag respected. 
 His temper, like that of all the old vikingirs, was not 
 to be relied upon ; in other words, he was subject to the 
 most ungovernable passion at times, chiefly about trifles ; 
 but on occasions of real danger, he was as cool as mar- 
 ble, his faculties at full command, and his iron will the 
 devil liimself could not shake. Notwithstanding his 
 very severe and often harsh conduct towards his crew, 
 they fairly worshipped him ; for they felt the master 
 spirit of the sailor in his composition, and knew that he 
 never gave an order that he could not perform himself. 
 This is but a very imperfect outline of our captain, 
 John Percy by name, but better known among sailors 
 and in the service generally as Mad Jack. 
 
 To return, after this long digression, to the Juniata. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 27 
 
 We liacl for ten days been reeling over towards the 
 AYestern Islands, with a fair wind and full sails, until 
 we came within a hundred miles of the group, when 
 the breeze died away, and left us half becalmed on the 
 water. I had the morning watch, and was paddling 
 about the wet decks in the sand and water, with my 
 trousers rolled up, while the men were scrubbing and 
 holystoning. There had been a little fog along the 
 horizon when the day broke ; but as the sun rose it was 
 dissipated, and we found ourselves within half a mile 
 of a large merchant brig. The vessel was lying with 
 her topsails on the caps, seemingly as if anxious to spare 
 her canvas, in light winds or calms. There was a va- 
 riable, baffling air ruffling about the ocean, and the brig 
 was drifted down to within a cable's length of the cor- 
 vette ; but not a soul was visible on board. Presently, 
 however, the sharp chirp of the boatswain's mate's pipe, 
 on our decks, in executing some duty connected with 
 trimming the sails, appeared to arouse attention on board 
 the stranger; for there suddenly sprang up over her 
 rail a crowd of people, who began to utter vociferous 
 yells, of which the principal words we caught were, 
 " thieves ! murder ! pirates 1 " 
 
 " I'm blessed," said an old cuiartermaster on the 
 lookout, as he methodically removed the spy glass from 
 his cheek, '^ if that 'ere craft ain't manned by women 
 and monkeys." The officer of the watch placed the 
 trumpet to his lips, and sung out in the usual hail, 
 
 k 
 
g8 TALES rOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " Brig ahoy ! " — " Pirates ! " shouted a shrill voice in 
 re2:)l3'. " Silence ! " he shouted again. " Murder ! " 
 replied a dozen voices. 
 
 By this time the captain had come on deck, attracted by 
 the noise ; and giving a rapid glance at our neighbor, he 
 said to the officer on duty, " Mr. Hansard, lower a boat, 
 go on board that fellow, and find out what all this mum- 
 mery means, for it seems to me to be Bedlam adrift." 
 
 In less time than it takes to tell it, a cutter ■vvas 
 dropped from the quarter ; I took the tiller ; the boat 
 shoved off, and in a minute we were alongside the 
 stranger. She was a large, lumbering merchantman, 
 with the barnacles and grass hanging in clusters and 
 shreds from her copper and sides, while aloft every thing 
 denoted the utmost confusion. We clambered up by the 
 main chains, and reaching the rail, we saw that the hatches 
 had been broken open, the contents of bales and packages 
 strewn about, water casks stove on deck, ropes and rigging 
 cut and dangling overhead, while the sails had been torn 
 and hacked bodily from the yards and booms. We took 
 in all this at a glance as we swung over the bulwarks ; and 
 casting our eyes on the quarter deck, the first object that 
 met our gaze was a man stretched out at full length, on 
 the raised trunk which was constructed in the after part 
 of the vessel, with his head resting on a pillow, while 
 his Tshirt and hair were stilF with blood. He was blue 
 and pallid, and breathed with difficulty. 
 
 On the transoms abaft were two more bodies, covered 
 
p 
 
 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 29 
 
 over witli a fragment of old canvas. The faces were 
 not visible, but there was a bare foot projecting, rigid 
 and lifeless, from beneath the coarse shroud, and the 
 deck was stained all around with half-dried clots of 
 blood. 
 
 There was a thin, delicate woman, seated on a hen- 
 coop, at the water ways, crying and moaning piteously, 
 while she clasped to her bosom a child's small beaver 
 hat, Y/ith a feather drooping white and red on one side 
 of it. Thei'e was also an ugly cut in the little hat, 
 which showed but too plainly that some cruel work had 
 been going on with the innocent little head within it. 
 
 Around the decks were nearly a dozen women, all 
 talking, screaming, and crying together. After com- 
 manding a moment's silence amid the hubbub and noise 
 going on, Hansard approached the man lying on the 
 trunk, whose eyes seemed to beckon him to come near, 
 and stooping beside the poor fellow, he asked in a sooth- 
 ing tone, " Are you the master of this brig ? and what 
 has been the cause of all this horrid work ? " The man 
 slowly nodded to the first question, and then with a gut- 
 tering gasp, as if the words were partly escaping from 
 his throat, painfully murmured, " She's the Arabella, 
 one hundred and thirty-two days from Sidney, New 
 South Wales, with a few return female convicts aboard. 
 Last night boarded by a Spanish pirate — brig — killed 
 all, I believe, but the women, and robbed the cargo.'* 
 Here he paused, and then, with a gurgling rattle of his 
 3* 
 
30 TALES FOR THE MARI^fES. 
 
 lungs, he whispered, " My throat is cut ; I want a 
 surgeon." 
 
 *'' Keep quiet, my good fellow, for five seconds," 
 exclaimed Hansard, as he sprang with a bound over the 
 bulwarks into the cutter ; and with an urgent order to 
 the crew, the oars dipped into the water, and the boat 
 bounded like a javelin back to the corvette. Mean- 
 while, I did all in my power to assuage the grief of the 
 women, and comfort them with the assurance that help 
 would soon be sent on board ; and in fact, the boat re- 
 turned immediately with the surgeons and captain, and 
 they were soon followed by the hospital steward and his 
 assistants, with bandages, instruments, and restoratives. 
 
 A gleam of pleasure lighted up the eyes of the poor 
 skipper ; but I heard the surgeon say to the captain, as 
 he turned av/ay from bathing a dreadful gash in his 
 throat, " The man has lost too much blood ; I fear I can't 
 save him ; however, we'll try. Hei-e, younker," he said 
 to me, " keep his head firm, while I sew up this wound." 
 
 Accordingly, I kneeled dovvm and carefully smoothing 
 back his matted hair, where there was another loner g-ash 
 which laid bare the skull, the doctor began to pass the 
 needle. At this moment, the poor fellow's eyes rolled 
 frightfully, and uttering, '^ My wife — Nelly dear," — 
 a convulsion shook his frame, the threads snapped, and 
 the blood began to gurgle from his throat. 
 
 The surgeon, however, made another trial, and had 
 nearly finished sewing up the gap, when the wounded 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 31 
 
 skipper was again seized witli violent convulsions, and 
 with his teeth rasping and grating together, he struggled 
 for a minute in our grasp, until, with prodigious exer- 
 tion, he arched his body upwards, resting upon his heels 
 and head, and then, with one deep-drawn respiration, a dark 
 volume of blood burst from his mouth and throat, and 
 he fell stone dead upon the deck. The hot salt shower cov- 
 ered my face, and was driven down my throat through 
 my half-open mouth. I had just strength left to save 
 myself from falling in a fainting fit, as an active little 
 Irishman, named Mickey Maginnis, dashed a bucket of sea 
 water all over me, exclaiming, " There, thin, my darlint 
 of a doctor, it's salts you're wantin' to revive ye ; " and 
 then leading me to a seat on the transoms, I silently re- 
 garded the melancholy scene before me. 
 
 In the course of researches in the lower part of the 
 vessel forward, two men were ferreted out, more dead 
 than alive, not, however, from wounds or maltreatment, 
 but from abject fear ; and indeed it was some minutes 
 before they felt assured that we did not mean them 
 mischief After a patient investigation, nothing of con- 
 sequence could be gleaned from them, either descrip- 
 tive of the vessel which had boarded them, or the ap- 
 pearance of the pirates themselves. We learned that 
 the brig was bound to England, and that the crew con- 
 sisted of nine men, who had all, with two exceptions, 
 been killed or thrown overboard. The women were 
 exceedingly communicative ; but even they could give us 
 
S£ TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 no clew to the detection of the villains who had com- 
 mitted the atrocity. All they could remember was, 
 that while the vessel lay becalmed, late in the evening, 
 two boats came alongside, crowded with armed men, and 
 speaking a language they did not understand ; that they 
 immediately began breaking open the hatches, but not 
 finding much of value, they broached a puncheon of 
 spirits, and then, after stabbing and killing the crew, ill 
 using the women, and putting what they wanted in their 
 boats, they finally cut the rigging and sails, stove the 
 water casks, and went away. 
 
 While this narration was going on in detached sen- 
 tences, — for it was next to impossible to prevent fewer 
 than three of the women talking at once, — the forlorn 
 creature whom I first observed sitting on the hencoop, 
 absorbed in grief, suddenly turned up her blood-shot 
 eyes, with a black defined ring beneath the sockets, to 
 the captain's face, and with a wild energy, as if she was 
 trying to shut out something frightful from her vision, 
 she exclaimed, " Yes, sir, I can give you some informa- 
 tion about the wretches. When they stabbed the poor 
 mate, who lies dead there under the sail, and while my 
 darling little innocent Charley tried to avert the murder- 
 ous blows, the villain who seemed to be the leader of 
 the band snatched him from my side, and nearly cut the 
 child's head in two. I saw from the light from the box 
 there," pointing to the binnacle, now capsized and the 
 compass destroyed, " that he had a heavy scar from his 
 
I 
 
 TALES FOP. THE MAKIXES. 
 
 ear to his ciiin ; and when he tore my poor, dying, gasp- 
 ing boy from my arms and threw him into the sea, I 
 saw by the light of the moon, as I looked to see the last 
 of my child, the word ' Clara ' painted on one of their 
 boats." 
 
 Here the poor creature sobbed in very anguish, and 
 clasping the little hat, wet with her offspring's life blood, 
 to her heart, she cried, " O my God, my God ! to kill 
 my boy ! " 
 
 Old Percy's eyes gleamed like Congreve rockets, as 
 he took the suffering and bereaved woman kindly by the 
 hand, and seating himself beside her, tried to allay her 
 grief, whfle the fierce looks and set teeth of the Juniata's 
 men, as they stood grouped together in deathlike silence, 
 plainly showed what would be the fate of the villains in 
 the event of a rencounter. 
 
 " Holy mother ! " said Mickey Maginnis, as he crossed 
 himself and raised his clinched hands and eyes aloft ; 
 ."but," he added, savagely, " be Jasus, the time '11 come 
 yet, boys." 
 
 " Be a good prophet, Mickey, and we'll make 'em all 
 spout blood," broke in the whaler, as he stood with his 
 arms locked tight together, gazing upon the pinched 
 blue face of the dead skipper ; " I'd give a year's arn- 
 ings jest to be laid bows on to the chap as did that." 
 
 We were left to conjecture the direction in which the 
 pirate had steered ; but as no time was to be lost, a large 
 gang of hands were forthwith sent from the corvette. 
 
34: TALES FOR THE MAPwINES. 
 
 The rigging of the brig was spliced, a fresh suit of sails 
 bent, gear rove, and after decently burying the dead, 
 supplying the vessel with provisions, water, and a few 
 comforts for the women, a crew was put on board of her 
 in charge of a mate, and he was ordered to proceed to 
 England, and deliver her up to the owners. 
 
 Here the narrator drew a long breath, after his exer- 
 tions, and desired his audience not to allow the interest 
 and excitement of the story to destroy their sleep until 
 opportunity should offer for resuming it. 
 
 
 A-/ 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Lieutenant was again at his post, and with his 
 ever-attentive little nephew beside him, he picked up 
 the thread of his yarn, bowed to the ladies, and thus 
 began : — 
 
 The duty of refitting the English brig detained us 
 nearly all day ; but towards night a breeze sprang up, 
 and parting with our lonely consort, we made all sail, 
 and steered to the eastward, intending to look into the 
 Azores. The following morning we ran between the 
 high mountainous islands of this picturesque group, lay 
 a few hours at Fayal, and then, with the anchors again at 
 the bows, we bore away for iMadeira. 
 
 I shall never forget, Fred, my first peep at that 
 lovely island. I was swinging, away up aloft, at the 
 sUngs of the foretopsail yard, when we made the land — 
 a dark, dim outhne at first ; but by and by the bluff prom- 
 ontories rose in their green and lovely freshness, and 
 rolling back stretched upwards the corrugated faces of 
 the mountains, with their summits clear, while just be- 
 low lay fringed, in graceful folds of clouds, a snowy 
 mantle, like a point lace berthe around a woman's shoul- 
 ders. Then, as we edged in closer to the land, while 
 
 (35) 
 
36 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the vineyards and gardens, and picturesquely posed 
 houses and churches, became more plainly visible, and 
 the sea embroidering the black rocks with sparkling 
 foam at their feet, I fancied that at last I beheld the 
 true realms of enchantment, and would perhaps have 
 continued in the delusion, had not I heard the loud 
 summons of " Hands, bring ship to anchor," and very 
 expeditiously tripped down the rigging to my station. 
 
 That afternoon we came to iii the Roads of Funchal — 
 an exposed anchorage at best, out of which ships are 
 obliged not unfrequently to make a bolt, with the wind 
 from the southward, as had been the case with one of 
 our own cruisers the day preceding our arrival. We 
 had the pleasure, however, of attending a beautiful ball, 
 designed for her, on which occasion we flattered ourselves 
 that the providers of the entertainment did not distinguish 
 any difference between the officers of the two ships. 
 
 As vou may imagine, I w^as ready a full hour before 
 the appointed time ; with hair brushed as smooth as 
 glass, a bit of shirt collar just peering over my little 
 blue dress coat, white trousers, and pumps. 
 
 The captain had gone on shore early in the after- 
 noon to dine, and I was to follow at eight o'clock. 
 Accordingly I stepped into the gig, and bidding the 
 cockswain to " strike out," the long ashen oars bent as 
 they plied the waves, in pulling into the landing. 
 
 Now, you must know that there are several landings 
 in Funchal — one near the castle, and another on the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 37 
 
 beach abreast the town ; and as the latter chanced to 
 be to my taste, I decided to disembark there. Well, 
 aided by oars, wind, and sea, not many minutes elapsed 
 before the gig's keel touched the sand, and I sprang 
 with a bound of delight, as I hoped, upon the Island 
 of Madeira ; but, to my horror, I leaped plump upon 
 the point of the bayonet of a Portuguese soldier ; and 
 his gruif hail of " Who goes there ? " in his own lingo, 
 greeted my astonished senses, as I was hurled backwards 
 into the dirty seaweed and water, rolling over and over 
 upon the brink of the surf. 
 
 I recovered my legs, knee deep in water, just in 
 time to perceive a boat hook describe a rapid gyration 
 in the air, and to hear the sound of a sharp crack, as it 
 brought up with stunning force against the head and red 
 cap of the warrior, who had received me on the end of 
 his bayonet, while, with* an irate roar, the cockswain of 
 the boat ground out, between his teeth, " Ye dam kiar 
 Portingee garlic eatin' swab, take that ! " 
 
 In a moment the boat's crew leaped on shore, and 
 with the blades of their sixteen feet oars kept a wide 
 circle clear, while the cockswain picked me up in his 
 stalwart arms, and found that the padding of my little 
 uniform coat had saved me from all harm save a duckinsr. 
 
 The sentry had only time to utter one yell for suc- 
 cor before he was stretched speechless on the beach ; 
 but in a moment down came running a squad of soldiers, 
 with an officer at their side, and, upon a parley being 
 4 
 
38 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 sounded, it was explained to us that we were supposed 
 to be smugglers, from our having landed at the wrong 
 place ; and accordingly, in company with the bruised 
 sentinel, I was escorted to the guard house. There, a 
 message having been despatched to our consul, a clerk 
 was deputed to see me released from durance ; and shortly 
 afterwards I was ushered into a spacious bedroom at the 
 consulate, divested of my saturated sandy raiment, attired 
 in a suit of brown linen, a thousand sizes too big for me, 
 and pronounced in excellent rig for the ball. Thereupon 
 I was led to the dining hall, where, a chair being placed 
 for me beside the genial host, and the incident attending 
 the rent in my little dress coat narrated, I was regaled 
 with wine and fruit, until the crash of the violins and 
 tooting of the flageolets in the ball room gave signal for 
 leaving the table. 
 
 I shall ever bear in mind that beautiful ball room, 
 festooned with the rarest and richest wreaths and ropes 
 of roses, and decorated with tall vases filled with bril- 
 liant leaves and flowers — then the soft music, and the 
 charming women with twinkling feet, the chicken soup 
 handed round in teacups at the close, the palanquins 
 standing ready in the court yards ; and when the partings 
 were made, the sweet smiles, the kind looks, the basket- 
 work of fingers, the murmured adieus, — all has rested 
 on my memory as never a ball has since. 
 
 Of a verity, the next morning, when I had been 
 routed out from the snow-white dimity of the little iron 
 
 ■^ 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 39 
 
 bedstead where I had passed the night, dreaming de- 
 liciously, and when I had again mounted my Hnen 
 jacket, which reached to my knees, and was seated at 
 breakfast beneath the broad, cool, and fragrant arbor of 
 vines ; where the heavy clusters of grapes hung so lus- 
 ciously and temptingly in their juicy husks over my 
 head, I still had no thoughts or ears for aught else 
 save the satin slippers whirling around the ball room, 
 the intoxicating music, (" Wine, you mean," said one of 
 the ladies of the party to the Lieutenant,) and the spar- 
 kling eyes which flashed so brightly the night before. 
 
 We M^ere but a few days at Madeira, and all the 
 time I lived as it were in an Elysium of delight. 
 When we came to bid good-by to the kind consul, the 
 fruit and the wines, with the last notes of the military 
 bands resting on our ears, and finally when we sailed 
 away from the fertile slopes of Funchal, and the pilot, 
 with his little peaked red cap, went over the side, I felt 
 as if I had lost my best friend on earth. 
 
 I recovered, however, as I am led to believe most 
 others do from the like disorder, and the next day, you 
 would, perhaps, have been surprised to see with what 
 avidity I could sit down to enjoy the steaming lobscouse, 
 and " flapjacks " * laid before us on our mess table. 
 
 * " Then there is a thing called wheaten floure, which the cookes do 
 mingle with water, egges, spice, and other trtigicall, magicall inchantnients ; 
 and then they put it by little and little into a frying pan of boiling suet, 
 where it makes a confused, dissmall hissing, (like the Lerna;n snakes in 
 the reeds of Acheron, Styx, or Plegeton,) untill at last, by the skill of the 
 
40 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 The second day out I had the morning watch ; and 
 as the men were clearing up the ropes, previous to 
 washing down the decks, " Sail ho ! " sung out the look- 
 out from the foretopsail yard. Before the words of 
 ^' Where away ? " had fairly passed, the lips of the officer 
 of the watch, " Sail ho ! " again cried the man, with a 
 full, melodious voice, as if he did not have a chance 
 every day of airing that organ, and wished to make the 
 most of the present opportunity. " Where away ? " was 
 repeated, through the trumpet. " Two points on the 
 starboard bow, sir." "D'ye make her out?" *'Yes, 
 sir, a brig on the wind, on the port tack." " And the 
 other ? " " Here away, on the port beam, a small fellow, 
 sir, looks like a felucca." " Very good," said the officer 
 of the v»^atch : " Young gentleman, report two sails in 
 sight to the captain." 
 
 The trade wind, as usual in these latitudes, had died 
 away with the rising sun ; the corvette had out all her 
 port steering sails, which sagged and bagged down, 
 without their bellies full, as she sauntered leisurely upon 
 the water ; while the crests of the lazy waves toppled 
 over with a swash, as they broke against the sides or 
 counter. 
 
 By nine o'clock it was almost calm, although the 
 trade clouds began to puff up like the cheeks of Cupid, 
 clearly indicating that we should have a steady strain on 
 
 cooke, it is transformed into the forme of a Flip Jack, cal'd a pancake, 
 which ominous incantation the ignorante people doe devoure very gree- 
 dilye." — Taylor, the Water Poet. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 41 
 
 the canvas, when the declining sun should go over the 
 foreyard, after meridian. 
 
 The small vessel, meanwhile, had tacked, and laying 
 across the little wind there was, she felt it sensibly, and 
 came down under our quarter, where she hoisted Eng- 
 lish colors and pennant. She proved to be a large cut- 
 ter, with a brace of jibs, running a mile out beyond her 
 bows, and a great mainsail and gafftopsail, which made 
 a shade on the water twice as big as her hull. As the 
 cross of St. George came dancing gayly out in the sun- 
 light, the tack of her mainsail wtis triced up, like a gull 
 with its wing broke, the gafftopsail fell becalmed in 
 wake of the mainsail, the outermost jib rattled down, 
 while the inner one was hauled to windward — all in 
 ship-shape, man-of-war style ; and there she lay with 
 her heavy straight up and down bow, black wales, and 
 red ribbon around her side, evidently wishing to com- 
 municate. 
 
 The other vessel was still a great way off, and standing 
 on the same course as Avhen she had been first reported. 
 
 In courtesy to our little friend, our own ensign was 
 run up, a boat lowered, and I was sent oh board to offer 
 any marine courtesies that might be desired. I was 
 charged also with a small packet of letters, which are 
 always kept ready by the spooney chaps of a ship, for a 
 chance to send to their sweethearts. 
 
 The weather was quite warm ; and shading my eyes 
 with my cap, I lay back in the stern sheets, shoved off, 
 4* 
 
42 TALES rOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and soon ran alongside the cutter. A pair of snow- 
 white man ropes were dangling over the side, which I 
 grasped, and sticking my toes into the battens, I gained 
 the rail and stepped on deck. An awning was spread 
 fore and aft, striped with blue and white, and scolloped 
 gayly around the overhanging curtains. As I raised my 
 cap, on touching the vessel's deck, I was received by a 
 tallish chap, — evidently not a seaman, — who appeared 
 to me a cross between a pastry cook and a hair dresser. 
 He was clothed in white duck trousers, with a napkin 
 stuck in the waistband, a profusely ruffled shirt, a blue 
 jacket covered with pearl buttons, as thick as peas, and 
 a natty straw hat, cocked on one side of a mass of oiled 
 and scented ringlets. Forward of the m^st were a score 
 of fine, handsome, bushy-whiskered sailors, attired after 
 a similar fashion to the person who received me, with 
 the exception of the napkin and jacket, but with the 
 addition of a broad black ribbon around their hats, on 
 which was marked, in gilt letters, the word " Hilde- 
 brand." Over each bow was a small popgun of a brass 
 swivel, burnished like gold, more, however, for show 
 than use. In other respects the vessel appeared a good, 
 wholesome craft, and she was as neat as a pin. 
 
 " Can I see the captain ? " I asked, as I bowed to the 
 individual with the perfumed cuils. *' Certainly, sir," 
 he said with extreme and even patronizing politeness, and 
 an attempt to conceal a smile — " step this way, sir — 
 down the companion way there, sir." So, seizing a round 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 43 
 
 brass baluster, I took half a turn down the raahogany 
 stairs, when a bell sounded, and a polished door swung 
 back, by means of a little elf of a miniature sailor, whose 
 hand could hardly reach up to the door knob. He was so 
 very small a specimen, and withal so accurately rigged 
 in sailor costume, that — albeit I was of no great bulk 
 myself in those days — I started back from the pretty 
 pygmy in absolute surprise. 
 
 " Don't be afraid of Boatswain Baby, sir," I heard a 
 sweet voice exclaim ; " he's not in the least vicious ; walk 
 in and be seated." Recovering myself a little, I stepped 
 into an elegantly furnished saloon, with comfortable 
 sofas and lounges every where, a rose wood cabinet 
 piano, and a roll of India matting on the deck, while a 
 lady's work table stood in a recess, and parasols, sun 
 bonnets, and other feminine gear were strewn around. 
 The sides of the apartment were of pure white marble 
 paint, and they shone like porcelain, while golden- 
 rimmed panels were let in with exquisite medallion 
 pictures. The saloon was lighted by a long, raised sky- 
 light from the deck above, shaded by rich green silk 
 curtains, while two massive lamps, confined by neat 
 brass frames, swung at either end. After the severe 
 simplicity of a man-of-war's furniture and fittings, the 
 display of this little floating palace rather bewildered 
 me ; and as I glanced up into the face of the tall and 
 beautiful woman who stood before me, I stammered out, 
 ** This, I believe, is His majesty's packet — a " 
 
44 TALES FOE. THE MARINES. 
 
 '^ O, no," replied the lady ; " quite a mistake ; it is my 
 majesty's yacht, Hildebrand. I am the Countess Bel- 
 lina. My husband, poor man, I left the other day at 
 Madeira, in ill health, and I am now, as you see, on a 
 cruise by myself." She said all this in a breath, took 
 me by the hand, and patting my head, she led me to a 
 seat, so that, not being a lad of much natural diffidence, 
 I felt at home in a moment. " Here, boatswain," she 
 added, " take this officer's sword, and touch the gong for 
 Kitty." The small sailor threw his fist up to his little 
 chip hat, out of respect to the mandate, obeyed the 
 order with considerable alacrity, and presently there 
 came a tap at a lattice-work door, which led forward, 
 and the handsome hostess, excusing herself a moment, 
 went out, leaving me to be entertained by the boatswain. 
 She had scarcely closed the door, however, before I 
 heard her say, in audible whispers, " Kitty, I've a 
 Yankee reefer on board. He looks half starved, poor 
 little thing, and you may lay some luncheon in the 
 dining room — a bit of cake and a glass of sangaree. 
 I'll engage he'll eat it." 
 
 I listened to this brief harangue, I must admit, with 
 a slight touch of indignation ; but when the lovely skip- 
 per returned, she looked so charming, and smiled and 
 chatted so pleasantly, that I soon forgot it. In a few 
 moments she asked me to attend her to the dining room, 
 and passing through a curtained doorway on the oppo- 
 site side of the saloon, we entered an apartment which 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 45" 
 
 occupied the entire beam of the vessel, ranged around 
 with sideboards, and swinging wicker-work cases filled 
 with crystal goblets, china, and other appurtenances for 
 eating and drinking, in great profusion. There were 
 quantities of large cane-built chairs, and settees too, and 
 a neat canvas windsail, with four legs, which poured 
 refreshing currents of air around, from the main trunk 
 above the deck. 
 
 The boatswain followed close at our heels, astride of 
 my sword, which he seemed to be delighted with ; and 
 though he tripped himself up several times, it did not in 
 the least destroy his zest for the amusement. Presently 
 there came another tap at a lattice door, which the boat- 
 swain again assisted in tugging open, and in came as tidy 
 a little craft as ever danced over the ocean. She carried 
 in her hands a large silver waiter, crowded with great 
 bunches of grapes, yellow sugar bananas, green avocado 
 pears, ripe figs embalmed in their own dewy leaves, 
 while a bottle of claret reared his black neck, in a vio- 
 lent cold perspiration, flanked by a bulbous-shaped 
 earthen vessel which I shrewdly surmised contained 
 sangaree. But this tempting repast was not to com- 
 pare with the pretty Kitty herself. By jingo ! such a 
 full, rounded counter the witch had, and such a mass of 
 brown tresses twisted around her elegantly-formed head, 
 over two roguish eyes and a rosy mouth ; but such a 
 pair of cat-heads! "Cat what?" ejaculated Fred's 
 grandmother, as she was listening attentively to this 
 
 L 
 
46 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 extraordinary narrative. '^ It's a nautical phrase, ma'am," 
 rejoined the Lieutenant ; and he went on rapidly with 
 the thread of his narrative. Well, there I sat, chatting 
 with the lovely captain in petticoats, stowing away 
 bread and cheese, cake and fruit, and between whiles 
 swigging at the claret and sangaree, for the Lord only 
 knows how long. Just as I began to reflect that nature 
 abhorred a vacuum, and that my own was nearly full, and 
 that peradventure, it would be pleasant to take a little 
 snooze on one of the luxurious sofas of the saloon — 
 bang ! I heard a loud report from a heavy gun, that 
 seemed to have been fired with a forty-two pound shot 
 slap into my ear. I sprang off the cane-built chair like 
 a rocket. " Why, what can that be ? " exclaimed my 
 fair companion, as she pulled a cord overhead, and the 
 face of the man in the pearl button jacket appeared at 
 the side of the glass skylight. " SteAvard, what noise 
 was that ? " "If you please, milady," he replied with 
 a simper, " the cockswain of the boat alongside says as 
 'ow there's been a signal flying ever so long for the Httle 
 officer to return to the ship, and no attention being paid 
 to it, they've fired a gun ; and, milady, there seems to be 
 a bobbery on board of the man-of-war too." 
 
 " O Lord ! " said I, with a sigh from the very bottom of 
 my heart, as I made a plunge for my sword, and upset 
 the small boatswain in the effort, "won't I catch it!" 
 "No, no! never fear, my child," said the beauteous 
 skipper ; " your captain won't be such a very terrible 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 47 
 
 old Turk as to chide you for obeying the orders of a 
 lady on the high seas ; and here," she added, as she 
 hastily snatched up a large envelope, and pushed a news- 
 paper inside of it, and then quickly scribbled an address 
 upon the back ; " tell the captain," she continued, 
 *' that I detained you to write this important despatch 
 to the admiral, and if he chance to fall in with him, I 
 wish he would be so good as to see it carefully delivered. 
 It will be a grateful surprise, no doubt," she added, with 
 a light, merry laugh ; " for the despatch is highly im 
 portant, and I never saw the admiral in all my life." 
 Then resuming with a more serious tone, she said, 
 "^ Give my compliments to your captain, and say that 
 there was a very suspicious looking vessel, my people 
 .think, on our track last night, and she w^as seen again 
 dov/n to leeward early this morning. Thej*e ! that will 
 do," as she shook me heartily by the flipper ; " now go ; 
 but not that way, my young friend," as she perceived 
 me moving in the wrong direction ; " the other door, 
 there; Kitty will show you the stairs." 
 
 I don't precisely remember how the affair happened, I 
 was so confused and dumbfounded by the sangaree, and 
 the fears of a reprimand from the fierce old Percy. I 
 believe, however, that when I reached the companion 
 way, the yacht gave a lurch at the moment, and to save 
 myself from falling, I precipitated myself into the pretty 
 mate's arms, and then, in my panic, I clasped my own 
 around her neck, and in the most brotherly manner 
 
48 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 began to kiss her. I remember that she gave a little 
 . scream as I tore myself away ; and as I tumbled over 
 the side into my boat, I heard the gentle Kitty exclaim 
 to her mistress, " Well, milady, if all them Yankee 
 middies have half the imperence of that little chap, 
 they had better be weaned before they go home." 
 
 " Sensible young woman," observed one of the matrons 
 around the table. *' Quite so," chimed in the other 
 ladies in a low chorus. " Fred," said the Lieutenant, 
 as he directed his conversation to the lad, " Fred, I am 
 willing to avow that nature has blessed me with an affec- 
 tionate disposition ; but it is equally true that in the 
 whole course of my existence, so great has been my 
 propriety, that I never even attempted to offer a chaste 
 salute to a chambermaid." " Without getting your face 
 slapped," suggested a pert young minx beside the nar- 
 rator. So the amiable Lieutenant, feeling convinced it 
 was useless to stem the current of opinion running so 
 strongly against him, without concluding the moral 
 maxims he was about to impart to his nephew, proceeded 
 without more ado with his adventures. 
 
 On leaving the Hildebrand, I looked around for the 
 Juniata, and beheld her a mile off, with the men laying 
 on the starboard yard arms, M'hile the studdingsail 
 booms were out and their sails hanging with the stops 
 uncut over them. The corvette's course had been al- 
 tered, and I could perceive a man at each masthead, 
 and one fellow like a black ball, perched on the main 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 40 
 
 truck. There was still but little wind, although the 
 flaws were beginning to darken the smooth sea in 
 patches, and the trade clouds to move briskly. 
 
 I never cast a glance at the snug little yacht behind 
 me, so much was my mind occupied with the row 
 which I felt assured was in store for me on board my 
 own ship ; but I've often thought, since, what a lucky 
 incident it was, our falling in with her ; for Heaven only 
 knows what an awful fate might have befallen those 
 helpless women, had the wily villain, who nearly had 
 them in his jaws, escaped us. As it turned out, the 
 probability is, that they never heard more of the matter, 
 or, perhaps, if they did, the shy little mate has forgiven 
 the innocent caresses I gave her. 
 
 I pulled alongside the corvette, and with my knees 
 knocking together, I mounted the side, touched my cap, 
 and reported my return to the first lieutenant, who, 
 trumpet in hand, was giving orders at the gangway. 
 
 " Go and report to the captain, Mr. Gringo," said that 
 functionary, as he brushed me off like a mosquito, with 
 his broad Guayaquil sombrero. 
 
 The cabin doors stood wide open, and as I entered I 
 beheld old Percy near the chart table, carefully adjust- 
 ing a spy glass and trying it for a focus. 
 
 " Well, sir, what has kept you ? " jerked out the 
 
 skipper, as he closed a joint of the telescope with a 
 
 crash. '' A lady, sir," I faltered out. '' O, she did ! 
 
 "VYell, that alters the case. But what did a lady keep such 
 
 5 
 
50 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 a little monkey as you for, eh ? " Here I produced the 
 large brown despatch, on which was written, in startling 
 characters, *'To Admiral Blue Blazes, His Britannic 
 Majesty's flagship Spitfire, off the Bight of Benin." 
 After a narrow inspection of this document, the captain 
 gave a hearty chuckle, as he pitched it into the clerk's 
 desk, saying, with a laugh, as if talking to himself, " I fear 
 that officer serves in too warm latitudes for me to play 
 postman ; but may be he's acquainted with the Flying 
 Dutchman, and if I fall in with that gentleman, I'll ask 
 him as a particular favor to deliver it without scorching 
 his fingers." «^ The countess also told me to tell you, 
 sir," said I, "that they had seen a suspicious vessel, 
 which tried to overhaul the yacht yesterday, but the 
 wind was too light for her to come up." " The devil 
 she did," ejaculated my superior ; " and like a sensible 
 woman, she kept the most important intelligence for the 
 postscript ! " As I communicated the message, however, 
 the old man blazed up like a pine torch, and bidding 
 me follow him, he seized the spy glass, and took his way 
 forward. As he passed the first lieutenant, he said, 
 "Hope, be all ready to flood the ship with canvas." 
 *' All ready, sir," replied the officer ; and on we went 
 amid the groups of men to the forecastle, where we 
 found Kit Dolphin leaning against the fore-swifter, 
 tranquilly enjoying his Virginia tobacco ; for Christo- 
 pher chewed that pernicious weed as if the life and 
 soul of the trade depended upon his individual efforts. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 51 
 
 The captain handed the glass to the old negro, who 
 slung it by its strap over his shoulder, when we all three 
 mounted the fore rigging, cleared the top, and never 
 paused until we gained the topsail yard, which lay 
 square, with the wind aft. 
 
 I ensconced myself at the slings, wdiile the captain 
 and Kit balanced themselves on either side of me. 
 After a moment's rest, old Jack Percy turned round, 
 and. speaking down into the top, asked, '*' Who first saw 
 that vessel ahead ? " " Williams, sir," promptly re- 
 plied the captain of the top. "Send him up here." 
 And presently there was a little stir on the deck beneath, 
 us, which, from the great height at which we were, 
 seemed no vvdder than the blade of a case-knife ; and 
 soon after, an active seaman came dancing up the 
 shrouds, until he reached the eyes of the topmast rig- 
 ging, where he touched his hat to the captain, and 
 waited orders. " Williams, how was that fellow stand- 
 ing when you first made him ? " " Across our forefoot, 
 so fashion, sir, on the same tack with the cutter," said 
 the sailor, as he pointed with his tar-stained hand in the 
 proper direction. " And when did she tack ? " re- 
 joined old Percy. " Not till nigh four bells, sir. AVhen 
 she see the yacht there astarn heave to, then she hove 
 in stays, and went right about, sir." 
 
 The vessel in question was about six miles off, and 
 was apparently creeping up to the wind, on the starboard 
 tack, as if intent upon letting us pass, so that he might 
 be left to his own devices. 
 
53 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Captain Percy rested his spy glass on the topmast stay, 
 and, gazing long and earnestly, soliloquized as he spoke, 
 " Very long in the legs, certainly ; square bit of canvas 
 that main topsail ; 0, ho ! and lets his courses fall to- 
 gether ; he's after ebony, perhaps ! Here, Dolphin, 
 take a squint, and tell me what you make of her." 
 The old black took the glass, closed his white eye, and 
 screwing the corner of his mouth up to the rim jof the 
 brass tube, he steadied himself on the yard, and after a 
 moment's glance, spoke out. " Ay, sir, he's getting 
 his staysails up, and a^vnings down ; and, de Lord, sir ! 
 I sees the shine of a long brass gun amidships ; dere, 
 it's kivered over again ; he's no man-of-war, that's sartin." 
 " On deck, there," rung out the clear voice of old Percy. 
 "Sir!" came up from the trumpet. "Take in all the 
 port studding sails, and bring the ship by the wind on 
 the starboard tack." 
 
 The breeze had by this time come up fresh and 
 steady, and in a few minutes the change in the cor- 
 vette's course and canvas had been effected, and with all 
 drawing sail she was bowling to windw^ard, parallel 
 with the brig, at the rate of nine knots. 
 
 Por an hour we continued on this course ; but as the 
 trade began to increase, the royals were furled, and even 
 then we found that we were forereachinor the strano-er 
 without much of an effort. 
 
 Soon as the brig discovered that she stood no chance 
 with us on that point, she gradually fell off, until she 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 58- 
 
 brought the wind a-beam ; and finding tbat even that 
 change would not do, she at last struck away dead be- 
 fore it, and spread her wings to their fullest extent. 
 
 The sun went down clear and brilliant, and the white 
 moon rose at its setting, so that we never lost sight of 
 our chase, and both ships went skimming over the water, 
 with their broad arms straining the yielding hulls. 
 Since the brig had brought the wind aft, there had been 
 no perceptible difference between the speed of the two 
 vessels, and old Percy chafed like a chained bull-dog. 
 Things, however, went on as usual during the night ; 
 bright lookouts were kept upon the stranger, and the 
 corvette was steered with great care. 
 
 At daylight the next morning, we were about three 
 miles astern of the brig, and we could novv^ distinctly 
 make her out to be a low, black vessel, with great beam, 
 very heavily sparred, and from the rapid way in which 
 she performed her evolutions, evidently well manned, 
 though very few men were visible on her decks. She 
 seemed, too, to have thoroughly made up her mind that 
 the Juniata was a constable of the high seas, and there- 
 fore evinced a decided disinclination to make our nearer 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Towards ten in the morning, the wind again became 
 light, and we looked forward to another interval of calm. 
 The forcing pumps, however, were rigged, and the water 
 was spouted over the great spread of canvas fi'om the 
 trucks down. 
 
54 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 ''We shall have a snorter this afternoon," muttered 
 old Jack, rubbing his paws joyfully ; " the trade wind 
 always blows fresh for three days, just like three heavy 
 rollers on a beach ; and then, my fine fellow," said he, 
 jerking his head in the direction of the chase, " we'll 
 see, perhaps, what you're made of." 
 
 Wetting the canvas and changing slightly the trim of 
 the ship gave us the advantage of another good stride 
 nearer the brig ; and now she was not more than a couple 
 of miles off. 
 
 We could see that they were not asleep) on board of 
 her either, and that they saw the advantage we had 
 gained ; at times, too, we could see a splash on the 
 water, as if bulky articles were tossed overboard, and 
 a pair of hands were aloft on each mast, drawing buckets 
 of water from the yard arms in emulation of our engine. 
 
 " Very uncivil chap that," said the sailing master, as 
 he stood measuring her distance from the top gallant 
 forecastle ; '' won't shake hands with us." '- He may 
 have the yellow fever, perhaps, and fears to infect us," 
 suggested the marine officer. "Or," added Jack Gra- 
 cieux, who was standing near, " she is, may be, loaded with 
 tailors, who owe some of us money, and are not anxious 
 to pay it." "Hope," said the captain, " send the sig- 
 nal quarter master here, with half a dozen ensigns of 
 different nations, and possibly we may find out who that 
 sly fellow's mother is." 
 
 By and by, the signal man came forward with a 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 55 
 
 great bag of bunting, and tumbling tlie flags out upon 
 the deck, touched his hat respectfully, and paused for in- 
 structions. "Try him," said the first lieutenant, "with 
 that pretty castle of Dona Maria, and run it up at the 
 fore, for he can't see it from the peak." Aloft went the 
 ball, until it reached the truck, when it fell out in flut- 
 tering folds. 
 
 " Prompt fellow that," exclaimed Jack Gracieux, as 
 a similar flag flew up at the gaff of the stranger, " but 
 he certainly can't be such a lubber as to take this clipper 
 corvette for a Portingee." 
 
 " Haul down that ensign, and show him a white cross 
 of St. George." Up went the bunting of Mr. Bull ; 
 but before it had fairly reached the mast head, our own 
 stars and stripes were flaunting, like a red-hot gridiron, 
 at his peak. 
 
 " Halloo ! " continued Jack Gracieux ; " that fellow has 
 got all the face cards in the pack ; but I think he's 
 trumped his own trick this hitch." "That will do, 
 Hope," chuckled the captain with a grin ; " the breeze is 
 coming up in earnest ; so clear away one of those 'mid- 
 ship guns, and run the long eighteens out of the bridle 
 ports, and have a few shot at hand, for I think we shall 
 have to communicate with that gentleman." 
 
 "All ready with the gun," said the ofhcer of the 
 watch. '^ Then hoist our colors and pennant, and fire as 
 you break stops."' The loud report of the blank car- 
 tridge from the thirty-two poimder in the waist had no 
 
56 TALES FOE THE MARINES. 
 
 other effect upon the brig than to make her haul down 
 the American ensign, and with great expedition hoist 
 the yellow flag of Spain. 
 
 " Too late/' sung out Jack Gracieux ; '' you've revoked, 
 and the best plan for you to pursue now," he added 
 with a laugh, apostrophizing her, " is to throw up the 
 game, and have a new deal." 
 
 " Twelve o'clock, sir," reported the sailing master, 
 touching his visor to the captain. ** Very good, sir ; 
 strike eight bells, and give the men their dinner. Mr. 
 Gracieux," he added to my handsome friend at his 
 side, "will you have the kindness to* send an eighteen 
 pound shot after that individual, and let him know 
 that I will pay my respects to him this evening, or to- 
 morrow ? " 
 
 *^ With all the pleasure in the world, sir," replied 
 the polite mate, as he placed one hand on his heart, 
 and raised his janty cap with the other, exposing a 
 mass of locks, as glossy and black as jet, which a queen 
 might have envied. Forthwith he went under the top- 
 gallant forecastle, and a few minutes after, the flame 
 belched forth from the muzzle of the gun, the ringing 
 sound followed, and looking far ahead, we saw the shot 
 dip into the water like a black pill, ricochet once or 
 twice, and disappear a good way short of the chase. 
 Even this did not disturb her equanimity, but on she 
 went like a pigeon. 
 
 " Repeat that experiment every time the bell strikes, 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 57 
 
 oJ 
 
 I 
 
 Mr. Gracleux, until further orders." And so sayin 
 old Percy snapped his toothpick and left the forecastle. 
 
 Although we had sensibly gained on the brig, having; 
 proved tlie swiftest vessel on all tacks^ and were con- 
 gratulating ourselves on soon coming up with her, yet 
 what was the surprise created throughout the Juniata, 
 towards four o'clock, when it was discovered that she 
 had taken a sudden flight, and was leaving us rapidly 
 in her wake ! At the same time, fragments of boxes, 
 bales of merchandise, and one or two heavy spars, came 
 drifting by, while with the glass we could see them 
 starting: water also. 
 
 Then old Mad Jack finally woke up. " Pipe down 
 one watch vrith their hammocks," he said to the first 
 lieutenant, " and make every man take a couple of thirty- 
 two pound shot in his clews ; start eight or ten thousand 
 gallons of water, and heave overboard fifteen tons of bal- 
 last ; lighten the ship as much as possible ; slack the lan- 
 yards of the lower rigging a few inches, and loosen the 
 wedges round the partners of the masts ; let the top- 
 men sling themselves in grummets from the fore and 
 aft stays, and give some spring to the ship, and, sir, 
 get out the maintopmast studding sails, and let fall the 
 mainsail ; we'll try her with more canvas amidships, and 
 hook shot along the foot of the courses, and let the sails 
 stand fiat as boards ; then keep the people quiet." 
 
 These orders were executed as fist as magic, and be- 
 fore an hour had passed the additional sail had been 
 
58 TALES FOK THE MARINES. 
 
 crowded on the corvette, the ballast gone, and the water 
 pumped out, the greater part of the crew in their ham- 
 mocks ; while on the stays, from the topmast heads down, 
 thirty or forty fellows were sitting, as it were, like ring- 
 tailed monkeys, on their own tails. The consequence 
 of these movements was, that the Juniata became as 
 lively as a bottle of quicksilver, and began again to 
 lessen the gap between her and the chase. 
 
 The brig, too, had become visibly lighter and more 
 buoyant, and she rose and careered over the waves like 
 a bird, while both vessels were running at a high rate of 
 speed — at least thirteen knots. 
 
 Finding that our shot were thrown away, the firing 
 was discontinued ; the bow gun was carefully sponged 
 clean, and its cavernous throat left open for its meal of 
 solid iron, whenever it might be deemed expedient to 
 feed it again. 
 
 The sunset and twilight of the tropics followed, 
 flooding the open ocean with a soft vermilion light. 
 The moon, however, was late in rising, and owing to 
 the dark belt which succeeds the disappearance and 
 coming of the two orbs, we lost sight of our chase. 
 Every precaution had been taken to guard against such 
 a contingency ; fifty pairs of eyes had been intently peer- 
 ing in the direction she was going, and night glasses and 
 mirrors had been watching and reflecting in all parts of 
 the ship, from the dolphin striker under the bows to 
 the mast heads. The moon at last came serenely up, as 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 59 
 
 round as a wheel, and white as Parian marble, while 
 the pearly light fell glittering over the weaves to the 
 uttermost vers^e of the clear-cut horizon ; but still there 
 was not a vestige to be seen of the chase. 
 
 " Keep on twenty minutes longer, Mr. Hansard, and 
 be ready meanwhile to reduce sail." '^ Ay, ay, sir ! " 
 said the officer of the watch, in reply to the captain's 
 sharp order. The preparations w^ere rapidly made, while 
 old Percy stood with his night glass at his eye, sweep- 
 ing over the sea in every direction, but so savage at 
 being foiled that he was dangerous to converse with. 
 
 " A boat under the bows," sung out a man perched 
 on the jib-boom end, " and something alive in it." 
 " Ah, ha ! " exclaimed old Jack, as he leaned over the 
 cat-head ; *^ what trick is this the scoundrel is playing ? " 
 As the corvette flew on with fearful speed, she made one 
 plunge, and striking the object with her sharp cutwater, 
 she split it like a reed, while at the same instant we 
 heard the faint bleat of a goat, and as a piece of the 
 wreck fell beyond the hissing rage of foam from the 
 bows, we saw, by the light of the mellow moon, the 
 word " Clara," and the remembrance of the bereaved 
 mother, mourning for the loss of her murdered child, 
 rose vividly before us. 
 
 The captain gave a howl of vengeance, and with 
 a frightful oath he thundered out, " I'll have you 
 under my guns before I sleep, you bloody villain." 
 Then yelling to the officer of the watch, " In studding 
 
fiO TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 sails, and bring tlic wind abeam on tbe port tack," he 
 continued his apostrophe to the hidden brig — '^ O, 
 you're a cunning fox, and you've dodged beneath the 
 haze of that rising moon in hopes I'll run past you, eh ? " 
 
 The sails were shut up like a fan, the helm put a- 
 starboard, and on we flew in the new direction. Two 
 hours later, and " Sail ho ! " again cried a dozen voices 
 from different parts of the ship. ^^ Where away ? " 
 " Right ahead, sir." The news went round the Juniata 
 like an electric shock, and we were all wound up to a high 
 pitch of excitement, feeling now certain that the chase was 
 the selfsame pirate who had robbed the English brig. 
 
 On we went like a bloodhound on the scent all that 
 night, and it was only towards sunrise that we had re- 
 covered the ground that we had lost on the evening pre- 
 vious. Then the land was reported on the lee boAv, and 
 there the oval Peak of Teneriffe, a hundred miles dis- 
 tant, reared its white-robed summit, glistening in the 
 rays of the rising sun. At ten o'clock we resumed the 
 salutations with the long eighteens ; but still the balls 
 fell short of the mark, and they were again discontinued, 
 as by the yawing of the ship in firing we thought we 
 lost a little, and now every inch was important. 
 
 At noon, I Vv'as standing wistfully looking through 
 the bridle port at the black hull of the brig, as she rose 
 and reeled, and seemed just to touch the crests of the 
 waves, while she sprang on in flight, when I felt a sharp 
 twitch at my ear ; and believing, in my vexation, that it 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 61 
 
 "vras one of the friendly pinches of a messmate, I whirled 
 quickly round, and planted a blow full into the old 
 skipper's breadbasket. " O Lord, sir ! I really beg 
 your pardon," I apologized in some fright. *' Pretty 
 solid little fist that," laughed old Percy at my confu- 
 sion ; *^ suppose you try to pitch one of those lumps of 
 iron there into that buccaneer, as you have those little 
 knuckles into me. Here, Dolphin, old nigger, go and 
 take the wheel ; and mind you steer as if you were 
 going to tlii'ead a cambric needle ; watch a smooth time 
 and the weather roll, and give the boy a fair chance for 
 his first shot." "Ay, ay, sir ! " said the delighted Kit, 
 as he smiled and whispered in my ear^, *^ Xow mind 
 yousef, Massa Harry ; don't be in a hurry, and when 
 you see dem lofty poles ob de brig, just clare ob de 
 outer rim dar, pull the trigger string v>-id a dam sharp 
 jerk — so ; but stop a bit, while old Kit chalks his num- 
 ber on a smood new shot." He picked up a ball of the 
 metal, and feeling all around to see if it had been properly 
 cast, he took a piece of red chalk, and made a rough, 
 though graphic silhouette of an individual dangling 
 v\-ith convulsed legs from a gallows. ^' Xow," he added, 
 turning to the quarter gunner, who stood by, " Jimmy 
 Veech, for de honor ob old Virginy, wipe out de muz- 
 zle ob de lady, load her keerful, and gib de young gen- 
 tleman a fair shake." "The old gunner nodded assent, 
 and being of a philosophic frame of mind, he stopped Dol- 
 phin to ask him if he knevr ^^ what the ingredients which 
 6 
 
62 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 composed powder were." '' Bery well, Mr. Yeech/' 
 quickly rejoined Kit, as his comical eye winked with 
 merriment, *^- bery well, indeed ; de 'gredients am cam- 
 phire, sulphire, and hell-fire ! " and so saying, and with 
 another caution to me to be cool, he left the discom- 
 fited Mr. Veech to growl out his indignation and load 
 the gun, while he hurried aft to the wheel. 
 
 I can give you no idea of my feelings as the men 
 finished wadding and running out the gun, when wdth 
 the hammer of the lock thrown back, and the primer 
 laid on the touch hole, the trigger cord was placed in 
 my hand. 
 
 I thought at the time that not only my own reputa- 
 tion in life and in the navy depended upon the cartridge 
 I vras about to explode, but that also of all my rela- 
 tives, living and dead. So evident was my excitement, 
 that, for a wonder, even my messmates ceased their 
 gibes. Patiently, however, I waited until I could see a 
 signal agreed upon with honest Kit, v.-hen, as the bell 
 struck the first half hour after noon, he threvv^ his arm 
 up for me to be ready, and then I watched with all my 
 soul for the moment when the chase would come into 
 range. Still every second seemed an age to me, until 
 at last the corvette gave an almost imperceptible yaw, 
 and as she fell off and was about to rise upon the swell 
 beneath her bows, I caught sight of the white sails of 
 the brig directly in range of the gun, and stepping back 
 with a violent jerk on the lock lanyard, the stunning 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 63 
 
 report followed. I sprang like a cat up the Jacob's 
 ladder of the fore riggmg, just in time to see the flying 
 missile dip into a wave, a short distance astern of the 
 brig ; and the next instant I saw the white splinters fly 
 up in a shower from her tafli-ail, as the resistless globe 
 of iron tore like a plough along her decks, and plunged 
 through the bulwarks forward. A suppressed cheer 
 arose from our tops and forecastle, as the shot was seen 
 to strike, and at the same time old Kit, who had run 
 forward from the wheel, seized me in his arms, and 
 hugged me as in a vice. 
 
 " Bueno ! " sung out old Percy, while the reefers 
 were congratulating me on my maiden success — 
 *^ Bueno ! Five feet the other way would have made his 
 hull as clear of sticks as a coal barge ! But what is the 
 rascal about now?" he added, as we could discern a 
 heavy splash from some large object over the side. " By 
 thunder, he's thrown overboard the only tooth he had 
 left in his jaws, that long brass gun ; however, he keeps 
 a boat yet, and he seems to be more anxious to save his 
 neck than it may be worth in the market. But if he 
 intends to run on shore, he'll only give the lie to the old 
 proverb about drowning and hanging ; and at all events, 
 I'll never leave him alive." 
 
 The chase had now lasted more than fifty hours. 
 The Island of Tenerifl'e was plain in sight along our lee 
 beam, while the vineyards and villages, dotted about the 
 hills, were reflected by the declining sun. On we went. 
 
64 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 steerin"- for the eastern end of tire island, and gaining 
 when the breeze freshened and losing when it lulled. 
 The sun was slowly sinking towards the verge of the 
 horizon. The town of Santa Cruz was rising upon our 
 viev.^, when the brig hoisted the Spanish flag, as she 
 srazed the westernmost point of the roadstead, and 
 began to take in sail. 
 
 As we perceived the game they were up to, the boat- 
 swain's mates shouted out, "Away there, Ariels and 
 second cutters ! " and the crews of the boats, with cut- 
 lasses at their sides and pistols in their belts, came eagerly 
 crowding around the davit's falls. " Hope," cried old 
 Percy, " stand by to let every thing go by the run, and 
 have the bower anchors ready to drop close aboard that 
 brig, and a couple of divisions all clear, to sink him if 
 he dares to bolt again. There, now's the time," added 
 the skipper, as we whirled like a tornado around his 
 bow in shore of him, while the sails came down in 
 clouds, the yards were braced aback, the .heavy anchors 
 fell with a simultaneous splash, and the boats with them, 
 as the Juniata was brought up with a terrible surge on 
 the brig's beam. 
 
 In five seconds we dashed alongside of her, and be- 
 fore even the rattle of her chains had ceased grating 
 through the hawseholes, the corvette's men had leaped 
 on her decks. With cutlasses flashing over their 
 heads, they were about to plunge, like demons, pellmell 
 into a large crowd of villanous-looking scoundrels, who 
 
TALES FOE THE MARINES. 65 
 
 were congregated about the masts, when the shrill voice 
 of old Percy yelled out, '^ Avast there, men ; dou't 
 strike a blow ! " While the Juniata's men fell back, in a 
 double line, on the brig's deck, in obedience to the com- 
 mand of the captain, we could distinctly hear the last 
 taps of the drum on board the ship beating to quarters, 
 and the order of " Silence ! Cast loose the starboard 
 battery." At the same time we saw the frowning can- 
 non, with the tompions out, gazing dark and ominous 
 upon the vessel we vrere on board of. 
 
 After a rapid glance over the ugly wretches assembled 
 on deck, who appeared to have been spawned from every 
 part of the known globe, but chiefly Spaniards, Portu- 
 guese, Lascars, mulattoes, and even negroes, old Percy 
 began : " Who commands this brig ? " There was no' 
 reply until the question was repeated in Spanish, when 
 forth stepped a low-browed, swarthy, bow-legged mu- 
 latto, and replied in broken English, " Him go 'shore 
 wid mate, in dat boat dare, wen we close to de punta," he 
 said with a malicious scowl, as he moved his chin in the 
 direction of the land. "Ay, by Jove, so the villains 
 have ! " ground out Mad Jack ; but turning quickly to 
 his own men, he exclaimed, " Spring, there, you lads, 
 and take those fellows, dead or alive ! No, stop ! " he 
 Continued, as the boat's crew were leaping into the cut- 
 ter \ " it is useless ; they have already landed and 
 escaped, and their boat is adrift there near the rocks." 
 Then approaching the mulatto again, as his eyes flashed 
 6* 
 
Q6 TALES FOR THE MAHTNES. 
 
 fire, he balanced a cocked pistol in his hand, with a very 
 wicked and nervous finger on the trigger, and looking 
 him in the face, he said, in a soft, precise tone, '' Now, 
 ray man, at the first lie I'll blow your brains out. Tell 
 me, where are you from." The villain quailed as he 
 stood beneath the gaze of the old white-headed skipper, 
 and he replied with some trepidation, " From de Spanis 
 Main — Laguayra." "Your papers?" "Gone shore 
 wid cappen." " And the name of the brig ? " rejoined 
 old Jack, as he still moved the pistol up and down, and 
 added, " Cuidado, amigo, have a care," as the beetling- 
 browed scoundrel began to falter. " Brig namee ? " 
 " Yes ! " " She namee Juanita." This was the last word 
 and lie the mulatto uttered. Old Percy's arm moved 
 slowly up until the barrel of the weapon was level with 
 his forehead, and an explosion followed. Before the 
 smoke had blown away, and the mulatto, with the cap 
 of his skull nearly crushed by the ounce bullet, was 
 stretched a dead man on the deck. Mad Jack pulled 
 another pistol from his belt, and without changing a 
 muscle of his determined face, he beckoned to another 
 of the gang, and in the same sardonic, cold, low, though 
 audible tone, he said in Spanish, " A ball for every lie. 
 Now, what is the true name of this craft ? " The man 
 addressed gave a furtive glance around, as if to see if 
 there was any means of evading the question by an 
 escape ; but seeing only the resolute faces of the cor- 
 vette's enraged sailors, and the cowering looks of his 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 67 
 
 0"\Yn companions, while the cHck of the captain's pistol 
 assailed his ears, he hesitated no longer, but fell on his 
 knees, and crossing his breast, said, " She is a slaver, 
 called the Clara." " Ah," sighed old Jack, " even 
 the truth won't save such rascals ; and you, sir, have 
 only swapped the devil for a witch — an ounce of lead for 
 a fathom of hemp." Then speaking to the boat's crew, 
 he said, " Throw this yellow carcass overboard to the 
 sharks ; " and leaning over the brig's rail, he shouted to 
 the first lieutenant of his own ship, ^^ Mr. Hope, send 
 a dozen marines, and half a hundred handcufis, and as 
 many feet irons on board here, for these pirates." 
 
 In a few minutes the guard came, the entire band of 
 forty-one men were manacled ; and being lashed back to 
 back, they were left to their reflections for the night. Our 
 men, however, were sorely disappointed that the pirates 
 should be allowed to live for even a single night, and 
 were strongly in favor of 
 
 " Lydford law, 
 
 How in the evening they hange and draw, 
 And sit in judgment after." 
 
 But as this process was too summary just then, it 
 was decided to let the villains have a chance for praying 
 and be ready for their rope neckcloths in the morning. 
 This plan was not very well relished by the Juniata's 
 crew, but there was no appeal, and they were obliged to 
 leave the affair in the hands of their superiors. 
 
68 TALES FOR THE MAKINE3. 
 
 The follov/ing day the captain communicated v/ith the 
 Spanish authorities of Santa Cruz, as the vessel had 
 anchored at the moment we captured her. Eepresenta- 
 tions were also made to the English consul, to procure 
 the evidence necessary to the conviction of the crew. 
 The brig was searched, and her holds were absolutely 
 clear of every thing save the ballast. Guns, ammu- 
 nition, merchandise, spars, sails, cordage, provisions, 
 water, and in short every thing, even to the hatches, had 
 been pitched overboard, in hopes, perhaps, of thus effect- 
 ually removing all traces of their piracies. 
 
 In this design, however, they were mistaken, even 
 had there existed no stronger proofs by the living wit- 
 nesses who were on board the Arabella ; for in tearing 
 up the panel work of the cabin lockers, a small passage 
 was discovered, leading down into the after run ; and 
 there was found, among other small articles, the chro- 
 nometer which had been taken from the Enghsh vessel, 
 with a letter in the case, which had been received by 
 the murdered skipper from his ^'affectionate Nelly." 
 
 It is needless to keep you longer, just now, in de- 
 scribing the measures taken to bring the perpetrators of 
 this nefarious atrocity to justice. Suffice it to say, that, 
 after a delay of two months at Teneriffe, his Britannic 
 majesty's sloop of war Gazelle, arrived with the proper 
 depositions and instructions, and the Clara was delivered 
 over, with the band of forty-one men. One of these 
 miscreants contrived to jump overboard, on the passage 
 
TALES FOR THE MA11INE3. 69 
 
 to Gibraltar ; but tbe remainder^ after a fair trial^ were 
 hung by the necks until they were dead. With respect 
 to the captain and mate, who eluded us at Santa Cruz, 
 we made every possible exertion to ferret them out 
 during our stay at the island. In this we were unsuccess- 
 ful, though you may, perhaps, learn, in the sequel, that 
 their fate was only deferred. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 We left TenerifFe one bright and lovely morning, and 
 steering to the eastward, we took the fresh trade wind 
 over our quarter, and without touching tack or sheet, we 
 rolled pleasantly over the blue seas of the tropics ; 
 passed the Cape de Yerds, and continuing on, we found 
 ourselves, a few days after, on the northern edge of 
 the equator, well into the African coast, at the little 
 Island of St. Thomas. 
 
 Our mission to this out-of-the-way, unhealthy spot 
 was induced by the fact that, some months before, an 
 American brig had been defrauded of a considerable 
 amount of money, and we had been instructed to recover 
 it, if possible ; which was, however, regarded by the 
 owners themselves as a scheme of very questionable 
 success. 
 
 The sun blazed down in perpendicular streams of fire, 
 as we let run our cables at the anchorage, and the huts 
 and habitations of the little town looked as if they, too, 
 had been baked for a long time in the same oven. Our 
 sails were left hanging in their naturally graceful fes- 
 toons, as they lay in the brails and clewlines, until the 
 breeze should make, or the sun lose its fierce power, so 
 
 (70) 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 TALES FOR THE MAHINEg. 71 
 
 as to allow the topmen to go aloft without having their 
 brains crisped, and roll up the loose canvas. The awn- 
 ings were spread, too, fore and aft, and the decks had 
 been wet ; but still we all lay panting like fish out of 
 water. I was leaning over the spanker boom, on the 
 poop, near the taffrail, looking down into the clear, calm 
 water, where the bottom was distinctly visible, and 
 thinking how delightful it would be to be skiiding about 
 in the shady pools, instead of running messages for the 
 officer of the watch, around the hot decks, when my eye 
 was attracted by a gaudily painted barge, which was ap- 
 proaching us from the shore. The boat had a fearful 
 representation of a di*agon or sea monster, carved around 
 the bow, with a raised canopy of matting, supported by 
 light stanchions over the stern. She was pulled by six 
 large negroes, who gave a stroke about every minute ; 
 rising up as they threw the blades of the oars forward, 
 and coming down with such tremendous force on the 
 thawts as ought apparently to have driven their heads 
 off their shoulders, from the mere concussion ; at the 
 same time they would utter a deep aspiration of " Hi 
 yov>'," and again spring up, as it were in a convulsion, 
 strike the palms of their hands together in one simul- 
 taneous clack, seize the oars, and come down as before. 
 They all wore white straw hats ; and this was their only 
 covering, except the sheeny skins, dry and polished as 
 ebony, which nature had provided them. 
 
 Beneath the awning abaft sat a tall black, with a 
 
72 TALES FOR THE MAKINES. 
 
 huge cocked hat, stuck crosswise on his woolly pate, a 
 bright scarlet coat, with tarnished embroidery, buttoned 
 tight and close up to his chin, while his lower limbs 
 "were encased in a pair of white cotton pantalettes, which 
 only reached a little above the knees. The boat with 
 this personage came slowly alongside the Juniata, and with 
 the last powerful whoop of " Hi hi, yow yow," the rowers 
 remained motionless on their seats, while their passenger 
 rapidly mounted the ladder, and made his obeisance to the 
 officers on the quarter deck. '* Sarvint, sar," he began 
 to jabber with great volubility ; " me ISTappolee Bonee- 
 pattee — me sleep w^id gubbener ebery night — you got 
 coast fevee — - neber mind — gib shed house on shor — 
 spose you gib big present tobakkcr ? Here pickanin- 
 nee, small ossifa, have sok shuga tick." This last invi- 
 tation was addressed to one of the reefers, as the fellov.^ 
 pitched a short, thick sugar cane at him, spear fashion, 
 which the youngster dexterously caught, and in a second 
 returned the compliment by bringing it with a sound- 
 ing whack on the cucumber shins of the black. *^ Gor- 
 ree," he howled as he danced about in excruciating pain, 
 and shov/ing his double range of teeth, " him crackee 
 me all to pieces." Here the captain appeared on deck, 
 and the moment the scarlet-backed individual perceived 
 him, he hopped up to him like a parrot, and forgetting, 
 apparently, his agony, he went on with his fluent jabber 
 in this strain : " Well, sar, you is ole wite head, fed- 
 dered cappin — you speaka me all same gubbener (me 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. T3 
 
 slee}) wid him.) " O, ho, you do, eh ! and what trade 
 may you follow in the daytime ? " asked the Captain. 
 " Hi, me furnis mess wid fruit and nice bullock heart 
 stuck round wid yam for yoppa ! " " Ah ! " grunted old 
 Percy, to this feast ; and then he added, '' And what big 
 rock is that there, by that old castle ? " " 0, dat," re- 
 plied the black, " dat, ebery dam fool know ole Anne 
 Cheres' rock ! " I thought that the free-spoken darkey 
 would have been thrown a somersault down the gun- 
 room hatch ; but the captain only smiled at his innocence, 
 and desired him to walk into the cabin. He was, how- 
 ever, a very wide-awake fellow, though he did sleep 
 with the governor ; and notwithstanding that the cap- 
 tain loosened his tongue with a dash of brandy and 
 rum, still he could not be prevailed upon to converse 
 upon affairs of the island, or to give any precise direc- 
 tions where the governor himself slept, by night or 
 day. On leaving, he was presented with a few pounds 
 of tobacco, half of which he promised to present to his 
 bosom friend, the governor, with a civil request to see 
 that potentate so soon as he could make it convenient. 
 
 Some days passed, but yet the governor did not ap- 
 pear, though his deputy came frequently, with many 
 flattering speeches, and a few gifts of grapes and cocoa 
 nuts, and innumerable hints with rtspect to his fondness 
 for tobacco. At last old Percy, having supplied these 
 worthies pretty extensively with this luxury, and allayed 
 the suspicions which he had reason to think had been 
 
74 TALES FOE THE MARINES. 
 
 excited by our arrival at the island, resolved to act. He 
 had learned also that the governor was a Portuguese of 
 bad character ; that the money taken from the American 
 vessel was secreted beneath the floor of his house, near 
 the beach ; and that he was only waiting the arrival of 
 a slaving brig, on a return trip to the River Gaboon, 
 with whose commander he was in league, to transfer 
 his dollars for valuable merchandise expected from the 
 Havana. 
 
 Accordingly, undet pretence of more conveniently 
 taking in fresh water and wood, the Juniata was warped 
 directly within point blank range of the town, with a 
 spring on the cable, so as to keep the broadside ready 
 for work. The following morning, when the governor 
 and his friend were reported as taking their noontide 
 siesta, stretched comfortably in grass hammocks, old 
 Percy sent him the following pithy document : — 
 
 '" Senhor Governor : I am writing on the breech of a 
 thirty-two pounder, which, together with nineteen oth- 
 ers on board my ship, is carefully pointed at your resi- 
 dence. There is a lighted match in each of the guns, 
 which I fear will only burn thirty minutes. 
 
 " Please send me the sixteen thousand dollars you stole 
 from the American schooner Reliance before that time 
 expires, or I shall send you more bunches of iron grapes 
 than you can readily digest. 
 
 "Excuse haste. J. Percy." 
 
TALES FOIl THE MARINES. 75 
 
 Upon the reception of this undiplomatic note, there 
 was an awful bobbery raised in the governor's domicile, 
 and he evinced some inclination to negotiate the affair, 
 until he could, perhaps, have removed *his plunder to a 
 more remote and secure retreat. But observing, by the 
 frowning muzzles of our guns, that we were quite in 
 earnest, he despatched a dory on board with a note, to 
 say, that he had only retained the money until a safe 
 opportunity occurred of transmitting it to the rightful 
 owners, and that he would send it off to the corvette 
 immediately. The captain merely sent v/ord back ^' to 
 hurry himself;" but before the thirty minutes had ex- 
 pired, the bags of dollars were deposited on board the 
 Juniata, with the governor's note, (which was also de- 
 manded,) payable with rather heavy interest, by way of 
 damages, which we learned afterwards had been scrupu- 
 lously paid, but qualified with the express condition 
 that ^' dat dam ole willin ob buckra man-ob-war cappin 
 come to St. Tomas no more ! " 
 
 As we were not pressed for time, we remained some 
 days longer at the island, in expectation of the arrival 
 of a vessel bound to Euro2)e or America, wdiich might 
 transport the treasure to its destination. As nothing 
 came, a day was appointed for sailing ; and v/ithout re- 
 ceiving the promised visit from the governor, or present- 
 ing him with more tobacco, the canvas was shaken from 
 the yards, and with the first of the vc7itanic, we beat out 
 from the roadstead. * 
 
76 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Some time before we left St. Thomas, after the little 
 matter of the money had been safely stowed away in 
 the magazine, a canoe came alongside, paddled by a thin, 
 naked negro, while two sitters were squatted on the 
 bottom. Lying off from the corvette, the black clapped 
 his palm with a loud thwack upon the blade of his pad- 
 dle, to attract the attention of an officer walking the 
 poop, and then screamed out, in a gleeful tone, " Ossifa, 
 me monkey soup — saila da, him wantee cheep ! " 
 " Calla-hoca ! silence, you crow ! " said the man nearest 
 to him, in the boat, as with a malevolent scowl he threw 
 a cocoa nut, which hit the black a terrible knock on the 
 skull, and then bounded off into the water, without in- 
 flicting any permanent injury. ^^ Cease your gibberish," 
 he said in English ; and at the same time he stood up, 
 and taking off a tattered palm leaf hat, he asked per- 
 mission to come on board. 
 
 " Let that canoe come alongside," said the quarter 
 master on duty to the sentry in the gangway, in obedi- 
 ence to a nod from his superior ; and presently the two 
 men came slowly and observantly over the ship's side, 
 but without touching their hats as they stepped on deck. 
 Their canoe man, meanwhile, shrieked out as he j^ushed 
 off, and beat his paddle in a paroxysm of rage. " Him 
 dam raxal ; make tiburon shark tomak ake ! Cussuni 
 willin for mash um head of poor brak man ! 0, dcbbil, 
 debbil ! " Here the injured darkey snapped his teeth 
 in fury, and as he resumed" his couiee towards the shore, 
 
TALE3 FOU THE MAEINES. 77 
 
 he continued to pour forth his vituperation in an extem- 
 poraneous address to the whole harbor. 
 
 '^ "VYe want to ship," said our visitors, in reply to a 
 question, as to their business, from a midshipman on 
 watch, who stood languidly under the awning, before the 
 sea breeze made, assisting to support the fife rail at the 
 mainmast. 
 
 The men were both attired in old straw hats, red 
 flannel shirts, dirty jean trousers, and grass slippers. 
 The spokesman of the pair, however, wore a heavy gold 
 chain around his neck, to which could be seen attached 
 a small leather pouch, commonly worn by sailors to keep 
 their money or trifles in. They were both large, pow- 
 erful fellows, evidently seamen, and the one with the 
 chain had a full crop of short, dark curly hair, and a 
 pair of huge whiskers, burned by the sun and weather, 
 which nearly covered his face and throat. His eyes 
 were large, red, and close together, while his nose was 
 well shaped, but slightly curved and choleric looking 
 towards the point. His companion was a sinister-look- 
 ing scoundrel, with a small squint to his optics, a low 
 brow, and coarse sandy hair. Neither of them, as you 
 may imagine, impressed us very favorably ; but as they 
 seemed stout, hearty fellows, and there were a number 
 of vacancies on board the corvette, the officer of the 
 watch thought best to inform the captain and first lieu- 
 tenant of their desire to ship. 
 
 Now, if there was any thing that Captain Percy prided 
 
78 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 himself more upon than his knowledge of surgery and 
 the English language, it was in finding out whether a 
 man was a seaman or not. Accordingly, when I in- 
 formed him that there were a couple of men on board 
 anxious to ship, he threw by a chart he was inspecting, 
 and with a white jacket on, a toothpick in one hand and 
 a small black whalebone cane in the other, he slow^ly 
 walked out of his cabin. 
 
 The first lieutenant had by this time reached the 
 deck, and while he was interrogating the applicants, the 
 captain stood on one side, and carefully scrutinized them 
 with his large gray eyes nearly closed. The man with 
 the chain seemed to be rather wearied with the cross 
 examination he had undergone, and when it came his 
 friend's turn, his gaze wandered about the decks, until 
 it rested with peculiar interest upon a glittering circle 
 of boarding pikes and a rack of gleaming cutlasses stuck 
 around the mainmast, and ranged in form of a crescent 
 over the boom board, abaft the boats. 
 
 At this moment old Jack approached, and striking him 
 a smart rap over the shoulder with his cane, said, " Xot 
 so bad as the lick you gave that poor nigger with the 
 cocoa nut ! was it ? " The man whirled round, and with 
 the worst expression of countenance, betwixt rage and 
 wonder, I ever saw, looked as if he would have sprung 
 at the captain's throat. Old Percy, however, stood quite 
 unmoved, and continuing his discourse as if nothing 
 had occurred, went on with, « Pretty weepons those," 
 
TALES FOR THE MARLXES. 79 
 
 pomting to the small arms^ and nodding witli a meaning 
 smile ; but suddenly pausing, he resumed with a quick, 
 sharp voice, "Where are yon from, sir, and how did 
 the pair of you get here ? " " We left an English 
 bark on the Gold Coast, came over here in a Callongo3 
 trader, and were robbed of all we had the day we 
 landed." 
 
 " There's three lies to begin with," edged in old Jack ; 
 " and where do you hail from ? " he inquired. " Born 
 in New Orleans," replied the fellow, doggedly. " That's 
 lie number four. I would sooner have believed you if 
 you'd sworn you died there. However, Hope," he 
 said, turning to his next in command, " as the govern- 
 ment holds out inducements for such fictions in shipping 
 sailors, you can take them. But hark ye, my friends ; be- 
 have well, and you'll be treated properly ; but in case I 
 find ye ondeficient in duty," — and here he waved his 
 whalebone cane slowly in the air, — " I'll make you 
 dance without music." 
 
 As the captain turned on his heel, I noticed the fel- 
 low with the chain follow him with a look of malis^nant 
 hate ; but he presently resumed a show of indifi'erence, 
 and accompanied his companion down the hatchway, to 
 be examined by the surgeons, and sign the shipping ar- 
 ticles. I saw no more of them for a day or two, until I 
 recognized them dressed in the uniform rig of the crew, 
 and learned that they were stationed in the maintop. 
 
 I think I told you, Fred, said the Lieutenant, as 
 
bU TALES TOR THE MARINES. 
 
 he took the cheroot from his lips, and settled himself 
 cozily before the fire, that we beat out of St. Thomas's 
 with the ventanie, a sort of sea breeze, only it blows 
 from the adjoining coast of Benin, and the swamps and 
 rivers of that neighborhood. Well, we had scarcely 
 cleared the anchorage before it fell calm ; and there we 
 lay backing and filling, with calms and pufis, all night. 
 The next day the breeze did not make at all, and the 
 weather was as close, sultry, and uncomfortable as it is 
 reasonable to expect it should be directly under the 
 equator. The barometer, too, after fluctuating all day, 
 towards nightfall gave a sudden pitch downwards of a 
 full quarter of an inch ; and then arose a brown, dirty 
 haze away in the east. We were, at this time, only a 
 few miles in the offing, and I believe, had the channel 
 back to the anchorage been less intricate, we should 
 have up helm and ran back to the governor again. As 
 it was, without a pilot and darkness coming on, the cap- 
 tain resolved to creep off the land as far as possible, 
 and be prepared for any emergency. So at sunset the 
 royal and topgallant yards were sent down, and the light 
 sails out of the tops. 
 
 As it was not my business, in those days, to meddle 
 with the weather, or to hold myself responsible for the 
 sail on the ship, or do aught else save eat, and sleep, 
 and lark, and make as much mischief as could well be 
 made in each twenty-four hours, — moreover, as it was not 
 my watch, — you may, without fear of contradiction, take 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 81 
 
 my word for it, that I was snoozing soundly in my 
 dream bag. I first took the precaution, however, of 
 examining my clews, to assure myself that none of my 
 messmates had passed slippery hitches, to spill me un- 
 awares. Then, being carefully tucked in by honest Kit, 
 I was casting up a rough estimate, in my dreams, as to 
 the precise number of bananas and oranges I might filch 
 from the gun room fruit nets, hanging from the stern 
 boat, when I was ai'oused by a sharp and vicious tweak 
 of my nose ; which was considered a great feat in 
 those days, and could only be scientifically executed, on 
 account of the diminutive size of that useful organ, 
 when I was asleep. At the same instant, I heard a tovy-- 
 headed youngster, about my own age, roar out in my 
 ear, while he held a flaring horn lantern close to my 
 eyes, " Heave out, Hariy ; it's all hands." ^^ Yes," said 
 I, " and feet too," as I recovered my faculties ; and 
 doubhng myself up quickly, I contrived to kick my 
 fi'iend with his lantern under the steerage ladder. Then 
 I rolled out of the opposite side of my hammock, while 
 my tormentor picked himself up, and hui'riedly capsized 
 all the other hammocks within reach. He afterwards 
 aroused, though in a more respectful manner, the offi- 
 cers in the gun room. 
 
 I had barely enticed my legs into my trousers, when 
 I heard the sharp ring of the boatswain's whistle, fol- 
 lowed by the short call of " All hands ! " and repeated 
 by the corporals on the berth deck, vrith the additional 
 
82 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 warning of " Come ! D'ye hear the word ! Tumble up 
 there ! Be smart ! " 
 
 I gained the spar deck, and at once took my station 
 at the captain's elbow on the poop. The ship was un- 
 der double-reefed topsails, a reef in the courses, and the 
 bonnet off the jib. " Bless me," here softly remarked 
 a well-dressed, fairy-footed damsel, sitting within ear- 
 shot of the Lieutenant, and who was known to have a 
 fondness for tripping along narrow streets, during the 
 prevalence of high gales — " Bless me, don't they 
 allow bonnets to be worn in stormy weather at sea?" 
 But the narrator, now accustomed to these observations, 
 smiled at the young person's ignorance of marine insti- 
 tutions, and made no pause in his narrative. 
 
 The wind had come out from the eastward, and was 
 increasing every minute. The clouds came rolling over 
 like masses of black wool, with a little spit of rain at 
 intervals, and slightly scented with the noxious exhala- 
 tions from the muddy Biver Gaboon, on the continental 
 coast. Then the gusts would rise with fitful violence, 
 and the lightnings were tremulous and incessant all 
 around the horizon. But the wind was not yet steady, 
 and kept flickering about for an hour or more, when, 
 having selected the proper point, it settled down into a 
 hard gale, and came thundering on over the sea, — 
 which, in a blaze of phosphorescent light, illumined the 
 dark, murky clouds above, — and piping and crying 
 through the rigging, and snapping the taut ropes against 
 the spars in fury. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 83 
 
 The tliird reef was taken in the topsails, and the 
 close reef in the courses ; and even then the ship was 
 quivering and cleaving through the sea, close by the 
 wind, with as much sail as she could comfortably stag- 
 ger under. 
 
 " How's that barometer ! " exclaimed the captain, as 
 the mate of the watch reported the speed of the ship at 
 eight knots. '' Falling, sir." " And the time ? " " Three 
 bells past midnight." " Tell the sailing master I want 
 him." That officer was standing near by at the wheel, 
 carefully observing the compass card as it marked how 
 the vessel's head lay. ^' Mr. Balmy, this way, sir." 
 And, as he approached his commander, the latter said, in 
 a low voice, " Take a look at the chart in the cabin, and 
 tell me as near as possible how that point on our beam 
 bears, and how far off the outer reef is ? Hope," he 
 added to the first lieutenant, ^' it's touch and go — 
 down, perhaps ; but we must do the best we can, and 
 I'll take the conn." That moment the master returned, 
 and reported the Island of Rotes on the beam, and that 
 the Irmaoes rocks bore south-south-west, about fourteen 
 miles distant. '^ May the Lord deliver us," piously 
 ejaculated the captain, as he threw off his coat and cap, 
 and springing into the quarter boat, in his shirt sleeves, 
 seized the iron chain span with one hand, while he care- 
 fully peered all around ; and then, in his shrill, high- 
 pitched voice, that could be heard where at times the 
 boatswain's whistle could not reach, he sung out, " Mr. 
 
84 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Hope, sliake a reef out of the fore and maintopsails." 
 *^ Ay, ay, sir ! " The order was at once given tlu^ough 
 the trumpet, and the topmen were soon on the yards 
 castinof oiF the reef knots. A minute or two later, the 
 yards were hoisted so as to spread the sail that had been 
 shaken out, and the captain watched the effect upon the 
 ship with intense interest. " How does she head ? " 
 he asked. "Due south, sir, and going off a little." " 
 " Hope," he shouted again, as he held on with one ai"m 
 round the forward davit, "we must turn the second 
 reef out of the courses." "By St. Peter!" gasped 
 the officer ; but the orders were given. " Aloft there, 
 quarter gunners and forecastle men, and see your 
 pomts clear ! Man tacks and sheets ! " while the captain, 
 whom I had followed into the boat, told me to sKde 
 down the backstays, run forward, and tell I^t Dolphin 
 to take the weather wheel. 
 
 The gale was now at its height, and every five minutes 
 a heavy squall of rain would sweep over the ship, and 
 she would be buried waist deep in the seas, which came 
 pouring over the bows and lee gunwale in a perfect 
 cataract. 
 
 The additional weight of sail that the corvette was 
 now under, had there been any great plunge in the 
 motion of the vessel, would have taken the masts and 
 hamper out of her, even with the deck, in one puff; but 
 the violence of the wind thus far had almost blown the 
 sea smooth, and as the topsails were clewed down during 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 85 
 
 the bursting of the squalls, not a seam had started or a 
 rope yarn stranded. 
 
 Meanwhile, the captain conned the ship, and there he 
 stood with liis white hair streaming in the wind, and his 
 clear voice ringing out high above the tempest, like the 
 scream of an eagle, as he gave directions to the men at 
 the wheel. '^ Luff, I say, luff! nothing off. Dolphin ; 
 watch her sharp, and don't shake a thread." And 
 by the binnacle lights the brawny arms of four men 
 were seen interlaced one with another round the spokes, 
 as they gave or wound the raw hide tiller ropes inch 
 by inch. 
 
 We had now approached within fearful proximity to 
 the land, and since the ship was partially embayed be- 
 tween the two arms of the bight, our only alternative 
 w^as to weather the leewardmost one, where rose the 
 Irmaoes rocks, or be crushed to atoms on the island 
 itself " How's the barometer ? " asked old Percy for 
 the twentieth time. " At a stand and convex on the sur- 
 face," replied the precise Mr. Balmy. " Ah, ha ! give 
 me no worse, good San Antonio ; the gale will break by 
 daylight." " She's come up half a pint," blurted out 
 Kit Dolphin, in a deep bass. "All right, boy, close at 
 it ; and now, my beauty," I heard old Percy say to him- 
 self, ^^ I'll not scratch your pretty bottom this bout ! " 
 when at that moment, during a furious gust, we heard a 
 report like a cannon, and a dozen voices exclaimed, 
 " The lee maintopsail sheet's parted." The clew of the 
 8 
 
86 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 sail gave one violent flap, the lee brace snapped at the 
 belaying pin, while the wind caught the sail full aback 
 against the topmast, and at the same time the ship fell 
 off a point and a half. " May the villain who wove that 
 rope have his neck twisted in a stronger," groaned the 
 captain ; but again his shrill voice rose in a stream of 
 yells. " Mr. Hope, give the ship the whole courses, 
 sir ! clew up and cut adrift that topsail ! see the lee 
 lower lifts taut, and the tacks close down ; and don't 
 shake a rag of canvas, Mr. Balmy, or we'll have nothing 
 but a press of bolt ropes to weather those rocks there 
 ahead. Move there, you maintopmen ; out knives and 
 
 cut." 
 
 Notwithstanding the imminent peril in which the ship 
 was placed by the inopportune accident to the topsail, 
 and the urgent necessity of getting quit of it as soon 
 as possible, the men, apparently appalled by the fury 
 and overwhelming power of the tempest, hesitated about 
 going out on the lee yard, where the shreds of canvas, 
 stranded ropes, and blocks were beating, writhing, and 
 twisting around it like the folds of the serpents around 
 Laocoon. 
 
 " Quick, I say," reiterated the captain ; and as the 
 topmen still hesitated, he snatched a sheath knife from 
 the belt of a quarter master at his side, and leaping 
 from the boat to the back stays, in a second he was 
 travelling rapidly up the main shrouds. He soon gained 
 the top ; but on he went up the rigging to the topmast 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 87 
 
 head. Another brief space, and we could see hiin, in 
 his white shirt, slipping cautiously down by the lee top- 
 sail lift. Out of very shame a dozen sailors had fol- 
 lowed ; for by this time the yard was resting on the cap, 
 the weather earing and clew of the sail having been 
 detached, and was standing straight out, with the vio- 
 lence of the gale, to leeward, while nothing confined it 
 to the yard save the earings of the lee leech. 
 
 At this critical moment, old Percy reached the yard 
 arm, and with one foot on the flemish hawse, he divided 
 the lashings and seizings, and the rent flax flew away in 
 the gloom. While this intrepid act was in progress, 
 the topmen, recovering from their panic, jyere crowding 
 out on the yard, but all too late for the service that had 
 been needed, when, just as the captain turned to move in 
 by the foot ropes, something gave way beneath him, 
 and he was precipitated with a jerk from the yard. 
 My heart ceased to beat ; but as a score of voices yelled 
 out, " Man overboard," I saw the white figure of the 
 captain arrested in his descent by the lower lift, and 
 shortly afterwards he alighted on the main yard, and 
 came down the ratlines to the deck. Such a narrow 
 escape from what seemed inevitable death I had never 
 even heard of. 
 
 The Juniata, relieved of her torn topsail, and under 
 the full drop of her courses, had again maintained her 
 hold on the wind ; and on she rushed with her lee bat- 
 tery and hammock nettings under water, while her head 
 
88 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 scarcely looked clear of the ugly mass of reef and rocks, 
 which we could now plainly see within a mile of us. 
 
 " Ten minutes more^ Hope," said old Jack, in a firm 
 though weak voice, to the excellent officer at his side, 
 as he held on to his arm and the mizzen shrouds, while 
 I noticed that his shirt was stained with blood and his 
 face dreadfully lacerated. 
 
 "Nothing off. Dolphin," he continued cheerfully. 
 " There, that will do," he added as the gale favored us 
 at the proper moment — " rap full, and no nearer." The 
 stern rocks toppled high against the sky above our 
 heads, like grim giants of the ocean ready to destroy us, 
 while the seas were breaking like mad about their feet. 
 The corvette reeled as she rose on the swell caused by 
 the violent reaction, and then, when we expected every 
 second to feel the crash of the stout timbers beneath us 
 upon the foaming reefs, the next glare of lightning 
 showed them to us over the lee quarter. 
 
 Then burst forth a relieved shout of triumph from the 
 hitherto breathless crew and officers as they stood await- 
 ing their impending doom, under the lee of the weather 
 bulwarks. " All clear, sir," roared the sailing master ; 
 but the captain made no reply. He took me by the ear, 
 however, and whispered, "Harry, tell the siu'geon I 
 want him ; " and then in a louder tone, " Hope, look 
 out for the ship, and make all snug. I want a nap." And 
 so the old man entered his cabin. 
 
 Before sunrise the gale broke and the wind rapidly 
 
TALES FOR THE MAUINES. 89 
 
 abated, preceded, however, by a double barrelled suc- 
 cession of awful peals of thunder, which drove away the 
 blue-flamed corposans from the tips of our masts, where 
 they had been perched during the storm. The clouds 
 broke away, the glorious sun shone out hot and clear, 
 and before noon the regular trade clouds in their fleecy 
 beauty were moving through the heavens, and with all 
 our drawing canvas spread, we steered for Brazil. 
 
 For some days old Percy did not stir out of his 
 cabin, and all reports v/ere made to the second in com- 
 mand, until one morning, about ten o'clock, the door 
 swung open and he appeared on deck. He was attired 
 in an old uniform coat, which had once been blue, but 
 the sun had burned it to a pale green, and a pair of rusty 
 epaulets, with a straight sword in one hand, which he 
 used as a walking cane, and a yellow leather bound 
 book in the other, with a finger between the leaves. 
 His face was paler than usual, and there vv'as a broad 
 linen bandage passed over his head and under his chin, 
 while he moved his left arm as if in pain. " All hands 
 witness punishment," said he, with a nod to the officer 
 of the watch, as he returned his salute from the horse 
 block. 
 
 Presently the officers were all assembled on the quar- 
 ter deck, the marines drawn up to leeward, the gratings 
 laid at * the gangway, the seizings passed, the quarter 
 masters near, and the boatswain, with his lusty mates and 
 a green bag containing the cats, stood ready, while the 
 8* 
 
90 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 remainder of tlie corvette's crew were clustered about 
 the boats and mainmast. 
 
 When the officers and crew were reported up, the 
 captain turned to the first lieutenant with, " Mr. Hope, 
 send for the station bill and muster the maintopmen." 
 The names of the men of both watches were called, and 
 as the individuals answered, they ranged themselves on 
 either side of the fife rail. 
 
 " Michael Maginnis," repeated the captain, and out 
 stepped a short squat-built little Irishman ; and taking 
 off his hat, he smoothed his bristles with a respectful 
 air, and awaited his fate. Mickey was a particular friend 
 of mine, for he had pricked a variety of China ink 
 devices of ships, anchors, and crucifixes on my arms, 
 had taught me to play Spanish draughts in the top, and 
 other valuable sea miscellany for pastime. Mickey had 
 his failings, like all the rest of mankind, in a too ardent 
 attachment for " sperits " and tobacco ; but it was his 
 boast, however, that though he might lose his reason 
 occasionally, yet he never lost his old pipe, drunk or 
 sober. To guard against such a misfortune, he had a 
 pair of his lower teeth filed with a circular aperture, 
 where he inserted his pipe, which was of silver, and 
 toggling it on the inside, he thus defied fate. The re- 
 mainder of his incisors also presented a rather singular 
 appearance, they being by nature small and pointed, 
 similar to a cross cut saw, or a double row of letter Ys. 
 On the occasion I speak of, Mickey had his arm in a 
 sling. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. M 
 
 ** Magiunls," was the captain's address, " where were 
 you the other night when the order was given to cut 
 adrift the maintopsail ? " " Av ye plaze, sir, I pitched 
 on till the yard, afore ye gave the order, and thin I had 
 me fist here smashed by a flip from the bowlin' bridle, 
 which obliged me to swing meself back to the lower 
 cap, sir." This speech was so frank and respectful, as 
 he drew forth his mutilated hand in its splints and band- 
 ages, while the surgeon corroborated the extent of the 
 injury, that we waited with some anxiety to see if his 
 commander would punish him. 
 
 " Stand aside, sir," was the only order he received. 
 *^ Christopher Dolphin," was the next name called ; and 
 forth broke Kit from the throng of his shipmates near 
 the booms, for he did not belong to the maintop, and 
 doffing his hat, he looked the captain full in the face. 
 There was a sort of reddened glow about the white 
 seam on his w^ounded cheek, and a sad and surprised 
 look in his eyes ; but yet he never quailed. My heart 
 sank within me when I beheld my faithful friend, who, 
 to my recollection, never had a cross word given him, 
 much less a stripe of those tearing cats athwart his 
 honest back. Had I dared, I should have rushed out 
 and interceded for my trusty companion ; and I would 
 willingly have taken the blows which I believed were 
 about to be inflicted on him; but the rigid discipline 
 and ceremony of the quarter deck held me back. 
 
 " Dolphin," said the captain, " how long have you 
 
02 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 been in service?" "Neber but once afore, sir." 
 " When was that ? " " In de fight wid de Wasp and 
 Frolic, sir." "Ay, I remember, you and Lang were 
 the first to board." The black made no reply. " Stand 
 there." The captain pointed with his sword to a place 
 beside Maginnis, and then went on, turning towards the 
 crew. " Listen to me, lads. I never overlook good or 
 bad conduct. That man," (designating my Lish beauty,) 
 " did his duty. I make him captain of the maintop, and I 
 shall give him a week's liberty when the ship reaches 
 port. And you. Dolphin, for steering this vessel like a 
 skilful and prudent seaman, when a hair's variation 
 would have smashed us on the rocks, I rate you my 
 cockswain." Then, after a slight but impressive pause, 
 he opened the articles of war, and read aloud, '•' Any 
 person in the navy who shall negligently perform his 
 duty shall be punished at the discretion of the captain." 
 Here he called out, " Thomas Murden ; " and the burly 
 shoulders and ugly squint of one of the fellows who 
 had been shipped at St. Thomas protruded themselves 
 from the line of his topmates. " Seize him up ! " 
 The cats were taken out of their case, the blows fell, and 
 the wretch stood in perfect indifference to his punish- 
 ment, while the corporal counted to twelve, when the 
 order was given, " Stop ! " He put on his blue flannel 
 shirt with a sneer, rolled his quid about in his ugly 
 mug, and seemed well satisfied to get off so easily. 
 There were three or four more served in the same way. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 93 
 
 before the name of ^* William Lowther " was called, the 
 companion of Thomas Murden. 
 
 The captain had remained quite unconcerned and ap- 
 parently abstracted during the foregoing work, until the 
 last man's name caught his ear, when he started, and 
 fixed his piercing gray eye upon him with a look of the 
 deepest meaning. 
 
 "And where were you, sir ? " he broke out in a sharp, 
 curt tone. " I got on the yard as soon as I could," 
 replied the man, with a surly, insolent air and look. 
 " Ay, you scoundrel, and you cut the flemish hawse 
 seizing by accident, eh ! after I had cleared away the 
 head lashing of the topsail. Strip ! and thank God that 
 I haven't hung you from that yard arm there before 
 now." The fellow looked savagely around for a mo- 
 ment, and then, with a threatening gesture, he stepped 
 forward a pace, and asked, " If I'm to be flogged, I'm 
 blasted if I wouldn't like to know what for." Like a 
 flash old Percy's straight rapier leaped from its sheath, 
 and as he made a lunge right for the man's heart, ex- 
 claiming, " Mutiny, eh ! " the first lieutenant threw his 
 arms around him, and barely succeeded in arresting the 
 pass ; but the glittering steel quivered like a viper's 
 tongue at Lowther's throat, and the sweat fell from his 
 face in greal drops. In another moment, perfectly pas- 
 sive, he was seized by the petty officers and triced up to 
 the gangway. 
 
 *' Stop a bit," said the old captain, as his face resumed 
 
94 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 its wonted expression ; ^*' that rascal's blood ^yants cool- 
 ing ; one of you there draw a bucket of salt water and 
 fetch a tin pot." The brine was soon brought to the 
 gangway, and a brimming quart tin goblet filled, when 
 the captain continued, "Take your sedlitz," — sycUeetz 
 he pronounced it, — " it will serve to carry off your 
 bile ! " The culprit gulped it down without a word. 
 '' ISTow," added old Jack to the boatswain, with a precise 
 admonition, "flog the villain well. " The cords whirled 
 round with their claws clear, and came down in stinsr- 
 ing cuts, that made him wince and whine at every 
 stroke. At the thirtieth blow, the captain said, " Enough. 
 Mr. Hope, put Lowther in double irons, and repeat this 
 dose every other morning for three days. Pipe down, 
 sir." 
 
 "And we will pipe up, if you please, Mr. Gringo," 
 said the youthful matron, as, rising, she distributed the 
 bed room candlesticks. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 The evening after tlie unpleasant events I Lave re- 
 lated to you, I was whiling away a few leisure moments 
 in the innocent diversion of trying to paint a sleeping 
 messmate's face, witli lampblack from the binnacles, 
 when I received the following laconic billet : " Sir, at 
 the calling of the watch, you will repair to the starboard 
 steerage, and report yourself for service, with a wine 
 glass. — Saturday Night.'' 
 
 This peremptory official document was written on 
 coarse cartridge paper, and signed by a representation 
 of an imp dancing a pas seul on a corkscrew. Accord- 
 ingly, as the bell struck eight, I very promptly entered 
 the berth where I had been directed to report, and being 
 hoisted, by a summary process, head foremost over the 
 backs of the party already assembled, I was rammed, 
 like a gun wad, into a small crevice between a mess 
 locker and a pile of cocked hat and quadrant cases. 
 
 A solid cherry wood table, with the leaves spread, 
 nearly filled the apartment, leaving barely room for the 
 camp stools and their occupants, ranged at the sides. 
 A swinging lamp was attached from the beam over- 
 head, which shed a strong light and heat around ; but 
 
 (95) 
 
 k 
 
96 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the air ports and a windsail, wMcli was led into the 
 berth, just saved us from the tortures of suffocation. 
 
 The mess was composed of the usual heterogeneous 
 collection of mates and midshipmen, varying from the 
 ages of thirteen to thirty, though the latter, not only 
 by long tradition, but usage, were treated as much like 
 boys as the former; nor would the case have been 
 altered in the least degree, had they been grandfathers. 
 They came from all parts of the broad United States, 
 from the eastern limits of New England and the 
 Atlantic seaboard to the backwoods and down to the 
 mouth of the Mississippi. 
 
 Many of us, however, knew what a ship was, and had 
 picked up a little primary nautical knowledge from a 
 residence in seaport cities where ships were objects of 
 hourly observation. But there were others who had 
 never seen a mast sticking out of a vessel's deck, and 
 were as ignorant of the life and profession they were 
 called to assume, as an oyster might be supposed to be 
 of the satellites of Jupiter. Strange enough that some 
 of these last took to their avocations more naturally, and 
 made eventually far better officers, than those who had 
 been reared amid the cheeping of blocks and the smell 
 of that marine perfume — tar. 
 
 We had one great strapping fellow, who, after many 
 days' travel away from the clearings of the remote set- 
 tlements, at last reached his destination, and entered the 
 gates of the dock yard, astride of his steed and saddle 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 97 
 
 bags. In obedience to directions which had been vol- 
 unteered him from a demure reefer at the gates, he 
 hitched his trusty charger to a ringbolt of the receiving 
 hulk moored at the pier ; but while he was on board 
 reporting and being introduced to his new home and 
 companions, the tide rose and pulled his faithful animal 
 and saddle bags into the dock. It was not long, how- 
 ever, before Ripley, the honest soul, learned to distin- 
 guish the ropes as well as the sharpest of us, and from 
 his very kindness of heart we all loved him. 
 
 There was another big fellow named Slade, but he 
 was of quite a different stamp. He had been a " bilger " 
 at his examinations for the second time, and was again 
 on probation for another trial. He was a devoted lover 
 of field sports, knew the pedigree and exploits of every 
 horse in the racing calendar, and prided himself, of all 
 things, upon his skill in gaffing game cocks with steel 
 spurs as sharp as needles, so that the " poultry " might 
 kill one another at the first fly, whenever a private cock- 
 pit could be held without danger of interruption under 
 the forecastle. 
 
 Tom Slade did not apparently own much shirt prop- 
 erty, for he was very scantily supplied with those essen- 
 tials, and with respect to coats, he had not a decent one 
 to his broad back. Indeed, it was not often that he 
 required those outward luxuries, as he rarely went on 
 shore for pleasure, except to act as principal or second 
 in a duel, or umpire in a horserace ; and then he took 
 9 
 
i)8 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 tlie privilege of his age and strength, and rigged him- 
 self out in the best raiment the kits of his messmates 
 afforded- Albeit he was on those gala occasions a 
 very taking fellow, yet when the night set in he was 
 usually brought on board in an unconscious state. 
 Years rolled on ; he left the service, and was killed one 
 day by an Indian rifle bullet, during the Seminole war 
 in Florida, while trying to make a loaded team leap a 
 pine tree across the road, in the heart of a thick forest. 
 
 "We had another victim to blue water ruin also, whom 
 we called Bonny Baily. He was a little red-headed fel- 
 low, who got maudlin not unfrequently, and in. that 
 condition was in the habit of requesting some one of his 
 messmates to take three or four loaded pistols and 
 explode them into his lacerated bosom, declaring him- 
 self disgusted with the world, and the first lieutenant 
 particularly. His turn came ; he was cashiered, lectured 
 for a time as a reformed drunkard, then tried his talents 
 as a Methodist parson, ran off with one of the lambs 
 of his flock, and finally died in the almshouse. 
 
 Among the more juvenile denizens of the Juniata's 
 steerages, there were a number of fine, well-behaved 
 youths, who, steering clear of the shoals and reefs 
 which beset the path of inexperience, escaped all dan- 
 ger, and are now carrying their canvas gallantly in open 
 water, leading lives alike honorable to their country and 
 to themselves. As I pass them in review before me, 
 while busy memories flit in lights and shadows, it is 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 99 
 
 very pleasant to me to reflect that there are many of 
 these my boyish comrades whose early impulsive yearn- 
 ings have never been weakened by time or circumstance, 
 or the cold and stern realities of manhood. Believe me, 
 Fred, and give heed to the knowledge which I have 
 only bought by constant attrition in the world, — never 
 forsake the person who has stood by you in the hour of 
 need for all the wealth or honors that man can bestow. 
 
 In this latter class I call to mind a messmate named 
 Rox. He was a short, square-built youth, with a full, 
 dark eye, lighting up a frank, handsome face, beneath a 
 broad, white Grecian forehead, and chestnut hair. He 
 was strong, too, as he was handsome, with limbs like a 
 Titan ; and at the age of fifteen he could hold a thirty- 
 two pound shot, at arms length, in each hand. 
 
 Besides the sea officers who lived in these cramped 
 berths of the Juniata, was a schoolmaster, calling him- 
 self Brown, who was our abomination. We nicknamed 
 him Griddle Brown, from his resemblance to a pale 
 buckwheat cake. He wandered slightly out of the line 
 of his legitimate duty, and through a mistaken notion 
 of his conscience, or some such nonsense, he was in the 
 habit of tattling of our misdemeanors to the captain ; 
 so we made war upon him, and after being driven nearly 
 to the verge of distraction, he was finally forced to leave 
 the corvette, and devoted his leisure to the scientific ex- 
 plorations of the River Amazon. 
 
 To balance this annoying person, we had a dear good 
 
100 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 old soul of a clerk, named Belfalr. He crooked his 
 elbow once too often, however, and like many a better 
 man, the dark waters cover him. He was our favorite, 
 soothed our temporary griefs, interceded for us in scrapes, 
 made up our little quarrels, and was our adviser and 
 friend at all times. He was a man of education, and 
 had seen service ; but his unfortunate propensity for the 
 bottle had at last brought him to the lower deck of a 
 man-of-war, whence he was rescued for the time by 
 Captain Percy, with whom he had sailed a score of 
 years before. When not too far gone in his cups, our 
 old friend would sit and sing to us the most soul-touch- 
 ing ditties that ever sailor listened to. 
 
 You must forgive this tedious digression, ladies, said 
 the Lieutenant, with a sad smile for the past, as he 
 bowed imploringly to his fair audience, for I find that 
 garrulity, one of the infirmities of age, is creeping up 
 to me with a wet lug. 
 
 I have already told you that upon my advent to the 
 mate's quarters, there was the accustomed gathering to 
 welcome Saturday night, and the glasses were paraded 
 on the board. My friend. Jack Gracieux, to whom I 
 was indebted for a very cordial reception, had the chair 
 — in a convivial sense I mean, for there was nothing 
 but camp stools in the berth, if indeed there was a con- 
 trivance for sitting upon, with a back to it, in the lower 
 part of the ship. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said Jack, as he rose with his usual 
 
TALES FOR THE m'arInES. 101 
 
 air and charming grace of manner — '' gentlemen, it may 
 not have escaped the recollection of a number of you, 
 and others have perhaps been informed by impartial ob- 
 servers, that some time during the past week the good 
 ship in which we sail came within an ace of being 
 wrecked on inhospitable rocks in the Bight of Benin ; 
 and, out of gratitude for our deliverance, we have been 
 presented by our estimable young shipmate there, over the 
 way " — pointing with an easy wave of his hand towards 
 me — " with a five-gallon keg of old Madeira, which I 
 believe was originally intended for his grandmother, I 
 think you said — no ! — grandfather, gentlemen, to 
 whom I would beg, should a favorable opportunity 
 present itself in the course of the evening, to propose a 
 very good health." 
 
 Mr. Gracieux, having got rid of these remarks in an 
 off-hand way, turned to the steward, (a mottled, dis- 
 colored-faced mulatto, who at a later day made a lazzia 
 of all the old family watches in the mess, together with 
 Mr. Gracieux's gold sleeve buttons, and escaped at 
 Buenos Ayres,) and observed in an impressive tone, 
 "Thomas Small, immediately produce the materials." 
 
 To my horror and surprise, the afore-mentioned little 
 barrel of old Madeira was rolled upon the mess table, 
 which I at once recognized as one I had especially in- 
 trusted to the master's mate of the spirit room for safe 
 keeping during the remainder of the cruise, that office 
 9* 
 
lOJ^ 1ALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 being at the time filled by the worthy gentleman who 
 had just concluded his address. 
 
 In addition to the wine, there were other creature 
 comforts produced, such as a large cube of salt beef, as 
 hard as agate, with a tray of biscuits, or midshipmen's 
 nuts, beside it. 
 
 Lord love ye, Fred ! suddenly ejaculated the Lieu- 
 tenant, if you should happen, in these days, to men- 
 tion the unknown words of grog, salt junk, or hard 
 tack in a reefer's mess, the chances are five to one that 
 they'd kick you out of the berth first, and then have you 
 out edgewise in the morning. Why, it's a mortal affront 
 to even allude to any thing more bracing or substantial 
 than Burgundy or sugar wafers. For their nerves are too 
 delicate by far to enjoy the coarse grub we used to es- 
 teem such a treat. 
 
 On the present occasion, as I was about to tell you, 
 there was, as you may have ere this remarked, a more 
 sumptuous display than ordinary ; and when all the 
 " materials " were produced, the presiding officer de- 
 sired, with permission of the company, to send for his 
 tall and amiable acquaintance, Mr. Ash, the carpenter, 
 and an implement to bore a hole in the wine barrel, as 
 there was not, strange to say, so useful an apparatus as 
 a corkscrew in the furniture of the mess. " And," 
 added Mr. Gracieux, with his wonted blandness, to his 
 thirsty and impatient audience, " it is my private opinion 
 
f 
 
 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 103 
 
 that the invention of corkscrews has proved of infinitely 
 more serious injury to the human race than even gun- 
 powder ; for, although the process of extermination is 
 more refined, tedious, and expensive, yet in the end it is 
 equally certain in its results. By the by," continued 
 the speaker, as an idea of considerable magnitude seemed 
 to occur to him, " I am only surprised that some val- 
 iant naval hero of perhaps a hundred bottles, who 
 may have performed admirable service in foreign ports 
 and other precious liquids, where a careful use of those 
 instruments is required in removing obstructions from 
 the mouths of narrow-necked channels — I am only 
 shocked," he repeated, '* that some commodore of wis- 
 dom and experience in this interesting pursuit has not 
 ere this collected a 'musee of corkscrew artillerie,' and 
 prepared a brief memoir of the form and execution of 
 those engines, since the gradual introduction of glass in 
 place of wine skins, from the mediaeval ages to the pres- 
 ent day." 
 
 At this juncture, Mr. Ash, the carpenter, appeared 
 through the sliding doors of the steerage, and with 
 an auger of respectable dimensions, soon effected an 
 orifice in the wine breaker. Being requested to name 
 his tipple, he promptly replied, " Hollands," which 
 fluid being procured, he threw it down his throat like a 
 capsule of castor oil, without touching that passage, 
 closed his lips tight together, fearful lest the aroma might 
 escape, and then vanished. 
 
104 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " Gentlemen," again proposed the chairman, " before 
 we turn our attention seriously to the business on the 
 table before us, would it not be as well to send a cartel 
 to our sympathizing friend Lieutenant John Hazy, to 
 ask him to join us upon this festivity ? " 
 
 " 0, agreed — only be quick ! " shouted all in a vol- 
 ley ; and a deputation having been ceremoniously de- 
 spatched to the gun room, there presently arrived a 
 handsome, sailor-built fellow, on the lee side of forty, 
 with so much fun in his twinkling black eyes that it was 
 positively exhilarating to behold him. 
 
 Hazy was only a passenger on board the Juniata, going 
 out to join a frigate in the Brazils ; but as he was by 
 long odds the most amusing character in the corvette, 
 and his time all his own, he was on the whole a great 
 comfort to us. Hazy was not merely a gentleman, but 
 he professed to be a scholar, a poet, and witlial a pas- 
 sionate admirer of the fair sex. 
 
 We all struggled to rise when he entered the berth ; 
 but as he assured us it would break his heart should we 
 incommode ourselves by so doing, we resumed our 
 places. 
 
 " Jack," said Gracieux, as he gave him a hearty slap 
 of pure friendship on the back. Now I must observe, 
 here parenthesized the Lieutenant, that although our 
 friend Hazy was the most genial soul in existence to 
 those he loved, yet few others could take liberties with 
 him ; for he declared with Falstaff that he was " Jack 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 105 
 
 with his familiars, John with his brothers and sisters, but 
 Sir John with all Europe." 
 
 " Jack," inquired the chairman, '' what will you be- 
 gin with ? — the old south-side there, presented to us by 
 that interesting youth on the quadrant case," — here he 
 frowned demoniacally at me, thinking, perhaps, that I 
 might expose the larceny of the little barrel, — "or a 
 throw of spirits ? " 
 
 " My brave companion," replied the officer addressed, 
 " though the sagacious Publius Syr us very justly re- 
 marks that 'wine has drowned more than the sea,' yet 
 if it be not, according to the discreet and temperate 
 Horace, ' a poet's beverage vile and cheap,' as I have 
 not tasted the south-side juice of the grape since the 
 memorable dinner at Madeira, when I proposed to the 
 young lady, and requested leave to begin a series of 
 visits to her on the following day, I will e'en join you 
 in a bowl ; but first, if you will allow me, I'll have a 
 compact rum toddy to take away the taste of the fruit 
 and cigar I incautiously indulged in after dinner to- 
 day." 
 
 " Certainly," acquisesced Mr. Gracieux. " Steward, 
 mix this gentleman a tod." 
 
 " And I say," crowded in our guest, " don't grate 
 your thumb nail into it by mistake for the nutmeg ; for, 
 though I'm convinced its all prejudice, still I prefer the 
 spice from the Philippine Isles. And wait a week," he 
 added ; " steward, don't put too much water with the 
 
106 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 rum ; for, though water may be very conducive to navi- 
 gation under the keel, it is at the same time very inju- 
 rious, I maintain, above the keelson. — Ah, that will do ; 
 all right," said he, as the mixture was presented to him, 
 while he gave vent to a peculiar whistle, from the very 
 depths of his windpipe, to convey to us the extreme 
 satisfaction he experienced in absorbing his drink. 
 
 The work of the evening was now fairly under way ; 
 the little breaker of wine rolled from side to side until he 
 actually began to gurgle with depletion. 
 
 " This is a tolerably good vintage, gentlemen," ob- 
 served Slade, as he held a full tumbler in his hand ; 
 *' very fine flavor indeed ; could shoot quite close to the 
 line with enough of this beverage in one's system ; 
 smacks a twang, though, of the wood, like all the rest 
 of us who live so much down among these huge masses 
 of timber. However, it aids digestion, which is all we 
 need here ; for I contend that, to live upon the ocean, 
 one should have the gizzard of an ostrich and the stom- 
 ach of a dromedary. As for nerves, those luxuries could 
 be dispensed with altogether." 
 
 " Blasphemy — arrant nautical sacrilege," interposed 
 the chairman. " I cannot in my official capacity listea 
 to such indecorous observations. For my part, I abso- 
 lutely adore every thing salt and blue, from a herring to 
 the azure orbs of woman." 
 
 " Except," gravely put in Jack Hazy, " when you 
 chance to have a grand passion for some unconscious fair 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 107 
 
 one, while you are away on the unchanging deep, your 
 feelings smothered, and the sweet sensibilities of your 
 susceptible nature agonized by the cold, unfeeling sneers 
 of your boisterous companions." 
 
 " Any aromatic vinegar left in the castors, steward, or 
 mustard?" suggested some one; *^ for here is a gentle- 
 man under contract to faint." 
 
 " Why, Hazy," chirped Bonny Bailey, " I thought 
 you w^ere a moment ago congratulating yourself on a 
 matrimonial escape you effected at Maderia the other 
 day." 
 
 " O, no, my trusty mates ; you mistook my meaning 
 entirely. The risk I ran was with the brother ; and 
 since you seem so interested, I will explain how the del- 
 icate affair happened. 
 
 " I was dining at the house of one of those wine-sell- 
 ing princes of the grape, and owing to some derange- 
 ment of my pocket chronometer, I had the misfortune 
 to arrive a few seconds after the company were seated at 
 table, but found a place reserved for me beside one of 
 the most charming young witches it has ever been my sad 
 fate to meet with. She was gay, conversable and spi- 
 rituel/e. She positively idolized the blue jackets ; she 
 thought them so frank, so generous ; but alas ! so hard 
 hearted. She had lived on the sea shore, somewhere 
 about Cork ; gazed on the waves by the month together ; 
 I trembled when it blew, and wept, I think she said, when 
 it calmed. Then, too, she had such tender, confiding 
 
108 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 looks out of her eyes, and smiled so sweetly, that, in 
 short, gentlemen, towards the close of the dinner, when 
 some of the pure nectar from the mother vats had been 
 produced, I began to believe that I was getting very far 
 gone in love ; and that, being now of age, how delight- 
 ful it would be to have those soft, dimpled fingers to 
 smooth my pillow, and strew my desolate " — " Dissolute, 
 you mean," hinted Rox — " path with the thornless roses, 
 which, I am told, bloom in the little heaven of married 
 life. I turned the matter rapidly over in my mind 
 while the dessert was coming on. I felt that this was 
 my only chance, for there was a ball in the evening, and 
 the ship was to sail the next day. A more excellent 
 opportunity might never present itself. I had twinges 
 at the same time, for I knew that in the event of my 
 changing my estate, I should of necessity have to for- 
 swear the fascinating society of all my intimates, your- 
 selves, gentlemen, among the number." 
 
 *' What shocking ingratitude ! " exclaimed the mess, 
 in one simultaneous shriek. 
 
 " Not so, my friends ; but I felt that you could not, 
 rough sailors, though honest, perhaps, as you are, appre- 
 ciate the shrinking timidity of a tender flower, like the 
 one I was about to protect. I say, I thought all these 
 things over as maturely as I could amid the confusion 
 of handing fruit, and some few innocent familiarities 
 with the tinta, and finally concluded that, notwith- 
 standing the young person had, as she ingenuously as- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 109 
 
 surecl me, neither lands nor dower, yet reflecting that 
 the pious Augustine tells us, ' Humble wedlock is better 
 than proud virginity,' and in spite of the opinion of 
 the immortal Dr. Slop, that * virginity alone peoples 
 paradise,' I at once threw up my ticket in that lottery, 
 and resolved to take my chance for a prize on earth. 
 
 *' Give me a sip, Mr. Gracieux, that I may have 
 strength to unbosom myself further," gasped Jack Hazy, 
 as he loosened his cravat and unbuttoned his shirt, to 
 relieve his feelings in the stifling atmosphere which sur- 
 rounded us. 
 
 " Well, shipmates, the time was getting rather short ; 
 and, by the way, I must mention, that through the in- 
 terstices of a great epergne, big as a palm tree, loaded 
 with grapes, confectionery, and wax lights, I had ob- 
 served a gentleman, apparently far gone in a decline, but, 
 nevertheless, of a most resolute physiognomy, who some- 
 what annoyed me by the entire disregard he paid to his 
 food and di'ink, and the manifest interest he took in the 
 lovely girl beside me. I began to feel the pangs of 
 jealousy to an uncomfortable extent, and should have 
 decided to ask his intentions, had not my partner, dear 
 little soul, taken occasion to inform me that he was her 
 brother, who had formerly ii^ured his health by hard 
 service in several campaigns in the Low Countries, under 
 the distinguished German general. Count Catzenjammer, 
 of the Pocket Pistol Chopineers, or some such foreign 
 10 
 
110 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 legion, but was now unattached to a regiment of tlie 
 British army. 
 
 " The epergne, luckily, answered the purpose of a 
 screen, and any of you profane fellows may take your 
 oath that under the cover of a damask napkin, or the 
 table cloth, — I was so extremely agitated I don't now 
 remember which, — I seized a little fluttering hand, and 
 with my mouth full of grapes and ladyfingers, I 
 managed to sputter out my devotion and love — how 
 the pent-up feelings of my bosom had overleaped by 
 their resistless force the barricades of years, and all that 
 sort of thing. In short, I popped in regular form, and 
 as the little soft hand returned the pressure of mine, and 
 the humid eyes were swimming in liquid light, I knew 
 that my happiness in life was sealed. In my confusion 
 I capsized a wine glass of port all over my adored one's 
 dress, as I tried to hobnob pleasantly with the consump- 
 tive brother, late of the Chopineers, opposite, who was 
 at that moment quite unconscious of the happy family 
 arrangements about to exist between us. However, it 
 only ruined a rich silk, and that was a mere tissue of 
 moonshine compared to the solid rays of married bliss 
 we were about to enjoy ; for I Avas only three months' 
 pay in arrears to the purser on my ^ dead horse,' besides 
 a few outstanding claims at home, which I made a men- 
 tal vow to liquidate as soon as the honeymoon was 
 ended. 
 
 " Give me more of the contents of that breaker; it 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. Ill 
 
 strongly reminds me of the brief though delicious mo- 
 ments I am relating ; and let me hurry on to the singular 
 catastrophe." 
 
 He drew a long sigh as he imbibed the stimulus, and 
 with another of his peculiar whistles, declared himself 
 " tip top," and continued. 
 
 " I think we were a good while longer at table, but of 
 course I had no eyes or ears for any thing that was go- 
 ing on. About the last circumstance I recall was asking 
 my fluttering little dove if she would be my partner for 
 the first quadrille at the ball. ' No ; she never danced, 
 and never went to balls,' she murmured, rather sadly ; 
 'and they always carry me away so soon as dinner 
 is over ! ' ' "What brutes ! ' I ejaculated ; ' but never 
 fear ; my arms shall be your protection, and mine shall 
 be the pleasing privilege of exhibiting to you all 
 that is worthy of admiration.' ' O,' she fondly whis- 
 pered, ' you are too kind. Then how bright will be 
 my fate ! ' 
 
 " At this epoch the entire company moved their chairs 
 from the table, as a signal for rising ; and if my senses 
 did not deceive me, I beheld a robust, middle-aged wo- 
 man approach my promised one, and grasping her like 
 a bundle of old clothes, lift her up bodily, and bear her 
 from my sight. 
 
 " Petrifaction, my friends, can give you but a faint 
 idea of my rigidity, when I discovered at a glance that 
 she had no legs ! How I got through that aw^ful night 
 
112 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 I leave you to surmise ; but early the next morning, as 
 I was trying to cool with wet plaintain leaves the little 
 bald place on the top of my head, w^hich was caused 
 originally by sleeping in too short a co6, 1 was startled by 
 the apparition of the brother, Captain Bitter, of the 
 114th Regiment of Fut, as he called it, who invited me 
 to step out with him on the balcony of the hotel at a 
 ' conv«nient ' distance — he an invalid, too, and the damp 
 morning air being proverbially injurious ! 
 
 " Heaven only knows how I got out of his clutches, 
 or how many apologies I made, written and verbal ; suf- 
 fice it to say that on account of that young person's ab- 
 sence of pins, my heart is blighted." 
 
 At the conclusion of this affecting recital, Jack Gra- 
 cieux desired the clerk to give us a song. The old fel- 
 low's face was slightly flushed by his potations ; but his 
 voice was as sweet as ever. He gave us the " Battle of 
 the Nile," with such exquisite pathos and feeling, that 
 even the most riotous held their peace, and the struggles 
 of the little breaker itself were for a while suspended. 
 
 O Dibdin ! burst forth the Lieutenant, in a fit of 
 enthusiasm — Dibdin ! you who had the power to 
 soothe those drooping hearts which were aching to 
 the core, as they mourned the bravest sons of Albi- 
 on fiilling victorious on the blood-stained decks of her 
 gallant ships ! You, O Dibdin ! Homer of the sea ! 
 who, when the fight was done, and the red flames 
 quenched, and the thunder of battle silenced, lent a 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 113 
 
 charm and pride to the deeds of the daring tars that 
 will ever cause their sons to cherish and emulate the 
 glorious actions of those who have gone before them ! 
 Brave Dibdin — rhymer for the sailor! " 
 
 When the good old Belfair had ended his plaintive 
 strain, the wine again flowed, and while a musical mate 
 with the hiccups pealed forth Gay's beautiful ballad, — 
 
 •' 'Twas when the seas were roaring 
 With hollow blasts of wind, 
 A damsel lay deploring, 
 All on a rock reclined," — 
 
 there came a sharp rap at the steerage doors, and the 
 master at arms, with his horn lantern, observed that it 
 was four bells, and that the ten o'clock lights must be 
 dowsed. 
 
 " Whence comest thou on this blasted heath ? " fierce- 
 ly exclaimed Mr. Hazy, as he threw himself into an at- 
 titude. 
 
 " From the berth deck, sir," replied the matter-of- 
 fact master at arms, while Mr. Gracieux placed a brim- 
 ming tumbler, compounded from the ullages of the va- 
 rious vintages left on the table, to the official's lips. 
 
 The time, however, had arrived for breaking up ; the 
 little barrel was in a state of utter emptiness ; our guest, 
 Jack Hazy, bowed to us very politely, returned thanks in 
 a neat speech for the good c^eer, and requesting me indi- 
 vidually to remember him to my aunt, or any other 
 10* 
 
114 TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 
 
 member of my family, when I should choose to write, 
 he cautiously felt his way along the bulkheads, and 
 retired within the gun room. 
 
 I do not recall an incident worthy of your attention 
 for about forty days after the loss of my small cask of 
 wine, until we made Brazil. "We had, it is true, the 
 usual daily divisional exercises at the great guns, and 
 with the small arms ; then general quarters each week, 
 and on Sundays inspection and muster, with the articles 
 of war by way of benediction. The paint work was 
 regularly scrubbed, too, and the decks rasped with sand, 
 with great pertinacity ; and I remember that towards 
 the last of the passage, we lived so long in puddles of 
 muddy water that we nearly became webfooted. 
 
 The fact is, that, no matter how big or how little a 
 vessel may be, from a three decker to a pitiful gun brig, 
 first lieutenants, as a distinct genus, believe, owing to 
 some mental aberration, that the eyes of the whole 
 world are upon them ; and, upon going into port, in 
 case there should be seen such a monstrosity as a rope 
 yarn towing overboard, or a topsail sheet within half an 
 inch of being close home, or the lower deck wanting in 
 whitewash, or a belaying pin not polished like a candle- 
 stick, why, hanging or suicide must of necessity be his 
 portion. But, notwithstanding all this minute regard 
 for non-essentials, it is not of very rare occurrence to 
 meet with a fussy, priggish officer, who will slam away 
 a score or more of tompions from his battery at his first 
 
TALES FOR THE MAPvIXES. 115 
 
 salute, and then, mayhap, run his ship on a mud bank, 
 while trying to perform some surprising act of seaman- 
 ship in a crowded roadstead, to the dismay and ridicule 
 of the entire harbor. 
 
 Moreover, im those my early days on shipboard, I 
 formed the opinion, w^hich I have not yet seen reason to 
 change, that half a dozen stout, active w^asherwomen 
 could, by contract, keep a man-of-war's decks whiter, 
 and the vessel cleaner, with a little soap and hot water, 
 than all the hosts of Jack tars who ever performed that 
 delicate service with the scrubbing brush ; always pro- 
 vided, however, that those females be left entirely to 
 their own devices, and not meddled with by any of the 
 trouser folks on board, from the captain all the way 
 down to the cook. 
 
 It was on one of these sea field days to which I have 
 alluded, when all the marine troops were out, fully 
 equipped, in heavy drenching order, with buckets, 
 swabs, and holystones, going through their exciting 
 evolutions of pumping, soaping, sanding, scrubbing, 
 holystoning, bucketing, and swabbing, in a deluge of 
 these elements, when '^ Land ho ! " came in a chant 
 from the mast head — "Cape Frio;" and the troops, 
 with their arms, were dismissed for the time, while the 
 breeze hurried us on around the bold, projecting head- 
 lands, and towards night we slackened our speed, mid- 
 way between the cape and the mouth of Kio Janeiro. 
 
 In approaching this remarkable land, (which has been 
 
116 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 tossed by some extraordinary freak of nature into such 
 grand and striking outline,) on the track by which we 
 came, along under the shade of the bold coast, from 
 Cape . Frio, one is not so deeply impressed with the 
 extraordinary formation of the mountains, because a 
 part of the picture is hidden from view. But once 
 sail up to it in broad daylight from the southward, 
 where the narrow barrels of the slim " Organ " Moun- 
 tains seem to be drawing their breath from the highest 
 heavens, far inland, — where next the lordly features 
 of the stupendous Corcovado, the adjacent heights, and 
 the hills which sweep in grand succession around, arrest 
 the gaze, — while the smooth summit of the "Sugar 
 Loaf " in the centre, and the queer-shaped islands 
 which lie nearer close up the foreground of the view, 
 — and, save in some few and wonderfully-shaped 
 groups of Polynesia, you will find nothing on the 
 water part of the globe so grand and imposing as Rio. 
 As we approached the mouth of the bay it fell calm, 
 and the next morning we were in the same position, 
 and could not move an inch. We seemed to have got 
 into a see-saw of bad luck ; for to seaward, vessels were 
 heeling over with full sails, and in shore of us, also, 
 the small craft were moving on briskly. We all impre- 
 cated our fate with considerable earnestness ; but it 
 only wasted our breath, and that was a commodity 
 which, in a calm under the tropic, we could ill afford 
 to lose. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 117 
 
 Two more days came and went, and still the barks 
 far and near sailed about according to their fancies ; but 
 the Juniata appeared to be held fast in a smooth little 
 bowl of water, with no immediate prospect of getting 
 out. 
 
 On the last evening I had the first watch, with my 
 friend Gracieux ; but when midnight came, the watch 
 relieved, and our turn to go below, instead of seeking 
 my hot hammock on the steaming lower deck, I pulled 
 a small coil of rope from under the fife rack on the top- 
 gallant forecastle, and, placing it for a pillow on the 
 little square grating which closed the w^ndsail hatch to 
 the deck below, I made a field bed of Kit Dolphin's 
 pea jacket, and, amid the heavy breathing and snoring 
 of the sleeping watch around the silent decks, I per- 
 haps snored a fine tenor to their base. 
 
 I lay snoozing here very delightfully beneath the 
 twinkling stars, and the easy, graceful waving of the 
 brailed sails and cordage, as they gently swung to and 
 fro over my head, by the almost imperceptible motion 
 of the hull, when I was startled by the deep, musical 
 sound of the ship's bell striking one — the first half 
 hour past midnight. 
 
 " Bother ! " I muttered, as the liquid clang of the 
 metal rang in my ears, "what a bore to have that great 
 brass instrument hung directly under one's head, to 
 prevent one sleeping ! " 
 
 I felt too drowsy, however, to make much of an 
 
118 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 effort, and had rolled over to doze off once more, when 
 I heard a hoarse whisper, which seemed to emanate 
 from the very clapper of the bell itself, and, from the 
 few words I caught, claimed my utmost attention. I 
 turned my eyes down between the little square spaces 
 of the grating, and tried to detect the speaker; but all 
 I could distinguish was the forms of two persons in dim 
 outline, standing in the uncertain gloom of the deck 
 below. 
 
 " Keep quiet," was the first connected sentence I 
 caught, " until that quarter master gets out of ear shot." 
 Then, when the retreating footsteps of the man who 
 had come forward to strike the time were no lonsrer 
 heard, the same speaker continued, though not, I 
 thought, in a very amiable mood, " Ay, it's pretty 
 near time to steer clear, matey, from this Yankee cor- 
 vette. She's done us a good turn so far, barrin' a deep 
 grudge I owe that old sea tyrant of a skipper ; and a 
 bloody end to me but I'll be even with him, and wipe 
 off the score for all he's done, down to every stripe of 
 those infernal cats." 
 
 " Hush, my hearty ; all in good time," broke in a 
 voice in a soothing tone ; and then asked, " What plans 
 have you now for another billet, in case we bolt ? " 
 
 "0, never fear; I've the token for the Rio partners; 
 and if the news hasn't reached them about that last 
 bungling scrape, they'll help us to as good a lift as they 
 did before, particularly if the old Veloz has run her 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 119 
 
 cargo safe. Besides," he added, " my old lass. Loo, is 
 living out near the little falls of Tejuco, for better than 
 a year ; and the girl will stand by me, as she did by the 
 surgeon of the convict ship, when Mag and me got up 
 the mutiny, and killed all the other men on board. 
 She's as game as steel, and even wouldn't let me put an 
 end to the fellow ! She can do what she likes with old 
 Jose, and if the worst comes to the worst, we'll coax 
 something out of him, or stop his trade." 
 
 " Much chance of getting away from this craft ? " 
 rejoined the second speaker. 
 
 " You a sailor, and ask a question like that, you fool ! 
 and such a blockhead as not to know that there's but 
 two walls to a ship ! and the use of those sprawly hoofs 
 and flippers that the devil has given ye, for no good 
 use, I'll be bound. With eyes in that ugly head, and a 
 sharp knife in your fist, of a dark night, what more 
 would ye have, eh? All ye have to steer clear of is 
 your thirst for rum, which more than once, ye know, 
 has nigh ruined the pair of us." 
 
 " Well, well, matey, that's my natur' ; don't be too 
 hard on a chap ; you have failin's of your own, maybe, 
 
 and ye may remember " Here the first speaker 
 
 broke out in a low, fierce whisper, as if he was touched 
 with something of a recollection of what his comrade 
 was about to give tongue to. 
 
 " Avast that jaw, and hear what I'm about to say, 
 and mark me well. We've been boys together, you'll 
 
V.iO TALES Foil THE MAlllJSES. 
 
 mind, and sculled in tlie same boat, as mud larks and 
 ship thieves, and we've done many a bit of work, by and 
 large, in the long run ; but if we club together again, 
 I'll have no more of your drunken sprees, and your 
 reckless, mutinous spirit. For mind, if ye ever show 
 another sign of rebellion, I'll kill you like I did the 
 other pal of ours, when he dared dispute my orders 
 about shooting the girl." He said all this savagely, and 
 added, " Ned, you know, saved my head, and neck too, 
 in the affair with the Primrose." 
 
 "Ay," rejoined the second speaker, and I perceived 
 a sudden movement of his body, as if in anger, while 
 his harsh tones, low as they were, trembled with passion. 
 " Ay, I do remember it well ; and though you did the 
 murder, it was a shameful and cowardly act to kill yer 
 true friend, who had stood by ye in trouble. And now, 
 let's understand one another : as you say, we've both 
 been steeped to the roots of the hair on our heads in 
 crime ; any one of 'em would give us a whip at the fore 
 yard, and curse the odds ; but in all the leagues we've 
 rolled over the salt seas together, you've befriended me, 
 and I'm not the man to forsake ye. Now, since the 
 chaps has all gone, and this last bad run of luck, you 
 want me agin ; well, I'm willin' on certain terms. I 
 know you're my superior in larnin' and skill, and I 
 freely tell ye, that so long as ye behave fair I'll stand 
 shoulder to shoulder, come what may, like a back to a 
 blade. At the same time, mind, I must have a bit of a 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINE3. 121 
 
 frolic occasionally, for that's all the pleasure I has, when 
 I gets a little chink in my becket ; and ye know, too, 
 that I don't care much for that stuff, for a dollar goes 
 with me as fur as a gold ounce does with you, when ye 
 put on your grand airs, and shower it about like a nabob. 
 Howsoever, hear the conditions I wants to make : you 
 must bear with my faults, and I'll obey you like a sailor ; 
 but should ye ever try the same game again, when that 
 helpless little chicken was in the way, I'll plant my 
 mark upon your carcass, even should ye be protected by 
 every pirate who ever trod a ship's decks." 
 
 After this burst of excitement, the pair appeared to 
 stand silently regarding each other for more than a 
 minute, when the same voice which had last spoken 
 went on. 
 
 " What say ye, lad ? Am I to call ye master, and are 
 we to clasp hands upon it ? or will ye paddle your own 
 canoe, and leave me on board this smart corvette to 
 battle the watch with the Jonathans ? " 
 
 There was another long pause ; when, in reply to 
 this proposition, the fellow said, (hissing the words out 
 slowly and deliberately through his closed teeth,) — 
 
 ^^Ay, I do want ye. I know ye to be brave and 
 willing when the rum's not aboard ; but, nevertheless, 
 should any thing turn up at Eio, which I feel pretty 
 sure there will, I'll take ye as chief mate. Xow, let by- 
 gones be bygones. What's over is done for — I neither 
 regret nor care. Blast the past and the future in a 
 11 
 
12^ TALES FOE THE MARINES. 
 
 heap — I go for the present ; but my principles differs 
 from yourSj and I shall abide by them ; so you must 
 take heed, and when we stand on the same planks where 
 I command, if you show your teeth I'll put an end to 
 ye. However," he added, '^ don't let us split for a trifle ; 
 the time may not come when we'll be likely to fall out, 
 and here's my fist upon the bargain ; for good men is 
 scarce in these times." 
 
 " Well, agreed, my hearty ! and there's the old- 
 fashioned grip," replied his companion; and the two, 
 apparently, clasped hands upon their pious compact. 
 
 I had been reflecting for some time how I could best 
 identify the brace of worthies whose conversation I had 
 overheard ; but there was not a ray of light shed beneath 
 the forecastle, so that I could distinguish their features ; 
 and I felt aware that the least movement, on my part, 
 from within two feet of their ears, would instantly defeat 
 my object. Long before I could get down the ladder, 
 and to their position, they could secrete themselves 
 among the clusters of men sleeping or lounging about 
 the decks. 
 
 However, this was the only chance I had of detecting 
 them, and just as I heard the voice of the orderly at the 
 cabin doors cry out, in the calm night, '^ Two bells ! " 
 1 knew there was no time to lose, as the quarter master 
 would soon come forward to strike the hour again. So, 
 as cautiously as possible, without making noise enough 
 to disturb a mouse, I raised my head from the grating. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 123 
 
 But, in gradually backing out, to gain my feet, I clianced 
 to stick the toe of my shoe into the open mouth of a 
 snoring forecastleman, who closed his jaws with such a 
 sharp nip, that it made me utter a suppressed maledic- 
 tion. My toe being at length released, I made a spring, 
 still mindful of my purpose, and grasping one of the 
 numerous pieces of running rigging about the foremast, 
 I slid rapidly from the break of the topgallant forecastle 
 to the deck, and then making a dive into the dark space, 
 I rushed to the spot where I hoped to find the men. 
 As I reached it, and putting forth my arms, seized a 
 man, exclaiming, the while, " Who are you ? " I heard 
 the voice of Holbertson, one of the best men in the 
 ship, reply, '^ What's that to you ? Out of the v/ay, and 
 let me strike two bells." 
 
 " ! Holbertson," I said, '' is that you ? Did you find 
 any body here ? " 
 
 " No, sir," he answered, upon recognizing my voice ; 
 '* but I think some one dropped down the scuttle, there, 
 on to the berth deck, just as I got forward." 
 
 I said no more, convinced that the persons I was in 
 pursuit of had taken the alarm and escaped. So, as 
 sleep in those days was at a premium with a younker 
 like me, I betook myself again to the pea jacket couch 
 and rope pillow, and slept until four o'clock, when old 
 Kit shook me awake, and told me to go below before 
 the decks were wet. 
 
 I related to my trusty friend the conversation I had 
 
124 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 overheard ; but since it had no particular bearing upon 
 the Juniata, save in a contemplated desertion, — which 
 was not of rare occurrence with sailors, — and as we had 
 no suspicions of any individuals in particular. Kit advised 
 me to ^^luf de matter be, and say nothin' to nobody 
 upon de subjec'." This advice I promised to follow, 
 and went below to my hammock. 
 
 "With the sun there sprang up a wind off the land, 
 and old Percy resolved to head the ship right out to sea, 
 in order to anticipate the sea breeze a little, and may 
 be, escape from the belt of calm water which had be- 
 devilled us. 
 
 There were scores of vessels, of different nations, 
 heading every way around the compass, either recently 
 out or bound into Kio ; but there was a heavy brig of 
 war, which seemed to have neither object, for she had 
 been dodging about, close to the coast, near where we 
 had been becalmed, only under topsails, jib, and spanker, 
 as if she had no wish to spread so large a clew as to 
 make her conspicuous. 
 
 On the morning I speak of, liowever, she too had 
 taken the notion of leaving the narrow bight where she 
 had been secluded, and with the gentle land wind came 
 quietly across our bows to leeward, where, hoisting Eng- 
 lish colors and pennant, she threw her foretopsail to the 
 mast. As we came close side by side, an officer with 
 a pair of gleaming swabs on his shoulders raised his 
 hat to old Percy, who was standing with some of his 
 
TALE3 FOR THE ^IAEI^'E3. 125 
 
 subordinates on the poop, and in a fine, manly voice 
 said, " This is his Britannic majesty's brig Snake." 
 
 The compliment "svas at once returned by our com- 
 mander with, " The United States corvette Juniata, forty- 
 eight days from St. Thomas, on the coast of Africa." 
 
 " Will you tell me, sir, if you have seen or heard any 
 thing of a brace of slavers, on your passage to Brazil ? " 
 
 " What sort of vessels were they ? " 
 
 " One a large brig, carrying eight carronades, and a 
 long gun amidships, with a crew of about fifty men." 
 
 " Yes, sir, I assisted in getting hold of a pirate an- 
 swering to that description, at the Canaries," rejoined 
 old Percy. 
 
 We could perceive a look of chagrin pass over the 
 countenance of the handsome officer, as he made a 
 gesture of disappointment to the gentlemen around him ; 
 but resuming the conversation, — 
 
 " I am glad to hear that, sir, though I envy you the 
 capture, for she was bound here, and I was in hopes I 
 should have had her in my clutches before she could 
 land her cargo." 
 
 Captain Percy here related the general facts relative 
 to her capture and character. 
 
 " I have no doubt, captain, rejoined the officer, from 
 the information we have, that she is the same vessel ; but 
 did you hear any thing of her consort, a very clumsy- 
 looking hermaphrodite brig, rough about the upper 
 works and spars, though a Baltimore clipper under 
 11* 
 
1.26 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 water, has the legs of a hound, and carries, we hear, six, 
 hundred slaves ? " 
 
 " I regret to say that I have not fallen in with such a 
 vessel," said old Jack ; but the quarter master, Plolbert- 
 son, who stood by, with the spyglass in his hand, 
 touched his hat, and observed, " I saw a craft like that, 
 sir, day before yesterday, just inside Cape Frio there. 
 She was working close under the land, very smartly 
 too, sir ; painted lead color above the water, and looked 
 quite rusty aloft. I wouldn't be surprised if she was in 
 sight now from the topsail yard." 
 
 "Ah," exclaimed Percy, with a start, as he com- 
 municated the report to the captain of the brig of war ; 
 and then, hailing the mast head, he bade the look-out 
 see if the vessel was yet in sight. 
 
 '* Nothing to seaward, sir, of that rig, though here- 
 away, under that bluff point of rocks, there's a topsail 
 schooner or polacre, I can't tell which." 
 
 They were all alive, too, aloft on board the brig ; and 
 as the sea breeze was indicated by a few dark patches to 
 the southward, the officer courteously thanked the cap- 
 tain for the information, and sheered off to have a 
 nearer peep at the suspicious stranger. 
 
 I imagine that Mad Jack wouldn't have disliked to 
 have taken a shy himself at a Guinea trader ; but it was 
 a rather ticklish business for us, in those days, to meddle 
 with vessels having papers of a nation with whom we 
 had no treaty stipulations regarding the slave trade ; and 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 127 
 
 rather than go out of his course, and perhaps burn his 
 fingers, he squared away for Rio. 
 
 The breeze, to make up for its idleness during the 
 past few days, came with a cap full, and the officer of 
 the watch took in the upper sails to save ^olus the 
 trouble of doing it for him. On we flew towards Re- 
 donda, while a fleet of vessels, far and near, were all 
 crowding in the same direction, to the great commercial 
 port beyond. 
 
 We had forgotten our man-of-war friend of the morn- 
 ing, until, just as we began to draw in between the Straits 
 of Redonda and the opposite islands, we, saw a large, 
 lumbering craft, apparently, with dingy, patched sails, 
 but nevertheless carrying a taut rag, and spirling to 
 windward like a witch. As she came out from the in- 
 shore passage formed by the "Daddy" and "Mammy" 
 rocks, we heard the boom of a gun ; and at the instant a 
 twenty-four pound shot struck her above the hounds of 
 the foremast, at the doublings of the masts, and whiz- 
 zing on half spent, dropped into the water close upon 
 our beam. 
 
 " Bueno ! " exclaimed old Jack ; " the fellow who fired 
 that gun had an eye like a hawk, even if he did over- 
 shoot the mark a little. Hillo ! by the Lord, look how 
 he has taken the wind out of her sails ! " 
 
 Sure enough ; not only the wind was knocked out of 
 her, but the wood too ; for in a moment the topmast 
 gave one drunken nod, and, with the topsail and upper 
 
128 TALES FOU TKE MAHlIs^ES. 
 
 canvas, toppled over, pulling the main topmast with it, 
 and the whole maze of masts, sails, and gear fell a heap 
 of wreck upon the deck. 
 
 The vessel came up in the wind, got in irons, and lay 
 like a log upon the water, while presently the clean, 
 sharp black bows and even tier of fangs of the Snake, 
 with as much canvas as she could well stagger under, 
 the spray flying high up the weather leeches of her 
 courses, came with a rush from beyond the ledge of the 
 islands, and had barely time to clew up topgallant sails 
 before she had nearly run over her crippled prize. 
 
 We gave them a cheer as we dashed by, and, con- 
 tinuing on, ran like a^ race horse past the smooth base of 
 the Sugar Loaf, and not giving time to the old sojer 
 at Santa Cruz to get a reply to his hail, in a few min- 
 utes the cables were rattling out with a flying moor in 
 the magnificent bay of Rio Janeiro. 
 
 The narrator paused, and, perceiving the attention of 
 his fair listeners beginning to flag, he improvised a slight 
 headache by way of excusing himself on the occasion, 
 and then broke off" his narrative for the evening. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 The Lieutenant took his place by tlie fire. The 
 ladies desired to be amused. Fred informed them the 
 scene was now in Brazil, and his uncle resumed : — 
 
 The mornins: after our arrival in Rio we saw the lead- 
 colored hermaphrodite brig lying under the guns of an 
 English frigate, with her decks swarming with poor 
 blacks, enjoying God's greatest blessings, which man 
 had denied them — a few mouthfuls of pure air and 
 fresh water. 
 
 It may be as well to mention here that the commander 
 of the frigate, who was not only a humane officer, but a 
 philanthropist, took measures, during the absence of the 
 admiral, for removing the poor wretches to some con- 
 venient point of the bay, so as to lessen the sufferings 
 which they were enduring between the close slave decks 
 of their floating prison and hell. 
 
 For my own part, boy as I was, I thought no more 
 about the business, being far too deeply absorbed in 
 sucking oranges, bananas, and grapes, and indulging in 
 other delicacies brought alongside by our fat bumboat 
 man, Joe Moskeet, from Cobras Island. Then I never 
 tired of wandering through the narrow streets of the city, 
 
 (129) 
 
130 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 peeping into the diamond marts and gay shops, or sip- 
 ping chocolate and whiffing paper cigars at the showy 
 cafe in the palace square. Every thing had interest for 
 me, from beholding the splendid panorama of the hay 
 to passing the time, from daylight in the morning until 
 breakfast, in the jolly boat at the palace stairs, waiting 
 for the ship's provisions, and preventing the boat's crew 
 from lacing their coffee with too much gin, which they 
 called " devil's swill." 
 
 Aside from these my active duties, the good old cap- 
 tain would take me with him occasionally to the pic- 
 turesque suburbs, Gloria, Boto Fogo, and Praya Fla- 
 mingo, where, at dinner or in the evenings at the dwell- 
 ings of the foreign residents, I passed many agreeable 
 hours. 
 
 It was then I learned to speak a little Portuguese, 
 and to think it no sin to press the soft fingers of the ju- 
 venile donas, practising first with those in pantalettes, 
 but gradually gaining confidence, and working my way 
 up to those of a more appreciative age. 
 
 " Ah, I suspect there is a love affair coming," said a 
 sentimental damsel among the Lieutenant's auditors. 
 There would have been, I assure you, said he, with an 
 air of gallantry, had you been old enough in those days 
 to receive my devotion. But you shall hear all in good 
 time ; we must not anticipate. 
 
 One night, as we were returning from one of the de- 
 lightful little dancing reunions near the snowy beach of 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 131 
 
 Boto Fogo, still dreaming that I was pressing the soft 
 hand of a little s^yeetheart, instead of the tiller ropes, I 
 steered the gig rather wild, when old Percy gave me a 
 sharp pinch on the lobe of my ear, his usual endearing 
 way of expressing his feelings, which I would willingly 
 have dispensed with, saying, ^^ You little lubber, you'll 
 be on Villegagnon reef, if you don't mind your eye ; 
 head more for the French admiral's light ; the Juniata 
 is in wake of her." 
 
 I brightened up a bit, and as we caught sight of the 
 dark mass of the corvette resting so quietly on the 
 calm, unbroken surface of the harbor, while the entire 
 bay seemed paved with sparkling brilliants, reflected from 
 the glittering stars above, we saw a red flash from the 
 ship, and then another^ quickly followed by the reports 
 of muskets. 
 
 We pulled rapidly alongside, and on reaching the 
 deck, the first lieutenant reported that two men had 
 swum away, the sentries had fired, and the dinguy 
 been out in chase, but could find nothing. The follow- 
 ing morning, when the crew were mustered, it was dis- 
 covered that the two men who had been shipped at St. 
 Thomas were missing. 
 
 '^Glad to be rid of the rascals," said the captain, 
 when the afiair was made known to him. " I sincerely 
 trust that they have taken an ounce or two of lead with 
 them. But keep quiet for a day or two, and when they 
 emerge from their hiding-places, we'll send for them." 
 
133 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 At the period I speak of, an organized police was a 
 thing unheard of In Ivio. It was during the ill govern- 
 ment which succeeded the anarchy and confusion attend- 
 ant upon the abdication of Don Pedro, and subsequent 
 to the massacre and troubles of the foreign legions. 
 
 The fate of the English legion was sad indeed. It 
 was led by as gallant a band of officers, many of whom 
 had served in the British army, as ever shed blood in a 
 good cause. They fought, too, and conquered : but 
 what was their reward ? They were in great part bar- 
 barously treated, by the very nation for whom they came 
 to wage war, and many lingered out miserable lives in 
 Brazil, or returned home to die from sheer want. One 
 out of a number of the leaders of this expedition. 
 Colonel McGregor, as brave a Scot as ever drew sword 
 since the days of Bruce, and who had distinguished 
 himself in the Peninsula, after sacrificing the little for- 
 tune he had, to maintain the Brazilian imperial forces 
 in the southern provinces, and taking Montevideo, was 
 at a later day "whistled down the wind" without a' 
 crutch to support his riddled frame. This is not a more 
 gloomy picture of events than have happened in Peru, 
 Chili, and the sister states, all over the entire South 
 American continent ; and so it was with the English 
 legion in Spain, I believe, during the Carlos and Chris- 
 tina war. I was there when Fitzgerald was in com- 
 mand of the legion, and though he and his companions 
 received decorations and orders without number for 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 133 
 
 their gallant services, yet the orders were not upon the 
 treasury, or, if they were, they were not honored. 
 
 Whether we, on this side of the Atlantic, shall ever 
 have greater reason to congratulate ourselves, when we 
 take up arms for those heroic Cuban patriots who stood 
 so calmly by the other day, and beheld their fillibustero 
 friends shot down by scores, without even offering a 
 paper cigar to console their last moments, is yet to be 
 discovered. 
 
 The truth is, however, that these supine Creoles, 
 together with their pompous progenitors, have an in- 
 superable horror and natural antipathy to the Anglo- 
 Saxon race ; and though on grand occasions they may 
 permit us to avenge their quarrels, or achieve a tran- 
 sitory independence for them, in the end they are very 
 profuse in their thanks, but chary of gratitude ; and 
 " habiendo pregonado vino, venden vinagre/^ — having 
 recommended wine, they treat us to lemon juice, — and 
 with a cold " Buenas noches/' they bid us go about our 
 ' business. 
 
 In these respects, however, they are not unlike the 
 modern Greeks, models as they are for patriotism. I 
 remember hearing my friend Jack Gracieux say that, 
 during their revolution in '27, a ship load of cloth- 
 ing having been sent them from the United States, 
 together with some good wholesome prog, to be landed 
 at one of the islands in their possession, a large party 
 of the most virtuous and enthusiastic of these model 
 13 
 
13-4 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Greeks not only declined to assist in discharging the 
 cargo without pay, but the jolly republicans broke open 
 the magazines, where the stores were placed after land- 
 ing, and helped themselves, without waiting for the 
 philo-something societies to distribute them. 
 
 To return, however, to affairs at E-io Janeiro. At 
 this period, assassins stalked boldly at midday, stabbed 
 their men, swallowed their coffee, sucked their cigars, 
 and said their prayers, in regular order ; wdiile at n^ht 
 there was a body of less reputable miscreants, the refuse 
 of all nations, who prowled about the worst purlieus of 
 the city, even to the palace square, and committed every 
 species of horrid atrocity. This band of metropolitan 
 brigands were styled the "fish-market gang," and they 
 constituted themselves the liege protectors of deserters 
 from the ships of war or merchantmen lying in the 
 port, and were always prepared, at the shortest notice, to 
 furnish the government, or owners of a slave vessel, 
 with sufficient force to land a cargo in the secluded 
 inlets and nooks near the mouth of the bay. - * 
 
 The authorities of Kio, actuated either by interest, 
 fear, or indolence, took no decided steps to do away with 
 the nuisance ; and so long as the battalion of rascals 
 refrained from riots with the soldiers, or killing slaves 
 for pastime, they escaped with total impunity. Occa- 
 sionally, however, a few of the gang would violate 
 these tacit pledges, and upon getting drunk, if they 
 were so indiscreet as to lie down in the square or mar- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 135 
 
 kcts, the exasperated troops would pounce upon tliese 
 detached squads, while the main body of their friends 
 were afar. After cutting and hacking them senseless, 
 they would drag them away to the chains of Cobras 
 Island, or else consign them to the prison hulk, moored 
 in the upper end of the harbor, where they were made 
 to pick oakum, and beaten immercifully with narrow, 
 flat boards, having holes in them, by way of exercise and 
 recreation to the drummers and boatswains on board. 
 
 About a week after the escape of Lowther and Mur- 
 den, — by which names, being those they bore on the 
 purser's books, I shall continue to designate them, — 
 it being my day for duty, I was ordered to go on shore 
 with Tom Slade to search for the deserters. Each had 
 the selection of two men. Slade chose his favorites 
 from the crew, and I of course, for one, selected Kit 
 Dolphin, and a marine named Morris, to accompany me. 
 He was an American by birth, a man of education, and 
 had evidently seen better days. Some said a wife had 
 J)roved unfaithful to him, a desperate and fatal duel had 
 followed, the gaming table and the bottle had done the 
 rest. Observing his studious, quiet deportment, I had 
 occasionally procured him valuable books from the ship's 
 library, — a service which he seemed to appreciate. He 
 was of an age past forty, I should judge, and his nose 
 had been almost cut in twain by the blow of a bowie 
 knife or bullet ; but yet he had fine eyes, and an agreea- 
 ble, though decided expression of visage. I knew noth- 
 
136 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 ing of Mm, however, save what I had seen in the 
 Juniata, and a little incident which occurred on board the 
 receiving hulk, while we were fitting out. He was on 
 post one day when a bullying topman roughly attempted 
 to transgress his orders. In a moment, Morris struck him 
 down, with a deep bayonet wound through the shoulder. 
 The man was carried in a critical plight to the hospital, 
 and an investigation of the affair was held. "When the 
 facts were elicited, and the marine was called upon for 
 his defence, he merely replied in a firm, though respect- 
 ful manner, that " when the government put arms in 
 his hands, they were for use ; and had his brother at- 
 tempted to disobey his orders, he would have killed him 
 as a matter of duty." He was acquitted without a dis- 
 sentient voice. 
 
 On the occasion of the search for the deserters, Slade 
 with his party went on shore early in the afternoon, and, 
 as was correctly surmised by his friends, long before 
 dark, he was knocking the balls about at the billiard 
 table of the Hotel du Nord, and, in a very groggy state 
 of health, was striving to induce a respectable indi- 
 vidual, whom he had met, to take a " pop across the 
 table." He had given directions, too, for decent forage, 
 rations, and drink, to be served out to his attendants, so 
 that, long before the time for action came, they were 
 uproariously oblivious to all. matters of a strictly prac- 
 tical nature. 
 
 I left the corvette soon after dark, dressed in a com- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 137 
 
 mon check shirt, light trousers, and guernsey cap, in 
 company with Kit and Morris, who were also attired in 
 a similar species of mufti. On getting on shore, Dol- 
 phin left me and the marine, to wander about a little, to 
 see if he could pick up any information relative to 
 the men we were in quest of, while we sauntered 
 around the square, or in front of the cathedral, and 
 beheld a few fireworks let off, which were intended to 
 announce the birth-day of a saint or martyr, or some 
 other personage of distinction. 
 
 In an hour Kit returned, and said that he had fallen 
 in with a lot of liberty men from an English frigate, 
 who were all going to the establishment of a notorious 
 crimp, a Hamburg Jew, named Surf, where, perhaps, 
 we might find Lowther and Murden. 
 
 As it was yet rather early, we left the square, and 
 wandered through the dark, filthy lanes, which were 
 reeking in mud and masses of rotting vegetable matter, 
 where the low blinds and jnlousies were closed and 
 barred, and nothing heard, save, here and there, the roar 
 of some inebriated soldier, or lost mariner, as he trolled 
 forth his maudlin ditty. 
 
 At last we reached the quarter of the town where 
 the crimping rendezvous of the Jew was situated. It 
 filled considerable space, but the main building, which 
 was tall and of three stories, stood on a corner, while 
 irregular clusters of tenements branched away in several 
 directions, back to a lane in the rear, with grog shops 
 12* 
 
138 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 at eitlier end. We made as good a reconnaissance of the 
 premises — and very extensive tliey were — as we rea- 
 sonably could from outside, in the unpaved, unliglited, 
 gloomy, noisome lanes and alleys, and then, having sat- 
 isfied our curiosity, we entered the pulperias one after 
 the other, by the different entrances. 
 
 Crowds of sailors of all nations were in these grog 
 shops, boisterous, quarrelsome, and tipsy. On one 
 side t)f the apartment was a bar, strongly railed in by 
 a fine iron wirework grille, behind which there was a 
 goodly array of jugs, cases of gin, aguardiente, and a 
 vile compound, called Jcesash, constantly being dispensed, 
 in heavy glass tumblers, through small traps, to those 
 who called for the liquor. These retreats were served 
 by several disgusting looking tap drawers, who, secure 
 behind their wire fortress, could refuse to furnish the 
 fiery potations to those vdthout money, and risk the 
 solid glass missiles which were not unfrequently hurled 
 at their heads by thq riotous customers. 
 
 By wide passages leading from the tap rooms were 
 two tolerably large halls, redolent with the fumes of 
 pipes and rum, while jigs and country dances were 
 going on to the music of violins and guitars. I soon 
 became tired with these scenes of low revel and de- 
 bauchery, and the coarse vulgarity of language and 
 gesture used by the degraded nymphs who were min- 
 gling with their rude paramours in the dance ; and think- 
 ing that there might be a chance of finding our quarry 
 
TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 139 
 
 in otlier parts of the building, more especially as the 
 rooms below were continually filled by fresh arrivals, 
 who were coming and going from all directions, I 
 intimated my intention to Kit of taking a little voyage 
 of discovery, and* returning presently, to let him know 
 the result. 
 
 The old black, at first, seemed disinclined to trust me 
 out of his sight, since I had already, more than once, 
 been cufied and bufieted, by the groggy sailors, and 
 spun round quite roughly by the loosely and flamingly 
 attired figurantes of the dance halls. On these occa- 
 sions, however, Morris w^ould be quietly moving by my 
 side, with his attention apparently fixed upon some in- 
 difierent object ; and I knew that he would not see harm 
 done to me. 
 
 As for old Kit, whenever he happened to observe 
 these disagreeable familiarities, he would roll in between 
 us, in a half-drunken, affected state of jollity, giving 
 the aggressor a heavy flip from his stalwart arm, accom- 
 panied by a jovial laugh, and " Hands off de pickaninny, 
 sar," or " Q^ui-dow ! marm ! don't make lub to a baby, 
 v/hen dere is a full-grown young gentleman, like dis 
 little nigger, in de room," which system of practice 
 usually acted as an effectual hint, not only to the men, 
 but the gentler vessels, to desist from their afibctionate 
 endearments to me. 
 
 Once, w^hile Christopher was making a polite extem- 
 poraneous speech of this kind to one of these damsels. 
 
140 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 in some outlandisli and unintelligible lingo, I saw a tall, 
 slim, and very sharp featured woman, with a thin red 
 hawk-bill nose, and light green eyes, and a sinister up 
 and down squint, approach. She was dressed in a 
 gaudily striped muslin skirt, w*hich she held up by the 
 hem, exposing her macaroni-like legs and slipshod, hose- 
 less feet. The bodice of her dress was unlaced, and 
 was merely confined to one shoulder by a single enor- 
 mous skewer of a pin, like the romantic Cherubina's 
 robe, when she went stark staring mad in white satin. 
 From the florid hue of her high cheek bones, and the 
 tip of her beak, I surmised that the color had been laid 
 on with a brush dipped in gin, while the neutral tints 
 of the other parts of the visage might have been mixed 
 from the various liquid paints of the tap. On the 
 whole, I concluded that to whatever school she had 
 been a devotee, water colors were not to her taste. 
 She was evidently a person of exalted consideration 
 in that ball, for men and women made room for her 
 as she came scuffling quickly over the sanded floor. 
 But she came upon me so suddenly, that I had not 
 time, had I been inclined, to step out of her path ; 
 so, with a ladylike kick, she just grazed my ear, and 
 sent my cap flying oflf my head to the ceiling, squeak- 
 ing out at the same time, in a shrill, harsh tone, " Out 
 of my way, you brat." 
 
 Notwithstanding her sex, I was so stung with the 
 merriment that ensued against me, in consequence of 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 141 
 
 the surprising exploit she had performed, that I was 
 on the point of convincing the bystanders, according to 
 an early precept I had learned in Yirgil, that " not 
 with their feet, but hands, the valiant fight." As I 
 rushed forward to tear her flimsy vestments from her 
 scrawny body, the huge bulk of old Kit Dolphin inter- 
 posed, and seizing the hag by both hands, and shaking 
 them until she writhed in pain, he blurted out, with a 
 hearty chuckle, ^^ Sarvint, marm ; how fur hab you 
 ebber made a bite into a watermillion wid dem sharp, 
 narrer jaws ? " 
 
 This address, together with the wrench she had suf- 
 fered in her long, dirty fingers, and the laugh which 
 rose from the sailors around at the allusion to her 
 hatchet- shaped face, and capacity for biting into a water- 
 melon, to say nothing of her libations, thi-ew her into a 
 furious rage on the spot. 
 
 Losing sight of me, who had been the original cause 
 of the quarrel, she opened a hot fire upon Christopher. 
 
 '^ What ! " she screamed, " ye domino-faced, indigo- 
 stained nigger, do ye dare to gibe me in my own house ? 
 I'll have ye in the Misericorde afore daylight." 
 
 " Ho ! ho ! yaw ! " roared old Kit. " "Wy, my pritty 
 missis, don't go to mind the old darkey ; come, fetch 
 us half a pint of fust-rate schnaps." 
 
 Whether the compliment to her beauty or the order 
 for the gin mollified her for the moment, I can't say ; 
 but she turned sharp round on her heel, and whisked 
 
142 TALES rOH THE MARINES. 
 
 out to the tap, leaving a muttered curse about some- 
 body's throat and heart. 
 
 I afterwards heard that this woman was strongly sus- 
 pected of having been one of the convicts who had 
 risen on board a transport bound to Botany Bay, and 
 with the assistance of two of the crew and her female 
 myrmidons, had murdered all the guard and officers, 
 with the exception of the surgeon. They then man- 
 aged to navigate the ship into the River Plate, where 
 they made good their escape. It was said that the 
 British government had taken the most active measures 
 to arrest the mutineers, and succeeded in bringing great 
 numbers of them to the scaffold. They w^ere scattered, 
 however, all over the continent ; and whether the 
 proofs were not sufficiently strong to convict the woman 
 who took the name of Mag Surf, I do not know ; but 
 she had thus far evaded the justice that was supposed 
 to be her due. 
 
 As, however, T had again the opportunity, during 
 the evening, of becoming more intimately acquainted 
 with this interesting lady, I will not detain you longer 
 at present with other items of her history. 
 
 Before the schnaps had been served to Kit, I again 
 intimated my resolution of making an exploration of 
 the crimping house. I did not wish to return to the 
 ship empty handed, although I was clearly convinced 
 that notwithstanding my illimitable regard for disci- 
 pline and the slightest whim of my superior officers. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 143 
 
 yet at times even a captain's ideas of propriety were 
 inconsiderate^ when lie chose to send a mere boy after 
 runaway sailors, amidst the lowest haunts of vice and 
 infamy, in an ill-regulated city like Eio Janeiro. But 
 I determined to make a trial. 
 
 With a final whispered caution from Kit and the 
 marine, to keep my eyes skinned and my whistle clear, 
 I slipped out of the dance halls, after promising to 
 return in an hour. 
 
 I mounted the first stairway I came to, and found 
 myself on the second story, in a long suite of nar- 
 row dormitories, lined with nests of field beds, w^ith 
 
 here and there a drunken sailor stretched half lifeless 
 
 « 
 
 on his pallet, while his maudlin cries or unmeaning 
 mutterings were only interrupted by the squealing of a 
 regiment of rats trooping about the rooms and pas- 
 sages. I noticed particularly one gray-haired veteran, 
 sedately sitting on his hams, gnawing away at a sput- 
 tering tallow link which stood in an iron sconce upon a 
 bracket of the wall. I ascended still another flight of 
 stairs, and came to a succession of stifling dens, quite 
 as loathsome and offensive as the last ; and being now 
 satisfied with my expedition, I made up my mind to 
 make the best of my way out of the filthy warren, but 
 by some other means of egress than that by which I 
 had entered, and then seek my companions, and return 
 on board the corvette ; for the night was growing old, 
 and I judged the time to be near t^^lve o'clock. 
 
144 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 I continued on along a dark corridor, expecting at 
 each moment to meet a stairway, turning first one way 
 and then another, until I got so bewildered that I could 
 neither find the passage back nor yet form the faintest 
 conjecture as to which part of the building I was in. 
 At last, however, a dim ray of light caught my eye, 
 and advancing a few steps farther, I came to an open- 
 ing in the angle where two walls joined, and passing 
 through a broken, jagged aperture, I found myself in 
 open air, on a broad stone coping which ran around one 
 of the buildings. 
 
 The stars were shining lustrously above my head, 
 winking and twinkling to one another in the calm, blue 
 vault, while the crescent moon, looking pale, jaded, and 
 wan, was going to rest, with its faint yellow light, be- 
 hind the beetling brow of the broken back Corcovado. 
 In other respects the view lower down was shut out in 
 a great degree, save a glimpse I caught, many a league 
 off, of the tube-like cones of the Serra dos Orgoas, just 
 visible throucfh a cleft of the houses and walls near me. 
 Below my feet, all was as black as ink ; and it seemed 
 like a great square well, of immense depth, formed by 
 the closely-abutting gables of the surrounding build- 
 ings. After peering down this murky chasm, I moved 
 on along the coping until, upon turning an angle, a 
 light from a skylight in the roof flashed directly in my 
 eyes, and at the same time I heard the sound of voices 
 rising from below. In approaching nearer I stepped 
 
TALES FOE, THE MAHINES. 145 
 
 from tlie parapet upon what seemed a square and large 
 chimney, covered partly with tiles on the top ; but such 
 a horrible stench greeted me that I was glad to leave 
 it, and continue along the roof. 
 
 Pausing as I came abreast of the glass scuttle, I dis- 
 tinctly heard a few sentences from a man's voice, which 
 I thousjht came from one of the deserters I was in 
 search of s^ 
 
 To return, however, by the way I came was out of 
 the question ; for I had already been at fault in the 
 main building, and getting back to it was no easy mat- 
 ter. I felt assured there must be some descent in 
 another direction from the place where I was standing, 
 since there were a number of upright poles stuck 
 about the coping, and a few lines for clothes strung 
 from one to the other. 
 
 My surmise proved correct ; for after feeling my 
 tracks cautiously on a few yards farther, I came to a 
 half-open door, leading into an adjoining tenement, 
 and softly descending a narrow flight of stone steps, I 
 found myself in a passage which evidently took the 
 direction to the rear of the crimping house. 
 
 I was on the point of continuing along this outlet, 
 when I again heard the sound of the voices which 
 attracted me above; and pausing, to make quite sure, 
 my curiosity overcame my prudence, and I carefully 
 groped my way to the end of the passage, where a 
 heavy door arrested my progress. Crouching down, 
 13 
 
146 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and creeping close to the door, I obtained a full view 
 of the party within through a round hole from which 
 the knob of the lock had been removed. 
 
 The room was of considerable size, and well lighted by 
 a lamp stuck in a tin reflector against the wall. There 
 were a few prints of flaunting young women bidding 
 good-by to their lovers, who, attired in intensely blue 
 jackets, and enormous ribbons streaming from their tar- 
 paulins, were standing on unnaturally yellow beaches, 
 with ships under a crowd of sail in the offings. There 
 was a print, also, of the Virgin, with a pipe in her mouth, 
 and a pair of mustachios roughly charcoaled by some 
 sacrilegious artist. All were dangling lop-sided upon 
 the walls. 
 
 The ceiling showed the rafters, and took the angle 
 of the roof, where, too, was the skylight of blue ribbed 
 bull's eyes, which had first caught my attention. A 
 table stood rather on one side of the room, with 
 a long bench at one end, and a number of heavy 
 stools of the hard wood of the country ranged at the 
 other. 
 
 There were four persons seated at this board ; one a 
 low, scLuat-built, repulsive-looking object, with a tawny 
 skin, a glittering, black, beetle-shaped eye, and a wiry, 
 ragged fringe of hair spread over his upper lip, which 
 did not serve to conceal a large tusk of a tooth, and the 
 only one he could boast of in the whole upper frame 
 of his mouth. He was dressed in an attempt at long 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 147 
 
 togs, striped calico coat and trousers, and on his coal- 
 black, bristly head he Avore a narrow-rimmed, glazed 
 hat. This gentleman was afterwards addressed as 
 Maltee Joe. 
 
 At his side sat, or rather stood, when I first caught a 
 glimpse of him, a man who rose to the height of more 
 than six feet. His head bore the same relative propor- 
 tion to his body that a gooseberry would to an egg. It 
 was very small, but remarkably formed — running up, 
 as it were, to a point ; quite like, as Kit afterwards 
 compared it, to a "hominy mortar." On this apex of 
 a head was a thin layer of sandy hair, which, from the 
 attention paid to it by the proprietor, seemed to be a 
 source of never-failing care and comfort ; for he rarely 
 ceased to smooth, moisten, and plaster it down his hol- 
 low cheeks and behind his peaked ears. Eyebrows he 
 had none ; but below where they usually are placed in 
 his species there shone a pair of light bluish eyes, so 
 cold, hard, and cunning in their expression, that they 
 closely resembled the orbs of a shovel-nosed shark. 
 The nose was short and snubby, and beneath were a 
 pair of thin, cat-like lips, parting over a wide mouth 
 and a double row of sharp teeth. The throat was 
 nearly the span of his head, and it sloped and swelled 
 away to the rounded shoulders, where the arms came 
 into the picture — great, long, bony joints, tipped with 
 skeleton flippers, like the claws and feelers of a lobster. 
 His back spread out broad and flat at the hips, and the 
 
148 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 lower limbs appeared cast in a similar mould witli the 
 arms. He might have existed full half a century, for 
 his skin, or hide more properly, was of the hue of new- 
 ly tanned leather, and graven in a million of wrinkles. 
 Altogether he was not a model of manly beauty that a 
 sculptor would have, perhaps, selected to carve, but still 
 he impressed me as one of the most muscular human 
 structures I ever beheld ; which, taken in connection 
 with the wily, but fearless sagacity depicted in his looks 
 and bearing, made me believe, without a moment's hesi- 
 tation, that he would prove a very cross-grained bit of 
 flesh to cope with. 
 
 The third person of this interesting little group I at 
 once recognized as Mr. Tom Murden, late of the Junia- 
 ta. He had only changed his man-of-war rig by tear- 
 ing off the white collar of his frock, and substituting a 
 skull cap for his regulation hat. His eyes were blood- 
 shot, and his general appearance indicated a long and 
 ardent devotion to rum since he had so unceremoniously 
 left us. He had also a dirty cotton bandage wound 
 around his ear, which, with the other alterations in his 
 attire, had not increased his personal beauty. 
 
 The last man of the party had been so well meta- 
 morphosed that it was a long while before I could 
 recognize a resemblance to Lowther. The sailor's 
 habiliments had given place to a cambric embroidered 
 shirt, white kerseymere trousers, silk stockings, pumps, 
 well-fitting dark frock coat, and silk kerchief loosely tied 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 149 
 
 about the large, full throat. The face was shaded by a 
 broad, fine Panama hat, and when he looked up during 
 the conversation with his companions, I saw that nearly 
 all of his huge whiskers had been shaved off to the 
 throat ; and by the glare of the strong light from the 
 reflector, I observed a deep red seam which traversed 
 his cheek from the ear to the jaw bone. The burning 
 words of the afflicted woman on board the English brig, 
 the Arabella, came upon me in sickening force, for I 
 had no doubt but that the villain was before me who 
 had murdered her child. 
 
 So soon as I recovered my faculties, I thought of im- 
 mediately beating a retreat, and with the assistance of 
 my friends making an effort to capture the scoundrels ; but 
 lingering a moment, the words they uttered so fascinat- 
 ed me that I could not resist the temptation of remain- 
 ing a while longer ; and accordingly I stood very quietly 
 an attentive witness of the doings and conversation 
 within. 
 
 Lowther was smoking a cigar with great satisfaction and 
 gravity ; and, though he and the huge living skeleton 
 near him seemed cool as a dairy, the others were sufler- 
 ing by the extreme heat of the room. 
 
 As I observed before, the tall man was standing when 
 I first remarked him ; but it was only for a moment, as it 
 appeared, to get, if possible, a full view of his hand- 
 some person in a small fragment of looking glass, let 
 into a piece of wood, which he held with a vain smirk 
 13* 
 
150 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 before him. He was speaking, too ; and as he resumed 
 his seat and replaced his mirror, by a small toggle, to a 
 single suspender which held up his short, striped cotton 
 trousers, he drawled out, with a singing, nasal twang, 
 directing his conversation to the Maltese, — 
 
 " Yis, merlatty ; you air pritty nigh 'bout right : I 
 guess we air a tolerably handsome family, and hev at- 
 tenevated feeturs. Pop was a Marblehead man, and the 
 old woman was a conk from ther Beheymees, where Pop 
 got her on a wrackin' vyge ; and its ginerally consid- 
 ered 'long our shore to be kinder good for the breed to 
 cross ; it sorter makes the grizzil hard and fibry ; jist 
 try." 
 
 Hereupon he reached out his thumb and fore finger 
 to the Maltese, who did not appear at the beginning of 
 this short address to relish altogether the epithet of mer- 
 latty ; but when the steel-like clasp of his neighbor's 
 hand closed on his thumb, and caused the blood to spirt 
 from beneath the nail, the Maltese uttered a howl of sup- 
 pressed anguish, and looked very wicked. 
 
 I thought that a blade would have been gleaming across 
 the table ; but Lowther spoke up with a scornful, brow- 
 beating look and tone, and said, " Hark'ee, you long, 
 slab-sided Yankee ; no more of those tricks in my pres- 
 ence." 
 
 " Sartin', sartin', capting ; don't git mad ; I ain't. 
 Here, Dego, give us yer hand. I didn't set out to hurt 
 yer pritty skin ; " and then turning again to Lowther 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 151 
 
 and ^lurden, as if he was meditating a small mental esti- 
 mate of their powers in the event of a struggle, he went 
 on. " AVal, capting, you hadn't oughter talk too darned 
 big at fust goin' off, fur yer may hev heern tell that we 
 Yankees licked up you Britishers all tu smash last war ; 
 and 'twas all for crossin' with the redskins ; and as fur 
 my slab sides," — here the speaker's tongs of arms were 
 laid on the table, while the bony claws curved inwards 
 nervously, and the eyes in the fellow's head dilated with 
 the peculiar light of an opal, — ^' why, the long and the 
 short on 'em is this 'ere : that if I get a fair hold on yu^ 
 I'll make yer back crack, and yer bootiful teeth chatter, 
 and yer pritty peepers turn round and round in ther 
 sockets " 
 
 " Avast, there, lads ! " broke in Murden, with an 
 oath ; " stopper all sich talk for a full due. We've met 
 here for a certain business in hand ; and, mateys, let's 
 steer wide of one another's throats. Tut, tift, boys ! 
 never look so glum ; there's plenty of work ready 
 carved out to our hands, and no needs for breaking up in 
 a row at this stage of the action. So, Jonathan, you 
 hold your wind till Maltee tells us a word about the 
 affair on the tother side of the bay." 
 
 " Yis, shipmet," again drawled out the conical, bullet- 
 headed Yankee ; *' but yu needn't trouble yer pipes by 
 callin' me Jonathan agin, for my raal given name is El- 
 nathan, — Elnathan Spuke, — and our family doosn't 
 admire to be called out of ther names more ner once 
 
152 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 at a sittin' ; or else/' he added, ^' sum on yer miglit git 
 more sarce to yer pudden than ushal." 
 
 " Come, no offence meant, my hearty," rejoined Mur- 
 den ; " here's my fist. I don't bear much love for your 
 countrymen, though ; for t'other night some one of those 
 jolly marines drove a bit of a slug of lead through my 
 ear when I was a paddlin' away from that infernal cor- 
 vette ; but still I don't bear malice ; there." 
 
 During the foregoing colloquy Lowther controlled 
 his temper, and with a furtive glance of no good towards 
 the individual who had provoked his ire, he resumed 
 his previous smoking indifference. Now, however, he 
 began, in a quick, curt voice, as if his mind had been 
 made up, and that nothing more need be said. 
 
 " Men, the trading house by whom I've been em- 
 ployed has met with a bad run of luck lately, in losing 
 a large cargo just outside the harbor, and all owing to 
 some spy, who, it appears, must have given the most 
 minute directions about the appearance and time the ves- 
 sel was looked for. They are willing to give fifty mil- 
 reis a head for every nigger rescued from the hands of 
 the English, who landed them yesterday and to-day from 
 the old Veloz, near Praya Grande. They were a soft 
 pack of fools, any way, for trusting them out of sight of 
 the frigate's guns ; but that's all the better for us. In my 
 opinion, twenty men can easily accomplish the work, for 
 the guard, as Maltee there says, is only six or eight 
 marines and half a dozen blue jackets, with an officer or 
 
TALES FOK THE MARINES. 153 
 
 t"«'o — a mere handful, and quite unsuspicious of an 
 attack. Again, lads, my employers have promised to 
 furnish half the number required, and each of us can 
 pick up a stray hand to lend a pull, either from the fish 
 market gang or through Mother Surf. The money is to 
 be shared ecjually by all. Now you hear the terms, are 
 we agreed ? " 
 
 " Si, si, Cajpitan, Sta-boa,^^ hissed the Maltese. 
 
 ^' Yis, capting, I'm in for that ventur. We sheer and 
 sheer alike ; wal, that's handsome ; but," he twanged 
 out with a cajoling, nasal whine, " yu wouldn't mind 
 now, would ye, to give a feller a bit of scrip, in case 
 any thin' should happin to yer, ye know, so that we 
 might git the gilt from the Portingee owner. Not," he 
 added, " that I partickerly keers, but my partner, 'Lias 
 Nash, is tarnation cute in all his investments, for he's 
 part of a Gay Head Injun, and was edicated on the 
 Florida reef, at the wrackin' business." 
 
 As Lowther remained impassible to this agreeable 
 allusion to worldly affairs, and the uncertainty of human 
 life, " By S23ikes ! " rapped out the Yankee in a fit of 
 generosity ; " wal, capting, it's, a pesky risky matter ; but 
 you ken jist put 'Lias and me down fur a few chances." 
 Then turning to the Maltese, while his fishy eyes 
 danced at the prospect of the rich prize in view, he went 
 on : " And how many of them theer nasty darkeys du 
 yu calkilate hev ben landed, and when air we to go to 
 work ? " 
 
154 TALES roll THE MAKINES. 
 
 '^ SeiiliorSpukee,iii tree day," replied the dingy scoun- 
 drel, holding up his fingers. 
 
 " That be blasted," exclaimed the other. *' Why not 
 to-morrow night ? Them nigs is a dyin' off like sixty, 
 and every one on 'em, the capting sez, is valooed at fifty 
 milreis." 
 
 " That can't be, Spuke," put in Lowther. " The ar- 
 rangements can't possibly be made in less than forty- 
 eight hours, for the owners want to run them a long 
 way back in the Beira Mar ; and just now, the slaves 
 haven't got the strength to use their legs. But if you 
 feel inclined to carry a hundred or so on your back for 
 a score or two of leagues, why, I spose there'll be no 
 objections ; but, meanwhile, keep yourself ready." 
 
 The concluding portion of these remarks was deliv- 
 ered with a sneer ; but the long Yankee was too busy, 
 apparently, at the time, with his mirror and soap locks on 
 his cone-built head, to heed the manner of the speaker. 
 He only drawled out, as he stretched his long neck 
 so as to get a side peep of the hair behind his ears, 
 " Sartin, shipmet ; if I happin to come across a likely 
 nig, as is sound in the bones, and nobody keers for him, 
 I rayther guess I'll freeze on to him for my own private 
 spec." 
 
 There was a pause of a few seconds, during which 
 period Lowther and the Maltese continued to puff their 
 Havanas, while Murden rested his aching head upon 
 the table ; when Mr. Elnathan Spuke, being seemingly 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 155 
 
 the most communicative person of tlie party, broke 
 ground again. 
 
 " Wal, I've heern that you chaps come from the 
 Guinea Coast in the new Yankee curvet as got in last 
 week. How did yer hke ther capting ? I've know*d 
 the old flint this many a year, and he once came nigh 
 puttin' an eend to the hull Spuke family, I tell ye, jist 
 for tryin' to run a few ankers of Hollands, some sugar 
 and 'lasses from the West Inges, at Quidnet, on Nan- 
 tucket. Consarn him, he hove round the lighthouse 
 pint, and without askin' any questions, he let fly a twelve 
 pounder, rammed as full as ever it could stick with 
 grape shot, bullets, and things, right in among the entire 
 kit and bile of our family. I was a boy in them times, 
 but feyther was considerably riled about it, and went 
 straight oflf and traded with the enemy, and talked some 
 of lickin' Deacon Baxter for givin' information to the 
 gun boat. I hain't had much to do myself with Mad 
 Jack, as they calls him to hum ; but the folks sez he's an 
 orful hard shell'd quohog to open, if yer don't git him 
 at ther hinge. How did ye find the old critter, eh ? " 
 
 " Yes," grunted out Murden, raising his head on his 
 elbows, " we did take the trip in the Junyatter, and a 
 quick-heeled craft she is too, and the skipper's an out- 
 and-out seaman, but the blasted old dog licked me for 
 not goin' on the topsail yard to cut away the sail, when 
 a gale was howling hard enough to hack the devil's 
 horns off." 
 
156 TALES roil THE MARINES. 
 
 "Dii tell! by spikes! that's him," cachinnated the 
 Yankee, with a sound between a bark and a whistle, as 
 if he hadn't heard so good a joke since his boyhood. 
 " And how did you carry sail, and git on ? " he asked of 
 the well-dressed villain facing him; "did the skipper 
 gin ye tu a picture of a spread eagle over yer booti- 
 ful shoulders, or a small drink of salt water, for a 
 tonic, as I've heern he allers does, fur fellers as is outer 
 sperits ? " 
 
 The great bony giant preserved an admirable inno- 
 cence of expression, during the foregoing interrogatories. 
 As he finished Lowther gave a start, while his cheeks 
 were suffused with passion, and I expected to see his 
 fist dashed into the interlocutor's face; but at the mo- 
 ment there was a noise in the passage, as if some heavy 
 weight was being dragged over the floor, and the party 
 at the table held their peace. 
 
 Presently there came a series of light taps of knuckles 
 on a door, directly opposite to the one where I was 
 posted, and simultaneously a sharp, cracked female voice 
 exclaimed, "All right, boys ! it's only Mag — open," 
 
 The door was immediately unfastened by one of the 
 men, and in walked the thin, shrewish woman, squinting 
 most villanously over her inflamed, hawk-billed nose, 
 w^hom I had seen in the dance halls below. 
 
 " Hillo ! what's that, Mag, you're tuggin' this way ? " 
 began Murden. 
 
 " Why, ye lazy lubber, it's a treach'rous cove has I 
 
TALES FOU THE MARINES. 157 
 
 hemployed to go with you chaps on the hexpedition to 
 the Praya ; but I larned as 'ow he 'ad designs to peach, 
 and so I hokussed his drink, and wen he was laid out 
 flat and axed for more, I jest tuk a funnel and hemptied 
 three quart gin jugs down his throat, and the consekens 
 is, he hasn't drawn a sober sigh since." 
 
 " By thunder, the man's as dead as a hammer," said 
 Lowther, without, however, betraying the slightest 
 emotion. 
 
 '^ Well, who the 'ell said he w^asn't," retorted the 
 irate hag ; " but do you s'pose the fish gang will ever 
 bewail sich a miserable swab as that ? Here, beauty ! " 
 she continued, to the long Mr. Spuke, " pitch this cask 
 of gin down that hole in the wall, will yer ? He cost me 
 sixty vintems to fill him up." 
 
 " With all the pleasm*e in life, mim," rejoined the 
 Yankee, as he rose with great alacrity, while his mouth 
 opened with a spasmodic grin, at the compliment paid 
 to his good looks ; and moving towards the wall, where 
 was a close shutter, like to a window, he unbolted, and 
 swung it wide open. 
 
 Heavens ! w^hat a smell filled tlie room, and penetrated 
 even through the hole in the door lock to the passage 
 where I was ensconced ! It w^as the same awful stench 
 which had assailed me from the roof above. 
 
 " Quick, my hangel," cried Mag, " or we'll all be 
 stufi'ocated." 
 
 The long Yankee made but two strides, and taking 
 14 
 
158 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 up the mass of flesh, — whether living or dead he 
 seemed not to care, — as if it had been a feather, he 
 raised the weight, and poising it at the proper elevation, 
 he sung out, " Launch, ho ! " and down went the body- 
 through the aperture. 
 
 I thought I heard a deep groan, as the carcass struck 
 from side to side of the well, in its descent ,* but the 
 shutter was immediately closed ; and Spuke, turning to 
 the woman, said, in his softest snarl, — 
 
 " Now, missis, I guess you'd like to gin me a kiss 
 for helpin' yer." 
 
 " Kiss you, you lantern, wapperjawed, slush-dipped 
 Yankee ! I like your himpedence," retorted the virago, 
 with her skinny arms akimbo, as she wheeled towards 
 the door again. 
 
 At this free-spoken repulse, Mr. Spuke regained his 
 seat, growling, in an under twang, something about being 
 " tarnation riled at the female ; " and then for a time 
 he remained silent. 
 
 " I'll tell ye, bullies, what I will do though," again 
 resumed Mistress Surf; "I'll stand treat for a toss of 
 pure Geneva ; so jest wait a bit till I finds the key, and 
 I'll tramp round by the bar, and hand it by the trap." 
 
 With that she scuffled out of the room, the door was 
 locked behind her, and w^iile the party of scoundrels sat 
 expectantly at the board, I was overwhelmed with horror 
 and indignation at the diabolical scene I had a moment 
 before witnessed. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 159 
 
 Five minutes may have elapsed, when a grating noise 
 was heard, near to where the reflector was nailed to the 
 wall ; and presently a broad panel was unclosed, and the 
 vixen-eyed Mag appeared, with some glasses aUd a 
 square case bottle of Hollands. 
 
 " Here, my beauty," said she, leaning her vile coun- 
 tenance on her hands, her elbows resting on the lower 
 part of the trap ; " here, my hangel, have a toss, it's 
 horful 'ot hup 'ere, and 'ollands his cooling to the 'ed ; 
 it's a deal better than kissus." 
 
 This address to the outraged Mr. Spuke appeared to 
 have a happy effect in removing the wrath which had 
 oppressed him. His face untwisted into a smile, and 
 he deigned to take a full tumbler of the potation, fling- 
 ing it down his huge mouth at one gulp, but observing, 
 at the same time, that he " admired a pull of swanky an 
 all-fired sight better than gin." 
 
 At the conclusion of this ungracious speech, the tray, 
 with its contents, was placed on the table. 
 
 " Harkee, lads," began Mag, as she sipped her own 
 dram ; " there's been some suspicious coves about the 
 crimping houses and aguardiente shops all the evening, 
 headed by a drunken ofiicer ; looking, they say, for 
 desarters from one of the ships o' war in the harbor. 
 Now, I'd adwise ye to slide for to-night, and not to wait 
 for that flash lass, Loo," (here she squinted malevolently 
 at Lowther,) " but betake yeselves snug to bed and get 
 
160 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 out o' harm's way, though, the old boy himself couldn't 
 ferret ye out up here." 
 
 ^' Well, mim/' drawled the bony Yankee, " I've a 
 leetle business on hand, in the smuggling way, afore day- 
 light ; so I'll make tracks. Captin, and you, too, matey, 
 I'll meet yer agin whenever yer agreed ; come along, 
 merlatty," and the Maltese and he prepared for a start. 
 
 " Not this direction, boys," said Mag, as she perceived 
 them going towards the door by which she herself had 
 entered; "t'other way, and go out by the Kua, up by 
 the Arcos of the old aqueduct." 
 
 The entrance behind which I was secreted was hastily 
 unlocked, and the brace of worthies pushed through, 
 giving me only time and space to avoid being detected. 
 
 When I succeeded in regaining my position at the 
 door, which had not been bolted, after the departure of 
 the Maltese and Spuke, Mag had disappeared, and a 
 woman had just entered the apartment, and thrown her- 
 self upon a stool beside Lowther, at the table. 
 
 She was rather below than above the usual height of 
 her sex. Her figure was full and swelling, and above 
 her half-exposed bosom the throat rose round and beauti- 
 ful, but burned by tropical suns. The mouth was small 
 and firm ; the teeth white as ivory ; above were a pair of 
 large blue eyes, denoting her Saxon origin, while a rich 
 mass of brown hair was banded heavily around her 
 brows, and knotted behind. There was nothing coarse 
 in the expression of the face, but yet a cruel hardness 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 161 
 
 about the eyes, and a firm, unfeminine print to the 
 mouth and dilated nostril, which showed but too plainly 
 that her experiences had not been suited to her sex or 
 beauty. Her age might be about thirty. She was 
 dressed entirely in white, save a brilliant flower, which 
 shaded her finely developed bosom, and heightened the 
 color of her complexion. A light, filmy gauze scarf, 
 confined, by large filigree gold pins, to the knot of her 
 hair, fell over the back of her neck and partially con- 
 cealed one shoulder. 
 
 *^ William," said she, " it's rather unkind of you to 
 ask me again to mingle with this crowd of beastly, dis- 
 gusting wretches, now we've hardly been together a 
 week. I flew to you from the Serra Acima the mo- 
 ment I knew you had arrived, but instead of finding a 
 lap full of gold ounces to welcome me, I meet a poor 
 fellow without a rag to his back, who in a jifiy has lost 
 his vessel and cargo, and now expects me to take him 
 again to my arms, and mark out another fortune for 
 him. But," she added, as, with a fiushed face and 
 kindling eye, she dashed her closed hand upon the board, 
 " it's the last time, the very last. You're too avaricious, 
 by half ; and old Jose, whom you think I can so easily 
 cajole, tells me, moreover, that in place of sticking to 
 the legitimate trade, which is profitable enough, as 
 prices go with the ebony, you are forever taking too 
 much ammunition aboard, and he believes you wish 
 to try your knife under the black flag." 
 14* 
 
163 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Lowther gave a quick, cautionary glance to Murden, 
 and turning to the girl, with a soothing manner, began, 
 " Well, but, dear Loo," when she checked him with, 
 " Don't dear Loo me, Bill ; I will speak out. What 
 Jose says is true, and the Clara, which cost with her 
 equipment nigh forty thousand milreis, is now cruising 
 about the seas under the bloody cross of St. George. 
 Indeed, owing to your devilish bad luck, you have run 
 but one fair cargo out of three, and half of the last has 
 not been paid by that cunning rogue at St. Salvador." 
 
 «^But he shall pay it," exclaimed her lover with a 
 fearful imprecation, " and I'll square accounts with him, 
 too, for the interest." 
 
 The woman, unmindful of this interruption, went on, 
 with a fluency and precision of word and gesture that 
 claimed the utmost attention. 
 
 " And now, after striving to induce the old trader to 
 fit you out again, he swore that he'd do no such a thing, 
 arfd if you wanted service, it must be begun and con- 
 ducted regular. But first, you must go to Buenos Ayres 
 for horses, and then carry jerked beef to Cuba in the 
 old polacre, and from there bring back a load of coun- 
 terfeit copper coin, stamped by the Yankees. After 
 that he'll perhaps try you and that drunken swab 
 there," pointing with a contemptuous sneer to Murden, 
 ** on another trip to the Barracoons." 
 
 " Before I begin again to mount that ladder, I'll see 
 the old pig-headed, yam-munching Portingee in hell," 
 
TALES FOR THE MARI>-E3. 163 
 
 burst out LoY\'ther, as he rose from tlie table^ and burled 
 away the stool on Ayhich he was sitting. 
 
 " Well, see him there, and go there with him/' said 
 the excited woman, springing to her feet ; ^' but don't 
 ever again try to coax me into an association with such 
 a horrid wretch as this Mag Surf, and the brutal beasts 
 of her crimping ruramery, or may be, my hearty, you'll 
 find that even Loo O'Neil won't stand by you ! "What," 
 she went on, '^ not content with a clear chance of filling 
 your pockets, on a sure voyage, but you must needs let 
 loose the slave cargo at Praya Grande, bringing the 
 w^hole tribe of John Bull on our backs, and perhaps 
 helping me to get a collar of silk rope twisted round my 
 neck," — and as she uttered this, she clutched her beau- 
 tiful throat like a vice, — '' like all the poor women, my 
 companions in crime, who were strung up for murdering 
 the crew of the convict ship. Xo, no ! Bill ; I'm fond 
 of you, God knows, but not utterly blind ; and I'm 
 talking for your real good ; so take my advice, give up 
 the business you have in hand, and close with old Jose's 
 offer." 
 
 The desperado regarded her for a moment with a 
 look of sternness from beneath his frowning browns, and 
 then, seizing her by the wrist, forced her again to her 
 seat, and said, — 
 
 ^' Hear me a minute. Loo. I sent for you from a 
 pleasant retreat, no doubt, and I admit that it was be- 
 cause I was poor and forsaken that I did so ; but I felt 
 
164 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 that I could rely on your courage and devotion. I 
 thought that, perhaps, a little excitement might not be 
 displeasing to you, and that new scenes would serve to 
 dispel the shadows which surround the skeleton feasts 
 we sometimes sit down to with the phantoms of the 
 past. I knew very well that old gripe Jose would 
 be very shy of giving me another chance ; but since our 
 escape from the Yankee corvette, I have learned that 
 my first employer, Perreira, was concerned in the cargo 
 captured last week, in the Veloz, by the man-of-war 
 brig. I at once laid a plan to set the slaves free from 
 the English ; perhaps, if I succeed, he may fit me out 
 anew ; and then. Loo, should fortune befriend me, we'll 
 try a throw of the dice in some other part of the world, 
 where the game is good, and the climate less sweltering 
 than in these hot Brazils. It was this which induced 
 me to ask you to help me, as you only can, and for 
 these reasons ; but if you don't care to give me your 
 aid, why, I'll do the best I may alone ; and if I succeed, 
 you shall share with me, as of old." 
 
 These words had their efifect upon the woman, who 
 appeared to relent, particularly at her lover's concluding 
 touch of generosity. " Well, Bill," she resumed, " I 
 haven't yet said I'd entirely forsake you ; I only find fault 
 with you for bringing me into this horrid den ; for who 
 knows at what moment this Mag Surf may betray me ? 
 and then — but what's that noise ? " At this instant, 
 the door against which I was leaning, not being properly 
 
TALES FOE. THE MARINES. 165 
 
 fastened, gave way, and I came with a pitch right slap 
 into the room. 
 
 Before I had fairly recovered my senses, the panel of 
 the adjoining partition was shoved aside, disclosing the 
 inflamed countenance and frightful squint of Mag her- 
 self, who exclaimed in a sharp, harsh key, " Budge, boys ! 
 budge ! There's a party from the corvette in the other 
 house on your scent ; they've been drinkin' with some 
 of the liberty men from the English ships, and havin' 
 lost a little disguised officer, who was with 'em, I heard 
 a marine swear they would find him, and have you, dead 
 or alive. So bolt." 
 
 During this pleasant warning, the hag glanced her 
 eyes around, and descrying me, screamed, " Ay, there's 
 the ill-favored brat who led them here. Smash him, 
 Tom ! Stop his luff, sharp." 
 
 I had by this time recovered my wits, and seeing the 
 peril of my position, without more ado, I assumed as 
 bold a front as possible, and pulling a small dirk from 
 my bosom, I said, " I've been sent for you by the cap- 
 tain, and you must go immediately on board to get the 
 reward for your crimes, you piratical villains." 
 
 " What," yelled the virago, " so you've been eves- 
 droppin', have ye ? Here, Tom, drop him from the eaves," 
 as she croaked at her joke, " for dead boys, as well as 
 men, tell no tales. Come, out with the shutter, and 
 plunge the sculpin into the sewer ; he'll land on the 
 gin guzzler, and the nigger Surf stabbed last night. 
 
166 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and they'll all be gnawed up clean by the rats afore 
 
 mornin'." 
 
 During this scene the two men had sprung to their 
 feet, while their female companion, passing rapidly behind 
 me, had closed and bolted the door. " O, ho ! " said the 
 ruffian, Tom Murden, as he glared at me with the 
 ferocity of a savage, *^ ye miserable shrimp of a reefer ! 
 you've come to take us, have ye ? " — and here he laughed 
 derisively, — " to take us both on board, eh ? " " And 
 you've heard a few of our yarns too, no doubt," chimed 
 in his accomplice ; '' and the good captain sent ye, did 
 he ? And now, my chick, I've a message to send to that 
 old sea tyrant," he added with a meaning emphasis, 
 " when the devil claps his tormentors on you both, and 
 ye meet together down below there, — for you may take 
 your oath, that there's small hopes of seein' one another 
 again above ground, — and that is, that Bill Lowther sliced 
 your weasand, and gave you a toss equal to that, when 
 he cut the flemish hawse for the old skipper, in return 
 for stopping a pirate's game in the Clara ; so say the last 
 prayer your mammy taught you ; and here, Tom," he 
 ended, "cut his head off." 
 
 "Hold, Bill," broke in the girl ; "don't let us mur- 
 der the little fellow : hand him over to Mag : she will 
 keep him tight till the affair is over, on the other side 
 of the bay." 
 
 ^* What," grated the incensed bag at the panel. 
 '^ Spare that imp, and have us all in the chain gang ? 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 167 
 
 No, no ! curse him ! go on, Tom ; be quick, and hold 
 his head well over the ledge, so as not to spill his vine- 
 gar blood on the tiles : quick, I say." 
 
 I began to realize that my time had come ; I saw how 
 utterly useless it wouW be for me, a slight, though ac- 
 tive boy of fifteen, to attempt to cope with the two pow- 
 erful desperadoes before me, when all retreat was cut off, 
 and no saving help at hand. I resolved, however, to 
 make one effort, and before you could think, I sprang to 
 the panel, and with my closed hand around the hilt of 
 my dirk, I dashed it into the face of the virago ; then 
 with a shrill yell, which seemed unearthly in my wild, 
 desperate energy, and which reverberated far and near, 
 I screamed, " Kit ! Kit ! murder ! Come to me. Kit ! 
 Help ! " I could hear at the time the sound of the wire 
 bandolins and fiddles scraping in the easy contradan^as, 
 to the shuffling feet from the rooms below, while above 
 all arose the hum and noise of the sailors, and the chink- 
 ing of glasses used in their potations. Mag gave a 
 frightful ejaculation, as the blow staggered her ; but re- 
 covering herself speedily, she slammed to the panel, 
 which caught my miserable little bit of a navy dirk, 
 and snapped it off within an inch of the handle. But 
 the opening was not entirely closed, and still my voice 
 found its way in piercing and repeated yells for Kit and 
 succor. 
 
 The table, which was some ten feet long, fortunately 
 chanced to be between the men and my position ; and at 
 
1G8 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the outset of my assault upon Mag Surf, one of tlie 
 ruffians flung with immense force a heavy wooden stool 
 at my head, which just passed over, but smashed out 
 the panel again, and knocked over the virago behind it. 
 The reflecting lamp upon the wall was also detached, 
 and fell to the floor by the same missile. In the dark- 
 ness which followed, I gave another series of desperate 
 screams for aid, and hearing my pursuers groping their 
 way in the dark, I shifted my ground, and made a dive 
 under the table. In performing this feat, I came full 
 tilt into the comely person of Miss Loo O'Neil ; but can- 
 noning off from her knees, I brought \i]) with a stunning 
 crack against a leg of the table. 
 
 " What a slippery little eel it is ! " she said. " Loo," 
 exclaimed Lowther, " stand clear for a run, and see that 
 side door ready ; this young viper's lungs will wake up 
 all Rio ; and strike a light, Tom, while I settle him ; he's 
 lost his toasting iron, so there's no risk in catching hold 
 of him." 
 
 At that moment a vigorous grasp was laid upon my 
 ankle, and the next, I was dragged roughly from my 
 retreat. 
 
 " Never mind the light. Bill ; I've got the sprat, sure ; 
 and here — " As he muttered these ominous words, with 
 a knife held between his clinched teeth, he seized me 
 by the neck with one hand ; but as he let go my heels 
 with the other, to have a fair slash at me with the 
 weapon, I gave a sudden wriggle, and feeling his thumb 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 169 
 
 enter my moutli to the first joint, I gave Hm a nip with 
 an eye tooth, that would have reflected credit upon the 
 beak of an albatross. I felt the knuckle and bone 
 crunch like a mouthful of becaficos ; at the same time, 
 with a burst of pain, he loosened his hold, and I again 
 scrambled under the table. In the interval, I could 
 hear the hoarse murmur of voices at some distance, 
 mingled with the curses and screams of vile Mag Surf; 
 but above all, I caught the sound from the stentorian 
 lungs of old Dolphin. " This way, my hearties ! out of 
 the way. Mammy Aguardiente, or, moder ob heben — " 
 Here there came a crash, as if some one had been pitched 
 down a flight of stairs ; but still the noise of feet and 
 voices rapidly approached. " Hark ! " I heard Morris 
 say in his peculiar treble ; whereupon I yelled and 
 yelled again. " This way, lads ; Kit, dear Kit, come to 
 me." I saw a gleam of light flash along the corridor, 
 through a chink of the panel, and at the same time I 
 was again seized and jerked from the fl.oor. On this 
 occasion, I felt two strong hands around my ankles ; I 
 was lifted high up, when, with a sickening swing, I was 
 whirled against a casemate ; a quick succession of sharp 
 thrusts were dealt me from the steel at random, and then 
 all consciousness forsook me. 
 
 Here Fred became somewhat excited, and his uncle 
 concluded to defer the sequel of his adventures for 
 another evening. 
 
 15 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TVhen I returned to consciousness, it was in that in- 
 distinct way which I presume is ever the case where 
 one recovers reason after a fever or other violent malady. 
 I found myself lying on my back, on a low, reedlike, iron 
 bedstead ; gauze mosquito nets were drawn on three 
 sides of the couch, and the only light shed into the 
 little alcove v/here I lay was from a pair of broad- 
 leaved doors, which opened into a large saloon beyond. 
 Above my head, danghng from the gilt rod which 
 upheld the curtains, fell a fringe of dry palm leaves, 
 stitched together in shape of a huge fan. To the 
 lower part was attached a bit of cord, which every now 
 and then caused the plaited leaves to vibrate gently. 
 How this operation was performed puzzled me a good 
 deal, for it seemed to me to be the effect of some mys- 
 terious agency, and I had not the sense to find a solu- 
 tion of the wonder. I remember that I tried with all 
 the little mental strength I had to divine the cause, 
 until at last, after closing my eyes, and sagely reflect- 
 ing during a brief doze, I bethought me of following 
 the droop of the cord to its other end. 
 
 Again I ojjened my eyes, and this time they rested 
 
 (170) 
 
TALES FOIl THE MARINES. 171 
 
 upon a little ebony Trench, seated on a chair at the foot of 
 the bed. Her face shone like satin, when the shades of 
 lii^^ht crossed it, as she slowly nodded from side to side ; 
 then, recovering herself with a start, she would give the 
 palm leaves a jerk, and drop off to repose again. She 
 was dressed in a scrupulously clean brown linen frock, 
 cut rather high about the heels, so that, as she sat with 
 her feet on the round of the chair, she exposed more of 
 her legs to view, than might be considered altogether 
 proper in a pleasant circle of friends like the present. I 
 continued gazing at her with incredible anxiety, fearing, 
 in my flimsy state of mind, that she might be one of a 
 cochin-china breed of girls, like the long-legged shang- 
 hai fowls. So much did this idea take possession of me, 
 that, as I continued to regard her slender whalebone 
 limbs 
 
 '* Come, Master Harry, ' that will do with the band,' 
 as you navy men say ; we don't wish to listen to any 
 physiological lectures about the women." 
 
 Why not ? said the Lieutenant, rather testily — why 
 not, may I ask, ma'am ? turning to the charming matron 
 beside him. Don't you permit the architect to judge 
 from the base of a column what has been the shaft, the 
 capital, the frieze, the architrave, in short, the entire 
 structure ? and why may not an amateur student of the 
 human fiibric seek for knowledge under similar rules ? 
 But, said the Lieutenant, regaining his good humor, and 
 bowing to his fair auditors, I shall drop a petticoat over 
 
172 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 these subjects for the future, merely adding, by way of 
 apology, that my early rudiments of propriety were not 
 acquired in the strict school of the excellent St. Francis 
 of Sales, whose morals were so severe that he was never 
 known, even in the privacy of his closet, to indulge in 
 the innocent recreation of crossing his legs — a tradition 
 which has walked down to us from some Boswell of 
 those days, who admits that he kept a close watch upon 
 the saint through the keyhole. Moreover, a highly vir- 
 tuous and refined missionary lady told me, in Polynesia, 
 that were the natives of those islands to go clothed, she 
 should feel shocked ; for the same reason, perhaps, that 
 at the " funeral of Junia, the wife of Cassius, and sister 
 of Brutus, the statues of all the great persons connected 
 with her family by blood or alliance were carried in pro- 
 cession, except those of her brother and husband." This 
 deficiency struck the people more than any part of 
 the show, as would the attiring of innocent savages, 
 who, like our first parents, have been accustomed to 
 stalk about in all their native majesty, in vines or flax, 
 as best may have suited them. 
 
 The Lieutenant paused, and finding no voice raised 
 to dispute the admirable sentiments he had uttered, took 
 up the thread of his yarn where he had been inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 At last, during a moment of wakefulness, as my dingy 
 attendant raised her head, she caught my eyes full upon 
 her ; and having by that time fully decided that she 
 
 
TALES FOR THE MAE.IXE3. 1 73 
 
 Vv'as a spook of the chicken tribe, and about to do me 
 bodily injury, I made an attempt to exorcise her by mur- 
 muring, " Shoo, biddy ! " *^ Ja quop hinnoo ! " she ex- 
 claimed, in a soft voice, as she approached the bed ; 
 whereupon I dropped the heavy lids over my eyes, 
 thinking that they would immediately be pecked out. 
 But the ebony one had apparently no such designs, for 
 presently I felt a gentle hand under my pillow, a cocoa 
 nut shell was placed to my lips, and a few drops of cool 
 lemonade trickled gratefully down my throat. '^ Beha 
 juka mais,^^ — Drink more, dear, — she said, in her con- 
 fused dialect ; and hearing and feeling that she was no 
 longer a cochin-china, but a good little black bantam, I 
 again opened my eyes, and absolutely winked at her. 
 
 " I believe it," said one of the damsels, sotto voce ; 
 but without heeding the sarcasm, the narrator went on : 
 Upon this my watchful little nurse drew back, surprised, 
 no doubt, at the liberty, and with a sound like hushing 
 an infant to sleep, she closed the curtains, and resuming 
 her seat, recommenced swinging the fan with great reg- 
 ularity. 
 
 The very monotony of the waving palms above my 
 head sent me to sleep once more. When I woke 
 again, the clear treble of a piano came sweetly into the 
 alcove where I lay, mingled with the sea breeze, whose 
 breath M-as laden with the perfume of lemons and pines, 
 while a low, rich contralto voice trilled forth the follow- 
 ing Castilian couplets : — 
 15* 
 
174 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 I. 
 
 " Si de tu hermosura qiiieres 
 Una copia con mil gracias ; 
 Escucha, porque pretendo 
 El piutarla. 
 
 II. 
 
 " Es tu frente toda nieve, 
 Y el alabastro batallas 
 0Sreci6 al amor, haziendo 
 En ella vaya,"* 
 
 '' Brava, Antoniettal brava, queridiia ! ^^ exclaimed 
 a voice in Spanish ; " but stop now, for here is Mary 
 with her lover, who sang that little seguidiUa last night ; 
 and there's the boat, too, with the surgeon, and that 
 queer, blunt old captain of the corvette, coming as usual 
 to see how the poor little reefer is ; so come, amiga, 
 let's go and have a peep at him first, and find out if the 
 poor young soul is ever coming to his senses again." 
 
 Presently there came the tripping of light feet over 
 the polished floor, softly my curtains were parted, and 
 
 " List while the thousand charms I sing 
 Which round thee such enchantment fling. 
 That even Love has plumed his wing 
 To seek thy bower 
 
 IL 
 
 *' Thy neck, that shames the mountain snow, 
 Thy lip, that mocks the peaches' glow, 
 Bid Cupid's self a captive bow 
 Beneath thy power." 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 175 
 
 through my half-closed eyelids I beheld a comely matron 
 and a tall, elegant woman bending over me with a 
 sad expression in their gaze. Beyond, peeping over 
 their shoulders, a sweet oval face presented itself, with 
 large, almond-shaped, dark liquid eyes, fringed with 
 lashes like a shade, while a mouth was half open with 
 excitement, disclosing a double row of head rails that 
 no ivory, or pearls, or alabaster ever equalled in their 
 rosy balconies. 
 
 '^ Mas cerca,^^ said the tall lady, " come nearer and 
 look what a change in this poor boy since the night you 
 saw him at the Russian minister's." 
 
 In a moment the girl came close to the bedside, and I 
 felt with a thrill of pleasure the dewy, cool cushions of a 
 little hand and fingers, which were timidly passed over 
 my forehead. Ah, what a comfort, I thought, it was to 
 be slightly indisposed, for I had not then recalled the 
 dreadful scenes I had gone through. Again the soft 
 little hand smoothed the sheet upon my breast, and wan- 
 dered with a touch of down over my cheeks, murmuring 
 the while, "Pobrecito, que disgracia matar el marmozeto ! " 
 — What a shame to kill such a diminutive little monkey ! 
 
 Lord! I was on the point, just before this speech 
 was uttered, of opening my eyes and entering into a 
 discursive conversation, so as to find out, if possible, 
 "vvhat all the sympathy meant, and whether the dark- 
 eyed beauty, with the pouting mouth, would like to get 
 married at half an hour's notice ; but the allusion to 
 
176 TALES FOE THE MARI^•ES. 
 
 those little animals who hop about the trees and attend 
 street organs in their peripatetic journeys quite discon 
 certed me, and I remained silent. 
 
 The ladies, after a few words of inquiry addressed to 
 my ebony attendant, softly drew the curtains once more, 
 and left me to contemplate the palm leaves. My ears, 
 however, were still open ; and presently I heard the 
 sound of men's footsteps. There was an exchange of 
 salutations, a light badinage about balls, picnics and 
 boatings, during which I recognized the sound of old 
 Percy's voice. 
 
 " Well, madam, how is your little invalid to-day ? " 
 
 '' O sir, you must ask the doctor, though to me he 
 seems easier, and the fever has almost left him." 
 
 " Thank God for that," said old Jack, heartily ; 
 '* we'll set him on his pins again, I hope, although how 
 he has ever survived those stabs and bruises is a mystery 
 to me. Ladies, with your permission, the surgeon and 
 I will take a look at him." 
 
 At this moment I perceived a dark shadow steal into 
 the entrance of the alcove where I lay, and turning my 
 glance in that direction, I saw the great broad shoulders 
 of Kit Dolphin, and his honest face above, moving on 
 tiptoe towards my couch, while the doctor began in 
 whispers with, " Well, old man, how did your patient 
 pass the night ? " 
 
 " Bery good indeed, sir ; never mumbled a syllabel 
 since de moon rose at midnight, and den he brok out 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 177 
 
 into a perfuse prlspii*ation^ and has slept like a babby 
 ever since." 
 
 '^ Is that you, uncle Kit?" I said, in an audible 
 whisper. 
 
 *^ De Lord ! if de child isn't wide awake and a'most 
 
 well ! Bress Heben for dat," sighed forth the faithful 
 
 negro, as he put his huge hands between the muslin 
 
 curtains, while the large tears fell from his eyes upon 
 
 ' my hand, resting on the bed clothes. 
 
 " Yes, Kit, I'm all right, only a trifle weak here in 
 the side and head, where I tumbled out of my hammock 
 last night." 
 
 " Hush ! " said the surgeon and captain, as they 
 drew aside the mosquito nets and joined old Dolphin ; 
 " don't talk, my boy ; let me feel your pulse. Ah, 
 doing bravely ; now take a few drops of this, shut your 
 eyes, and try a nap." 
 
 The potion soon had its effect, and in another attempt 
 to attract the attention of the little wench who had 
 charge of the fan, I dropped ofl^ into sound sleep. 
 
 I need not tire your patience by recounting how for 
 days and days I lay on my narrow couch, with my mind 
 trembling on the brink of recollection, while the past 
 was a dreamy waste, or how, at last, the tragic events 
 which had nearly proved fatal to me flashed with all 
 their fierce reality upon me ; how I was fed and cared 
 for with the tenderness of a mother for her child ; how 
 the officers came and said pleasant things, bringing little 
 
178 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 presents, and chatting at my couch, when I was able to 
 converse ; how the lovely little rose bud, Avho likened 
 me to the monkey, would bring her guitar, and warble 
 the heart-touching ballads of Andalusia ; how I lay 
 within the alcove, and watched the tiny feet moving 
 about in waltz or montoncro, every evening, around the 
 broad saloon ; and how, in the mornings, too, I could 
 see the handsome English captain making love to the 
 tall angel wlio M'as always so kind to me. But I mubt 
 skip over these scenes, tinged with physical suffering 
 and pain as they were, when the surgeons had dressed 
 and bandaged my wounds ; but I was a boy then, full 
 of elastic hopes and bright visions for the future ; and 
 being a midshipman, withal, I was one of the tou^;h 
 pine knot species, and very hard to kill, I can tell you. 
 
 Now that my mind was perfectly clear with regard to 
 the occurrences I had witnessed at the crimping ren- 
 dezvous, I related the events in pretty much the same 
 words that I have to you. Old Percy never seemed to 
 breathe during the whole recital ; but when I got 
 through, and the conviction forced itself upon him that 
 the captain and mate of the piratical brig were the 
 identical sailors who had shipped at St. Thomas, and 
 deserted from the Juniata in Eio, his large gray eves 
 fiiirly emitted sparks of fire, and he said, " Never mind, 
 Harry ; the third trick shall be ours." 
 
 Then old Kit began, and at intervals told me what 
 had transpired after I had been in the clutches of Low- 
 
TJkVa FOR THX XAXDnES, 179 
 
 tKer, in the den at Surfs. Both be and Moms bad 
 become alamied at ror probmged ab^oce, and, from a 
 (evr words the ktter oTerbeard 31;^ saj to ber 'Hebrew 
 hwthsn^'m the tap, be hit a sospidon tbat dbe deseiP- 
 er» were somewhere concealed in tbe bnildiiig, Aeeordf 
 mglr, they made friends with a partj of ^tont Engfisb 
 sailors who were on fibestj from one of tbe men-of-war 
 in the harbor ; and while abont to commenee a seard& 
 in the adjacent booses. Kit, who was a little in advance 
 heard my ringing screams for help. With a whole 
 pack of farioas Kolors at bis bad^ ihej dashed from 
 room to room, nntil they descried a raj of ligfat be- 
 tween the cracks of a concealed passage. To stare 
 through this, and spiing np a long iligbt of stone stairs, 
 was the work of a moment ; when my oies again weie 
 heard. The enraged Mag baring attempted to anest 
 their fmher progress. Kit gare ber a pitdi orer bis 
 head, and she nerer broogbt np nntil sbe laj senseless, 
 with a broken jaw, at the foot of tbe stairs^ Then, with 
 hij companums carrying lighted tallow links, they 
 ]eaped through the paneL Lowtber \ad me by one 
 leg, watching a chance to deal a final dnnst, at tbe 
 shatter of the awfol well, while tbe blood was stream- 
 ing from the wonnds he bad already giren me* ** Heb- 
 en bress yon, child,** said the £iitbfsil black ; and speak- 
 ing in the third person, *^ dts ole ntgger graphed him 
 ^^'id fle*e paws, while Pete Monis jns* dmT bis catty- 
 comered bagnet trough and trough dat frQer Merden's 
 
180 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 jaws, when de oder let goes you, and den I was jus' in 
 de werry nick ob time to save you from fallin' do^\Ti de 
 hole; and so dem pair of cussed bagabones shot like 
 winky trough de side door. Some ob de boys guv 
 chase ; but dere war oder strong doors, wid de latches 
 down, and bolted hard, and dey could get no furder. 
 You wos a sop of blood, Massa Harry, and dese ole 
 eyes war hot as coal ob fire, to tink ob de tale Kit was 
 p'rhaps to tell your granfader and modder ; but now, 
 bress God! de surgeon say you 'prove mighty soon, 
 and pretty ladies make so werry nice nurse ! " 
 
 This was the gist of brave Christopher's discourse, 
 as he sat beside me, near the head of the couch, while 
 his eyes sparkled with feeling ; and, notwithstanding 
 the singular expression given to his fine, copper-colored 
 skin by the mark of the bursting fuse, I thought him 
 the most beautiful creature, not excepting the little An- 
 tonietta, whom I had ever seen ; for Kit had as warm 
 a heart, and a soul as white, and perhaps whiter than 
 many of his white-skinned fellows. O, yes, dear uncle 
 Kit ! you saved my life ; the heart and hand arc yours ; 
 and while I have a shot in the locker 
 
 Fred ! hastily exclaimed the Lieutenant, while a flush 
 of feeling overspread his face, remember that I never 
 proved recreant to my oath ; and I hope that you, too, 
 may never forsake the tried friend, be he black, blue, 
 
 "vvrhite " Or gray," quietly suggested one of the 
 
 audience. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 181 
 
 I never heard of a gray man, except about the head, 
 even in my travels, you witch ! retorted the Lieutenant ; 
 though I believe Lord Monboddo speaks of them, to- 
 ^ gether with other appendages, in the court circles of 
 Timbuctoo. But as I have not yet visited those regions 
 — winking jocosely around did the narrator — and as 
 Kit ^vill have a growl in the morning should the oysters 
 be over-roasted, suppose we say vamonos, senoras, with 
 our adventures. 
 
 The handsome English captain was present during 
 my account of the conversation in the den at Eio, and 
 the plan matured there for the rescue of the slave cargo ; 
 and I learned from him that their design had been car- 
 ried into execution. This would have been prevented, 
 but for the accident which had happened to me. The 
 frigate's guard had been surprised, gagged, beaten, bound 
 hand and foot, and some of them carried a considerable 
 distance up the hills, where they were unceremoniously 
 thrown among the dense groves of the coffee plantations, 
 and would inevitably have starved to death, had not they 
 been accidentally discovered and fortunately released. 
 But what made the matter worse, the vessel had not 
 been condemned, and even the slaves — the actual proofs 
 — were wanting to establish the claim of the captors ; 
 and the captain of the frigate who had them in charge 
 was made to bear the brunt of his humanity to the tune 
 of many thousands of pounds. 
 
 ^^I don't care for being ruined," he exclaimed; "but 
 16 
 
182 TALES FOR THE MARI^'ES. 
 
 just to fancy the impudence of that smooth-spoken 
 scoundrel, at the ' White Jacket ' ball in Praya Grande, 
 who claimed me as a shipmate, under the name of Bob 
 Yoltigeur, in the old ' Stag,' and dwelt upon so many 
 minute reminiscences of our early fi'iendship, that, for 
 the life of me, I could not help admitting that I did 
 recollect him perfectly well; although may the devil 
 admire me if I remembered ever to have seen him 
 before. However, we soon became as thick as pick- 
 pockets, and, at my earnest solicitation, he kindly con- 
 sented to present me to the daughter of a rich diamond 
 merchant of his acquaintance — a plump, blue-eyed 
 charmer, with most winning manners, who seemed to 
 understand all my execrable broken jumble of half 
 Saxon and Portuguese, and, while I think of it, pumped 
 me dry with regard to the slave cargo, their position, 
 how they were confined, and, in short, all about the 
 business. Well, towards two in the morning, after I 
 had become deplorably fascinated with this azure-eyed 
 siren, and when engaged to dance with her a stately 
 minuet, she left me a moment, to smooth her hair, as 
 she expressed it, in one of the dressing rooms, and 
 never came back. You may imagine what a study for 
 an artist I presented, standing in the middle of that 
 vast ball room, vis-a-vis wdth a jeweller's fat wife, to 
 whom my dashing shipmate of the old * Stag ' had been 
 paying devoted attention. Since, however, there were 
 not less than a thousand people moving about the hall 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 183 
 
 and colonnades, I very naturally surmised that my 
 charming partner had become lost in the human laby- 
 rinth, and accordingly instituted a search, which occu- 
 pied me until daylight. In this I was quite unsuccess- 
 ful ; but as she and my old shipmate had very kindly 
 consented to breakfast with me on board the frisrate at 
 
 o 
 
 ten, I took my own departure, to make some slight prep- 
 arations for so agreeable company. 
 
 " On board I went, ordered the stCM'ard to prepare 
 every thing, from a shrimp to an alligator pear, and 
 leaving an invitation for the first lieutenant to partake 
 of the feast, I turned in for an hour's sleep. 
 
 '^ Ah ! " continued the handsome captain ; " and how 
 long do you suppose I waited breakfast? Why, till 
 nearly two o'clock in the afternoon ; when the boat which 
 had been sent to Praya Grande with the dinner for the 
 guard returned, and reported that the entire cargo of 
 slaves, marines, sailors, and officers had been spirited off 
 to parts unknown." 
 
 " Perhaps they will all come back under the wing of 
 that blue-eyed daughter of the diamond merchant," 
 demurely remarked the tall angel who had been atten- 
 tively listening to the foregoing observations, while lean- 
 ing on the entrance to my little alcove. 
 
 The handsome sailor absolutely blushed, as he re- 
 plied, " Yes, Miss Mary ; when Don Sebastian returns 
 to his dominions, but not, I fear, before." 
 
 Prompt and energetic measures had been resorted to, 
 
18^ TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 by the English authorities^ to recover the lost property, 
 and lay the perpetrators of the outrage by the heels ; 
 but there was never a single one of the slaves found. 
 The only information gleaned relative to the persons 
 who planned the business was from a French savant, who 
 had bivouacked with a couple of men and a woman, on 
 the banks of the Rio Parahyba, who answered to the 
 description of Lowther, his fair sweetheart, and Murden. 
 The Frenchman further stated, that after leaving this 
 pleasant coterie, he missed a choice packet of two carat 
 brilliants, and some valuable specimens of gold, which 
 he had collected at great cost and trouble at the Minas 
 Novas, far in the interior. 
 
 There were notes, as a diplomatic matter of course, 
 between the two governments, and great grief was ex- 
 pressed by the Brazilian regent. It was even thought by 
 credulous individuals that the prime minister shed tears 
 on more than one occasion, on account of the melancholy 
 bereavement ; but after a renewal of assurances of dis- 
 tinguished consideration, one to another, the negotiation 
 terminated. 
 
 The ostensible owners of the Veloz, however, put in 
 a claim for a trifle of seven thousand pounds, for the 
 detention and loss they had sustained in transporting the 
 " colored emigrants " to Brazil ; but this demand I sin- 
 cerely trust the English captain has allowed to stand 
 unpaid to this day. 
 
 With regard to Mag Surf^ in consequence of the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARI^^E3. 185 
 
 representations I had made, a file of soldiers were sent 
 to seize her ; but an officer who attended them M"as met 
 by the Hebrew proprietor of the establishment, who, 
 with contused eyes and bruised limbs, swore piteously 
 that the ungrateful hag had levanted with a secret hoard 
 of treasure, which he had carefully laid by to meet the 
 wants of his declining years ; and that, after smashing 
 a gin jug — her favorite missile — over his head, he 
 had received no further tidings of her. 
 
 It may have been a month that I went on convales- 
 cing, cared for by the kind friends to whose house I had 
 been carried. It was a pretty villa, perched on the 
 brink of one of the projecting ridges, like a transverse 
 bridge of rocks, which separated Botofogo from the sea, 
 while the majestic peak of the Gabia, with the declining 
 sun, threw its giant lines of shade well nigh across the 
 harbor. The land wind, with the early day, stole down 
 the deeply-riven gorges of the mountains at our back, 
 with a cool, murmuring freshness, and the sea breezes, 
 when the sun was high in the heavens, would sweep in 
 refreshing gusts from away over the broad, blue ocean, and 
 play a pleasant lullaby to our noontide siesta. There 
 was a close little grove of limes and tropical foliage be- 
 neath the drawing room windows, and the perfume of 
 green and golden fruit came gratefully upon the air, un- 
 til the scorching rays of the sun drank it up. 
 
 The hot season, however, was at hand ; the fleecy cap 
 of clouds hung around the summit of the Sugar Loaf, 
 16* 
 
186 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 - — the barometer of the bay, — and the rainy months 
 were fast approaching. I Mas still too feeble to be 
 taken on shipboard, and since the corvette was or- 
 dered to sail on a cruise to the Falkland Islands, it was 
 decided that I should accompany the family with whom 
 I was domesticated to a small coffee estate on a spur of 
 the Esmeraldas, near the province of San Paulo. 
 
 Old Percy came one morning, with the surgeon, to 
 take leave of me. They came provided with a light, 
 swinging cot, in which I was to be slung from a pole, on 
 the journey across the serras, which had been nicely made 
 with pockets, and every thoughtful convenience, by the 
 sailmakers of the ship. Then the doctor unfolded a 
 gallant array of vials, containing liquors of every hue, 
 little packets of powders, and potions, and bandages, all 
 snugly stowed in what Kit called a small " shotecary 
 pop " of a little medicine chest. In addition to these 
 necessaries, they both gave me the most minute directions 
 about my conduct, moral and physical, which, I need not 
 tell you, I very scrupulously followed. 
 
 I must admit, however, that I was extremely sorry 
 to part with the kind old captain and surgeon ; but it was 
 a trifle compared to the blow I felt at being separated 
 from my faithful Kit. Nothing could reconcile me to 
 that trial until I was told that the coquettish little bru- 
 nette, Antonietta, was to join our party, she having re- 
 cently arrived at Hio from school in England, and was 
 waiting for a good opportunity of rejoining her parents 
 in Buenos Ayres. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 187 
 
 "Good by, my boy/' said old Jack, as be warmly 
 pressed my hand. " Do every thing these kind ladies bid 
 you, and when you get back to the corvette again, you 
 shall see how the land lies from the topsail yard." 
 
 " Bress you, child," spurted out Christopher, with an 
 attempt at a cheerful chuckle, as he put his brawny 
 arms gently around me with the tenderness of a kitten. 
 " Say your prayers ebery night, and mind you don't say 
 too sweet tings to dat little brown gal. O, so pritty ! wid 
 dem big eyes, sparkle so wid lub. De fac is, bes keep 
 clar ob de fuscinations ob de entire sec. Lib and die 
 old bach'ler, like uncle Kit." 
 
 Then, with a polite genuflection to the whole assem- 
 bly, and the present of a gorgeously-printed kerchief for 
 the satin-skinned young nurse who had attended me dur- 
 ing the fever, he jumped down the steep pathway to the 
 beach. 
 
 A few moments later the white-headed old command- 
 er raised his cap in salutation, as he took the yoke 
 ropes. Dolphin was at his seat on the after thawt, and 
 with an upward toss of his hand, — the sailor's parting, 
 — he gave a signal to the boat's crew. The long blades 
 fell with a simultaneous splash upon the water, and then, 
 with a regular movement to catch the stroke, the oars 
 dipped together in the limpid surface of the cove, the 
 boat shot like a spear around the rocky point, and leav- 
 ing only the bubbling eddies in her wake, was hidden 
 from view. An hour later the Juniata was dressed in a 
 
188 TALE3 FO:i TII7. MAHIZsEg. 
 
 full suit of snow-white canvas toCTErery. AYitli a stiff 
 sea breeze she tacked close in shore, stretched away to 
 Santa Cruz, and then working swiftly through the nar- 
 row funnel of the bay, she passed Eaza and Round 
 Islands, and held her wind to the southward. 
 
 That evening I was sitting sadly enough within the 
 dusky shadows of one of the deep, veranda-like embra- 
 sures of the saloon, thinking of the checkered life tliat 
 even my own brief boyhood had seen, and watching the 
 bright planets and stars, as they one by one grew pale 
 and dim before the silvery light of the round, demure 
 moon, as she rose so coyly above the eastern heights, 
 while the measured " shale " of the waves lipped, with 
 a low, harmonious sound, upon the shingly beach, and 
 the mimic breakers rippled musically upon the ledge be- 
 neath my window, and all soothed me with their beauty 
 and cadence. 
 
 Presently the water of the quiet nook was disturbed 
 by a light gig which skimmed buoyantly toAvards the 
 landing. 
 
 " Toss ! " I heard an order given in a low tone ; the 
 oars rose at the next stroke, a slight rattle followed as 
 they were laid together in the boat, and the gig glided 
 silently to the smooth, rocky landing. 
 
 *^ Ah, ha !" thought I ; "here comes the handsome 
 officer ,• and he sails, too, on the morrow, for merry 
 England ; but he has looked any thing but merry 
 liimself of late." Then I wondered what had become 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 189 
 
 of my tall angel, Mary, during the afternoon, but be- 
 thought me that she had been serious and penserosa 
 all the day. 
 
 I did not leave my place, however ; and by and by 
 I saw the glitter of a pair of swabs upon the shoulders 
 of a navy coat appear upon the retired esplanade, and a 
 moment after there emerged a fluttering white dress from 
 the portico, and joining the blue coat, both slowly wan- 
 dered on beneath the grove. Attentively I watched the 
 pair as they paced for a long time within the shade of 
 the motionless foliage, now lost to my sight as they went 
 deeper into the wood, but anon emerging from the masks 
 of the silent trunks of the palms and cassias, which 
 seemed of themselves to be listening to the sweet whis- 
 perings of the lovers protected by their leafy arms. 
 
 At length the couple paused at the little circular space 
 paved with white pebbles near to the tank, and while 
 the water from the pygmy cane aqueduct fell drop by 
 drop, with a liquid sound, into the pool, I caught a few 
 detached sentences, only broken by low, faint sobs. 
 
 " I shall be constant, Philip ; your fate is mine." 
 
 It struck me, in the dim light, there was a darker 
 and broader belt around my tall angel's waist than the 
 rose-colored ribbon usually there, and one of the epau- 
 lets on the navy coat was altogether obscured by a 
 gracefully-shaped head and floods of chestnut tresses ; 
 but I attributed both phenomena to natural causes. 
 
 There was another succession of sufibcating sobs, and 
 
190 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 tKen a rapid torrent of eloquent oaths^ ending with, " Ma- 
 ry, love, my very soul will be with you during our sep- 
 aration, and, come what may, I shall claim you for my 
 wife before three years have gone by." " Dearest Philip." 
 There was yet another dark blue belt clasped around the 
 tall angel's white frock, the gleaming bullion was no longer 
 obscured, but as he kneeled at her feet, she inclined her 
 beautiful head, and pressed her lips to his forehead. 
 '* Heaven protect you, Philip," she murmured, as if her 
 warm heart was breaking, while a little shower of liquid 
 emeralds fell from amid the glossy curls upon the up- 
 turned face, the baptism of their troth ; and 
 
 " What, green tears, Master Harry ! " inquired Fred's 
 grandmother. 
 
 Yes, ma'am, she was an Irish girl. The next in- 
 stant the epaulets sprang with a bound down the rocky 
 path, the gig pushed off, and when nothing was visible 
 but the silver line of sparkling ripples which marked 
 her course on the calm water of the cove, both maid and 
 lover had vanished from my sight. 
 
 Fred, said the Lieutenant, as he removed the cigar 
 from its natural resting-place, and carefully rerolled the 
 outer skin, you wouldn't perhaps believe it, but I've 
 been in love several times myself, in the course of the 
 past thirty years, and what is remarkable, never had the 
 least inclination to get spliced until 
 
 '' Tell that to the marines," exclaimed the youthful 
 matron standing before the fire, as she held up the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 191 
 
 sweetest little dumpling of an admiral in diaper ever 
 seen, and at tlie same time took the liberty of plunging 
 the soft, cooing little " cherrybub," as Kit called him, 
 close to the Lieutenant's face, where he made a playful 
 clutch at that gentleman's whiskers, causing excruciating 
 pain and mental anguish to the Lieutenant in thus being 
 interrupted in an exciting incident of his narrative. 
 
 He resumed, however, with. Well, ladies, it was my 
 luck to dance at the wedding of that handsome British- 
 er ; and as Cupid's my judge, he is the author of a nu- 
 merous progeny, and fell afterwards in a duello, for be- 
 ing too attentive to another man's wife. 
 
 The following day, before Aurora had 
 
 " raised her head 
 Above the waves, and left her watery bed/' 
 
 we had been stirring an hour ; and while the palms 
 beoran to crackle in the first current of the land wind, 
 the villa was all in commotion, and mules ready capari- 
 soned at the gates. 
 
 We made eight in the party -— three ladies, the padron, 
 his son, the comprador of the plantation, a man with 
 a double barrelled gun, and least of all, myself. I don't 
 include the negro attendants or the small jackass upon 
 which my little ebony wench was perched, for in. Brazil 
 neither are regarded as human beings. My cot had 
 been sent forward with the spare beasts the night previ- 
 ous, and at the outset I was placed on a large, soft, com- 
 
192 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 fortable, cliair-like side saddle, on a fat, sedate old mule, 
 who ambled evenly over the ground, with the grace and 
 soberness of a bishop. 
 
 When all was ready, the ladies, in brown linen rig and 
 sun bonnets, comfortably stowed on their beasts, the pa- 
 dron put his undressed skin boots into the stirrup of his 
 barb, and swinging his portly bulk into the saddle, 
 and his enormous wide-brimmed hat around his head, 
 shouted " A-congo / " as a signal for the blacks to start. 
 Away they moved at a round trot, with earthen cala- 
 bashes, or jars, on their heads, keeping time during the 
 journey with a low, monotonous chant, interspersed 
 with, at long intervals, a detached shriek. Our part of 
 the procession then fell into line astern of the padron, 
 w^hile the man with the fowling piece closed up the rear. 
 
 Leaving the picturesque shores of the bay, and losing 
 sight of the magnificent panorama, we turned for a few 
 miles into the main road by the royal gardens, when 
 branching off over the spurs of the radiating hills, on 
 the sea side of the mountain flanks, we continued on, in 
 the cool freshness of the morning, at a good round pace. 
 
 Towards ten o'clock the sun became too powerful to 
 proceed with comfort, and a halt was cried, on a little 
 grassy bit of table land, which seemed to have been chis- 
 elled from the brow of a ridge. There, beneath the deep 
 shade of the noble timber and its trembling leaves, the 
 breakfist was spread upon a carpeting of banana leaves, 
 and we made our m_eal. I don't know why it was, but we 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 193 
 
 -were all tiiste and taciturn. I had nothing in particular 
 to dash my own spirits, for I was rapidly gaining health 
 and strength, besides being associated with as charming 
 a trio of ladies (each in her peculiar vocation) as ever 
 broke bread ; and the padron was one of the jolliest 
 gentlemen, turned of fifty, you would desire, when 
 thirsty, to drink with ; but yet there was some spell 
 wh;ch had come over us all. The matron was thousrht- 
 ful, and papa a shade serious, while the little Spanish 
 brunette was in a brown pout, and my tall angel left her 
 cold chicken untasted, sipped a thimble full of chocolate, 
 and allowed her lovely eyes to wander inquisitively out 
 upon the distant ocean, where here and there some list- 
 less bark showed her white sails upon the calm sea. 
 
 The negroes, however, were not infected with the 
 mental gloom of their superiors. They were in ecstasies 
 of spirits, seated a score or two of yards below us, on 
 the verdant knoll, chattering, jabbering, laughing, and 
 sucking their smashed-yam-bedabbled fingers, with all 
 the enjoyment in the world. 
 
 Finding that even Antonietta wouldn't open her 
 pretty mouth, nor the padron either, save to insert a 
 fresh cigar, I laid me down in my cot, which had been 
 suspended betw^een the trees, and was soon siestaing 
 away like a dormouse. 
 
 It vras evening before I was aroused from slumber, 
 and then by the jolly padron, who, unclosing the cur- 
 tains at the ridgepole of the cot, looked in upon me, 
 17 
 
194 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and shouted, " Ilillo ! you wee villain, are you never 
 going to wake ? Why, we are near old Joao Porgallos's, 
 where we pass the night." 
 
 I then discovered that, without disturbing my repose, 
 the careful blacks had raised me on their shoulders, when 
 the hour came for moving, and with the cool flutter of the 
 sea breeze, and the gentle vibrations of the couch, I had 
 been borne a long way up the sides of the mountains, 
 and rocked the sounder to sleep by the motion. 
 
 We had now gained a broad, sloping gorge, clothed 
 with the richest and most luxuriant vegetation. The 
 shades of the departing sun fell in transverse lines 
 across the valley, the atmosphere had become sensibly 
 cooler, the flocks of paroquets were twittering their 
 vesper hymns. As I mounted my trusty mule, and 
 edged my way to my place in the cavalcade, the ladies 
 were carolling forth airs from the newest operas, the 
 padron was pealing out a stave which made the sur- 
 rounding hills echo with good humor, and we all ap- 
 peared, as indeed we were, as blithe and free from care 
 as crickets. 
 
 An hour later, we crossed a broad belt of the Serra, 
 and descending a mile on the other side, descried a little 
 cluster of red- washed buildings ; a bit of a spire from a 
 chapel rose in the midst, M'ith gardens, and coffee and 
 banana trees around. Presently a multitude of dogs 
 barked melodiously, while the little bell of the chapel 
 tinkled a chorus, and trotting through a wide gateway. 
 
TAI-E3 FOR THE MARINES. 195 
 
 we dismounted witliin tlie walls of the habitation of 
 Dom Joao Porgallos. 
 
 We were at once surrounded by a crowd of servants 
 and pleasant people, in huge straw hats, with Dom Joao 
 at their head. The dom looked a Portuguese prototype 
 of an English Bill. He had a full face, with a roly- 
 poly figure, fat, short, little pillows of hands, and a good- 
 humored appearance all round. He did notliing but 
 take off and put on his palm leaf sombrero for twenty 
 minutes after our arrival ; bowing repeatedly, and as 
 gracefully the while, as the solid corporation enclosed 
 within his comfortable white jacket and loose trousers 
 would admit ; but he never spoke a word, though he 
 laughed continually. I noticed him at intervals ex- 
 changing winks with the padron, and secretly telegraph- 
 ing, with a crook to his little finger, and his mouth open 
 like a young robin : but again he would return to his 
 courteous salutations, and bow and smile repeatedly to 
 us all, as before. 
 
 There was a court yard in front of the main build- 
 ing, where stood the little chapel, with its iron grille of a 
 door worked in form of a cross, with the letters I. H. S. 
 above and the year below. Within we could see tall gilt 
 candlesticks, standing behind the altar, and queer little 
 votive offerings, strung around the image of the virgin ; 
 while just inside the gateway, fastened against the rude 
 wall, was a polished bowl for holy water, scooped out 
 of a beautiful piece of Brazil mahogany. 
 
196 TALES FOK THE MARINES. 
 
 A long line of slaves, with each a broad, flat basket 
 of coffee in the pod on their heads, were waiting in 
 turn to exhibit to the overseers the result of their la- 
 bors ; which, after being measured and noted, was either 
 again to be taken to dry, on the fiat-rimmed rocks on 
 the hill sides, or carried to the magazines within. The 
 head man, too, of each gang of ten or twelve slaves 
 stood by, and struck the pavement with a stick, as the 
 baskets were emptied of their green or blackened bur- 
 dens. When the account was correct, he received the 
 ration of coarse farina, and a bit of jerked beef or fish, 
 for his colored troop, when, with a powerful grunt, as a 
 signal to his friends, accompanied by smart raps of the 
 stick over their naked shoulders, they moved on. 
 
 The work of the compradors, however, was soon 
 despatched ; and when a huge, jingling mass of keys — 
 each of them nearly as big as a holster pistol — had 
 been handed to the obsequious Senhor Porgallos, we 
 entered the house. The ladies had preceded us, and 
 passing through a wide hall to the sala beyond, we 
 rejoined them ; and supper being soon announced, we 
 all took our places. 
 
 There was an enormous platter, to begin with, of an 
 olha, — bits of meat, fish, and sausages, stuck round with 
 okra, peppers, rice, and delicious vegetables of all sorts. 
 Then followed a long, pointed-nosed fish, fresh from the 
 mountain stream, broiled brown as a nut, and swaddled in a 
 broad, green bed of guava leaves. Afterwards came a pig. 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MAR1^'ES. 197 
 
 . — quite a diminutiYe porker, — sitting, ready roasted, on 
 the tip of his tail, with his fore feet up in the air, resting 
 against a great bunch of crisped plantains. Then, be- 
 sides, there was game, — a dish of parrots, — and finally 
 a confectionery cathedral, tented over by a gauze veil of 
 glistening sugar, with fruits, preserves, and sweetmeats 
 without end. 
 
 It was a capital supper, I assure you, and I felt very 
 much inclined to fall to in a regular series of attacks 
 upon the entire spread of viands before me. I had 
 already seized a dish of the podrida, with a section of 
 sausage the size of a five-inch hawser, when one of my 
 fair companions beside me exclaimed, with her own 
 beautiful mouth full of guava, — 
 
 " Why, Enrique, are you crazy ? " 
 
 " No, only hungry ! " I replied ; but my appeal had 
 no effect, for it was, " Here, Jilla, take away his plate ; 
 bring the drops first, and then a little broth." 
 
 Lord ! that was enough : the very name of " drops " 
 entirely destroyed my appetite, and I merely sat listlessly 
 in my wicker chair, sipping a bowl of thin barley gruel, 
 and observing the famished padron and Dom JodO go- 
 ing through course after course, washed down by a gur- 
 gling rush of old port, that seemed to make their rubi- 
 cund noses fairly weep over the precious perfume. 
 
 " Ah, amigo,'' said the padron, smacking his lips, 
 while the dessert was laid on the table, " we remember 
 this wine, the same we had at the grand feast where the 
 
198 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 archbishop got so boosy on winning the wager, and gave 
 you the black diamond for assisting him." 
 
 Here the unctuous host held up his middle finger to 
 the ladies, and exhibited a large brilliant, as big as a 
 hazel nut, and nearly black ; though, at the same time, 
 it sparkled in orange and purple flames, with the most 
 wonderful effect. I learned, too, that it was, at that 
 period, the only one of its tint known in Brazil. 
 
 " What a treasure ! " said the handsome matron, with 
 a deep sigh. " Did any one ever behold such an un- 
 earthly gem I " 
 
 " Qwe hrilliantc ! " exclaimed little Antonietta, as 
 the light from her own twinkling peepers appeared to 
 reflect a ray from the jewel. " But how did the senhor 
 become possessed of it ? " said they all. 
 
 The round Dom Joao put out his dexter soft, fat flip- 
 per, with his capacious wine glass, and swallowed three 
 fillings of the tipple, as fast as the obliging padron could 
 pour them out of a dusty bottle ; then he laughed, un- 
 til tears — they looked like drops of port — stood in 
 his little black eyes ; but he said nothing, only shook 
 his head, and glanced towards the padi'on. 
 
 " Well, ladies," began the latter personage, while he 
 allowed his friend to undergo the same labor with a fresh 
 bottle, that he himself had performed a moment before, 
 " I'll tell you about that affair ; for our host here, as 
 you know, is not particularly glib at a story, and I'll do 
 it in a few words for him. 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MAEIXES. 199 
 
 " You must be aware, that before you people came out 
 to Brazil, — in fact, before the capital was changed to Rio, 
 • — a number of the influential persons of the country, 
 myself and friend Porgallos here, among the rest, made a 
 visit to Bahia to discuss topics which had for us all a pe- 
 culiar interest, — or, in other words, to concoct a compre- 
 hensive scheme of revolution, — so as, under a new form 
 of government, to develop, if possible, the agricultural 
 resources of the empire. I don't, however, know how 
 long we were occupied in those pursuits ; but I do re- 
 member that we had a very estimable set of fellows 
 there from Portugal, commanded by a general, Madeira 
 de ]Mello, who, perhaps in virtue of his name, could 
 outdrink every mother's son of us, and all his Portu- 
 guese brigade to boot. There were, nevertheless, some 
 very tough customers in Bahia at the time, one a Yankee 
 commodore, in a smashing great frigate, who was the 
 very twin in crood looks and animal structure to Joao 
 here at my elbow. He not only had taste and capacity, 
 but a smell for wine, — owing, of course, to unexampled 
 experience in that line, — that no one could deceive, or 
 upset, not even our friend, the venerable archbishop of 
 the province, who was, by long odds, the ooziest ab- 
 sorbent I ever met with. Between these three gentle- 
 men there existed a generous rivalry, although neither 
 had as yet gained any advantage of the other. AVell, 
 in a round of excellent dinners, both afloat and on shore, 
 a large party of us were once congregated at the board 
 
200 TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 of our kind bishop in the refectory of the old convent 
 in the city ; and when the fruit had been taken away 
 and the fine wines produced, there arose, as usual, some 
 pleasant dispute relative to the age, properties, color, 
 strength, and so forth, of high wines. The general 
 hereupon indulged us with an agreeable lecture on all 
 sorts of liquors, brewed, distilled, or fermented, from 
 beer to arrack ; told us that all wines took their color 
 from the husk of the grape ; that certain juices deterio- 
 rated after a certain time, certain age, and climate ; but 
 concluded by declaring it to be his firm belief that the 
 mouth was the only true crucible to test wine in. 
 
 " In this the experienced bishop coincided wholly ; but 
 the old salt water veteran instantly filed a demurrer, and 
 swore with a dreadful imprecation, that the nose was tlie 
 only philosophical organ for a refined judge to decide 
 by, on the quality of liquids which were intended to be 
 poured down one's throat. The commodore also boldly 
 offered to back his opinion in the throats of all, — 
 Mello, the prelate, and the Portuguese brigade to 
 boot — with a rare pipe of sherry, that had been ever so 
 many times round the world, — in flict, it had been his 
 travelling companion since his boyhood about the ocean, 
 — that, blindfolded, no one could deceive him in the 
 smell of wine. 
 
 " There was a minute's silence ; the sailor glared round 
 fiercely and exultingly, while the general smiled sar- 
 donically, with a slight bow to the archbishop, as if he 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 201 
 
 ■would himself be glad of the chance of taking up the 
 bet, but that it would not be exactly right to defraud 
 our host out of the sherry. Well, as the commodore 
 reiterated his taunt, there could be, of course, no other 
 plan to pursue, than for the archbishop, at his own table 
 too, to accept the wager. 
 
 " Since, however, the prelate could not boast, amid his 
 stock of wines, of an equivalent in sherry to match the 
 famous pipe of the commodore, it was decided that he 
 should stake a couple of hogsheads of madeira, which 
 were understood to have been sent out as a royal gift to 
 the emperor. The vessel which brought it had been 
 wrecked somewhere on the coast, and by some unac- 
 countable fatality, the casks had floated on shore into the 
 cellars of the archbishop's palace, where they had scarce- 
 ly as yet been broached. 
 
 " The conditions were, that thirteen wines in glasses 
 should be placed upon the table, which the commodore 
 had the privilege of smelling as long as he liked, and 
 he was to have one chance out of thirteen. Xow, I felt 
 concerned for the risk the bishop was about to run, for 
 I knew that the sailor's olfactories were infallible, and 
 our host was, I imagine, of a like opinion, for, aside 
 from the wine he had absorbed, he looked blue. 
 
 " Porgallos, as you know, the nephew of that prelate, 
 was deputed to bandage the commodore's eyes, and 
 present the samples before him. JSTow, we had all been 
 quaffing previous to this from a bottle of port that had 
 
202 TALES FOll THE M Allies' ES. 
 
 been drawn off in glass, when the archbishop's grand- 
 father was laid down under ground in wood, nigh upon 
 a century before. It had lost its color, and was of a pale 
 auburn, but, nevertheless, the bouquet was as strong as 
 musk. 
 
 " By some legerdemain, Joao got hold of the cork and 
 placed it snugly up his sleeve. Meanwhile a napkin 
 had been carefully passed over the old commander's 
 eyes, a great battalion of glasses ranged silently on the 
 board, and not a word was uttered. 
 
 " As my friend, Porgallos, raised the brimming goblets 
 one after the other, I saw by the roguish twinkle of his 
 eyes that some deviltry was going on; but I was not 
 then in the plot, and, being directed to put the ques- 
 tions, I began with, ' Now, commodore, number one.' 
 The glass was lifted up carefully to his carbuncled nose. 
 A single sniff, and he replied with great decision, 
 'Port.' The glass was marked with a bit of paper 
 and set aside. Up went number two. Another deep 
 sniff — 'Canary.' And so he went on, quite correctly, 
 without the slightest hesitation, to Cape, Sicily, Cata- 
 lan, Burgundy, Malmsey, Tinta, Madeira, and so forth, 
 until there were but two specimens left. The worthy 
 bishop's eyes turned green, for there was no madeira, 
 he knew as an absolute fact, in the whole kingdom, like 
 the casks contained in his cellars ; so you may conceive 
 what a severe trial it must have been to him, as, being a 
 point of honor, there was no escape. 
 
TALES FOU THE MARINES. 203 
 
 "There were, as I told you, but two wines left un- 
 smelled, and they were some trash of light French grape, 
 that a Dutchman might have detected at a glance. On 
 this occasion, however, Joao changed hands, and thus 
 held the sleeve which concealed the redolent cork to the 
 nostril of the smiling and triumphant smeller. 
 
 " It was an awful moment, but after a deep respiration, 
 he shouted, ' Oporto ! ' There was a general murmur 
 of surprise, that any one coidd possibly have made such 
 a mistake. I, too, was deluded, and thought he was 
 either drunk or dreaming ; but as, in my acquaintance 
 with him, I had always seen him sober as a church, and 
 firmly believed that he had not been asleep for twenty 
 years, as he drank all day and played cards all night, 
 I could not reasonablv account for the blunder. 
 
 " However, there was still another chance, and although 
 the venerable host was encouraged, yet his face still re- 
 mained sad and dubious. 
 
 " * Here we go, senhores, — the last, number thirteen.' 
 Steadily the slim crystal with its contents was elevated 
 to the discriminating member. ' Xearer,' said the 
 commodore, as he inhaled at first a gentle air. The 
 glass neajly touched his inflamed nose, bringing it in 
 toe closest contact vvith Joao's coat sleeve, when, with a 
 long-drawn and decided snifi", he roared out, ^ Port 
 again, by thunder.' 
 
 " As he tore away the bandage from his eyes, he -.vas 
 greeted by the rosy visage of the archbishop, smihug 
 
204 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 with rapture over Porgallos's shoulder, as he ch\sped 
 him to his clerical bosom and wept with joy. 
 
 " Porgallos has since given me to understand, that as a 
 reward for his services, his uncle presented him that 
 wonderfid diamond now on his finger, wliich had been 
 left to the church to atone for the sins of his grandmother. 
 Of those events I can't speak with certainty : I only 
 know that, the following day, an order came for a gross 
 of this iiimous port, which I am delighted to find has 
 not lost its flavor. As for the commodore, when the 
 loss of his sherry, the dearest prop of his existence, had 
 been announced to him, he howled and swore like an 
 infidel, and woidd actually have committed suicide, or 
 cut off his treacherous proboscis, had he not been pre- 
 vented by the company. 
 
 " He sent the pipe on shore the next morning, and 
 sailed away the same night ; and as he died soon after- 
 wards, it must have been of a broken heart." 
 
 At the conclusion of this reminiscence the ladies re- 
 tired, and Jilla twitched me away by the arm to my own 
 couch, leaving the pair of cronies over their potations, 
 where, by the way, we found them at daylight the fol- 
 lowing morning, when we were again ready to move. 
 
 Dom Joao was as smiling as ever, though rather bleary 
 about the optics, assisting every body, bowing, taking off 
 his straw hat, busy, polite, attentive, and agreeable as 
 posolb^.e. Shaking us all by the hands, several times 
 apiece, with a warmer embrace to the padron, and a nod 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 205 
 
 of assent by way of promise to return our visit at the 
 estate of his friend before the close of the season, the sisr- 
 nal for departure was given, and the blacks trotted down 
 the path, keeping time to their unvarying chants, while 
 we followed in their wake. 
 
 " Yery pleasant person, Senhor Porgallos," I re- 
 marked to the drowsy padron during the ride, ^^ but 
 rather taciturn, I thought ; he talks very little." 
 
 " Talk ! " ejaculated my companion ; " "^^hy, you in- 
 nocent skillykeedee, he's deaf and dumb, though he 
 understands every thing you say, and more too, by the 
 movement of the lips and expression of the face ; and, 
 by Bacchus, what does a man need a tongue for, ex- 
 cept to taste such wine as that ? " 
 
 The ladies, however, seemed to think, that since na- 
 ture had presented him with so brilliant a nose, he might 
 be willing to part with the diamond, and that it would 
 be a great blessing if he could talk more and drink less. 
 
 We passed the morning, winding up and down the 
 acclivities, until, by the side of a turbulent watercourse, 
 we halted for breakfiist and sleep. Then on we went 
 beneath the dense shade, and at night, on a wide sertao, 
 held bridles at the village of Lorena. Here, too, we 
 were hospitably cared for, and there being no store of 
 old port in that vicinity, the padron devoted his leisure 
 to repose. Two days longer we pursued our journey, 
 ■until the afternoon of the fifth day from Rio, from the 
 elevated plateau of the Serra, the kind matron and her 
 18 
 
206 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 lovely daughter leaned over my cot, and in a cheerful 
 tone said, — 
 
 " Come, you lazy invalid, we are nearly at home 
 now ; look out upon Pinchao." 
 
 It was, indeed, a look that I shall never forget. We 
 were standing on an abrupt shoulder of the San Sebastin 
 Mountains, and beneath us lay a broad bridge of land, 
 like a saddle, to the heavy flanks of the opposite range. 
 Away to the north trended a wide and beautiful valley, 
 spreading wider and wider at the base, threaded by 
 white streams of foaming water, until they all plunged 
 into a rapid river, which wandered tortuously about the 
 fertile plains below, and then disappeared between the 
 walls of the distant chain of serras. To the south, the 
 land sloped more sharply towards the ocean, which was 
 just perceptible many leagues off, with a dim blue haze 
 above, and the indistinct outlines of islands near the 
 coast. 
 
 The noble timber and masrnificent ves^etation were 
 waving and bending, and changing color in all shades of 
 green, as the full strength of the sea breeze swept over 
 their lofty tops and branches, and then came roaring up 
 the hills to the summit of the ridge, when, plunging 
 down inland on the other side, with a breezy, rustling 
 flutter, it flew in among the rich plantations of coffee 
 and indigo on the slopes, and expended its force among 
 the crackling palms and sugar canes of the river's 
 banks. 
 
TALES FOil THE MARINES. 207 
 
 Before us, at the farthest extremity of the saddle, lay 
 embowered amid the foliage a large cluster of houses, 
 — quite a hamlet of itself, — with long sheds and out- 
 buildings, and a little chapel rising in the midst, with 
 its gilt cross above, tipped with flame from a ray of the 
 setting sun. The entire cluster was gayly frescoed, and 
 the predominant tints of orange and pink contrasted 
 prettily with the intensely green verdure around. NccU'er 
 to us was a thick grove of cassia, vanilla, cinnamon, 
 and brazil wood, which we presently entered. There 
 was no lesser vegetation, and we moved briskly along 
 beneath the light and graceful folds of the filmy, feath- 
 ery branches, which hung like masses of lace above our 
 heads, intermixed with great, glossy, fleshy leaves of the 
 siphonia elastica, or Indian rubber tree, and here and 
 there enormous clusters of cocoas, all bound together, 
 twined in loops and links of the richest white and crim- 
 son lianas, while the light from the parting sun was cast 
 in golden bars athwart the giant trunks, below the green 
 and living roof. I began to fancy that T was wandering 
 in enchanted realms, or beholding a beautiful scene at 
 the theatre, and not trotting amidst the gorgeous natural 
 hues of a Brazilian forest. 
 
 In an hour we were at the outer enclosures of the 
 padron's estate, and dismounting, we crossed a turbu- 
 lent torrent by a shifting bridge, which was drawn up 
 every night, and passing through a heavy stone gate- 
 wav, we came to an oblong court yard. Opening right 
 
208 TALES FOK THE MARINES. 
 
 and left were immense Trareliouses and magazines for 
 coffee, sugar, tobacco, hides, and charque, or the dried 
 strips of beef given to the slaves ; and continuing ou 
 through a long arched passage, we finally reached the 
 court yard which contained the dwelling of the padron's 
 family, in this their countiy retreat of Pinchao. It was 
 a charming spot, paved with China tiles, in the most 
 grotesque designs. At one end was a large tank for 
 swimming, while all around were ranged tubs, and 
 pyramidal stone stands, of limes, citrons, oranges, and 
 rare plants, and flowers of every color and fragrance. 
 
 I had not the light or inclination to take more than a 
 cursory peep of the interior of this spot, on the evening 
 of our arrival ; but in a few days, I had explored and 
 enjoyed every inch of masonry and foot of land f.ir and 
 near. I discovered that the main dwellinsr stood with 
 its back resting against a great isolated rock, where a 
 full, bounding torrent leaped from the inaccessible crags 
 behind, and dividing itself into two courses, it rushed 
 around the hamlet, united again, and rolled away towards 
 the valley to feed the large river below. With the ex- 
 ception of the sugar works, the entire buildings were 
 of but one story, and the portion occupied by the 
 owner's iamilv looked into the clean, cool court-vard. 
 The rooms were on three sides for sleeping, but the sala 
 and dining room occupied the fourth, and had windows 
 opening towards the sea. The roofs were flat and paved 
 with the same mateiial, and after a similar fasliion to the 
 
TALES YOV. THE MARINES. £09 
 
 court below. Botli were covered with stout awnings, 
 running in sections on horizontal poles and frames, so 
 that by cords and tackles at the corners they could be 
 spread or furled in a moment. • 
 
 On the broad, spacious terraces were narrow en- 
 closures of earth filled with a profusion of fragrant 
 plants and dwarf orange trees, through which, durhig 
 the dry season, were trailed miniature aqueducts of 
 yellow reeds bubbling with pure water, and punctured 
 in such a manner as that the spattering liLtle channels 
 dripped out a regular tribute at the root of every plant. 
 
 This beautiful terrace was our favorite resort. The 
 view swept over the misty fiice of the distant ocean, the 
 islands, coasts, plains, streams, and valleys, with the 
 lofty peaks of the serras on both sides of the ridge ; and 
 that which lent an additional charm to our senses was 
 the clear, musical roar of the cascade and torrents sur- 
 rounding us, while the refreshing exhalations from the 
 waters cooled the heated atmosphere. 
 
 Here, too, during the hottest of the day, we swung 
 in grass hammocks, watching the humming birds, or 
 " winged flowers," as the natives call them, flitting 
 about the shrubs and fruit, and listening to the metallic 
 clang of the urapongas, like the strokes of a deep-toned 
 bell resounding through the forests below. At times we 
 heard the sharp, whistling chirps of the oriole sentinel 
 bird, giving the alarm of danger to his thieving com- 
 panions amid the orange groves ; and the parrots, red, 
 18* 
 
210 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 blue, and green, chattering and screaming in their harsh 
 notes during their dally combats, one tribe with another. 
 Occasionally, before the approach of a thunder storm, 
 we would have a call from a whole " wilderness of mon- 
 keys," who, perched on the jutting angles of the cas- 
 tellated rock behind us, would look down and make ob- 
 servations upon our mode of life in the most contemp- 
 tuous manner possible. 
 
 My principal amusement, however, when I became 
 strong enough, was to entice Antonietta and her hand- 
 maiden Jilla into the forest, in company with the son of 
 the padron, a lad about my own age. There he taught 
 me to use the bow of the country. It was made of 
 short, tough, springy slips of wood, with two cords, 
 the width of the bow apart, upon which, near the mid- 
 dle, was a neat network, which held the missile. Our 
 ammunition consisted of the small, solid green nuts of 
 the cocoa ; and we soon became such adepts in the use 
 of the weapon, that we could bring down our prey at 
 full forty yards. I have seen my young companion 
 strike a humming bird while poised in mid air, sipping 
 with its delicate bill from the lianas. The brilliant tou- 
 cans, however, were the rarest game ; and in a few 
 wrecks we had procured a sufficient stock of their lemon 
 and red plumes to make a cape for the shoulders of the 
 little Spanish brunette who attended us on our rambles. 
 She was not, however, idle ; for with Jilla's assistance, 
 and other wee bits of animated ebony, she would go iu 
 
TALES FOR THE MARIXES. 211 
 
 pursuit of the gorgeous insects of the country, and after- 
 ■«-ards twine them into wreaths or clusters for the hair, 
 where the beautiful colors — deep green, yellow, and 
 blue — would sparkle in the lamplight with the finest 
 effect imaginable. 
 
 In the early morning, too, before the hot sun had 
 drunk up the perfume of the fruits and flowers, we would 
 wander along the slopes of the hills, through the clear- 
 ly-tilled coffee plantations, plucking here and there a 
 handful of pure white blossoms and ripe red berries, to 
 be dried and cured for our own private drinking. Again, 
 we would sit for hours, later in the day, under the leafy 
 shade of the rich natural arbors, interlaced with the del- 
 icate tendrils and flowers of the lianas, and watch the 
 negroes on the flat, rocky esplanades below, peeling, 
 soaking, spreading, raking, drying, and picking the cof- 
 fee for final use. 
 
 It was a delightful existence I led in this charming 
 tropical retreat. The time slipped rapidly away, and I 
 lost all ear for the music of a boatswain's whistle, and 
 eye for the flutter of a sail. All I cared for, now that 
 I had become quite well and active, was to listen to 
 the low, sweet pipes of Antonietta, and to watch the 
 floating folds of her light canvas as she sailed from tree 
 to tree in quest of the insects for her evening toilet. 
 We had no lack of visitors either — a crowd on Sun- 
 days, the families of the neighboring planters, and some- 
 times a casual acquaintance from Rio or San Paulo. On 
 
21^ TALES FOR THE MAKIXES. 
 
 these occasions we danced and had feasts of dulces ; the 
 girls staid all night, said mass in the morning, and pad- 
 dled about the tank, too, before they went away. Then 
 we used to attend them many a mile down to the banks 
 of the river, on the plain below, make purchases at the 
 little town of Sillambya, and then a brisk pace home, 
 with the sea breeze in our teeth. 
 
 Six months flew by on these gay butterfly wings be- 
 fore I even reflected how happy I had been, or gave a 
 thought as to whether the busy world outside of Pin- 
 chao would ever bother itself about me again. One 
 day, however, the dream was dissipated, I lay swing- 
 ing in a grass hammock on the terrace, with no one near 
 save my kind angel. Dona Mary, or Pancha, as she was 
 usually termed by the natives, when the cheerful voice 
 of the padron exclaimed, as he pitched a packet of let- 
 ters towards her, '^ There, my darling — news for you, 
 and something, too, for the httle reefer." Poor girl! she 
 had been serious and pensive for a long while, and when 
 the parcel fell at her feet, she snatched it up, and placed 
 it to her heart ; but as some painful thought appeared to 
 come over her, she trembled, the color forsook her 
 cheeks, and tremulously pressing her lovely hands to 
 her eyes, the tears gushed out like a fountain. She sat 
 down, and, after an effort, tore off the envelope. Her 
 fears were soon dispelled, however, and with a deep and 
 thankful sigh, her sparkling though suffused eyes ran 
 from page to page, and afterwards, thinking no one by. 
 
TALES FOR THE MAKIXES. 213 
 
 she j)ressed the missive passionately to her lips and 
 heart. Lord, man, you handsome officer in particular, 
 what "v\'ould you have given to behold those secret and 
 lavish endearments of that fond and loving woman upon 
 the mute missive, and all for you too ? And who 
 knows but you may have been, like any other " gentle 
 man of war," airing your love vocabulary upon some fcdse 
 image, — whether Hindoo or Saxon it matters not, — 
 and instead of thinking, mayhap, with Scapin, that '' trois 
 ans de galeres de plus ou de moins ne sont pas pour ar- 
 reter un noble cocur," it might more properly read, 
 ^' three years away from one's sweetheart should not 
 paralyze the affections of an ardent lover " ? I contend, 
 said the indignant Lieutenant, that this species of polyg- 
 amy before marriage should be put down, and good, 
 wholesome laws devised for the j)ermanent suppression 
 of this vice. 
 
 Well, as I told you, I was lying perdu, as it were, in 
 the network of the hammock, regarding this fair crea- 
 ture through the interstices of my hanging couch, when 
 some little movement I unwittingly made attracted her 
 attention. She hastily put the letter she had been 
 reading in the bosom of her dress, and speaking up quite 
 unconcernedly, said, " You there, Harry ? Why, what 
 has become of 'Tonietta ? " She then approached the 
 hammock with her joyful soul dancing in her looks, and, 
 leaning over, actually kissed me. I heard the rustle, 
 however, of the crumpled letter in the folds of her dress, 
 
214 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and I felt tliat the caress was intended, in imagination at 
 least, for some one else — her handsome officer of 
 course ; and being a little ngly runt of a boy, becoming 
 suddenly unaccountably jealous and savage, I turned 
 pettishly away from lips that an emperor might have 
 lost an empire for. 
 
 By the way, ladies, exclaimed the Lieutenant, as he 
 rose from his chair and exhibited himself at full length 
 before his audience, I'll tell you a secret worth the 
 hearing, or rather a conviction which has forced itself 
 upon me in the varied experiences I have had in differ- 
 ent parts of both hemispheres. Your handsome men 
 are almost invariably troubled with fits. I don't know 
 how to account for it, either on philosophical or physical 
 grounds; but I opine that Nature, in her all-wise dispo- 
 sition to preserve a balance of power in these matters 
 with her creatures, is constantly striving to recompense 
 us ugly fellows by an exemption from those unpleasant 
 disorders I have alluded to. There are exceptions, I am 
 free to admit ; but I never met with one save in the 
 sole case of my handsome friend Jack Gracieux; and 
 even he was always complaining of his gizzard. 
 
 The narrator worried his hair, so that it stuck out like 
 the headdress of a Tongataboo Islander, and resumed 
 his seat and his yarn at the same time, while the ladies 
 looked incredulous, and went on systematically with 
 their knitting. 
 
 " O fie ! don't be cross," said my kind angel, in her 
 
TALES FOR THE MARI^'E3. 215 
 
 sweet tones. " Here are letters for you, which papa 
 gave me, and perhaps it will comfort you to read them." 
 I was so ashamed of my unreasonable, boorish conduct, 
 that I immediately sprang out of the hammock, and 
 kneeling on both knees before her, took her hands in 
 mine, and said, " My dearest, good sister, can you for- 
 give my rudeness and ill temper ? Please do. I'll never 
 offend you again, for I love you better than any one 
 else in the wide world." " Hush, hush ! " she laughed, 
 pulhng me to my feet ; " I'm not vexed with you ; and 
 now you shall kiss me : there, now we're even." 
 
 At that moment I raised my face, and v\'hat should 
 meet my gaze but that pretty brunette, Antonietta, 
 standing on the highest steps of the terrace, and bend- 
 ing over the marble coping of the balustrade. She had 
 evidently just returned from the forest, and her broad 
 straw flat was hung Avith strings of brilliant insects, 
 while her bodice and waist were wreathed, and the 
 skirt of her white dress looped, with multitudes of the 
 rarest leaves and flov/ers of every rich hue and form that 
 Jilla's assiduity and her mistress's taste could invent. 
 Her face was half averted, thouo'h I could see the eves 
 were flashing as only a Creole girl's eyes can flash, while 
 the delicate nostril was slightly distended, and there was 
 a deep red spot on her cheek. She looked like a very 
 little demon of a Flora, but still she was a beauty. 
 
 I divined at once that she had not only witnessed, but 
 overheard, every thing, innocent as it was, that had 
 
216 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 passed between lier tall friend and myself, who, by the 
 way, with lier back towards Antonietta, had not seen the 
 angry little maiden, but had tripped away to her own 
 room, no doubt to kiss and weep doatingly over her 
 lover's first letter. I was on the point of running to 
 the little brunette and explaining the incident, but a 
 desire to tease the young coquette, who ever delighted 
 in teasing me, and the pleasure I experienced in feeling 
 that I had made her jealous, restrained me a few seconds, 
 and meanwhile she had vanished. 
 
 That evening, however, she danced and flirted in the 
 most barefaced manner with a black, bristle-pated, chub- 
 by cornet of ca^adores, who was dismounted and serv- 
 ing in the militia. She would take sugar water and 
 dulces from no one else. She gave him her fan to get 
 mended at the village ; and I heard her promise to 
 waltz with him forever ; though, forsooth, the native 
 went round, in his small, yellow-tailed jacket, like a fat 
 sweet potato. I bore this punishment tolerably well for 
 some time, but at last, becoming a trifle piqued, I ven- 
 tured to saunter up to the sefiorita and claim her for the 
 contradanga, v/hich she had as good as sworn never to 
 dance with any one else. '' We get through the figures 
 so well together, Enrique," she would say, " that I feel 
 awkward with my other partners." But on the present 
 occasion the gypsy gave me one stare of amazement out 
 of her large, liquid, languishing eyes, and then mur- 
 muring, with a light laugh, " Adios, nino," she placed 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 217 
 
 her dimpled fingers in the dingy paw of the chunky- 
 cornet, and off they whirled. 
 
 I should have died perfectly happy if I could have 
 dealt the witch one stinging slap on her lovely flushed 
 cheek, and then kicked her fat native from the big rock 
 into the cataract. This gratification was denied me ; 
 so I smothered my resentment for my fickle mistress, 
 and wandered among the sedate, cigar-puffing gentry 
 who were assembled about the doors and windows of the 
 sala. They were all attired in the briefest sky-blue 
 coats, with the narrowest cut tails you ever saw in a 
 civilized country, with bright brass buttons, and white 
 or striped trousers, silk stockings, and red pumps. 
 
 I was mentally speculating whether some of them 
 were not troubled with a rush of blood to their toes, 
 from mere sympathy to their shoe leather, when I came 
 plump upon our hospitable acquaintance, Dom Joao Por- 
 gallos, who seized me cordially by the flipper, nodded, 
 winked, smiled, patted me on the shoulder, and, in 
 short, gave me to understand that he had just arrived, 
 was quite well, and was overjoyed to find me entirely 
 recovered. The padron joined us, and presently, supper 
 being announced to him, he privately telegraphed about 
 a dozen of the most rotund of the individuals in car- 
 mine slippers and little waistcoats, and we all slipped 
 quietly away to the dining hall. We were soon around 
 the table. There was, as usual, a steaming olha, flanked 
 by a platter of black beans and sausages sufficient for a 
 19 
 
218 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 company of grenadiers. This was all the solid eating, 
 except, perhaps, something in the way of fish, that ever 
 graced the padron's supper table at Pinchao. There 
 was no stint, however, in fluids. Every sort of that 
 entertainment, save water, flowed in streams. 
 
 There was a large, round judge in the company, very 
 fat about the gills, apparently apoplectic, who, while rins- 
 ing his throat after swallowing a few alligator pears, 
 opened the conversation by informing the party present 
 that he had received an express from Rio, apprising him 
 that the southern provinces had been recently flooded 
 with spurious copper money, and that there was reason 
 for believing that several vessels were employed along 
 the coast in our vicinity, in furtherance of the same 
 laudable undertaking. 
 
 It was then that I learned that the copper coin of the 
 empire had been stamped and issued at a nominal value 
 far above the intrinsic worth of the metal. 
 
 The plethoric judge continued, amid his wines, to 
 state that the government contemplated calling in all the 
 copper money in the empire, to re-mark it at its true 
 standard, and in the mean time they were anxious to en- 
 trap the enterprising importers of the spurious article. 
 To effect this he was in communication with the author- 
 ities of the little ports of Princeza and Sebastin, and he 
 expected shortly to proceed thither, with the troop of or- 
 dejianpas of his friend the coroneis, referring to the supe- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. S19 
 
 rior officer of my rival tlie cornet, which body of militia 
 numbered seventeen, including two drummers. 
 
 " Bom dito ! Very good, senhores," said the stout 
 padron. " I'm not opposed on principle to smuggling," 
 — here he tossed off a pint of Burgundy, — " but at the 
 same time, I don't mind seeing the sport of capturing the 
 vagabonds ; and since I am a delegado, ex officio, and have, 
 moreover, a little business down at Sebastin relative to 
 shipping some sugar for Rio Janeiro, why, I'll join you." 
 
 Dom Joao acquiesced in this plan, also, in his own pe- 
 culiar way, and so it was arranged that we were all to 
 join the army of brave ordenangas, whenever it became 
 positively known that the copper merchants were on the 
 coast. 
 
 "With the exception of the padron and his inseparable 
 Porgallos, the remaining individuals retired to rest. I 
 lingered to the last, and then walking out into the court 
 yard, I found that the music of the sala was silent, the pol- 
 ished floor deserted, and the entire dwelling in repose. 
 I was out of humor with all the world, and turning over 
 a scheme in my own mind hoAv I could easiest quarrel with 
 the bristle-headed cornet, and do him grievous bodily 
 injury for having usurped the favor of my mistress, 
 when the thought occurred to me that I had not yet pe- 
 rused the letters which had been handed to me in the 
 hammock. Accordingly I slowly bent my steps up one 
 of the flights of the terrace, and while walking over the 
 tiled roof to the angle where the hammocks were swing- 
 
220 TALES FOK THE MARINES. 
 
 ing, I observed a white figure seated near the coping. 
 My tread was scarcely audible above the bubbling rush 
 of the torrent raging beloAV, and I unconsciously found 
 myself at the side of Antonietta. She did not perceive 
 me, however, and as the sarcasm of " Good-by, child," 
 was still ringing in my ears, I was on the point of coun- 
 termarching as noiselessly and expeditiously as I came ; 
 but some how or another there is such a magnetic sym- 
 pathy, or attraction, — call it what you will — around 
 these fluttering little fledglings, that I verily believe a 
 boat hook hitched to my trousers, or a lufl" tackle pur- 
 chase at my heels, could not have dragged me away. 
 There the little beauty sat, both hands crossed in her 
 lap, her head resting against one of the stone pillars 
 which upheld the ridgepoles of the awnings. A band of 
 her glossy hair was streaming over her cheek, while her 
 gaze was steadily fixed upon the distant sea, just glim- 
 mering, a long way off", in the feeble light of a young 
 moon. 
 
 " Dona Antonietta," I began, — and this was the first 
 time I had ever addressed her by so formal a title, — 
 " how late you are up ! Do you know that day will soon be 
 breaking ? " Not a w^ord, only a slight start of vexation 
 and surprise, as she hastily put up a hand and pushed 
 back her loose tresses. Presently I made another at- 
 tempt. " Seiiorita Gonsalvez, have I ofiended you ? " 
 This was greeted with a very perceptible sneer ; accord- 
 ingly I changed my mode of attack, with, " Hoav can 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 221 
 
 you treat me so cruelly, Antonietta, and take such a vio- 
 lent fancy for that Brazilian officer ? Does the last 
 comer make you forget old friends ? " Another curl of 
 the pouting Up, and a very slight gesture of impatience. 
 " Dear 'Tonietta, you know I love you so much ! You 
 are my first love, too ; and " 
 
 " Mentira — fib ! " exclaimed the girl, as her Spanish 
 eyes gleamed with passion. 
 
 " No, no, 'Tonietta mia ! all true, true ! " and here 
 hurrying on in a jumble of asseverations and explana- 
 tions, I told her what I had seen, and how indignant I 
 felt towards Pancha, and all about the letter. I tried, 
 also, to explain, in a breath, the difference betwixt my 
 loves, — a difficult task it was, — one for gratitude, and 
 the other for real feeling, and all that, until at last I found 
 myself seated beside the now weeping little beauty, with 
 my arms around her, and I administering consolation by 
 kissing her eyes, cheeks, and rosy lips, as if my very 
 existence depended upon getting through a thousand or 
 so a minute. 
 
 The Lord only knows how long we remained on that 
 terrace ; and we might perhaps have been there until 
 this time, had I not been awakened from my trance by 
 the tinkle of the chapel bell ; and glancing towards the 
 east, the gray bars of dawn were opening before the 
 light of the coming day. " Adios, mi alma ! " I said, 
 after leading her down the marble stairs. 
 19* 
 
222 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 '' Hasta siempre, nino mio" she whispered, while the 
 pressure of her hand tlii'illed in mine, as she stole, like 
 a snowy sylph, into her own room. 
 
 Need I tell you that for the second time I forgot 
 all about my packet of letters, and went to my couch, 
 and soon to sleep in a little Elysian Field of my own 
 planting, which I resolved to live in and cultivate for 
 Antonietta alone, with nothing but singing birds and 
 butterflies for companions? I dreamed of some in- 
 describable paradise of this nature, and that a big ape, 
 with the bristle pate of my rival on his shoulders, 
 was walking up a tall tree, hand over fist, with my bride 
 elect tucked away under his sinewy paws. As he 
 grinned like a devil, and shied a cocoa nut slap at my 
 nose, I leaped up with dire intent from my couch, and 
 was greeted by the visage of the jolly padron and the 
 polite Porgallos, standing in the flesh beside me. 
 
 " Hillo ! " quoth the former. " Come, take a dip in 
 the tank. Joao, here, and I have been discussing the af- 
 iairs of the nation all night ; — country's safe — so make 
 your mind easy and have a plunge. By the way," he 
 added, " what says old Percy in his note ? " ** What 
 note ? " I ejaculated. " Why, the packet I sent you 
 yesterday by Mary, when you w^ere napping away up 
 there in the hammocks. I had a line, too, from that 
 rollicking shipmate of yours, Hazy's his name, I believe, 
 and here it is." Thus it ran: — 
 
TALES FOK THE MARINES. 223 
 
 " My esteemed Toper : If that elf of a reefer^ Mr. Har- 
 ry Gringo, is yet alive, and not carried off by the mon- 
 keys, will you indulge him with the accompanying doc- 
 uments, and pack him carefully on a mule, and consign 
 him to my care here at Santos, so that I may return him 
 to his own nest or the flag ship, which last I expect to 
 meet one of these days at St. Catharine's. I am also 
 commissioned to offer a passage to the daughter of Don 
 Antonio Gonsalvez, and will make the chit as comforta- 
 ble as my spacious cabin will admit. 
 
 " Ever thine. 
 
 Jack Hazy." 
 
 You may take an aflSdavit that my heart sank within 
 me on perusing this characteristic billet. But pulling on 
 my trousers, I ran up to the terrace, and grasped the 
 packet which I had so often forgotten. There were sev- 
 eral letters — one from your grandmother, filled with ex- 
 cellent advice, and informing me that she had bought a 
 pew in church, to solace my last moments ; another from 
 my old grandfather, with a promise of a new boat and 
 gun when I got back home ; then a small, though legi- 
 ble scrawl from Senhor Jose Moskeet, bumboatman 
 at the city of Eio Janeiro, conveying a sincere hope 
 that I would cancel a small obligation with respect to 
 fish, fruit, and sundries, before I departed this life. 
 There were also a few lines from my messm-ates 
 on board the Juniata in the Rio de la Plata, and final- 
 
224: TALES FOU THE MARINES. 
 
 ly, a kind missive from my old captain. This was its 
 burden : — 
 
 " My dear Boy : I have thought best to request Lieu- 
 tenant Hazy, who has recently been appointed to the 
 brig Flirt, to take you on board, in case he goes to your 
 vicinity, as I trust that your healtii is nearly restored, 
 and the sea air will be of service to you. With my 
 kind regards to the ladies and the padron, 
 
 *' I am yours, 
 
 J. P." 
 
 I must have looked very dismal and lugubrious as 
 the last of these papers fell from my hands, for the good- 
 natured padron patted me lightly on the back, and said, 
 " Well, well, never mind ; we shall all break up the 
 camp here shortly, and we'll have you again at your old 
 quarters in Rio when the squadron gets back. So slip 
 on your togs, take a bath, and let's get a bite of break- 
 fast into our lockers." 
 
 I was sad enough, certainly, and nothing but the per- 
 spective hope of meeting my warm-hearted friends again 
 gave me the slightest relief That day I threw my 
 bow into the torrent, pushed Jilla so roughly over the 
 bridge that she injured her tender shins, beat my sedate 
 mule, the Bishop, so severely that he lay flat down in 
 the mud beside a cane brake ; and altogether, I felt 
 more miserable than I had ever made mvself before. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 225 
 
 Towards evening, however, a pleasant stroll with Pan- 
 cha and Antonietta, and the cool rebuff the latter gave 
 my potato-built rival, — who had ridden himself into a 
 profuse perspiration a distance of eight leagues, ^Yith a 
 letter from the judge, and the repaired fan, — rather re- 
 vived me. At dinner the padron told me that he was to 
 leave the next day but one ; and that he had received 
 intelligence of a smuggling vessel being on the coast, 
 which was purchasing sugar at high prices, but of course 
 paying in base metal. 
 
 After considerable discussion, it was decided also that 
 Mary should accompany her little creole friend a part 
 of the way to Santos, and the matron too ; for it was the 
 boast of her amiable spouse that he never slept away 
 from his tooth brush or his wife. Of necessity she 
 was to attend him on the expedition to Sebastin, where, 
 with a proper escort, Antonietta and myself were to be 
 despatched to our destination. 
 
 The hour arrived. I gave one glance around that 
 noble terrace, looked over the parapet into the rushing 
 stream, and up at the great solid castle of granite, then 
 down into the court yard, with its miniature groves 
 and pool, which I never beheld again. Then, as we 
 wound over the httle bridge, and through the stupen- 
 dous bolls of the forest, in the dim, gray light of morn- 
 ing, where the feathery branches and clasping vines were 
 spread with the gossamer webs, sagging with laps of 
 dew, I leaned over the blacking brush mane of the 
 
226 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Bishop, and dropped a tear upon his docile neck, as I 
 bid adieu to Pinchao. 
 
 " I'll pinch somebody else," whispered the matron 
 to the narrator, " if you keep that boy up any later this 
 evening." The Lieutenant bowed, sucked his cheroot, 
 and by his silence ended his adventures for the night. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Lieutenant again threw himself into his chair, — 
 a comfortable, leather-backed fellow, with straps for 
 arms, and surreptitiously pulling off the suspenders, which 
 were the Lieutenant's abhorrence, from Fred's trousers, 
 he looked inquiringly around at the ladies, to know 
 when they would be ready to hear a continuation of his 
 exploits, and receiving a nod of approval from his help- 
 mate, resumed the Gringoniad. 
 
 We were a much larger party on leaving Pinchao 
 than on our advent ; for we enrolled in our band the 
 fat judge, the dear, polite Porgallos, the coroneis, and his 
 aide-de-camp, besides the padron, the ladies, and my- 
 self; the battahon of troops, including the two drum- 
 mers, having begun their march the preceding night. 
 
 We had a journey of some twenty leagues to the 
 coast ; but before the sun had a fair chance of scorching 
 our brains to cinders, we reached a pleasant halting 
 place on the banks of a little rivulet, and had accom- 
 plished nearly one half the distance. The blacks had 
 already made fires in the clefts of the rocks, cleared 
 away the brushwood, and made a carpet of rich grasses 
 and the enormous leaves which grcAV in profusion around. 
 
 (227) 
 
228 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 As delicious a breakfast had also been prepared, of cboc- 
 olate, meats, a tomato salad, and cool French wines, as a 
 Christian of the nineteenth century would have chosen 
 to sit cross-legged at. The siesta came afterwards ; and 
 on this occasion my canvas cot had again been called 
 into requisition for Antonietta ; so I lay at full length 
 beneath, and thus permitted Jilla the double gratification 
 of fanning us both to repose with a banana leaf, big 
 enough to have made a hammock for the pair of us. 
 The blue ocean was at our feet, and away oif on the 
 horizon arose the indistinct outline of Princeza, and 
 lesser peaks of islands to the west. 
 
 We had been dozing some hours, when, by and by, 
 the lofty trees above our heads gently nodded with their 
 feathery plumes one to another, and the broad, green, 
 fleshy leaves of the smaller growth began to rustle as 
 they rubbed and beat their ponderous stems together. 
 The parrots, toucans, and maocas ceased their deafening, 
 harsh, screaming noises, and with a twittering succes- 
 sion of chutterSf furled their brilliant wings, and creep- 
 ing close side by side upon the dizzy branches, nestled 
 to quiet and rest. At the same time the first refresh- 
 ing sighs of the sea breeze came faintly fiurrying up 
 along the valley, till, gaining strength, it rolled with 
 its full force, and we all raised our heads to catch its 
 cool breath upon our tepid cheeks. 
 
 As we jogged on, in an easy, descending ramble, 
 from one beautiful valley to another, and approached tLe 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 229 
 
 base of the serras, the conjoint effects of heat and mois- 
 ture produced such an astonishingly luxuriant growth 
 of vegetation as positively to baffle all description ; in 
 so extraordinary a superfluity, too, that in some places 
 nothing but the heavy, curved cane knives of the negroes 
 could clear a pathway. We soon, however, passed 
 through this belt of rank undergrowth, and emerged 
 into the more level, but equally fertile slopes. The 
 soil was still so rich that the very trees split for pal- 
 ings to the plantations were shooting branches, like sap- 
 lings of a year's growth ; this, too, without regard to 
 the ends which had been stuck into the earth. 
 
 Once on the open road, our beasts quickened their pace, 
 the Bishop coursing like a descendant from the equine 
 stock of Mahomet, and away we ambled, after the long 
 line of negroes, who, with their monotonous chants, never 
 seemed to tire. The sun set and the moon came, but the 
 halo of its first rising had given place to the sharp, clear 
 disk, high in the heavens, before a final volley of shrieks 
 from the noisy blacks announced to us that we had at last 
 reached our stopping-place for the night, on the suburbs 
 of the little port of Sebastin. 
 
 We were cordially received by a tall, thin priest, — 
 who, by the way, was the only one of that build I ever 
 saw in Brazil, — with a broad-rimmed, stove-pipe hat 
 on his head, that must of necessity have been a fortune 
 to the hatter who made it, in material alone, to say 
 nothing of labor. 
 
 20 
 
230 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " Padre ! Padre Flaquiiilio ! " shouted the padron ; 
 ** here we are, your pious daughters, your obedient sons, 
 Joao and myself, with an ouvidor, an infidel of a sailor, 
 together with the coroneis, and a particularly choice lot 
 of militia, considering they are not paid, who will all 
 bivouac with you for the night, and divert you with mu- 
 sic in the morning." 
 
 " Such as I have, my children," replied the courteous 
 priest, " shall be provided ; and my good niece, Maron- 
 ha, here, has been expecting you." 
 
 Now, this niece alluded to, who stood near to her un- 
 cle, with her face and form lighted up by the flames of 
 the torches, bore such a remarkable resemblance to the 
 padre's patrician features, that one unacquainted with 
 the genealogical fibres of the family tree might have 
 hazarded the suggestion that the elegantly-shaped Ma- 
 ronha might have been his daughter. As we all know, 
 however, that celibacy is not regarded as an " accursed 
 state " by the priesthood, but, on the contrary, as a very 
 great blessing, why, as a natural consequence, this idea 
 could have no foundation in fact. 
 
 The padre's house was not very extensive ; but, nev- 
 ertheless, we were all decently provided for, even to the 
 foot soldiers, who had preceded us, and who found 
 shelter under cover of a long, tiled shed, within a tama- 
 rind grove a short distance from the dwelling house. 
 
 After a mouthful of frugal beans, and a sip of tolerable 
 aguardiente grog, we betook ourselves to grass hammocks 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 231 
 
 under cover of the projecting piazzas wHch ran around 
 the building, while the ladies were billeted, under the 
 fair Maronha's supervision, in a large apartment by 
 themselves. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had we men folks composed 
 our jaded frames to slumber, when we were awakened, 
 as we thought, by the infernal musicians belonging to 
 the marching brigade, who commenced hammering away 
 on their brass kettle drums like a battalion of China- 
 men at work with chopsticks. 
 
 " What the merry thunder is all that racket for at this 
 time of night?" exclaimed the padron, as he kicked the 
 taciturn Dom Joao, and shook the coroneis into conscious- 
 ness, while they all swung their heels out of the ham- 
 mocks, and proceeded deliberately to strike a light for a 
 paper cigar. This, by the way, is the very first feat 
 your true Portuguese or Spaniard performs after his 
 birth, and just before he gives up the ghost. I never 
 knew the contrary, except in one instance, where, an ac- 
 quaintance of mine being about to hang some Spanish 
 buccaneers in the West Indies, captured by the mosqui- 
 to fleet, one of the pirates, with the drop rope pretty 
 tight around his throat, and the knot under his ear, 
 asked with his last breath for '' poco mas cafe " — a lit- 
 tle more coffee. 
 
 Well, click, click, went the flint and steel ; a spark 
 caught the tinder in the silver tube; smack, smack, 
 oom-m-me ! the tobacco ignited, and the smokers were 
 
232 TALES FOR THE MAl^I^'Eg. 
 
 then ready for any question wlilcli miglit be brought to 
 their notice. Discussion, however, was utterly impossi 
 ble, for the noise without increased, until the whole 
 plain seemed to be alive with insane drummers. 
 
 " Holloa ! Padre ! Dom Carlos ! Estevano ! " shout- 
 ed the padron ; "are we attacked? Is there murder in 
 the wind, or has Don Sebastian returned from Africa? " 
 
 Presently the women were all agog, the blacks yelled 
 and gabbled like demons, and at last the padre himself 
 appeared in his shirt and shovel hat, — a very novel 
 fancy sketch he made in that rig, — and desired, also, 
 to be informed what was the disturbance among the 
 soldiers. 
 
 " Disturbance ! " returned the padron ; " I believe 
 you ; for, by St. Barnabas, I have lived, at one time 
 and another, half a lifetime about military quarters, and 
 the like horrid contrivances, but I never heard such a 
 devil's tattoo of a reveille as this ; and it appears to be 
 up in the air, too ! " 
 
 Still at short intervals the rubadub din went on ; not, 
 however, in regular rolls or measured beats, as pre- 
 scribed by written barrack music, but the most discur- 
 sive, helter-skelter, rumbling, rattling, snapping of 
 sticks, brass, and sheepskin ever heard. 
 
 Meanwhile the obliging Porgallos, having got his 
 cigarrillo into a glow, and acquired a precise knowledge, 
 after his own peculiar method, of the affairs without, 
 rolled out of his couch in the briefest night raiment, 
 perhaps, you ever saw, and vanished. 
 
TALES FOR THE MAKINE3. 233 
 
 Presently he returned, followed by the priest, the 
 colonel, my rival with the bristle pate, half a dozen 
 blackskins, and a crowd of people who had been inter- 
 cepted flying in desperation along the road, to escape from 
 what they believed to be a hostile invasion. As for the 
 jolly padron, he never budged from his position until his 
 friend Dom Joao approached him in a quiet convulsion 
 of laughter ; then, after a little dumb language, made 
 up of signs, nods, and other pantomime, the portly pa- 
 dron threw himself back, kicked up his toes, and roared 
 off in a series of husky shouts, which brought him 
 within half a second of apoplexy, and for the moment 
 deadened the distressing martial music without. 
 
 " What is the matter, papa ? " whimpered the good 
 matron from within the dwelling. "Do let us poor 
 women out, and don't be dancing round there in your 
 shirts." 
 
 So soon as the padron, the lank padre, and the chief 
 of the Brazilian forces had recovered breath, they suc- 
 ceeded in explaining to us that the soldiers, while sound 
 asleep, were disturbed by the music of the drums, and, 
 believing themselves attacked by the enemy, had, with 
 the exception of one man, bolted en masse, and were no 
 longer visible. Before seeking repose, they had hung 
 their accoutrements on the overhanging eaves of the 
 sheds, and the drams had been pounced upon by a 
 troop of ringtailed monkeys, who, overjoyed, no doubt, 
 with their prizes, forthwith retired to the lofty branches 
 
 go* 
 
234 TALES FOR THE MAllINES. 
 
 of the grove, and there, in emulation of the biped 
 performers, began to practise. Every one of them had 
 a stick or a stone, and they hammered away like imps, 
 as they were. 
 
 In a few minutes, however, Porgallos had procured 
 the double barrelled gun, and getting within easy range, 
 he let drive both chai-ges of fine shot up amidst the 
 nimble rogues, when down came the drums, and sticks, 
 and stones with a crash, and the performers went off 
 with a series of shrieks and enraged screams, which 
 almost made us as deaf as Porgallos. It is needless to 
 add that the drums themselves required such extensive 
 repairs that we were not again troubled with them. 
 
 "When the clamor had entirely subsided, we again be- 
 took ourselves to the hammocks ; but sleep was out of 
 the question, so we swung to and fro to create an arti- 
 ficial breeze, until the sun came up with a red, heated 
 atmosphere around it, and we were forced to screen oui'- 
 selves within the dwelling. 
 
 After coffee, the troops, who had returned after their 
 inglorious skirmish with the monkeys, were marched off 
 with the fat officer to quarters in the port. They were 
 mere lath-made fellows, with tliin, spidery limbs, and 
 dingy, yellow faces. Their muskets were several sizes 
 too large for them, and they were uniformed in green 
 and yellow jackets, dirty brown trousers, grass sandals, 
 and cloth caps, with variegated shaving brushes stuck 
 in the top. Altogether, they did not impress me as 
 
TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 235 
 
 troops capable of withstanding a desperate charge while 
 thrown into hollow square upon any severe crisis ; and 
 since they were all more or less steeped to their eyes in 
 garlic, and very much afflicted with cutaneous disorders 
 and fleas, I was not sorry to see them file off with the 
 bristle pate at their side. The gentlemen, too, of our 
 own immediate party went off also in the train of Padre 
 Flaquinho, and I was left with dear little 'Tonietta and 
 the other ladies all to myself. 
 
 In the evening the padron got back, but in a furious 
 passion ; and indeed it was the only occasion I ever re- 
 member to have seen him out of humor. He told me 
 that there had been, as was surmised, a large polacre, in 
 company with a schooner, about the coast for a week or 
 more, buying up sugar and coffee, and that his " factor, — 
 the devil roast him, — having received an excellent offer, 
 as he thought, had disposed of four thousand arrobas of 
 sugar, and been paid in spurious copper. There was, 
 however, consolation in knowing," said the padron, 
 " that several other merchants had been defrauded in 
 like manner." The negotiations had been conducted 
 by an immensely tall man and a woman who spoke the 
 language so fluently they took her to be from Portugal. 
 She was, moreover, so sharp and fierce, and drank so 
 much fiery liquor, that she had terrified and bullied 
 divers persons into bargains which they had no intention 
 of making. As yet, however, the deluded traders of 
 the port were not thoroughly aware how well they had 
 
236 TALES rou the marines. 
 
 been duped, and the shrewd padron had not thought it 
 advisable to put them in full possession of the facts. 
 The two vessels had sailed the day before, with appar- 
 ently plenty of money left — the polacre for Ilha 
 Grande or St. Sebastian, while the schooner was to run 
 round to Santos, and take in a large lot of coffee, already 
 engaged, to be paid for, of course, in coin of imperial 
 weight, but not lawfully stamped with the arms of the 
 empire. 
 
 The padron was some sort of a Brazilian alcalde, be- 
 sides being empowered to arrest the dealers in this 
 metal. iNIoreover, having a strong inclination to recover 
 his own little dues, it was decided that we should push 
 on along the coast to Santos. We took leave of the hos- 
 pitable priest by an embrace under the shade of his hat, 
 made our compliments to his handsome niece, and then 
 mounting our beasts, — my own the ever-docile Bishop, 
 — we set out in the fresh air of the night. The troops 
 were also put in motion. On this occasion, however, 
 instead of leading the advance, they made a flank move- 
 ment, and brought up the rear. The good Porgallos 
 accompanied us for a league or two, and then, in his 
 usual pleasant way, bade us adieu. He gave me a great 
 deal of good advice, and took such an affectionate leave 
 of me that there has always existed an idea in my mind 
 that he intended to present me with the large black 
 brilliant, but refrained, perhaps, from conscientious 
 scruples. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 237 
 
 On tlie evening of the second day we were in the 
 pretty little town of Santos. It is built about three 
 miles from the sea coast, on the banks of an inlet, or 
 rather a narrow river, which takes a wide curve from its 
 mouth, and wanders about two or thi-ee leagues before it 
 approaches the town. The banks are tolerably high on 
 the eastern shores, and very low on the other. Near 
 the entrance was a venerable and dilapidated fort, 
 mounting a variety of heavy ordnance, which might 
 have done mischief had there been any ammunition ; 
 but in my time the decayed old custom house sergeant 
 and his wife who commanded the fortress were not sup- 
 plied with an ounce of powder, though they did a deal 
 of fighting among themselves. The depth of the river 
 was quite sufficient, all the way up to Santos, for a line 
 of battle ship, though it was seldom vessels of war came 
 above the usual anchorage near the fort. 
 
 I was up bright and early the morning after our ar- 
 rival, and passing along the sandy streets before the little 
 cafes were open, I gained the water side, and there I 
 saw, to my surprise, lying in the stream, my friend 
 Hazy's ten-gun brig, the Flirt. She was a smallish 
 craft, built by contract, and fortunately rotted to pieces 
 before she had the chance of turning turtle and drown- 
 ing all hands, as her sister did in a hard "norther " off 
 Vera Cruz in the Gulf of Mexico. The Flirt was the 
 only vessel with a pennant in the river except a queer, 
 pretentious looking guar da costa, with a red stripe 
 
238 TALES FOR THE MAKINE3. 
 
 around her sides, a lot of gingerbread ^YOvk about the 
 bow and stern, with a big, clumsy gun amidships, but 
 without sails or rigging. 
 
 Though the sun was getting up, there was nothing 
 stirring on board the brig save a sleepy quarter master 
 hanging over the tafFrail, with a spy glass clutched tight, 
 apparently, in his embrace, while on the little platform 
 of a topgallant forecastle stood a sentry leaning upon 
 his musket, and seeming to be examining something 
 remarkable down the barrel. I noticed that the awn- 
 ings were spread, and that underneath they were lined 
 with various national flags, while the curtains of the 
 after part were also decked with party-colored bunting. 
 From all these external evidences, I surmised that there 
 had been a festivity, such as a ball or funcion of some 
 kind, on board, the previous night. Presently the bell 
 struck four, denoting six o'clock. The marine brought 
 himself suddenly to an order, and sung out, " Orll's 
 well." This startled the man with the spy glass, who, in 
 trying mechanically to bring that instrument to his op- 
 tics, knocked his tarpaulin overboard, and thus brought 
 his drowsy faculties -into existence once more. By and 
 by a feeble whistle was heard, followed by a languid 
 call of " All hands up hammicks." It was a good while 
 before the men came up from below, like drony bees, 
 with their sleeping gear lashed up and balanced on their 
 shoulders, preparatory to having it stowed in the net- 
 tings. This duty was no sooner executed than a ^boat 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 239 
 
 "was got alongside from the swinging boom, and her 
 crew, followed by stewards with baskets, and a midship- 
 man, tumbled over the side into her, and, shoving off, 
 pulled lazily to the shore. 
 
 I happened to be seated on a rough-hewn rudder of 
 a coasting craft, in the midst of a small coterie of black 
 ladies, who had just landed from a canoe, with enormous 
 flat trays of oranges and ripe bananas, as the Flirt's 
 jolly boat touched the landing. The crew laid in their 
 oars, and lounging listlessly over the rowlocks, shaded 
 their eyes with their hats, and went off to sleep. The 
 younker, too, who steered the boat, — a freckled faced lit- 
 tle fellow, — was apparently inoculated with the prevail- 
 ing epidemic ; for, after tucking a leg under him on the 
 stern sheets, he swayed it up and down with both hands 
 on the heel, so that, with his peculiar physical organiza- 
 tion, he made a noise with the knee pan similar to a 
 rattling volley of exploding percussion caps ; and, with 
 his head supported by the backboard, he went to sleep 
 also. 
 
 I could not get a fair view of his face at first; but 
 when I did, I recognized an old acquaintance of my 
 own immediate " faderland," from a place called the 
 Dismal Swamp, whose name was Archy Makeen. He 
 was a warm-hearted, brave little fellow, and being, like 
 Michael Cassio, "a great arithmetician," he bids fair to 
 become one of the most scientific savans the country 
 can boast of. 
 
240 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " Hillo, Mak," I exclaimed ; " how are you ? " He 
 started up a bit, but, not observing me, was again relaps- 
 ing into his former complaint, when I added, " Take me 
 on board, will you ? " When seeing me seated amid 
 the masses of fruit, attired in my pale nankeen jacket and 
 trousers, albeit a trifle yellow looking, both from ex- 
 posure and association, he squeaked out, with his eyes 
 still only half open, " Take you on board ? D'ye think 
 any body wants to suck you for an orange ? " " Yes," 
 I retorted, " when they eat you first for a pickle." 
 
 " By Jimminy, Gringo, is that you? Bless me, I didn't 
 know you, at first ; we had a dance and frolic on board 
 all night, and I'm so tired and noddy I can hardly see 
 now. Come, jump in, and give us your hand." I 
 jumped into the boat, embraced my friend, and sitting 
 beside him on the thawts, we made a mutual confession 
 of our sins. 
 
 In about an hour, the stewards of the messes returned 
 with their marketing, and we rowed off to the brig. 
 The decks had just been washed down, the bright flags 
 detached from the awnings, and the vessel assuming a 
 man-of-war-like trim and order. 
 
 I made a salaam to the mate in charge of the watch, 
 who was standing in a puddle of sand and water, near 
 one of the carronade slides, and asked permission to see 
 the captain. 
 
 " 0, certainly ! " he yawned ; '^ you'll find him, in 
 all human probability, down in his cabin." Without 
 
TALES FOR THE MARIXES. 241 
 
 further leave, I quietly descended the companion way, 
 abaft the wheel. It was quite dark when I reached the 
 lower deck ; but feeling about, I soon found the knob 
 of the cabin door, and in I walked. The rosy light of 
 morning was streaming in through the stern ports, (par- 
 tially obscured, however, by a brace of water monkeys 
 and claret jugs, in flannel jackets,) and the little, long, 
 narrow skylight, cut in the deck above ; so that I caught, 
 in a few seconds, a good view of the premises. 
 
 A table stood in the centre of the cabin, upon which 
 were lying a few odd gloves, part of a fan, a small heap 
 of flowers, bits of ribbons, a single garter, and some 
 books. A large, square mirror filled a panel between 
 the ports abaft, which was also profusely decorated with 
 the same style of articles of female ornament and ap- 
 paVel as were thrown about the table, with the addition 
 of a strip of a lace veil, and a multitude of cards aiid 
 notes stuck in the frame. Forward stood a sideboard, 
 covered with glasses, bits of cake, a pitcher half full 
 of punch, and a number of empty decanters. The 
 painted floor cloth seemed to have been inlaid with a 
 compost of cake, flowers, and wine. 
 
 There was a bulkhead on one side of the buflet, 
 having a door leading into a pantry ; and through the 
 fine lattice work I observed a negro boy sound asleep, 
 with a large woman's comb stuck in his wool, and his 
 face buried in a dish of chicken salad. On each side 
 of the cabin was a spacious berth, handsomely draped 
 
J2'12 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 by blue curtains, running on heavy gilt rods above. 
 Both of these berths were occupied ; one by a stoutish, 
 swarthy, hairy individual, with an immense corporation, 
 who looked, as he lay on his back, like a huge demijohn 
 with one leg. He was evidently a native, and from the 
 appearances around his pillow and his toilet, he had, 
 perhaps, staid longer away from his domicile than he 
 had any idea of, when he left. 
 
 In the opposite couch I at once recognized Lieutenant 
 Hazy. He was divested of his trousers only, and there 
 he reposed, attired in a full-dress coat, epaulets, a 
 bouquet of roses peeping from the folds of his cravat, 
 and varnished boots ; withal, he had the stump of a 
 cigar stuck between his lips, which the sleeper puffed 
 at regular, snoring intervals, with much apparent satis- 
 faction. 
 
 I hesitated a moment whether to retire or present my- 
 self ; but a few words uttered by the commander of the 
 Flirt induced me to suppose that he was about to awake, 
 and I accordingly approached and took him by the 
 hand. Thereupon he murmured, in the most soul- 
 beseeching and touching accents, ^' Madam, I love your 
 daughter." Again I ventured to give him a rough push, 
 when I was assailed with, ^' Beautiful maiden, I adore 
 thee." Now, the fact that any sane person could possibly 
 address me as a virgin of great personal attractions, 
 quite exasperated me ; and with considerable feeling, 1 
 hitched on to the dreamer's boots, and nearly jerked 
 
TALES FOR THE MAIIIXE3. S43 
 
 him off the bed. Upon the instant, he started as if 
 struck by a galvanic battery ; and sitting bolt upright, 
 he began with, — 
 
 " Don Padillo, you smell most villanously of garlic, 
 and I decline to wed the cream-colored Brazilian heiress, 
 unless you pay down a conto of reis, and a cup of coffee 
 all round, to commemorate tlie happy eve " 
 
 Here he got his eyes open ; and, after closing them 
 again, and then winking rapidly to himself, as it were, 
 to recall his scattered senses, he burst out into a hearty 
 laugh, and shouted, — 
 
 ** Why, you miserable whelp, where did you hop 
 from ? I was in hopes you were dead." 
 
 Before I had time to reply to this Christian address, 
 the demijohn-built Brazilian gentleman in the opposite 
 berth, disturbed by the noise, rolled over, and groaning 
 in great anguish, demanded, in husky Portuguese, — 
 
 " O Senhor ! Co^o do rum ! O, agua, por honra dos 
 santos ! " 
 
 " Who the blazes is that ? " said Hazy, as he stopped 
 short himself and glanced across the cabin, when, as his 
 eye caught the dark lineaments of the native, he threw 
 himself back on the couch, and elevating his toes until 
 they touched the carlings of the ceiling over his head, he 
 roared, like a maniac, — 
 
 "Heaven be merciful to me — it's the governor ! O, 
 murder ! I made a speech to him, as I'm a sinner, — 
 offered to revolutionize the country, — and gave him a 
 
S-li TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 salute of forty guns ; fired away all the cartridges filled 
 in the brig's magazine, at midnight too ; and, Jesu, I 
 believe I am to marry an old blowzy daughter he owns, 
 the moment a dispensation can be procured from the 
 pope." 
 
 Then, assuming a serious air and voice, he sonorously 
 exclaimed, *' O gobernador, come sta los calderas 1 co- 
 bras 1 — coppers, I mean." 
 
 " Ah, agua, agua ! " he replied, in manifest agony, 
 as he cast his gaze, in the greatest surprise and dismay, 
 around the Flirt's cabin. 
 
 " Steward ! Caesar ! " yelled the captain, " bring the 
 governor a goblet of water, to scald his stomach, for 
 he's swallowed a hair of his tooth brush, and if I'm not 
 terribly mistaken, the entire handle with it." 
 
 At this epoch, his guest gave indications of being un- 
 well ; and Hazy, springing to his feet, opened the pantry 
 door, and flinging the nosegay into his domestic's face, 
 exclaimed, " Quick, you discolored African, or the gov- 
 ernor will die on our hands." 
 
 "Water, together with other renovating stimulants, 
 was soon procured and applied ; after which, the ro- 
 tund, elderly individual was carefully buckled out of 
 the berth, and shouldered to the upper deck. During 
 this performance. Commander Hazy laughed with his 
 *' lungs military," until I thought he would end in con- 
 vulsions, before he could recover breath to converse 
 with me. 
 
TALES FOU THE MAKINES. 245 
 
 '' Capital fun ! he's the ouvidor of the province ; but 
 I'm sorrv to say, for the sobriety of his order, that he 
 has allowed his fine genius to become a little muddy 
 and leesy, oAvinGf to overdosinsr his system with a mild 
 decoction of punch I brewed last night from green tea, 
 sugar, and rum. He came on board officially, I recol- 
 lect, to consult me on important business ; but he soon 
 forgot his mission, and the last I remember of him, he 
 was spinning round like a teetotum with that vinegar 
 villain Makeen." 
 
 By this time Hazy had resumed his every-day rig of 
 undress jacket and white trousers ; then, giving his 
 glossy locks a rakish curl, he winked at himself with 
 complacency in the glass \ took down a bunch of faded 
 flowers from the corner of the mirror, where it had 
 been secured by a large, double pronged hair pin ; held 
 it gingerly and sportively, on one finger, towards me, 
 and thus discoursed : — 
 
 " Virgil, my young Epsom, who, it seems to me, was 
 much better fitted to plough the land than the salt bil- 
 lows, tells us that, in his day, weary mariners, after long 
 voyages of perhaps a week's duration in the Mediter- 
 ranean, were wont, upon arriving in port, to decorate 
 their ships with garlands.* What particular style of 
 vegetable matter these garlands were composed of, I am 
 at a loss to conjecture ; I incline, however, to sea-weed 
 
 * " Cell presses, qiium jam portum tetigere carinse, 
 
 Puppibus et loeti nautae imposuere coronas." — Georgic. I. 
 
 21* 
 
2iG TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 or hemp — and so, also, that amateur mariner, Ovid, 
 observes^ with considerable thankfulness, — 
 
 ' Now to our port we are arrived ; bring down 
 The jolly wreath, our weary bark to crown.' 
 
 And thus, in emulation of those antiquities, I always 
 make a passion of surrounding myself with all such 
 souvenirs of hope or affection. Why, I've that cocked 
 hat box, there, so full of locks of hair, of every 
 hue and length, many of them false ones too, — I 
 mean of course the hearts, not the hair, of the bewitch- 
 ing creatures, — that there is no longer room for my 
 hat. I am hesitating whether to devote them to be 
 fashioned into a quantity of bracelets, or for a pillow 
 to dream upon ; for you know," he added, heroically, 
 
 *' * Fair tresses man's imperial race insnare, 
 And beauty draws us with a single hair.' 
 
 Meanwhile, let's have breakfast. 
 
 *' Steward ! boy ! where's that Csesar ? " he exclaimed, 
 jerking the bell rope violently ; when in burst a laugh- 
 ing-eyed little cuffee, as black and shining as his mas- 
 ter's varnished boots, with the comb still sticking in 
 his wool, together with some remnants of the chicken 
 salad. 
 
 The little lump of jet stood before the captairt, put 
 on an air of exceeding gravity, folded his arms, and in a 
 sepulchral voice began — " Imperial Caesar," — here he 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 2 4T 
 
 hesitated, — "Dead/' said the captain, — "dead, him 
 turn to clay, and 'top de hole to keep de wine away." 
 
 " Cease," broke in Hazy ; " let there be fruits, the 
 orange, the avocato, the fig, the cheramoya, if there be 
 any in the empire, the sugar banana, melons, and the 
 pine. Vanish ! " Imperial Caesar passed away like a 
 cloud before a hurricane, when his master turned to me 
 with, " Youngster, I am dying to hear your adventures ; 
 but I never feel tip top in the early morning until I 
 have eaten of the delicious fruits of these climes ; for 
 as the Spaniard will tell you, they be gold in the morn- 
 ing, silver at noon, and lead at night — regular bullets, 
 in fact." 
 
 The steward presently appeared, and swept off the 
 gages d" amour from the table into a knife box. He then 
 laid a cloth, and distributing piles of fruit upon it, the 
 commander fell to and tried his prowess upon a variety 
 of the tempting, luscious delicacies around. He then 
 rubbed the half of a lime over his teeth, used the pulpy 
 rind of a melon by way of nail brush, immersed his 
 face and hands in water, rubbed himself dry with a nap- 
 kin, and starting up, stamped his foot, placed his cap 
 jantily on one side of his head, whistled deep down his 
 chest, and asked me to ascend with him to the upper 
 regions. 
 
 The brig had been put in thorough order, the guns 
 were run out in their ports, the decks white and dry, 
 the ropes neatly flemished down in flat nests of circles. 
 
J348 TALES Fun THE MART>*ES. 
 
 the crew in their tidy white frocks and trousers, and 
 nothing was visible to recall the gayeties of the preced- 
 ing night. 
 
 I paced up and down the quarter deck for some 
 time, hearing and relating the news of the past six or 
 seven months, when a boat pulled alongside from the 
 guarda-costa anchored near, and a shabbily dressed 
 Brazilian reefer, guardians of the sea, as they call them- 
 selves, came over the side, and presented a great, square, 
 official-looking document to Commander Hazy. 
 
 " I say," said this latter personage, while regarding 
 the contents of the paper through his eye glass — " you 
 read Portuguese ; tell me what all this means ; am I to 
 fight or marry, or both ? It's a direct demand, a Voutrancc 
 from the governor, I think." 
 
 I took the letter, and found that it was a polite re- 
 quest from the ouvidor, — the captain's friend, — for a 
 personal interview at the communal upon some topic not 
 mentioned in the cartel. 
 
 " O, certainly ! " ejaculated Hazy ; '^ come with all 
 the gusto in the mundo ! perhaps his daughter won't 
 have me, though ; never mind. Heaven only knows 
 what fate I'm reserved for ; but I'm on a dead lee shore 
 now." 
 
 Meanwhile he volunteered to accompany me to take 
 a sad farewell of the padron and his charming family. 
 The ** Rake " was piped away, the name of the Flirt's 
 gig, and when manned, the commander desired his exec- 
 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 249 
 
 utive officer, in case lie did not return on board precisely 
 at midnight, to regard him as married, to fire minute 
 guns until daylight, and then to blow the brig up ^yith 
 all hands. 
 
 In a few minutes we were tramping through the hot 
 streets to the house where our friends were staying. 
 We met the jolly padron at the doorway, and the meet- 
 ing with Hazy was excessively cordial. They first flew 
 into each other's arms, and, similar to a pair of amorous 
 loggerhead turtles with their flippers, gently patted one 
 another on the back. Then thev srave a simultaneous 
 shout of joy ; disengaging themselves a moment, and re- 
 garding each other pleasantly, they rushed again to an 
 embrace, Hazy ejaculating, " Too much pleasure for one 
 day, by Jove ! " while the padron laughed and shouted, 
 " Damme, if you ain't alive and sober yet." 
 
 As their feelings calmed down to a long series of hand 
 shakings, after giving vent to their sentiments, the light 
 rustle of ladies' dresses was heard in the corridor, and 
 at the moment appeared the comely excellent matron, 
 marshalling her fair don^ellas. Commander Hazy's sal- 
 utation, though not marked by the same warmth or 
 hilarity as to the padron, was still quite as impressive. 
 
 " Madam," he said, taking the mamma by the fingers, 
 and bowing at the same time deprecatingly to the girls, 
 " you behold one who has borne your image in his 
 inmost heart for many long and tedious months. Noth- 
 ing but the fond hope of again beholding you, and the 
 
250 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 delight experienced in remarking that the delicate pa- 
 dron, your husband, is not in robust health, has induced 
 him to continue on life's dreary pilgrimage." Then 
 turning to the young ladies, he continued, " I trust I 
 am to have the felicity of conveying you all on board 
 my ship to St. Catharine's : accommodations on a stu- 
 pendous scale ; cabins fitted in the most gorgeous style ; 
 music and dancing every evening, and private theatricals 
 in the morning ; for to gratify your taste for the legiti- 
 mate drama, I have procured at great trouble and 
 enormous expense an African prince, now in disguise, 
 who recites Shakspeare like an angel ; that is, if there 
 ever was an angel so much tanned by celestial fires as 
 my prince." 
 
 The ladies made suitable acknowledgments for these 
 courtesies, and regretting they could not all accept the 
 proffered hospitality, withdrew and left the commander 
 to confer with the padron. 
 
 '^ I'm glad to find you in Santos, Hazy, for there's a 
 pack of rascally fellows in this neighborhood, who have 
 been plundering and cheating the whole coast from Rio 
 here. They have a ship load of counterfeit copper, and 
 barter it away for rum, castor oil, mandioca, coffee, 
 sugar, or what not, giving such high prices that thus 
 far they have found no lack of customers. Now, as I 
 have been robbed of some thousands of arrobas of sugar, 
 and believe that some of you Yankees have introduced 
 the trafiic, I want your assistance to entrap the villains." 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 251 
 
 '^ Certainly," replied Hazy. '^ I'm your man ; do 
 every thing by j^ roper requisition from authorities, you 
 sabe, if to put down any thing against bonos mores ; but 
 while I think of it, I am desired to make a visit upon 
 the ouvidor this morning, about marrying his daughter, 
 I believe ; so come along and witness the compact." 
 
 '' Ay ! Why, man, I gave the information about my 
 business not two hours ago, and it's upon that matter 
 he wants to see you." 
 
 Upon their return I gathered that the negotiation had 
 been conducted in due form, and moreover, the smaller 
 vessel of the smugglers had ah-eady been seen off the 
 coast, only waiting for a wind to come into the river and 
 anchor. It was arranged that the troop of militia, who 
 were hourly expected, should take up their quarters at 
 the old fort, and that one of the boats from the Flirt 
 should seize the vessel, while the honest traders were in 
 the act of making their purchases on shore. 
 
 Two days we waited very patiently, the Flirt get- 
 ting ready for sea. Meanwhile, the ouvidor sent a 
 message to say, that the schooner had arrived with a 
 very few hands, the owners had communicated vfith the 
 town, passed the Alfandega as a coaster coming for a 
 cargo of produce, and a quantity of coffee and sugar 
 sirup was to be delivered, the next day but one, at the 
 landing near the anchoras^e. That nisrht the briar of war 
 got under way, with a light air and her boats towing 
 ahead. Before daylight she had dropped down to the 
 
2o2 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 mouth of the inlet, and let go an anchor outside the smug- 
 gler. The latter vessel was simply a heavy-built coast- 
 ing drogher, with fore and aft rig, and considerable 
 capacity for stowage. In the morning we saw a quan- 
 tity of articles hoisted on board — bags, pipas, and hides 
 We noticed also with the spy glass, that she had some 
 eight or ten hands, and a woman in a man's hat, who 
 seemed to bear a prominent part in the work going on. 
 
 In the evening, about ten o'clock, while I was sitting on 
 the taffrail of the Flirt, listening to the fun and badinage 
 between the padron and the commander, a yavrl boat 
 passed near us, steering for a small pulperia near the 
 beach, where lights were twinkling. From a word or 
 two spoken by the sitters, I thought I detected some- 
 thing familiar in the sound, though I could hardly 
 tell why. In a moment, however, a glimmering sus- 
 picion began to dawn upon me, that the miscreants 
 whom I had seen in the crimping house at Rio might 
 be in some manner mixed up with these smugglers. I 
 recalled also the conversation I had overheard relative 
 to the proposition made to Lowther concerning spurious 
 coin ; but as the matter had been received with great dis- 
 dain, and as it had been ascertained afterwards that he 
 and his brutal friends had been encountered journeying 
 far into the interior, it was not altogether probable that 
 they would again so soon show their faces so far south. 
 Nevertheless, I made known my suspicions to Hazy. 
 
 " Very well," said he ; *^ let's get into the gig, douce- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 25S 
 
 menty by and by, so as not to alarm tbem, and go on 
 shore and take a peep at their quality." 
 
 The gig was lying at the swinging boom, and Makeen, 
 who was midshipman of the watch, got her alongside. 
 Imperial Caesar was then summoned, who, by the way, 
 was never permitted to sleep at night, and with a bun- 
 dle of cigars we tumbled into the boat, and quietly 
 shoved off. 
 
 We had about a half a mile to row, and then landed 
 a little below the pulperia. We secured the boat, and 
 leaving her to be protected by the little cuffy, we walked 
 along the shingly beach until we came to the drogher's 
 yawl. Her painter had been made fast to a large stone 
 lying on the strand, and there appeared to be no person 
 in her. On approaching her bow, however, we saw a 
 boy, about fifteen years old, lying sound asleep in the 
 bottom. 
 
 At the padron's request we moved away, while he 
 aroused the . lad, and learned that the skipper of the 
 coaster and two companions had walked over towards 
 Santos, a distance of about two miles by land, though 
 by following the wide bends of the river, it was four 
 times that measure by water. They were to return, so 
 said the boy, in a couple of hours, and have supper at 
 the pulperia. All this the padron squeezed out under 
 the plea that he had some sugar to send on board the 
 schooner. At this juncture we heard a great cackling 
 of fowls and turkeys at the huts near by, and on pre- 
 2^ 
 
II 
 
 254: TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 tence of buying a bottle of Jcesash^ we knocked at the 
 low door of the grog shop. 
 
 " Entre r.Tzce," said a harsh voice from ^vithin ; and 
 pushing open the rickety portal, we entered a square, 
 unplastered enclosure, with a counter on one side, where 
 were ranoed a few bottles of as^uardiente on the back 
 shelves, with a lot of small tumblers in the foreground, 
 while around the walls were strung bunches of onions, 
 strings of garlic, and other delicacies in the way of 
 dried fish, jerked beef, and so forth. 
 
 An old, toothless woman, of about sixty-five summers, 
 received us with a sharp nasal croak of " Q^ue he isso 1 '' 
 
 The padron stated our business, and requested to know 
 if there was any thing to eat. On glancing stealthily at 
 the uniforms of the commander and his subs, Makeen 
 and myself, she assumed a very close air, and told us 
 there was nothing but bread and cheese. 
 
 " What are all those fowls fluttering for ? " put in the 
 padron, while we could see a bright blazing fire, gleam- 
 ing through the up and down palings of the cozinha 
 beyond, and also a long table laid with common delft 
 plates and other things, in a large room adjoining. 
 
 " Que cousa vossa-merce 1 " she inquired, when the 
 padron rej)eated his interrogation, " Bah ! que te im- 
 porta, meteivos ao redor.^^ " None of your business ; be 
 off! tack ship ! " was all the satisfiiction we got. 
 
 We made good our excuse, however, by purchasing a 
 bottle of vile liquor, and went away convinced that 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 255 
 
 there was nothing of consequence to be gained in the 
 way of information from that lady. 
 
 We again emerged upon the clear white beach, where 
 the water of the river was rippling with a low, tinkling 
 wash against the pebbles, when, *^ What the dense is 
 that noise ? " suddenly exclaimed Hazy to the padron, 
 as we heard a sharp splash on the water, as if a broad 
 plank had been dashed with great force upon the sur- 
 face, followed by moaning, wheetling cries, like coarse 
 files grating together. 
 
 " You'll find out," said the padron, laughing, " should 
 you chance to get too near one of those half-dried mo- 
 rasses in that jungle ; for this is the love-making season 
 of the caymans, and one of them would think nothing 
 of taking such a ripe cherry as you at a single bite. 
 Just hear the gentle creatures serenading each other," he 
 continued, as crash after crash, and plaintive wails like 
 those of human beings, came up out of the steaming 
 heat in the dense thickets of mangles. We could hear 
 distinctly the snapping of their heavy jaws, and the 
 rasping of their coarse sides as they rubbed one against 
 the other. 
 
 " Why, Hazy, I've known those fresh water lagoons, 
 in the dry season, so crowded with alligators, many of 
 them over twenty feet long, that nothing was to be seen 
 in certain places but their great scaly backs above the 
 water. When laying their eggs, it is dangerous to go 
 within a hundred yards of their hot rush-built nests. 
 
256 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 SO mind your toes, and steer clear of the red monsters in 
 particular." 
 
 It was a fine niglit ; so we took a swim in tlie river, 
 and waited a long time ; but as there appeared no imme- 
 diate prospect of the men belonging to the schooner 
 coming back, — " And even if they do," said the padron, 
 " it won't set us ahead any, for we shall certainly have 
 their copper-bottomed bark fast on the morrow," — the 
 commander determined to go on board again. 
 
 I felt so curious, however, I asked leave to stay, and 
 Mak joined me ; which Hazy granted, telling us that 
 in case we wished to get on board the brig before day- 
 light, we must walk along abreast the vessel and hail. 
 With this understanding, they waked the Roman em- 
 peror, and shoved off for the Flirt. 
 
 My friend and I, accordingly, threw ourselves at full 
 length on the sand, in the warm night, chatting away 
 the hours, until by some fatality we fell sound asleep. 
 We were aroused by the sound of voices passing ap- 
 parently quite near to us. Raising myself on an elbow 
 and fetching Mak a kick, we both saw, passing over 
 the ridge of shingle, a party of six or eight persons, 
 who were laughing and talking in great glee. We 
 watched them until they entered the pulperia, where the 
 lights were yet burning, and where there still seemed 
 every indication of a feast. For some minutes there 
 were several persons running in and out of the build- 
 ings ; but in a short space they all seemed to have hived 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 257 
 
 in the main hut ; so, picking ourselves up we cautiously 
 approached. 
 
 It was a good quarter of an hour before we could get 
 within ear shot, or find an aperture in the cane and mud 
 constructed house, to hear and see what was going on 
 within. My friend Mak got the first squint, and was 
 so tickled, inwardly, by what he beheld, that no per- 
 suasions of mine could induce him to retire. 
 
 At last, however, he fell back, and whispered in my 
 ear, " It's the most extraordinary anatomical collection 
 I ever yet saw for nothing outside a museum ! Take a 
 peep." 
 
 I lost no time, and through the angle of the building, 
 where the sides had been imperfectly joined, I looked 
 in. One rapid glance was all I needed, and turning 
 round to Mak with my blood boiling like pitch, I 
 said, " Give me one of your pistols for a second." 
 At the same time I put my arms around his waist, 
 and had nearly grasped the handles of the brace in 
 his belt, when he arrested the movement, and tugging 
 me a little way off, to the edge of the thicket, he 
 demanded, " Why, what a devil you are ! What's the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " Give me those weapons," I repeated, '' or I'll — 
 Here I made another snatch, but evading me as before, 
 he retreated still farther along ^he bank of the river, 
 where I followed him ; and then, though nearly beside 
 myself with passion, Mak succeeded in keeping me 
 22* 
 
258 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 quiet, and thus arriving at a proper understanding of 
 the causes which had produced my excitement. 
 
 I need not tell you at this particular moment what 1 
 had seen, but merely that after considerable argument 
 and entreaty, I pledged myself to be prudent, and so 
 induced my companion to lend me his pistols, while he 
 went down abreast the brig, to make a report to the 
 commander. I presumed that a requisition would be 
 made for the services of the sojers at the fort, backed 
 by the boats of the Flirt. All this I felt assured would 
 occupy a full hour to carry into execution, and I was so 
 fearful lest something might arise to mar the plan, that 
 I could hardly resist the temptation of beginning the 
 war myself. As my companion leaped away along the 
 beach, I stole back to the cane hut. 
 
 There were eight persons seated at a long, narrow 
 table. Five of them were evidently Brazilians, and from 
 their respectable appearance and dress, I took them to 
 be factors, who had accompanied the smuggler's people 
 to dispose of produce. But the trio of worthies who 
 fascinated me was the Yankee villain Spuke, ^laltese 
 Joe, and the sinister face of Mag Surf herself. This 
 last-named wretch sat at the head of the board; and 
 when I first looked in upon them, she was pledging 
 a measure of liquor to the lank Yankee, saying, as she 
 did so, in polite slang, *^I looks to-wards ye. Beauty.'* 
 To which he replied, " I has your eye, marm ; " while, 
 at the same time, the swarthy Maltese grinned, showed 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 259 
 
 his single tusk, and poured out a few drops of tlie same 
 fluid from a brown stone jug at hand, for his own pri- 
 vate refreshment. 
 
 " What doos them fellers agree on, Miss Maggaret," 
 drawled out Spuke to his fair partner, after she had been 
 for a space rattling on fluently in Portuguese to the na- 
 tives at the farther end of the table, while his own 
 green, dilating, wicked holes of eyes were keeping time 
 to a movement of his pointed ears, as he tried to divine 
 the lingo, and comprehend all about the talk. " They're 
 not going to git eout of the bargain, be they ? By gosh ! 
 I'll gin some on 'em a dose if they thinks to lufl" to 
 wind'ard of one o' the Spuke family." 
 
 " Hush that wapperjaw, will ye ? " said Mag. " They 
 haven't any thoughts of getting off ; in fact they want to 
 sell more than the schooner'll hold." 
 
 " Wal, go ahead. Miss Maggaret," returned the wily 
 rascal, as he seemed satisfied that money was to be ma-lo ; 
 "but don't be too gin'rous with them gingerbread col- 
 ored chaps. We pays down in hard chink, yer know, 
 bootiful coin, fresh from the Connecticut mint, with a 
 picter of the world surrounded by grass and roses on 
 one side, and heaps of stars and the emperor's name on 
 t'other, a thousand eighty-ray pieces in a bag, and no 
 charge fur the bag." 
 
 Here he sniggered in an excess of glee, and snapped 
 his middle finger and thumb on the head of the Maltese 
 with so sharp a rap, that it made him start and scowl in 
 deep disgust. 
 
260 TALES TOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Mag was attired in a man's coarse straw hat, shirt, 
 and a loose, brown linen jacket over the skirts of her 
 dress. She still had the same malevolent squint, with 
 inflamed-tipped nose and cheek bones ; but her jaw 
 seemed to move out of its natural hinge, as it were, 
 and her enunciation was not so intelligible, though the 
 tones were equally shrill and harsh, as when I last 
 heard her benevolent wishes expressed to Lowther con- 
 cerning my throat. 
 
 The long Elnathan Spuke was In the same rig as on 
 our first acquaintance, with the addition of a blue swal- 
 low-tailed coat, with bright brass buttons, secured by 
 one button around his mahogany-tinted neck, so that the 
 sleeves and skirts hung down his back, leaving his bony 
 arms free. Before him lay a piece of coarse paper, on 
 which he was casting up accounts by the aid of a thick 
 pencil, wetting it every time he made a mark. 
 
 The Maltese seemed to have an eye also to the nego- 
 tiations, but employed his faculties chiefly on a long, 
 black cigar. The conversation betwixt ^Nlag and the 
 Brazilians was long and earnest, and the price to be paid 
 for each arroba of sugar, pipa of rum, alqueire or 
 quintal of one stuff or another, rice, maize, or coffee, 
 was discussed, bargained for, and noted down by the 
 shrewd Yankee. The boats with the articles were, I 
 understood, to be down the river soon after sunrise 
 and the money, at a stipulated price, was to be paid, as 
 Spuke observed, in ^^hard chink." But not apparently 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 261 
 
 contented with the purchases already made, he, with 
 the assistance of the woman, induced the natives to 
 sell two or three heavy gold rings and silver suspender 
 buckles they had about them ; and he finally managed 
 to exchange off a ponderous watch and chain — which 
 even to my inexperienced eyes appeared to be a jap- 
 anned or bogus contrivance — for a respectable silver af- 
 fair, and some other trinkets to boot ; Spuke remarking, 
 vv'ith a chuckle, that the " dingy flat hadn't much expe- 
 rience in the swoppin line of business." 
 
 j\Iag, during all these proceedings, sipped her favorite 
 beverage with unremitting assiduity, which practice, 
 however, had only the effect of heightening the ruby 
 color of her high cheek bones, leaving her voice and 
 energies under as complete control as ever. 
 
 When the trade had been settled, and the bargains 
 conclusively struck, Spuke pulled a heavy jackknife 
 from his pocket, and rapping smartly on the table, the 
 summons was answered by the old beldam who kept 
 the pulperia, with, — 
 
 " Qiie dizeis vos ? " — "What's your will ? 
 
 " Bring along the supper," said Mag, " for I haven't 
 had a full mouthful of wittals since I left Sebastin." 
 
 Presently the old vixen, followed by a negro girl, re- 
 turned with a great glazed earthen platter, filled with a 
 stew of fowls, sausages, garlic, and onions, and having 
 shied a heap of flat, black loaves of bread about the table, 
 the party fell to. The factors, however, did not join in 
 
26^ TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the feast, and merely laid their heads together at one end 
 of the board, puffed paper cigars, and talked over their 
 bargains with much satisfaction. 
 
 In all that had passed no one can know what an itch- 
 ing I felt for levelling a pistol at the female devil, 
 who sat within ten feet of me ; but I restrained my 
 passion, and counted the seconds until the sojers 
 could come from the fort and seize the whole party, 
 as I felt convinced that Hazy could not assume the re- 
 sponsibility of landing a force for this purpose from the 
 Flirt. 
 
 The meal seemed to progress with pleasure to all. 
 The Yankee did the polite to his sweetheart by helping 
 her bountifully to the steaming mess, chuckling the 
 while in glee at the success of his visit to Santos. 
 
 " By gad ! " he sputtered, with the thigh of a fowl 
 between his sharp teeth, " there's nery a knife with a 
 wooden handle that kin carve this feller. His grand- 
 feyther must hev ben an admiral or an ostrich, he's so 
 darned tough ; not nigh so nice as oysters on the half 
 shell, with the trimmins, that 'Lias and me used to 
 swaller tu hum. "VVal, I wonder now," he went on, 
 **how cousin 'Lias Nash gits on aboard the polaker. 
 He'll be tarnation pleased to hear what specs we've 
 made in these diggins ; but 'Lias is smashin cute; 
 great inventin genoos too." 
 
 " Why, what did that psalm-singin swab ever in- 
 vent ? " inquired Mag, with a semblance of curiosity. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 263 
 
 " Ony glue combs and Injy rubby doll babies ; but be 
 was in the manafactery where they made the eight-and- 
 forty-bladed penknives, with the bootjack, wooden clock, 
 and corkscrey attachmint, all on 'em fitted in a case soo- 
 tible fur the weskit pockut." 
 
 " O, he did ! " said the virago. " And why didn't he 
 sarve his time out when once at the business ? " 
 
 " Wal, consarn him, the fact is, his genoos induced 
 him to go inter the indelibel markin ink company ; and 
 when he was a tryin experiments with that flooid, he 
 happened to light on an antidote, as he called it, which 
 took the stains out in no time. So one day he made 
 a mistake, and rubbed off some one's writin on a sheet 
 of paper, and put in the place an idee of his own. 
 That air mistake smashed him slick up, and consigned 
 him to the state prison. Wal, there he was so smart, 
 they sot him tu work in the winder blind transparency 
 fixins, until one day, 'Lias was so orful cute he jist 
 painted his own clothes like the overseer's, and walked 
 right out o' the gates as slick as grease." 
 
 " And after that," broke in Mag, " I s'pose he fell in 
 with you, and agreed to try his genus at the copper busi- 
 ness in furrin parts." 
 
 " Very remakkable. Miss Maggaret. I lie like snakes 
 if it warn't jest so ; but I wonder what he's abeout 
 now," added Spuke, reflectively. 
 
 " O, you let that Nash cove alone. He's a gallivant- 
 in with the gals at Ilha Grande by this time, and 
 
264 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 p'haps inventin a hoven to bake moonshine in ; but at 
 all events he'll look out for the polacre — never fear." 
 
 ^' Sartin, Miss Maggaret. You talks like a book ; 
 but 'Lias hain't got no monop'ly to court the senoritas, 
 all by hisself, yu know ; for he couldn't win yer affec- 
 tions when Elnathan Spuke jumped inter the ring." 
 
 Here the lanky bundle of bones seemed overjoyed at 
 his extraordinary ' prowess in the court of Cupid, and 
 could not resist the impulse of craning his turtle head 
 over towards ^lag, and pinching her on the chin, as he 
 imprinted a smack with his puckered mouth on her 
 parchment lips. 
 
 With a howl of pain the hag started back, and giv- 
 ing her ardent lover a fierce lick on his face with 
 her skinny fist, she yelled, — 
 
 " You infarnal codfish-finned Yankee, don't you know 
 that my broken jaw isn't cured yet? 0! O! you 
 brute ! " 
 
 Here the woman writhed in anguish, and refused to 
 be comforted, until she had washed her mouth several 
 times from the contents of the jug at her elbow. The 
 Yankee, who at first did not appear disposed to rest qui- 
 escent under the blow inflicted on his face, at last re- 
 sumed, with, — 
 
 " Gosh ! Miss Maggaret, don't git riled. I didn't go 
 to du it. I oughter hev known yer jaw was tender yit, 
 arter rollin down them steep Starrs." 
 
 " Rolling down, you bear ! I was flung head fore- 
 
TALES FOR TH:E MARINES. 265 
 
 most full thirty feet by that half white-faced nigger 
 countryman of yourn." 
 
 " Yis, sartin ; that nig was a hull team and a bull dog 
 under the waggin. I wouldn't mind tryin' to trade him 
 off to a Ked Kiver planter on the Levee at Orleens. He'd 
 fetch a big price." 
 
 *^ And I," screamed the hag, ^^ would sink every ounce 
 of money, good and bad, we've got, for one fair clip 
 at his throat with this sharp bit of iron here/' exhibit- 
 ing, as she uttered these unselfish views, a long and mur- 
 derous knife from the breast of her jacket. 
 
 The Maltese and Spuke only laughed, while the Bra- 
 zilians at the other end of the table looked a little sur- 
 prised at the excitement displayed by their companions. 
 It soon passed away, however, and the Yankee once 
 more drawled out in his usual nasal whine, — 
 
 " Wal, we ain't heern much of late abeout the other 
 chaps and the gal, though I'm allfired glad they didn't 
 take stock in the ventur of the coin. I wonder where 
 they air by this time." 
 
 " Why, they're with that Jezebel, Loo O'Neil — gone 
 up to the north, dam 'em, to rob somebody, p'haps, 
 and then try their luck in Mexico or the States, where 
 they ain't much known." 
 
 By this time the platter of " chickin fixins," as Mr. 
 
 Spuke called it, was pretty well exhausted, and it 
 
 seemed to me a year since they commenced eating, 
 
 though probably they had not been at work an hour. 
 
 2S 
 
266 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 The gray llglit of dawn had ah'eady spread itself over 
 the eastern sky, and I detected the sound of oars dipping 
 in the water. This gave me the hope that a message 
 had been sent to the fort, and that a force would soon 
 come to arrest the party. I was beginning to feel con- 
 cerned, too, lest some unfortunate accident might pre- 
 vent the expedition, or that the smuggler's people 
 should be disposed to leave the pulperia beforehand. 
 In that case, I resolved to shoot Mag Surf as dead as 
 lead could kill her, and take my chance of crippling Mr. 
 Spuke the moment after. My doubts as to their de- 
 parture were soon dispelled, for the woman declared she 
 would take a wink of sleep until sunrise, after the ex- 
 ample of the natives, who, their cigar fires extinguished, 
 were snoring away with their heads on the table. 
 
 The Yankee persisted to the last in striving to keep 
 the Maltese in talk, saying, " Merlatty, what's that little 
 bri^-o'-war a-doin' here? She's a States man-o'-war, 
 ain't she ? If you behave, I'll t^ke yer aboard in the 
 mornin' to show her tu ye." 
 
 As this kind offer elicited no reply from the Maltese, 
 Mr. Spuke, after taking a glance at his own features, 
 and slicking his hair, in his portable mirror, stretched 
 his long bones on the bench, and dozed off with his 
 friends. 
 
 No sooner had I observed this than I turned to look 
 about me, and to my great delight saw the visages of 
 Hazy, the padron, and a couple of sailors peeping from 
 
TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 267 
 
 the thicket of mangles, while nearer, crawling along the 
 sand, was my friend Makeen on his way to attract my 
 attention. I immediately joined the Flirt's party, and 
 retiring with them into the brake, related what I had 
 just witnessed and heard. 
 
 " So you're sure, youngster, that you are not mis- 
 taken ? " 
 
 " Sure ! " I swore ; " ay, just as sure as that I had 
 half a dozen knife stabs through the instigation of ^lag 
 Surf and her villanous crew." 
 
 " Well, boy," exclaimed the padron, " the vendetta 
 is declared, and I'll either bring them to justice or make 
 my wife a widow for Hazy here." 
 
 " O, to the devil with justice ! " squeaked out Mak in 
 my lug. " I'm going to scale a pistol at one of them., 
 any way ; so now. Gringo, give us one. You take the 
 woman, and I'll let drive at the man." 
 
 I handed him the weapon, and then listened to the 
 arrangements which had been made for capturing our 
 prey. 
 
 The soldiers, nine in all, (the drummers and a few 
 others being considered non-combatants,) had akeady 
 landed some distance up the beach — that number being 
 thought, in fair combat, equal to the capture of three 
 persons. The brig's cutter was lying behind the bluff 
 point below the fort, and had orders to take a custom 
 house official on board the schooner the moment it was 
 positively ascertained that the owners were trading with 
 false coin. 
 
268 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 We were soon joined by the officer in charge of the 
 troops, — no other than my potato-built rival in the 
 affections of Antonietta, — who agreed to conceal his 
 men until the boats with the produce should reach the 
 landing near the pulperia from the town, and then to 
 pounce upon all hands. These arrangements having 
 been made for the brigade, the rest of us remained hid- 
 den in the bushes until the red beams of the sun had 
 mounted above the hills, and the gnats and mosquitos 
 were becoming very troublesome. 
 
 " Hark ! " whispered Mak ; " here come the boats ; " 
 and directly we heard the chants of the negro oai'smen, 
 as the barges rounded the bend of the river, coming 
 slowly down the stream, while the creaking of the oars 
 in their hide grummets was audible also. In a few 
 minutes we caught sight of the lighters, piled up 
 above the gunwales with casks and sacks, and the songs 
 of the boatmen rose higher and higher as they neared 
 their destination. They sagged sluggishly alongside the 
 little stone pier, near where the tub-shaped yawl of 
 the drogher was still moored ; but though the negroes 
 chattered and laughed like magpies, no one was dis- 
 turbed in the cane huts. 
 
 " Ola, vamos ! " shouted a person from the stern 
 sheets, who appeared to think himself white. "Fe, 
 olha ! que tendes ! O, maldito, senhores ! " This dis- 
 jointed harangue was addressed partially to the beack 
 and the rest to the sleeping boat keeper of the schooner's 
 
TALES FOU THE MARINES. 269 
 
 yawl. Both having failed, however, to return any reply, 
 he very coolly dipped his palm leaf hat into the water, 
 and poured the element upon the boy's head. This 
 restored the dingy youth to consciousness ; and after a 
 few kicks and hard words, he was despatched to the 
 pulperia to notify the factors that their property had ar- 
 rived. 
 
 In a brief space the boy had entered the huts, where 
 a dim lamp was still burning ; and soon after, one by one, 
 the occupants came out, yawning and stretching as the 
 human species will when awakened too early in the 
 morning. The Yankee came last ; and though he 
 yawned like the rest, and snarled out something about 
 his being " pesky sleepy," he didn't stretch, he being to 
 all intents and purposes long enough already. 
 
 "Now, Maltee," he drawled, "tell them yaller fellers 
 you'll go off to the fore-and-after, bring the money 
 ashore, take ther receipts all fair and square, when ther 
 lighters kin go off alongside and discharge like a thou- 
 sand of brick." 
 
 The Maltese smiled in acquiescence, so as to exhibit 
 the single tusk left of his head rails, and then stepping 
 into the yawl, took a scull and wiggled out to the 
 schooner. There, with the assistance of two or three 
 pair of hands, sacks of a heavy weight were lowered into 
 the boat, and she returned to the landing. Meanwhile 
 the factors had partaken of coffee or cocoa from a reser- 
 voir of that beverage boiled in an earthen pot, Hghted 
 23* 
 
270 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 their cigars, and were blowing small clouds to drive off 
 the morning dew and insects. Mag had seated herself 
 on the vertebrae of a whale or some large bone of a deep 
 sea fish, and with her playmate and bosom gin jug com- 
 panion on the sand before her, she was exchanging a 
 little Portuguese billingsgate with the venerable female 
 who swayed the fortunes of the pulperia ; in which ele- 
 gant vituperation the former seemed to have, by way of 
 novelty, found her match. 
 
 Mr. Spuke at this epoch was busy on a little tour of 
 inspection around the cargoes of the lighters, punching 
 his steel-like knuckles into the sacks of sugar, dipping 
 his claws of fingers into the bung holes of the pipas of 
 rum to test the strength by sucking his digits after- 
 wards, then smelling pinches and handfuls of coffee 
 berries, in all which business pursuits he appeared quite 
 at home. Upon his own boat coming on shore again 
 with his copper treasure, he joined the Maltese, and 
 with the assistance of the boy and the black oarsman, the 
 bags were carried up about fifty yards on the beach, mid- 
 way between the water and the cane huts. 
 
 This was no sooner effected than a signal was given 
 to the cornet, and down from their concealment in the 
 bushes ran the squad of sojers, while the fat officer, 
 rushing up, laid his hand on the blue coat with bright 
 brass buttons, which hung over the back of Mr. Spuke. 
 This was the first intimation that individual had of the 
 ambuscade ; but, jerking himself free, he exclaimed, — 
 
TALES FOR THE MARI^'ES. 271 
 
 " By spikes ! Avhat on airth air yu abeout ? " The 
 suddenness and violence of the movement nearly 
 twitched the officer off his lesrs. 
 
 o 
 
 When Mr. Spuke glanced round, and beheld the 
 mihtia, with their bayonets, at a charge, he seemed to 
 recover himself at once ; and striding over the sacks of 
 metal, with his legs wide apart, he said, — 
 
 " Wal, ye darn'd Portingees, what air ye up tu ? 
 This here is my property, and ther custom-house per- 
 mits is right and reg'lar — ask them dons theer — all 
 honist folks — no idee on gittin quit of payin the fees." 
 
 Here he beckoned to the factors, who, with Mag, came 
 to the spot ; and there they stood, in a lump, just as the 
 cutter of the Flirt was dashing alongside of the schooner. 
 
 I could not have stood it any longer ; but just then 
 Hazy exclaimed, " Now, my friends, it is our turn ! " 
 while the padron roared out, in Portuguese, " Seize or 
 shoot down those villains, if they stir an inch. I arrest 
 them for smuggling counterfeit coin." And I screamed 
 to Mag, "Yes, you hag, and I've an account to settle 
 with you for the affair in that den in Rio." 
 
 The Maltese was the first who made a bolt ; but he 
 had not moved a yard before Hazy's cockswain, Harry 
 Greenfield, fetched him a tap with the gig's brass tiller, 
 which laid him out, as meek as milk, on the strand. 
 
 When the combination burst with its real force upon 
 Spuke and his female companion, the latter squinted 
 furtively around, to see, perhaps, if a chance for escape 
 
212 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 presented itself; but observing all retreat cut off, her 
 ugly mug began to assume a pale-blue, ashes-of-roses 
 hue ; and she put her hand in her bosom and partially- 
 exposed her tapering knife. 
 
 " Drop that, you piratical she devil, or I'll " 
 
 She must have looked full into the muzzle of the big- 
 mouthed ship's pistol I pointed at her, before she re- 
 moved her hand from the weapon ; and then only to 
 carry the gin jug to her hideous mouth; but she did 
 not utter a word. Not so, however, with Mr. Spuke ; he 
 saw the game was up, and that not only his vessel was 
 seized, and his liberty about to be cramped for an indef- 
 inite period, but, worse than all, he was to lose all his 
 hard-earned gains. 
 
 Taking up the words as they were uttered by the 
 padron, and losing all his drawly, nasal twang, he said, 
 in a cold, deliberate tone, — 
 
 '* 0, ho ! there's been spyin goin on, and I'm to be 
 robbed, eh ? Now, I'm an Ameriken, clear grit ! and 
 you, dam yer, my countryman," shaking his hand aloft 
 at Hazy, " air -standin by to see me imposed upon by 
 these cussed merlatters, when it's your dooty to pertect 
 me. But, by spikes ! let me see the first feller as '11 ris 
 his finger jint to seize Elnathan Spuke." 
 
 With this, he bai*ed his great slabs of arms to the 
 shoulders; and there he stood, a powerful, towering 
 giant, — glaring with the wrinkled, compressed lips, 
 open nostril, and fierce, cunning eye of a tiger, ready 
 for a spring. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 273 
 
 *^ AiTest him^ soldiers ! " shouted the now excited 
 padron ; and the cornet drew his sword. Before, how- 
 ever, the blade was well out of its sheath, the fellow at 
 bay gave him a tremendous kick in the stomach, which 
 sent him fairly spinning up off the sand ; and then he 
 fell with a groan, completely hors de combat. At the 
 moment the soldiers, who, as I told you, seemed by no 
 means veterans in war, advanced, with fixed bayonets, 
 upon the smuggler. Evading the first two men, he 
 gave a sudden bound, grasped the musket by the muz- 
 zle from the weak arms of one of the puny troop, and, 
 with a deep-muttered imprecation of, " By the Eternal, 
 let her rip," gave the weapon a half sweep over his 
 head; and bringing it round, the foremost men went 
 down like grain before a sickle. Recovering himself 
 again, he made the heavy piece whirl on high, and 
 brought it, for the second time, upon the backs of the 
 panic-stricken soldiers ; but the flint lock catching some 
 part of their eq^uipments, the cock snapped, the piece 
 flashed, held fire an instant, and then exploded full in 
 the face of the Yankee. The charge traversed his upper 
 jaw, nose, and one eye, leaving him blinded, and the 
 blackened blood and powder clinging to his mutilated 
 features. He spun round nearly a turn, by the force of 
 the explosion, yet never relaxed his gripe on the muz- 
 zle of the musket, until, with a confused lurch, the 
 breech of the gun touched the sand, and he fell forward 
 with all his weight. The point of the bayonet entered 
 
^74 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 « 
 
 nearly at his breast bone, and transfixed bim to the pipe. 
 He fell over sidewise, and lay a dead man, deluging in 
 blood the sacks of money he had made such desperate 
 efforts to defend. 
 
 By this time the dismayed soldiers, who had turned 
 tail from the one man, began to fire an irregular yeit de 
 joie right in amongst the crowd of us. They were too 
 wild, however, to do much damage ; only grazing the 
 ear of one of the factors, and putting a ball into the 
 foot of the Maltese — and a very severe and painful 
 wound he found it. 
 
 During this skrimmage my attention was, for a moment, 
 diverted from my own especial game ; and when I 
 looked again, I saw the hag running like a rat towards 
 the thicket. Makeen fired his pistol at her, but the ball 
 only cut off a twig, and scattered some leaves without 
 touching her. I reserved my shot, and, with a cry that 
 brought the whole assembly, with the exception of the 
 soldiers, we plunged after Mag. She took the main 
 road, a well-beaten track for mules and beasts, which 
 led from the mouth of the river to the city ; and though 
 it wound about here and there, we could still keep her 
 in sight, as she parted the bushes right and left in her 
 flight. Presently, the thick undergrowth gave place to 
 loftier vegetation ; and between the trunks of the palms 
 and cocoas we caught glimpses of narrow lagoons be- 
 yond, patched with light-green and white water lilies. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARI^'ES. 275 
 
 On the opposite side, the land rose higher, and the forest 
 was composed of heavy timber. 
 
 The woman still held on with great speed, and must 
 have known she was running with a noose round her 
 neck, for she never looked behind, or gave heed in the 
 slightest degree to our yells to stop or be shot. There 
 were a number of paths made by cattle, which crossed 
 the road at intervals, and, all at once, Mag turned to the 
 left into one of them. A pair of huge vampire bats 
 rose from a branch with a boding croak ; and as the 
 woman leaped over the grass and leaves, one of the 
 factors gave a shout of warning, and tried to stop me 
 from going farther. Shaking off his grasp, however, I 
 jumped on, with Mak and Hazy at my heels, into the 
 thicket. In a minute we had entirely passed the dense 
 foliage, and before us lay the long, narrow lagoon, cra- 
 dled in its black, slimy, muddy banks, while directly 
 through the centre, leading to the opposite shore, was 
 apparently a clear, open bridge, matted and bound with 
 roots, grasses, and rank vegetation of all sorts, with a 
 little clump of bushes and parasitical plants at every 
 few paces, but still showing a green, even road over the 
 water. Mag was about a hundred yards in advance of 
 us, and splashing a short distance into the mud and 
 water, she sprang upon the bending mangrove roots, 
 and, finding that they bore her weight, continued on 
 her course. 
 
276 TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 
 
 " Hold ! " roared the padron ; '^ gentlemen, for God's 
 sake don't go an inch farther ! " 
 
 "0/ cuidado ! '' screamed the factor. "Beware! 
 it is certain death ! " cried they, both out of breath. 
 " That witch can't escape ; the mire will prevent her on 
 the other side." 
 
 At this moment, Mag, perceiving she was no longer 
 pursued, turned about, and shaking her knife in one 
 hand, and applying the gin jug to her lips with the 
 other, she took a long pull, and then yelled derisively, — 
 
 " O, you hounds ! you thought to hang me, eh ? the 
 hemp isn't planted yet for my throat; and you, ye 
 devil's asp, let me once lay hold upon you, I'll take an 
 oath to find your heart the next time. Adios,"" she 
 said, as she again applied the jug to her mouth, and 
 hurling it upon the slimy surface of the pool, wheeled 
 to resume her flight. 
 
 I am glad to. say that this was the last svv^ig of gin 
 and the last intelligible remarks wdiich Miss Maggaret, 
 as Spuke respectfully styled her, ever uttered in this 
 world. 
 
 No sooner had the water been disturbed by the splash 
 of the empty bottle, than we noticed a little succession 
 of rolling, unbroken billows along by the vegetable 
 bridge. The flat, sickly leaves and flowers began to 
 undulate, and as Mag stepped from the green laced, 
 living fabric to a projecting root, we saw the huge, tri- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. ^77 
 
 angular-shaped snout of a red spectacled alligator, and 
 the dull, protruding eyes, with the fringed, scaly crest 
 between, slowly pushed above the water ; and then a 
 sharp, rattling snap upon the hard-baked clay of the 
 
 gin jug. 
 
 " The cayman ! " exclaimed the padron ; and as the 
 monster rolled his jaws more out of water, the irregu- 
 lar, reddish, marbled yellow and green spots were visi- 
 ble underneath, before he sank with his prize. 
 The factor ejaculated, "0/ vermelho cayman! " 
 The noise of the breaking gin vessel did not, how- 
 ever, distract the attention of Mag, but as she trod on 
 the elastic mass of the bridge, it yielded, and agitated 
 the pool with a loud splash. The next moment, as if 
 the impulse had been felt in every direction, the same 
 unbroken undulations as before swelled up under the 
 greenish, stagnant lagoon, and in less time than it takes 
 to wink, the w^ater broke with a rush upwards, within a 
 few feet of the woman. The enormous mail-clad hide 
 of the cayman appeared ; the tail rose with a diagonal 
 motion ; and the head, with the distended, serrated 
 jaws, the reddish tongue and yellow mouth inside them, 
 gleamed hot and dry in the beams of the morning sun ; 
 the whole monster forming a curving bend of full twenty 
 feet before and behind the now terrified hag. At the 
 same instant the hard, flexile tail made a side sweep, quick 
 as thought, which, striking Mag a crushing blow about 
 her waist, doubled her up with a broken back, and she 
 24 
 
£7.8 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 fW^ swept into the fiiglitful jaws, open to full stretch, 
 and inclined sideways to receive the prey. Simiiltane 
 piiSjLy with our groans of horror, the heretofore quiet 
 .pool, Y^s. all alive with the projecting, ridgy bodies of 
 the monsters, and for a few minutes we heard nothing 
 J)jiijt the;, YJ-o Lent snapping of their huge jaws, and the 
 l)lp^3; of their powerful tails. At last the water once 
 jtipi^e^.h^egsiii, to settle down into peace ; the broad, flat 
 leaves and .^st^ms of the pure white lilies, which had 
 been torn and, crushed by the commotion amongst the 
 denizens, belqw^ gradually resumed their beds ; and, 
 saye ^^ fcTjr bubbles, and an occasional undulation, with 
 a strong p,dor lof; miijsk, there was nothing left to show 
 where t^ie hag had.nie.t her horrid death. 
 9,;,**..C9mie, let's., Gr£|,wl out of this swamp," said the pa- 
 djfon,.,f^or some of. those: hungry caymans will be after 
 having a taste <;)f us*!f rl L:. 
 
 ji i*^ iW'eU/^ exclaimed iMa3f:y*' I think the beast who ate 
 th?tt female will be; ti^publed with indigestion." With 
 thfse; qonsojatory rem^rjgs ^we all retraced our steps, as 
 fast as our legs would carvyius, to. the pulperia. 
 ^,,jQi% reaching; the cap;e,hu{t% ^:e_ found the fat cornet 
 8pj[,'ead_ _ ou$ <>^ ! ; :^he. tables ; while several people were 
 chafing ; his body and . iimbsj, with , spirits. He had j ust 
 recovered, consciousness. /aiter the blpw dealt him by the 
 Yan]ceev .Xhe,discgm;&ted, troops, without their leader, 
 were making; the fc>.est \y'eivthev : tihey couW, and with a 
 im bad bwee^i^er^j seated. 3iho\xk>ii>njih^:Si^ov ; while 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 279 
 
 the factors, now fully alive to the bargains they had 
 escaped, were preparing to start with their rum and 
 susrar back to Santos. 
 
 On going out to the scene of the recent tragedy, we 
 found the Maltese about being carried off to the brig, 
 to have his wounds dressed, while the dead carcass of 
 his companion, surrounded by myriads of insects, lay 
 stark and reeking in blood, where he had fallen beside 
 his base treasure. 
 
 *'Well," soliloquized Hazy, "we'll put him under 
 the sod, for the sake of the flag he was born under, any 
 way." The body was accordingly removed to the oppo- 
 site side of the river, to Manduba Point, where, upon a 
 little craggy mound, beneath the finger-like leaves of a 
 gaunt palm tree, he was buried, and the great bone 
 which lay near the spot where he was killed was stuck 
 up for his tombstone. 
 
 That evening, as the sun went down in the soft 
 orange glow of a tropical twilight, I was leaning back 
 in the Rake, with Hazy, the padron, and Archy Ma- 
 keen. The oars dipped in the calm surface of the river, 
 and the silver drops rained from their blades, as they 
 were thrown forward in regular strokes, while we swept 
 up the stream. 
 
 " Pleasant evening after the shower," observed Hazy, 
 anxious, apparently, to make himself agreeable. 
 
 " Yes," replied the padron, " though I shall feel 
 pleasanter after getting my sugar." 
 
g80 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " Well, all in good time we'll overhaul the polacre, 
 perhaps, and make Captain 'Lias Nash refund." 
 
 " If you will I'll give you a dinner such as you never 
 ate at Botafogo, and a thousand Havanas such as you 
 never smoked." 
 
 "Agreed; but s'pose you give us a cheroot now. 
 This starlight and quiet is all very romantic, you know, 
 but in narrow rivers I like to drive away the malaria 
 with a little tobacco smoke. It does not obscure the 
 sceneiy, and aids the gastric fluid, very much, I am told 
 by the faculty, in performing its office." 
 
 Here the yesquero was made to catch a spark, and the 
 cigars were soon in full blast. 
 
 "Speaking of cigars," resumed Hazy, "I once lost a 
 small fortune on account of one of them. You see I 
 had got slightly behindhand in my pecuniary depart- 
 ment, and having an uncle in comfortable circumstances, 
 I used occasionally to apply to him to relieve me from 
 temporary embarrassments, my money market being, as 
 they say on 'change, tight. Well, I've always main- 
 tained that if one wishes to discover what true friend- 
 ship is, he must try to borrow of his rich relations ; and 
 if the man who wrote the book to prove that Adam and 
 Eve spoke High Dutch will only devote his talents to 
 this question, he will arrive in due time at some very 
 curious and entertaining results. 
 
 " Now it so happened that my uncle, though a Vir- 
 ginian, and a cultivator of the weed, abominated the 
 
TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 281 
 
 smoke, as a butcher is said, by the same token, to faint 
 at ilie sight of blood ; and in fact the very smell of a 
 lighted cigar made him ill ; so you may be sure I was 
 extremely cautious to give him a wide berth, when I 
 cared to indulge in that enjoyment, while on my visits 
 for the purpose of negotiating loans. 
 
 " One unfortunate evening, however, after the kind old 
 gentleman had consented to fit me out, as usual, for the 
 * last time,' when I was about leaving on a little tour 
 for the watering-places, (here Makeen whispered in 
 my ear, ^ Brandy-and-watering places, he means,') I re- 
 tired to my own room, in a happy frame of mind, and 
 threw myself upon the bed with my book and cigar. 
 I had not, however, finished the second weed, having 
 laid the stump of the first on the candlestick, when I 
 was seized with an irresistible inclination to hunt for a 
 passage in one of the classic poets, on the shelves of the 
 library. My uncle, I knew, had not retired from his 
 sanctum, as he was a late sitter and riser, for he always 
 averred on this subject, that, although the ' early bird 
 caught the worm,' yet, nevertheless, the worm was a 
 great fool for being out. Well, after scrubbing my 
 teeth, and perfuming myself with the choicest extracts, 
 so that I had, as a little gypsy of a cousin of mine ob- 
 served, a strong odor of cologne over an under-current 
 of cigar smoke, I clutched my candlestick, and descend- 
 ed to the library. I soon accomplished my mission, and 
 24* 
 
2S2 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 again betook myself to my own quarters ; but by some 
 accident I found that I had changed candlesticks, mine 
 being a flat sort of an affair, and the one I brought back 
 much taller. I did not give it a second thought, how- 
 ever, and was dreaming away very pleasantly of the 
 fine times I was to have in the gay world, when I was 
 aroused by the most unusual din, that seemed to pervade 
 the v/hole house, and above all, my uncle's voice, in a 
 towering rage, calling upon the household, and your hum- 
 ble servant among them. ^ Where's that scamp Jack ? ' 
 I lost not a moment in pullmg on my dressing gown, and 
 running down to see what the row was. On open- 
 ing the chamber door, I found my uncle wandering 
 about in his shirt, and looking in every hole and corner, 
 with a light in his hand. ' So ho ! Jack, jou have been 
 smoking tobacco in my room, you rascal.' 
 
 '' ' Why, uncle, you know I don't ever use tobacco in 
 any shape.' 
 
 " * Well,' he replied, ^ all I've got to say is, that the 
 whole apartment is filled with a horrid stench of old 
 pipes, and I'll murder the villain who did it. I've been 
 sick as a dog, and haven't slept a wink all night.' Just 
 at this moment my mischievous little cousin, who w^as 
 sniffing around with her small snub nose, exclaimed, 
 'Why, uncle, it's an old, nasty stump of a cigar in 
 Jack's candlestick, which must have been standing at 
 your bedside.' 
 
 '* Padron," said Hazy, « I took the early boat in the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 283 
 
 morning ; but instead of passing one summer at Sara- 
 toga, I passed three of tliem on the coast of Africa, 
 smoking without tobacco." 
 
 The lights from Santos were now visible, as we pulled 
 round the reach of the river ; and shortly after the gig 
 ran alongside the water stairs, and off we all tramped 
 to the residence of the padron's family. 
 
 " Ladies," said Hazy, '^ I have brought back the de- 
 serters, and performed prodigies of valor besides, which, 
 were you to hear them, would bring the dew from your 
 eyelids ; and I have ended, madam, by coming within 
 three hundred feet of being devoured by crocodiles." 
 
 " Ah, such tears they would have shed in that case ! " 
 said Miss Mary. 
 
 "Madam," he resumed, still addressing the sweet 
 matron, " my duty to my country will shortly bear me 
 from these enchanting precincts ; but while I tear myself 
 from the presence of you and Dona Pancha, I hope still 
 to bask in the smiles of the fair damsel beside you, 
 while my bark glides o'er the sea." 
 
 " Ah Dios ! how handsome the captain would be if 
 he didn't make such frightful contortions of visage when 
 he uses his eye glass," softly warbled the coquettish lit- 
 tle Creole brunette, as she rattled and flirted her fan, in 
 an easy, graceful, open and shut movement before her 
 brilliant eyes. 
 
 The commander smiled deprecatingly at this compli- 
 ment, glanced over his shoulder at me, unbuckled his 
 
284 TALES FOR THE MAIIINE3. 
 
 sword belt, and touching the hilt with the air of Corio- 
 lanus, laid the weapon on the table, and joined the pa- 
 dron in a glass of port. 
 
 A week passed away, and on the eighth morning the 
 Flirt, with her sails gently filled by the land wind, 
 slowly parted the waters of the river, with her head out 
 to sea ; and before the sun had reached the meridian, 
 she was braced sharp up, with her tacks close down, and 
 sheets flat aft to the sea breeze, beating to the south- 
 ward. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Before leaving Santos Eiver^ a lot of Brazilians, half 
 sailors and half sojers, ay ere taken from the hulk of a 
 guarda-costa lying at the town, and put on board the 
 copper smuggler. This last craft had sailed the day 
 before we did, to act as a decoy duck, in order to catch 
 her heavy consort, the polacre, who, in charge of the 
 acute Elias Nash, was to have joined her on the coast 
 of Paranagua or San Francisco ; at least so confessed 
 the smuggler's crew, after they had been severely flagel- 
 lated with thick bamboos and thongs of raw hide — a 
 precautionary measure, which was supposed to have 
 exercised a beneficial effect in aiding theii* recollec- 
 tion. 
 
 Maltese Joe had also been transferred from the brig, 
 where his wounds had been skilfully dressed by the 
 surgeon, but with a brain fever ; and he was stowed 
 away somewhere in the schooner's hot hold, either to 
 get well or kick the bucket, as Providence might direct 
 in reference to an individual of his virtuous pursuits. 
 
 The Flirt held the sea breeze well along through the 
 afternoon, until, as the approaching vermilion glow of 
 sunset began to flood the western horizon, the breeze 
 
 (285) 
 
286 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 puffed up strong for a few minutes, then the waves 
 swished over by the weight of their own crests, the sails 
 slackened the strain on the yards and ropes, and fell 
 listlessly down the masts. ^ 
 
 " Come from the conn," said the officer in charge of 
 the watch to the quarter master in the weather quarter 
 boat ; " there'll be no more use for you up there to- 
 night." Then, turning to the crew, he continued, 
 " Now, men, up courses and spanker, brail up tho jib, 
 and brace the yards abox, ready for any thing. 7 all the 
 captain, Mr. Peale," he added, *•' that the breeze has left 
 us, and we can see a coasting vessel in shore of us, that 
 looks like the prize taken at Santos." 
 
 Presently Hazy stepped on deck, assisting up his 
 pretty little passenger, who was a trifle pale and heavy 
 about her large, liquid eyes ; while, at the same time, 
 the gallant commander paid the most impressive atten- 
 tion to Jilla, addressing her confidentially in behalf of 
 his imp Caesar, who was supposed to have fallen in love, 
 and down the cabin hatchway, simultaneously, with An- 
 tonietta's dingy handmaiden. 
 
 While Hazy turned to consult with the officer of the 
 watch concerning the vessel, I supported my qualmish 
 little sweetheart to the signal lockers abaft, and placed 
 a heap of bunting around her head and shoulders. She 
 reclined back, and told me she was disgusted with all 
 the world, the sea, the captain, Jilla, and me particu- 
 larly, and only wished to be let alone. " So vaya con 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 287 
 
 dios,^^ she concluded, as she pulled a fold of an ensign 
 over her face, and relapsed into silence. 
 
 She was not the girl to be meddled with, as I knew 
 by experience, when in her little pets of ill humor ; and 
 so, after giving strict injunctions to Jilla to watch over 
 her mistress, I made a graceful retreat, and went with 
 Ned Peale, one of the Flirt's reefers, to the forecastle, 
 where we had a cigar between us, and listened to the 
 yarns and songs of the sailors. 
 
 I was terribly spoony at that epoch, and quite in- 
 censed, I remember, at a little, old, squat-built mariner, 
 with a huge nose, seamed and scarred like the top of a 
 champagne cork, who doled forth, with evident satis- 
 faction, — 
 
 ** I've a spanking wife at Portsmouth gates, 
 A pygmy at Goree, 
 I've an orange tawny up the Straits, 
 A black at St. Lucie." 
 
 And so I topped my boom from the merry circle, just 
 as the fife struck up a jig, and Imperial Caesar began, in 
 his own language, to dance to " de lascivious caperings 
 ob de floot." 
 
 It was towards ten o'clock when I got aft again, and 
 I found that Hazy had just finished a glass of grog, — 
 he called it lemonade, — and had ordered the gunner, 
 Mr. Ben Bunker, to throw up a few rockets, and burn 
 a blue light or two, to gratify a wish expressed by An- 
 tonietta. 
 
288 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 I may add here that Mr. Jack Hazy was rather pro- 
 fuse in the expenditure of pubhc pyrotechny. He con- 
 tended that it was designed for use, and he always felt 
 easier in his mind when the last port fire had been 
 burned, there being so much less risk from conflagration 
 to the ship when those inflammable materials were out 
 of the way. 
 
 "All ready, sir," said the gunner, as he stood with a 
 musket at arm's length, the breech resting on the ham- 
 mock nettings, and a match ready to touch oflf the 
 rocket, which was sticking in the barrel of the piece. 
 " Up with it, then," said Hazy. 
 
 Now, whether trusty old Ben Bunker was not much 
 in the habit of shooting ofi" " them dam sky rackets," as 
 he called those engines, or whether he feared to scorch 
 his horny fingers, or shut his eyes at the moment of 
 ignition, is not known. Certain it was, that as the 
 stem of the rocket began to fizz, he gave the musket a 
 slight depression, and as the fiery missile rose with a 
 hissing roar, it flew with a rush right through the main- 
 topgallant sail, and exploding just beyond, fell in a con- 
 stellation of stars and showers of sparks, popping and 
 bursting in the Flirt's waist, among the sleeping watch. 
 *' Why, you confounded old porpoise, what are you 
 about ? " exclaimed the commander ; while the until 
 now listless young Creole sprang up, clapped her hands, 
 and implored Hazy to send some more in the same 
 direction. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 289 
 
 '^ *Pon my soul, you picarona, this old bombadier 
 "will set fire to the brig ; and I wouldn't risk anotlier 
 rocket for all the diamonds in Brazil. Your life is so 
 precious to me ! " he added, with an insinuating smile. 
 
 It was not many hours after this, as I lay coiled up 
 on the deck at Antonietta's feet, with an ensign for a 
 pillow, I was awakened by a hail from the brig of '' Boat 
 ahoy ! " Directly there came a reply in Portuguese of 
 *'Amigo ! amigo ! " as a small yawl paddled alongside, 
 in the most lubberly manner possible ; and the padi-on 
 of the guarda-costa, who had been put in charge of the 
 smuggling schooner at Santos, came over the gangway. 
 
 " Well," said Hazy, who had been dozing and smok- 
 ing about the quarter deck, in the warm night, "I 
 thought we'd got quit of these Diegos ; what do they 
 want now, eh ? " 
 
 After a brief confab, Makeen reported that by some 
 mischance they had lost their reckoning, broken their 
 compass, and being without instruments or books, in 
 short utterly ignorant of navigation, they were all 
 wrong, and wished some one sent to show them the 
 way to Paranagua. 
 
 " All right," nodded the commander of the Flirt ; 
 " if any person will volunteer, he can go for a day or 
 two, since we are bound in the same direction, and it's 
 not a bit out of our course." 
 
 Ned Peale snapped at the chance, and said it would 
 be the best lark in the world ; and drew such an excit- 
 26 
 
I 
 
 290 TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 ing picture of the jolly times he'd have, playing marine 
 potentate on board the schooner, that the notion took 
 possession of me also, and I asked leave to join him. 
 
 "Certainly," said Hazy; "delighted to get rid of 
 you ; you're in every body's mess, and nobody's watch ; 
 but here," he added, kindly, "tell my steward to give 
 you something to imbibe; and mind you take a fine 
 tooth comb in your kit, for there's no teUing what bed- 
 fellows a benighted traveller may meet with among 
 those sort of people." 
 
 I told Antonietta I was going to tear myself away for 
 a day or two, perhaps, and then the little beauty all at 
 once hove in stays, — I mean in a coquettish sense, — 
 and whimpered, and tried to persuade me to renounce 
 my barbarous design. Nevertheless I was obdurate to 
 all persuasions, and, kissing her hands, I followed Peale 
 over the side, and we pushed off. 
 
 "Mind, young gentlemen," said Hazy, before we 
 left, "I shall stick the Flirt well out when the sea 
 breeze makes, and you had better work up with the 
 schooner in shore, and I'll stand in and have a look at 
 you towards night." 
 
 After an hour's pull, we. reached the schooner, where 
 she lay rocking and flapping in the calm ocean swell. 
 The first advice Ned Peale gave the unshorn skipper, 
 as we tumbled over the drogher's rail, was, to lower 
 away his sails, and not to say his prayers in a loud tone 
 of voice at the morning mass, in case he should perform 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. S91 
 
 that ceremony afloat. "VVe then lashed the tiller amid- 
 ships, and rolling ourselves up in the slack of the main- 
 sail, went sound to sleep. 
 
 Owing, however, to some peculiar motion of the 
 vessel, I was the first to awake ; and burrowing a hole 
 out from the folds of the canvas, I caught the full blaze 
 of the sun in my eyes. "When the blinding dazzle per- 
 mitted me to peer about a bit, I found that the old 
 schooner had her nose turned to the northward, and, 
 with a brisk wind off the land, was wallowing along 
 under the jib and part of the foresail, straight back to 
 Santos ; and on looking to seaward, I saw the Flirt hull 
 down, creeping away in the opposite direction. 
 
 " I say, Ned ! " I cried, " rouse out of that stow hole, 
 and let's make sail, or we'll sec Rio before we do Santa 
 Catharina." 
 
 Upon this, out crawled my companion, and then the 
 pair of us tramped round the decks, footed up the 
 swarthy, sleeping natives, and desired the skipper to 
 bring his craft by tiie wind, and prepare some breakfast. 
 
 " Filho da puta" grunted this worthy, addressing 
 the dull vessel he commanded, as he proceeded to strike 
 a light for his paper cigar ; when, slowly putting the 
 helm down, he gave orders to hoist the sails. 
 
 Up went the dingy, patched old canvas, with the 
 hoops, blocks, and grass ropes cursing the boatswain for 
 grease, with a noise like, — che-cpe — creeke-e-chcepe, 
 — until the gaffs were at the eyes of the rigging, aud the 
 
292 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 sails fairly sjjread. Presently the course was changed, 
 and the vessel retraced her track parallel with the 
 coast. Then we managed to rig a ragged old gafFtop- 
 sail for an awning, and after ponring a couple of buckets 
 of brine over our bodies, we repeated our request for 
 breakfast. 
 
 " Si, senhores ! Almoco ! " roared the skipper, while 
 the cry was echoed by half a dozen hungry-looking 
 objects around us, and again taken up by a dried, with- 
 ered, frizzled baboon forward, standing by a contrivance 
 of a caboose on deck. 
 
 *' Almoco ! " shouted they aU. 
 
 At this ebullition the companion way hatch abaft was 
 by a succession of jerks shoved back in the slide, and 
 there gradually appeared at the aperture the nozzle of a 
 flaming red umbrella, then the whole article, followed 
 by a pair of dirty hands clasping a parchment-covered 
 missal, bound with brass straps. Soon after we beheld 
 a broad, flat, black beaver hat, bombazine gown of the 
 6ame hue, and finally the short, podgy legs of a youth- 
 ful priest. 
 
 "Hullo!" exclaimed Ned, "what have we here? — 
 St. Francis, St. Dominic, or one of the apostles ? " 
 
 As the individual thus apostrophized turned slowly 
 about, with a timorous mien, clutching his umbrella and 
 prayer book, in the hope of steadying himself against 
 the schooner's uneasy motion, we caught a view of a 
 round, cafe au hit colored visage, while at the same 
 
TALIS FOR THE ILAKCHBS. 
 
 dme he piped forth in a clear Toice, like a girl, a long, 
 melaodiolj howl of a matinal chant. Before, however, 
 he got through the first stare, he made a lurch OTer to 
 the lee bulwarks, and there lay with his head over the 
 water, in great apparent anguish of stomach. 
 
 *' I saj, Haary/* said Peale to me, with a nudge, 
 ** they tell me that ' there's no priestling so small but 
 has a popeling in his bellj ; ' but I'm blessed if that 
 little jackdaw isn't £ist losing kit chance for the 
 Vatican." 
 
 3Ieanwhile I beheld the old baboon of a cook, with 
 an axe in his paws, Tigorously chopping away upon the 
 rail and woodwork of the timber heads. 
 
 " Well, what is that fellow trying to aduere ? " we 
 ejaculated to the skipper. 
 
 '* FilAo da pmta/^ he replied, in his usual expletiTe ; 
 ''we foigot to bring fuel, and since the schooner is 
 worthless, we are taking o£F a sHrer here and there, 
 where it won't be noticed." 
 
 ''Of course," we acquiesced; "go ahead; only don't 
 cut any holes where the water will come in." 
 
 There was considerable jabbering going on for the 
 
 ni^x" ^alf hour, and occasionally one or two of the 
 
 ~ciild come up out of the hold and fore peak, 
 
 Tinted looks ; and the skipper himself we 
 
 J ::i^ about in the cuddy of a cabin, open- 
 
 --- : :. lockers and tapping casks, when, at 
 
 last, he :: : . — '. . looking quite disheartened. The 
 
S94 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 smoke, however, from the caboose gave mclications of 
 a feast ; and by and by the baboon came aft with a 
 bunch of spoons, some forks, and a string of garlic in 
 one hand, and a great iron pot in the other — steaming 
 with the most awfully scented mess ever pitched into a 
 kid. Depositing this savory burden on the deck, he 
 made a dive over the taffrail ; and stretching his black 
 fins along the boat davit, he cut a bark strand, which 
 upheld a cluster of half-ripe bananas, with his teeth, 
 and then, sliding back with his prize, dropped them be- 
 side the forks and iron pot. 
 
 " Fee jap ! " he shrieked to the skipper, as he jerked 
 his chin in direction of the breakfist — by the by the 
 only way a Guinea nigger ever points. 
 
 " Filho da puta ! O senhores ! almogOy'^ shouted 
 the individual addressed, half in reply to the cook ; 
 while " almogo " was echoed as before, fore and aft, and 
 in a moment the entire company of twelve or fourteen 
 men came crowding like ravenous hounds to the quar- 
 ter deck. 
 
 " Queer way these fellows have of serving the crew 
 before the officers," said we ; but of this idea we were 
 soon dispossessed, for the skipper dipped his paw into 
 the kettle, and pulled out a long tendon of a strip of 
 jerked beef, which looked as if it had been ajchoice cut, 
 just abaft the horns of some venerable bull. Taking it, 
 like a rope yarn, in both hands, he, after one or two trials, 
 snapped off six or eight inches, and laid it over his 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MAIIIXE3. 295 
 
 chigh, as he sat upon the deck. Again making a plunge 
 into the pot, he fished up a large salt stockfish by the 
 tail ; cut off a wedge with a knife, smelled it very 
 close to his nose, removed his cigar, tasted the fish, as 
 if it was a wafer, without swallowing the juice ; and 
 concluding, probably, that it was all right, he laid it 
 also on his leg beside the beef. 
 
 " I s'pose," muttered Peale, " that he is fearful of 
 poisoning the crew, and tastes the victuals first him- 
 self." 
 
 The skipper was, apparently, very calm and reflective 
 in his designs, and after the little dalliance with the pot, 
 he reached over to the bunch of bananas, pinched a 
 number until he found two to suit his fancy, which, 
 breaking from the stem, he deposited with the fish 
 and beef. Then he twisted off a couple of heads of 
 garlic from the string, caught up a knife and fork, 
 rubbed them on the filthy, tattered tow trousers which 
 adorned but one leg of the baboon, who stood con- 
 veniently near, and finally, laying the entire collection 
 of eatables and utensils in the crown of his hat, he 
 arose, approached the spot where we were perched, and 
 emptied them before us. He gave us, at the same time, 
 to understand that we could fall to, at our earliest lei- 
 sure, without remorse of conscience. 
 
 I was myself so astounded, that words forsook me ; 
 but Ned seized a fist full of the mess, and launched it 
 with all his might at the skipper ; yelling out, " You 
 
g96 TALES FOR THE MAKINES. 
 
 miserable, chocolate-colored, nasty beast, is that the 
 kind of grub for a gentleman of my pretensions and 
 appetite ? Take that." 
 
 « Filho da puta ! " whined the Brazilian sea officer, 
 apostrophizing the bony fragment of stockfish that had 
 nearly put his eye out. 
 
 At the same instant, the prongs of the fork stuck 
 with a sharp progue into the flit padre's calves, which 
 made him drop his breviary into the big kettle, while 
 the jerked beef brought up like a pair of spectacles 
 across the old cook's nose ; whereupon he shoved the 
 delicate morsel into his potato trap, and sucked it down 
 without a bite, similar to an antbear. 
 
 The hubbub caused by this unlooked-for hostility on 
 our part did not, however, take away the appetites of 
 the remainder of the party, who devoured their meal 
 to the smallest mite. The skipper was as energetic as 
 his crew ; and when, afterwards, an earthen mug of 
 coffee was passed round, he partook of that also, though 
 the beverage, unfortunately, had been decocted from 
 salt water. 
 
 "By jingo," I said, '^ rather slim commons this." 
 But, nevertheless, I pocketed the heads of garlic lying 
 at my feet, to guard against the worst, and took a sip 
 of the brandy which Hazy had given us. 
 
 " It certainly is very slim diet," rejoined Ned ; " but 
 let's catechize the villain, and find out what all this joke 
 means." 
 
TALES FOR THE MArJNE3. 297 
 
 After arraigning the fellow and putting a few leading 
 questions, what M'as our dismay to learn that the vessel 
 had left Santos with only two days' provision ; and 
 behold, it was all gone. 
 
 " What," said we, '^ no water, nor beef, nor bread ? " 
 
 " None ; not an ounce of any thing eatable in the 
 drogher." 
 
 "Why, what an ass of a skipper you were, not to 
 get supplied last night from the brig, instead of enticing 
 valuable officers on board of this miserable hulk to 
 starve to death ! " 
 
 Well, the idiot swore by as« many as thirty saints, 
 male and female, that he expected to have reached Pa- 
 ranagua before ; and in short, that he did not know the 
 provisions were entirely consumed, until the baboon had 
 announced that dismal fact, just before (what he called) 
 breakfast. 
 
 You may be sure Peale and I were struck all aback 
 when these tidings were related, and we resolved at once 
 to steer for the brig. 
 
 " But where, in the name of starvation, is the Flirt ? " 
 said I. 
 
 " O, out of sight, nearly," exclaimed Ned, as he 
 attentively aired his eye through the spyglass; "just 
 taken the young sea breeze ; and there she goes, snort- 
 ing off the coast like a race horse." 
 
 " Well, then, let's edge in for the land, and pick up 
 a mouthful to eat along shore." 
 
298 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 *f Willingly," said Ned, " if we don't collapse before 
 we get there." 
 
 Away, some thirty miles on our starboard bow and 
 beam, the land was plainly visible. The wind, however, 
 was fast dying, and before the sun had passed the me- 
 ridian we were becalmed. A little later, the sea breeze 
 tossed the caps of the waves nearly into spoon drift, 
 within a mile to seaward of us ; yet it did not touch us 
 until about four o'clock, and then only gave us a push 
 of a few leagues towards the coast. 
 
 During this period, Xed and I exerted ourselves in 
 trimming the old drogher, rebending the sails, hoisting 
 them taut up, and doing all we could to improve her 
 sailing as much as practicable. We made our dinner 
 and breakfast that day both in one, on the garlic I had 
 stowed in my jacket pocket, and swore like troopers, at 
 our stupidity in refusing the repast set before us in the 
 morning by the skipper. 
 
 Towards evening we took a heavy pull at the brandy 
 bottle, and regarded the fat, podgy legs of the priest 
 with cannibalistic propensities. 
 
 The only person, I believe, on board, who was quite 
 indifferent about our plight, was Maltese Joe ; whom we 
 could hear laughing, in his delirium, down the close, 
 hot hold, in great glee, and seemingly enjoying himself 
 hugely. The noise of this maniac rather increased 
 than alleviated the horrors of our hungry imaginations ; 
 and we had serious thoughts of stealing away in the 
 
TALES FOR THE MAEINES. 299 
 
 stern boat, and making a bolt for the beecb ; but, un- 
 luckily, it was such a miserable, crazy tub of a yawl, 
 that we should not have been able to paddle ten miles 
 in a week ; so we gave up that project in despair. 
 
 By sunset it was again a flat calm ; and for want of 
 something to keep our jaws occupied, Xed drew a 
 bullet from one of his pistols, and gave me half to chew 
 upon, reserving the remaining ball to shoot the priest 
 like a gentleman and a martyr, when affairs got to be 
 desperate. The lead was not nourishing, but still it 
 gave us employment. 
 
 As for sleep, it was out of the question ; and we 
 waited, in the most gnawing suspense, until past mid- 
 night, when the light ruffle of the land wind came 
 stealthily over the water and filled our sails. "VVe 
 hugged the shore as close as possible, gaining consid- 
 erably ; and we hoped by morning to be up with 
 Iguape, where there was a track of small coasting tra- 
 ders, and the chance of being relieved from our em- 
 barrassments. Towards morning, the wind again became 
 faint, and our stomachs thoroughly exasperated ; so we 
 insisted upon the skipper sending the boat ahead to 
 tow. While the crew were employed in that labor, 
 we persuaded the docile young padre to chant some of 
 the most sonorous and admired canticles of the church, 
 to sustain the men who were toiling at the oars. It was 
 about the change of the moon, and by sunrise the sky 
 had become obscured by masses of heavy clouds, and 
 
300 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 all of a sudden a copious tropical snower came down in 
 buckets full. 
 
 Heavens ! liow sucking the saturated canvas and 
 scooping the fresh water out of the scuppers revived us ! 
 " And, by the Lord," remarked the Lieutenant, " it's 
 worth just such a thirst, occasionally, to fully appreciate 
 the value of that pure element." 
 
 Well, Ned and I were so jolly after this refreshment, 
 that we quite forgot our hunger, and induced the 
 chubby padre to give us his history. As for history, he 
 said he hadn't any. He was junior organist of the cathe- 
 dral at San Paulo ; was going on a visit to his brother at 
 Santa Catharina, and had been offered passage part of the 
 way in the schooner, which he had accepted ; may the 
 good St. Andre forgive him. All the baggage he owned 
 was the red umbrella and the breviary ; and he ended his 
 biography by telling us how to determine the coming of 
 Lent, and other movable fasts of the true church. After 
 this effort, we gave him a drop of grog, and Ned Peale 
 proposed a toast. 
 
 " My starving friends," he began, " I propose, The 
 navy, the army, and the marines ; " the padre timidly 
 suggested, " The church ; " and I, being sorely enam- 
 oured with the cruel little Creole, added, " The ladies ; " 
 to which Ned, who had slept in a watch house in his 
 time, concluded with, "The police." Whereupon we 
 buried our mugs, seriatim, in the tin cup which held the 
 grog, and each tossed off his portion. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 301 
 
 By tliis time a breeze started up from the southward, 
 the boat was called alongside, and the skipper made 
 preparations for beating to windward. Taking the 
 helm, he shouted some order in Portuguese ; upon 
 which his subordinates all lighted paper cigars, and then 
 awaited further instructions. Down went the tiller, 
 the old hulk slowly came up to the wind ; but after 
 nodding and dodging about a while, she missed stays. 
 
 " Filho da puta ! " roared the skipper, as he carefully 
 detached the cigarito from his lips. 
 
 " Filho (la puta ! " shouted the crew, as they took 
 up the cry of their chief, while the vessel fell doggedly 
 off from the wind. This course of tactics was at- 
 tempted, with no better results, several times, until 
 Peale advised the yawl to be sent out again, to tow the 
 bow round, when we happily got on the other tack. 
 While Ned was forward, giving directions about this 
 delicate manoeuvre, he sang out to me, — 
 
 " Hurrah, Gringo ! here's a canoe, or bolsa, close 
 aboard." 
 
 True enough, a large market canoe, with outriggers 
 and mat sail, had come upon us during the rain showers ; 
 and what was more agreeable, she had a cargo of melons, 
 mandioca, yams, some tallow, and aguardiente. 
 
 In a few minutes we had bartered away all the light 
 
 articles we could scrape together on board the drogher 
 
 — the old gafftopsail, our neckerchiefs, a musket, the 
 
 Maltese's Panama hat, and even the singing padre's 
 
 26 
 
302 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 valuable umbrella. He, poor fellow, had dreadful mis- 
 givings about parting with his property ; but the sight 
 and taste of a monkey jar full of kesash, and the man- 
 dioca flour, soothed his feelings ; and I believe that in 
 another moment he would have thrown his missal, 
 gown, and stockings into the general bargain, had not 
 the canoe shoved off. 
 
 It was not many minutes before the grizzled baboon 
 had split up more of the bulwarks, with a few shavings 
 from the heel of the bowsprit, and had raised a blazing fire 
 in the caboose. There we kept him, busy as a demon, 
 frying cakes in tallow, and roasting yams, — which we 
 all relished exceedingly, — until near midnight ; when 
 the perverse old nigger dropped do^\ n exhausted, and 
 swore, in his own dialect, that the fetish might eat him 
 before he would cook another mouthful. 
 
 " Filho da puta ! " growled the lethargic skipper, in 
 his wonted tones. 
 
 We had all, however, enough ; and since the wind 
 was baffling, and the night rainy, we lowered the sails 
 again ; when Ned and I once more betook ourselves to 
 our temporary retreat within the folds of the mainsail. 
 
 The following day was dull, cloudy, and rainy, ac- 
 companied by sharp thunder and lightning, with light, j 
 variable airs, which, however, did not last for ten 
 minutes at a time. We had sagged well in with the 
 coast, either by current or luck, and the skipper de- 
 clared that he knew by the hills, which we got a peep 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. SOS 
 
 at occasionally, that we were near Paranagua Island. Still 
 we could see nothing of the polacre, nor, what was to us 
 infinitely worse, not a vestige of the dear little Flirt. 
 Nevertheless, we made ourselves as comfortable as cir- 
 cumstances would admit, and divided our time between 
 the priest, the flapjacks, the aguardiente, and smoking 
 tobacco wrapped in maize husks. 
 
 It required a fair share of philosophy to accomplish 
 even this ; for we were alternately drenched with rain, 
 and dried again by the hot sun, which ever and anon 
 peered out for half an hour or so between the thunder 
 showers. Had there been a readable book on board, it 
 might have alleviated our miseries ; but the only one was 
 the little padre's missal, and as it was printed in what 
 appeared to our inerudite eyes black letter Latin, we 
 could not make out a word, any more than the owner 
 himself. We made, hoM'ever, numerous marginal notes 
 on the vellum, which, I fancy, rather surprised any 
 learned prebendary who may have chanced, at a later 
 period, to peruse them. 
 
 Another night came and passed. Ned Peale assured 
 me that he began to feel in an incipient state of lousi 
 ness ; that the mandioca flapjacks were injurious to his 
 constitution ; and if he could procure a bit of chalk, he 
 would like to write his will in the crown of his cap be- 
 fore he bade a final adieu to his friends and the world. 
 The skipper and his myrmidons, on the other hand. 
 
S04 TALES rOR THE MARINES. 
 
 seemed to be basking in a true Brazilian paradise — 
 nothing to do and plenty to eat. 
 
 The weather at sunrise was the same as the day be- 
 fore ; but as we now felt sure of being up with the 
 island, Ned jumped on a fragment of the quarter rail, 
 that had not been entirely hacked into firewood by the 
 baboon, and shinning up the Tciar shrouds of the main 
 rigging a few feet, he sung. out, with a joyful note, — 
 
 " By George ! there's a square rigger under topsails 
 just looming up through that thick stuff away on the 
 beam ! and here's the land, too, close aboard ! " 
 
 ** Ay," I exclaimed ; " and the brig of war also ! 
 Look ! " 
 
 We called the boy who had been left by Spuke in 
 charge of his boat on the occasion of the skrimmage at 
 the pulperia, who affirmed that the craft seen by Peale 
 was the polacre ; he knew her by a new breadth of cloth 
 in the jib. As for the Flirt, there was no mistaking her 
 taunt, trig masts, clear, razor-edge bow, and white cot- 
 ton canvas. She was under easy sail, and evidently on 
 the lookout for us, as was likewise the polacre. There 
 we were, in the midst of the party ; but being a smallish 
 craft, and the weather thick and murky, we were not 
 discovered. 
 
 By and by there came up a snap of a squall ; and, 
 as we were not paying particular attention to seaman- 
 ship, it gave us a lick in the slack of the mainsail, with 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 305 
 
 SO smart a jerk that the boom overhauled the whole 
 length of the sheet in a jifFy, sent the fat little padre an 
 acrobat through the air, and with a loud crack carried 
 away the rotten old boom short off at the sheet blocks. 
 
 " Filho da pufa ! " exclaimed the skipper, while the 
 rest of us did all we could to get the sail down and clear 
 the wreck, and the baboon instantly began to chop away 
 on the fractured boom. « 
 
 At the same time the Maltese below, getting tlnrsty, 
 perhaps, — for the Lord only knows whether he had 
 tasted a drop of v^ater since sailing, — raised as horri- 
 ble a series of yells and demoniac howls for " agua ! 
 agua—a I " as ever came from fevered lungs. 
 
 One squall, however, no sooner passed than another 
 would flurry around us, from, may be, the opposite di- 
 rection ; and thus we had our hands full, in the crazy 
 old drogher, to lower and roll up the sails as soon as 
 possible. AVe had fears, too, of being capsized and 
 sunk, since there were only a few stones and shingle bal- 
 last in bulk in the hold, and part of that had shifted in 
 the first puff ; so that we heeled over like a fellow with 
 a short wooden leg on the side of a hill. 
 
 " Pleasant times these ! " muttered Ned, whose dis- 
 gust was approaching a climax ; " and there's a legion oi 
 waterspouts forming all around us, besides. Shouldn't 
 be the least surprised if we were sucked up into the 
 clouds somewhere, and then rained down again in the 
 woods, and reported for a remarkable phenomenon. 
 ^6* 
 
306 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Heavens ! did you ever hear sucK thunder ? I wish I 
 had no ears for a couple of minutes." 
 
 " Nor eyes either/' I thought, as the rapid volleys 
 of celestial artillery and the flashes of Hghtning nearly 
 stunned and blinded us. 
 
 " I'll tell you what, though," said Ned, after a pause ; 
 " I'm going to get some of these Diegos' muskets ready 
 to tap the shell of any of those spouts that may come 
 dancing near us. Harry Greenfield has had experience 
 in these matters, and I've heard him say that a bullet 
 pitched into their bodies will let all the water out in no 
 time." 
 
 Accordingly we desired the skipper to hand out a 
 couple of muskets and ammunition from a locker near the 
 taffrail ; but on examining them, we found the powder 
 soaking wet, and the arms covered with rust. But 
 Ned, not to be outdone in his design, carried a flask to 
 the galley, and pouring about a pound of powder into 
 an iron pot, directed the cook to dry it over the warm 
 ashes. 
 
 Fortunately at this juncture my companion came aft 
 to cut up a piece of the mainsail to polish and clean out 
 the barrels of the muskets ; for as he reached me, there 
 was a dull, quiet sort of an explosion, followed by a 
 huge puff of thick, white smoke, which completely ob- 
 scured the schooner forward. The moment it cleared 
 away, we saw the rickety old caboose completely de- 
 molished ; the bricks scattered around ; a few embers 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 807 
 
 and splinters of the boom and bulwarks blazing about ; 
 the old black baboon lying on his back, with his heels 
 up in the air, his wool singed to a crisp, and screaming, 
 in his Guinea gibberish, with all his vocal power. 
 
 " Filho da puta ! " ejaculated the terrified skipper, as 
 a fragment of an earthen pot was hiu'led by the force 
 of the powder, and, grazing his foot, barked his shins 
 grievously ; while the pious padre pattered a misericor- 
 dia, and Ned Peale swore that the flapjack baking was 
 done for, and for the future we should have to subsist 
 on chewed bullets. The cause of the disaster was a 
 few live coals dropped into the kettle by the old cook, 
 to hasten the process of drying the powder. 
 
 AVhether it was the noise of the explosion or the 
 smoke that the vessels in our vicinity first perceived I 
 do not know ; but both had now observed us, and the 
 Flirt had braced round her yards, with her nose pointed 
 after us from seaward, while the polacre had let fall her 
 foresail, and squared away from the du'ection of Par- 
 anagua. 
 
 At this time there must have been at the least a score 
 of waterspouts, reeling and twisting, with their hollow, 
 waving cones, within a mile of us. Some were like 
 long coach whips, others resembled inverted palm trees, 
 pending from the heavy, slate-colored clouds above, 
 waving their tapering tubes in graceful motion, until a 
 white whirl would be perceived in the sea beneath, and 
 the next instant the agitated water would rise in a liquid 
 
308 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 cone, and joining the ragged, vapory section above, 
 would go spinning, in a clear, dark-blue or brown hue, 
 over the undulating ocean. Sometimes they M'ould 
 move with great velocity — ten miles the hour ; again, 
 lazy, and almost motionless, bending at a great angle, 
 as if about to fall asunder ; and then straightening up, 
 like a beautifully turned column, would waltz away in 
 a new direction. 
 
 There was a pair of these spouts, of heavier calibre 
 than their companions, which came on one after the 
 other, running a kind of sweepstakes race, directly be- 
 tween the drogher and the polacre. The headmost fel- 
 low went spinning on past our bow, twisting and draw- 
 ing up an enormous hollow column of water, roaring 
 and rushing, with the noise of a tempest, out to seaward, 
 beyond the calm spot where we lay. Its mate, however, 
 appeared rotating along in a slow, dignified gait on the 
 lofty, vertical axis, until it came in a line with the schoon- 
 er, when, swaying and bending its liquid back until near- 
 ly broken in twain, it seemed to recover its lost energy, 
 and with a cone of increased diameter and immense ve- 
 locity, it whirled towards the polacre. 
 
 *' Stand from under that shower, Mr. Nash, or you'll 
 get your toes damp," said Peale, drawing a long breath, 
 while the trembling padre quavered an ave, and the 
 skipper gave vent to his usual phrase of '^ Filho da 
 puta! " addressed to the world at large. 
 
 A squall of rain passed over us at the moment, and 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 309 
 
 when it had partially cleared, so that we could see a ca- 
 ble's length, we cast our eyes over the ocean, but could 
 detect nothing of the polacre or waterspout. Both 
 had disappeared, and there was the placid water, undu- 
 lating gently, and the sun bursting out from a patch 
 of insultingly blue sky, lighting up the sea all around. 
 
 " Yes," exclaimed Ned, '' I think there's something 
 black off here, like a vessel bottom side up. And, hil- 
 loo ! here's the Flirt's cutter ! " 
 
 Presently the oars of the boat were tossed alongside 
 the drogher, and Makeen sat in the stern sheets, grinning 
 with more than ordinary rapture, and making all kind 
 inquiries after our health, spirits, and cruise. We 
 lost no time in embracing Mak, first letting ourselves 
 drop by the run on top of him ; and then, taking the 
 skipper and the priest, to whom we had become fondly 
 attached, with us in the cutter, the men dashed away for 
 the wreck. 
 
 We had not half a mile to pull ; but before reaching 
 the spot, Hazy, with the Flirt's gig, a long, slim, muscle 
 shell looking vehicle, with seventeen-feet oars, came 
 sweeping up to us hand over hand. On nearing the wreck, 
 we passed fragments of spars, with sails and stranded 
 cordage attached ; and just beyond lay the hull of the 
 polacre on her broadside, and being deeply laden, it was 
 rapidly settling down in the water. There was a flock 
 of tame ducks and some fowls swimming and cackling 
 about the floating articles, and we saw the uplifted arms 
 
SIO TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 of a drowning negro, with the fingers t"s\'itching convul- 
 sively as he went under, either by the aid of fright, or 
 a shark at his heels ; and although the bowman of the 
 gig pushed his long oar blade down after him, yet the 
 poor fellow did not take hold. 
 
 The only other human being visible was an individu- 
 al hanging to the main channels of the vessel, without a 
 hat, but standing in a huge pair of fisherman's boots, 
 and with a spy glass tucked under his arm. 
 
 The cutter was the first to reach this man, and then 
 only in time to drag him into the boat before the lum- 
 bering wreck gave forth a volume of loud bubbling 
 noises, from the confined air below the decks ; then 
 rolling half over in the ocean swell, she rapidly sank. 
 
 During this occurrence, the person who had been res- 
 cued seemed to be in a dream ; but as the eddies and 
 foam caused by the dying throes of his lost bark exhib- 
 ited the reality of the thing, he started hastily up from 
 the thawt, and indulged in a kind of apostrophe to the 
 terrific water spout. 
 
 '^Wal, if that air warn't the most cantankerous 
 streak of greased lightnin that ever I see, I hope to be 
 darned tu all eternal smash. It tuk me clean up to the 
 planets, I ra-aly du believe, and washed the hull of the 
 skin off my chops in abeout a minute ; and I'm all shriv- 
 elled up, jist like a washerwoman's thumb. Polacre gone 
 tu ! twisted and shivered all ter toothpicks, and a full 
 carger of splendid sugar and coffee, worth ten cents a 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 311 
 
 pound in ther States ! I svreow I wonder what Spuke '11 
 say ! Cuss the darned spoutin' funnil ; it warn't my 
 fault, no how ! But my feelins is po-ig-nant, sartin." 
 
 «'How are you. Captain Nash?" I broke in, inter- 
 rupting his soliloquy. 
 
 " Why, who the hell be you ? " the rascal exclaimed, 
 as he swung round with unfeigned surprise ; but recov- 
 ering his wits, he glanced over the boats, and then, with 
 his leery, sharp, hazel eyes towards the old drogher, 
 he went on. 
 
 " 0, golly ! Boys, yu belong to ther war brig theer, 
 eh^ I remember neow, I was squintin at ye with the 
 glass, when that air water fixter capsized my wessel ; I 
 wos on the pint of speakin that air skuner down theer ; 
 so shove us aboard her, will ye, little chap ? " 
 
 The concluding portion of this speech was addressed 
 to Makeen, who replied, — 
 
 ** Certainly, Boots," — in allusion to the extreme dis- 
 proportion his pedal coverings bore to the rest of his 
 apparel, — " but hadn't you better first get shrived by 
 this amiable little priest, and provide yourself with a 
 long spoon, in case the hot old gentleman below should 
 invite you to sip a bowl of soup ; for your smuggling 
 game of coflfee and sugar is all up in this world." 
 
 " Yu lie, fur sartin," was the polite rejoinder. " I'm 
 on a fair and square tradin vyge." 
 
 " Yes," I edged in, mimicking his whiny, nasal drawl, 
 " with Mr. Spuke, who has a tombstone over his head 
 
312 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and is toes up at Santos ; and you have a chance for a 
 pair of twenty pound iron gaiters on your shanks at 
 E-io, for your share of the copper venture." 
 
 The fellow half closed his ferret-shaped eyes, and said 
 no more, except in selling his spy glass to one of the 
 cutter's crew for a dollar; and then proceeded to pare 
 his nails w*ith his jackknife, as if nothing of conse- 
 quence had happened to him. Even on getting on 
 board the drogher, he submitted to being put in double 
 irons, and rather rough treatment by the crew, without 
 a murmur ; but when the black cook tried to poke a little 
 fun at him, he fetched the old baboon such a wipe with 
 his handcuflfs as nearly to sever the upper lip from the 
 jaw. After this he was tumbled below into the stifling 
 hold, to keep company with Maltese Joe. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon, Hazy supplied the 
 drogher with a few days' provisions and water, fished the 
 main boom, patched up the caboose, and taking the 
 padre along with us for a lift to St. Catharine's, the skip- 
 per lighted his paper cigar, put his helm up, shouted, 
 ^' Filho da puta" and bore away for Eio Janeiro with 
 his prisoners. 
 
 As it may not occur to me again, Fred, quoth the 
 Lieutenant, as he halted in his narrative, to speak of the 
 fate of these worthies, I may as well finish them now 
 in a very few words. 
 
 It was, perhaps, three years after the disaster to the 
 polacre, that I was standing, one fine moonlight night, 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 313 
 
 with, a number of officers belonging to tbe Juniata, on 
 the slope of the palace stairs, at Rio, waiting for a boat 
 to go on board. Suddenly there sprang out a figure 
 from the shade of the wall near by, and dealing me a 
 smart blow on the side in passing, lie leaped with a 
 bound towards the water. At the instant the sharp bow 
 of the corvette's cutter came swiftly in, bows on to the 
 pier, and the person who plunged head foremost from 
 the steps to escape us came full in contact with the hard 
 iron-rimmed stem of the boat, with so heavy a shock 
 that her way was in a moment checked. We heard a 
 loud groan as the injured man dropped into the thick, 
 muddy water of the inner harbor ; a few bubbles and 
 sparkles followed the splash, but the crew could not dis- 
 cover the body. 
 
 When the fellow struck at me, between my left arm 
 and side, we heard also a faint cry of pain from some 
 one immediately at my elbow ; and on turning to look 
 for the cause, we found that one of the gun room ser- 
 vants, a quiet lad, named Antonio, had been badly 
 stabbed in the groin, by the thrust of a knife, no doubt 
 intended for me. He was taken to the United States 
 in the Juniata, and after suffering for many months in 
 the hospital, eventually recovered. A day or two after 
 this incident, old Kit Dolphin went to visit a former 
 shipmate, who was lying ill in the Misericordia, and 
 there in the frightful morgue of that dreadful lazar 
 house, he saw stretched upon a wet mat the rigid, bloated 
 27 
 
314 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 corpse of Maltese Joe. Kit knew him by the large 
 white tusk which projected from the hair lip. 
 
 ' Subsequently, we learned that the Maltese and Nash 
 had been condemned to ten years in chains on Cobras 
 Island, and that both had recently escaped. What be- 
 came of the astute Elias, I never positively knew ; but 
 many years after the death of his companions, while I 
 was cruising in the Pacific on board the old Penguin, I 
 was told that an individual answering to the description 
 of Mr. Nash had been driving a highly profitable busi- 
 ness in the opium trade at Canton Piver. 
 
 Forgive my tediousness, observed the Lieutenant to 
 the ladies, after the above digression ; but you know that 
 in a matter of contemporaneous history, one wishes to 
 be precise. We will return, if you please, to-morrow, 
 to our cruise in the Flirt. 
 
CHAPTEH IX. 
 
 " Frightful ! " ejaculated Commander Hazv, as he 
 heard the conclusion of our exploits and trials on board 
 the schooner from Ned Peale's lips — " frightful ; but I 
 did cherish the hope/' he added, smiling waggishly at 
 me, as I stood beside my sweet young Creole brunette, 
 '^ that you would have had ' an alacrity in sinking,' and 
 been drowned like ^ a blind bitch's puppies, fifteen i' the 
 litter,' for I have been very unhappy since your de- 
 parture." Here he bowed with mock sensibility to 
 the Spanish beauty and murmured with expressive 
 feeling, — 
 
 " The time I've lost in wooing, in watching, and pursuing 
 The light that lies in woman's eyes, has been my soul's undoing." 
 
 Still, with all Hazy's side play, he was delighted to 
 get us back, shook us warmly by the hand, ordered 
 Imperial Caesar to lay before us the treasures of the 
 cabin pantry, and laughed till the tears bedewed his 
 cheeks at Ned Peale's repetition of our miseries and 
 starvations on board the prize. He also made an im- 
 pressive oration to the priest, out of the Latin grammar, 
 md directed the sailmaker forthwith to construct, for 
 
 (315) 
 
316 ' TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the pious father, an umbrella of No. 2 duck canvas, to 
 suj^ply the place of the red one. 
 
 "We were all happy as clams at high water that 
 evening ; but the next morning, v/hen I found the Flirt 
 jumping over the waves, and the spray flying well up 
 into her courses, as she lay over to a stiff sea breeze, 
 with the Island of Arvoredo on the weather bow, I 
 began to fear that my roving independence was drawing 
 to a close, and that I should soon be in the traces again. 
 
 We had scarcely got through dinner when Harry 
 Greenfield insinuated his proboscis inside the cabin door, 
 and reported that the " commedoor had showed his 
 number in answer to ourn, sir." 
 
 " All right," said Hazy ; " much obliged for the at- 
 tention. Here's his health, and allow me to add, God 
 bless the rich ; the poor can beg ; and since I've hypoth- 
 ecated my pay for the next twelve months, I shall look 
 to virtue for my reward." 
 
 After these philosophic sentiments, we all went on 
 deck, and an hour later our pretty little clipper brig 
 anchored demurely under the counter of the Colombine, 
 a great heavy double-banked frigate, painted as black as 
 a raven. 
 
 By the way, ladies, paused the Lieutenant, as he ran 
 his hands through his hair, you can't paint a ship 
 a dead black, unless she is symmetry itself. Just like 
 a snub-nosed woman trying to wear her hair brushed 
 straight back a la Pompadour I I tell you that it is the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 317 
 
 only test of true arcliitectural beauty as applied to ships. 
 I never, in point of fact, saw but two that could stand 
 it ; one a smashing big English frigate, called the Con- 
 stance, and the other our own Colombine. Now, a plain 
 woman's sprightliness and wit may carry off any style, 
 as bizarre as you please ; but a ship must of inanimate 
 necessity rely upon her body and legs, and without 
 these essential elements to admiration, great care should 
 be paid to the paint. At least, that is my opinion as a 
 Christian, in this progressive age, havmg a regard gen- 
 erally for the appearance of ships, qualified the narra- 
 tor, as he again caught up the link of his discourse. 
 
 The anchorage at Santa Catharina was in a small bight 
 of the main land, under an old ruin of a moss-covered 
 fort, and abreast the house of a burly down-easter, who 
 called himself Killcat. This individual was married to 
 the daughter of the governor of the fortress, — a ser- 
 geant of Brazilian regulars, — and the trio turned an 
 honest penny by supplying ships with fresh beef, (steal- 
 ing bullocks for the same,) and spare spars, appre- 
 hending runaway sailors, smuggling merchandise, keep- 
 ing • a ten-pin alley, and in a word, making themselves 
 ubiquitously useful. 
 
 There was a tradition too, floating about, relative to 
 Killcat, to the effect that in times past he had been 
 skipper of a whaler ; that she had turned flukes some- 
 where, gone down to the bottom — of his pocket — and 
 in consequence, the unhappy man was then living the 
 27* 
 
318 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 life of a recluse in that out-of-the-way part of Brazil. 
 Some stray old mariner, also, whose testimony was quite 
 unworthy of belief, affirmed that he had a wife and sev- 
 eral starving brats in the Vineyard Sound, in the States, 
 and the reason why Killcat did not pay them a visit, 
 was, that among the rigid puritans of those regions, 
 " La polygamie est un cas ^endable ; " and fearful lest 
 they would treat him to a " vegetable breakfast on a 
 hearty-choke and caper sauce," he very prudently kept 
 snug, out of theJT reach. 
 
 Notwithstanding the amiable efforts of Killcat to 
 amuse us, it was dreadfully stupid work there at the 
 northern anchorage. We were afraid to trudge much 
 about the hills on account of a plentiful distribution of 
 venomous insects and serpents, the cobra di capello in 
 particular, and so we passed our leisure in rolling stone 
 balls at the ten-pins, and in eating shrimps, whortle- 
 berries and milk, on the domain of our virtuous coun- 
 tryman. ^ 
 
 The Island of St. Catharine's itself acts as a gigantic 
 breakwater, running for many leagues parallel with the 
 continent, and enclosing several large and commodious 
 bays. The one at the southern end is Arazatiba, a 
 lovely circular sheet of water, rimmed by a lofty amphi- 
 theatre of hills, clothed with noble groves of green 
 timber ; and it is altogether as picturesque a prospect of 
 land and sea as one may care to behold. Arazatiba is 
 indeed the last point of smiling fertility which the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 319 
 
 voyager beholds towards the southern lunits of Brazil, 
 and almost the last spot of seaboard verdure to be seen 
 on this side of the great continent all the way to Cape 
 Horn. The coast beyond St. Catharine's gradually 
 slopes down to a wild, sterile, uncultivated region, until 
 it melts into the low banks of the Rio de la Plata, and, 
 still farther inland, sweeping on to the nearly intermi- 
 nable pampas of the interior. 
 
 There was a small town called Nossa Senhora do 
 Desterro, built within the curve of the entrance to the 
 Bay of Arazatiba, which was as hot, romantic, and quiet 
 a spot as one need desire. Here we had a generous, 
 hospitable consul, whose house was always open to the 
 officers of the frigate and brig, and here, too, his wife had 
 given Antonietta a billet during the sojourn of the ships. 
 
 By some plausible pretext I usually managed to pass 
 most of my time there, and I soon had the satisfaction 
 of teaching the young Creole how to navigate along the 
 shore in a canoe, under the guidance of my dexterous 
 paddle. One evening, however, I chanced to spill her 
 out into the water, a little above her ankles, whereby 
 she soiled her pretty htile satin slippers, and could not 
 dance at the tertulia, so that she proved unappeasable 
 for a whole week, and made me horridly jealous by 
 coquetting with Makeen, who, by the way, was not a 
 whit uglier than I. 
 
 But, thank Cupid and the commodore, the Flirt was 
 ordered off to the River Amazon one fine day, to see 
 
320 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 how the revolution was going on at Para ; and then, 
 having no further pangs from Hazy or Makeen, my 
 pouting sweetheart returned to me once more, and I 
 recovered my lost spirits in a trice. 
 
 The frigate was ready to leave shortly after ; and when 
 the burly Killcat had fingered the cash for his righteous 
 dues, bettering his fortunes considerably, no doubt, in 
 the operation, the ship was unmoored, and with the 
 davits, spars, and boats teemiug with nets of oranges, 
 yellow, clustering bunches of bananas, green, pulpy al- 
 ligator pears, and other tropical fruits, she turned her 
 heel on the island. 
 
 The Colombine had been a long time on the station, 
 and, as is generally the case, the gun deck forward was 
 little better than a marine menagerie. In this living 
 collection of natural history was a learned pig, who 
 would rear on his hind trotters and catch bits of biscuit 
 in his mouth ; and there was a devilish small beast the 
 sailors called a mongoose, about the size of a ferret, and 
 so savage that no one dared approach him. His chief 
 sagacity was exhibited in biting people's noses ; and on 
 a certain occasion, when an indiscreet reefer had caught 
 the brute in a noose, triced him up to a hammock hook 
 by the tail, and severed off some inches of that indispen- 
 sable appendage with a cutlass, the moment the little 
 animal felt himself free he flew up and snapped off a 
 piece of the offender's proboscis. 
 
 Parrots and monkeys, however, were in the greatest 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 331 
 
 abundance. The former could out-whistle the boat- 
 swain and out-swear his mates, by long odds. One of 
 them — a handsome gray and red plumed fellow — could 
 preach as good a sermon as the chaplain, and his bene- 
 diction was the most impressive thing you ever heard. 
 
 But the monkeys ! There were two distinct tribes on 
 board, and each had their own parts of the ship for 
 exercise, and whenever either presumed to overstep 
 those defined limits there ensued a battle royal. One 
 family was the long-tailed, sharp-toothed Brazilian ape, 
 and the other the reddish, manly-looldng fellows, with 
 their stern frames polished like the frigate's copper fun- 
 nel. Each tribe had a leader, and rare sport they made. 
 The first lieutenant ordered them all thrown overboard 
 or shot at least twice a week ; but as they were great pets 
 of the sailors, their faults and pranks were in the end 
 forgiven. The largest of the African species, a sedate, 
 gentlemanly monkey, with a bushy black beard, which 
 he paid extreme attention to, conceived a mortal dislike 
 for the commodore, especially when he was shaving or 
 brushing his hair. On those occasions the monkey 
 would fly into a frantic passion, believing, possibly, that 
 the commodore was imitatinsr his own motions with his 
 paws. One pleasant morning, while the commodore was 
 busy writing, this mischievous brute, whom the men 
 politely addressed as Sir Charles Grandison, stole into 
 the dressing room, where, after lathering his chops, head, 
 and rump, he very systematically pitched all the elegant 
 
322 TALES FOll THE MARINES. 
 
 pearl-handled razors, brushes, soaps, and various articles 
 of the toilet, out of the port ; then, jumping out into 
 the main cabin upon the table, he capsized the ink, tore 
 up the papers, and slapping the aghast commander-in- 
 chief in the face, snatched off his wig, and made an 
 exit, with a satisfied screech, through the blinds of the 
 gun deck cabin doors. Sir Charles never drew breath 
 — that is, if a monkey ever requires to, from fatigue — 
 until he gained the main truck, where he hung the 
 peruke on the spindle of the lightning conductor, and 
 remained himself aloft in the daytime for a long period, 
 seeming to be conscious of the enormity of his crime, 
 and the punishment which awaited him when brought 
 to justice. He was, however, eventually pardoned ; and 
 the mercy shown him had a happy effect, for ever after- 
 wards he behaved like a perfect gentleman, learned to 
 fight duels with wooden pistols in the waist, and 
 brought the broadsword exercise to a high pitch of 
 perfection. 
 
 The frigate had light winds after sailing from St. 
 Catharine's, and she made but little progress on her 
 course to the K-iver Plate, so that there was plenty of 
 leisure to pull the guns in and out, scrub the paint 
 work, holystone the decks, and what not, to the great 
 joy of the first lieutenant. 
 
 As I was merely a passenger, and there was an unoc- 
 cupied cabin in the gun room, I had leave to fill it 
 for the short time I expected to remain before joining 
 
TALES FOR THE MAHlNES. 323 
 
 the Juniata. This comfortable berth, you may depend 
 upon it, pleased me exceedingly, and I slept without 
 the nightly risk of having my clews cut, or a sponge 
 filled with water suspended over my head, or the learned 
 pig stowed in my hammock by the larkish young imps 
 of the steerage. 
 
 The gun room mess comprised a very jolly set of fel- 
 lows for the most part, and among them Joe Montacute, 
 who was at the time acting sailing master of the frigate. 
 It was not one of those messes w^iere the members talked 
 of ropes, sails, evolutions of ships, and the like nautical 
 jargon. No one was heard to ask what kind of a voice 
 such and such a first lieutenant had, or how the jib hal- 
 liards of such a ship were rove, or whether the rigging 
 and backstays set up on their own ends or were turned 
 in cutter-stay fashion ; but all had the good, companion- 
 able sense to leave those Benbow topics to their proper 
 occasions, and while at mess to allow the mind to dwell 
 upon more wholesome food. 
 
 I shall certainly never forget the first dinner I had at 
 that mess. There had been, I imagine, some little dif- 
 ferences existing for some time previous, and on this 
 occasion the caterer talked of resigning, and it was 
 upon a new election that the scene I am about to relate 
 occurred. 
 
 The Colombine had great beam, and the open space 
 or " country " in the gun room was laid transversely 
 with a large table, loaded with the usual appurtenances 
 
32-4 TALES FOR THE MAllINES. 
 
 of dinner, and lighted by a pair of globe lamps swing- 
 ing from the beams above. At the first peal of the 
 bugle, playing the air for dinner, the doors of the little 
 state cabins, on either side of the " rural districts " of the 
 gun room were thrown open, and some twenty gentle- 
 men appeared and stood behind their chairs. The chap- 
 lain gave a hearty grace, — short and particularly sweet, 
 — and the next instant, the clatter of soup plates and 
 spoons resounded far and near. 
 
 At one end of the table sat the executive officer of 
 the ship, Mr. Rhamrods, a grim, florid-faced gentleman, 
 with light hair and eyes, and a not unpleasing expres- 
 sion. He was a taciturn, pompous person, oftentimes 
 mistaking stiffness of demeanor for dignity, and though 
 he was seldom affable or sociable with his messmates, 
 and sadly deficient in tact, yet on the whole, I believe, 
 he was a worthy officer, and with a more genial manner 
 he might have got on very well. 
 
 Beside him was a large, portly lieutenant, solid in 
 mind as in body, who had a natural antipathy to those 
 of his species who had more money than he ; withal, 
 extremely inquisitive, but, singular enough, he never 
 asked a question without being thoroughly acquainted 
 with the subject beforehand. Notwithstanding these 
 peculiarities, he was an excellent messmate and a brave 
 and correct officer. Farther on, and opposite, were 
 ranged half a dozen officers of the same grade — one a 
 thin-visaged person, with a head scarcely bigger than a 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 325 
 
 walnut, and a lanky body adorned wltli a c[uantity of 
 flash jewelry, whose cognomen was Brokenberry. 
 
 Still farther down the table was a good old major of 
 marines, who invariably agreed with eveiy one, upon 
 every imaginable topic. Then came the parson, — a 
 regular fire eater, — and three surgeons, the younger of 
 whom was known as the Ladders, for his propensity to 
 run up and down those stairways. The remainder of 
 the mess consisted of supernumeraries, secretary, purser, 
 master, a consul, and the caterer, who, in virtue of his 
 office, sat at the lower end of the table. 
 
 Behind the chairs were posted a corps of waiters, of 
 all colors, sizes, and ages. They distributed plates as 
 if dealing a pack of cards, and were rather slow in 
 changing them ; yet, with an admirable instinct, they bore 
 off the wine glasses during dinner at a moment's notice, 
 more especially when they were not emptied of wine. 
 
 "While the soup was serving, very little conversation 
 took place, there being only a few low growls at the 
 servants, and the cook, and at the idlers, for having 
 played backgammon so as to disturb the watch officers. 
 These animadversions caused rather snappish rejoinders, 
 and the caterer, in behalf of his stewards, declared it was 
 the most unreasonable mess ever known — that the soup 
 was the purest of ox-tail, and esteemed a great delicacy. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " exclaimed one of the lieutenants named 
 Noly, who set himself up for the mess wit; "• ever since 
 I dined with the governor of Ceylon, vvhere we had 
 28 
 
326 TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 
 
 mulllgatawney soup, wortli a guinea a spoonful, I can't 
 endure such trash as this." 
 
 Here the covers were removed, and while the meats 
 were carving, the fat officer threw out a hint to be in- 
 formed where the ship was, and if there were any hopes 
 of getting in if the wind held. 
 
 This seemed to be a side blow at the master, who got 
 up his bristles at once ; but before he could reply, the 
 secretary, a bright, black-eyed, handsome little fellow, 
 spoke up and said, — 
 
 " One moment, gentlemen, with your permission. 
 I am directed by the commander-in-chief to read to you 
 a recent order from the navy department, relative to 
 whiskers." And so he went on with the regulation, that 
 " the hair on the face was not to be worn lower than two 
 inches below the tip of the ear, in a line with the mouth." 
 
 When Larry, the secretary, had concluded the docu- 
 ment, and the knives had been resumed, Brokenberry, 
 who sported a prodigious mass of hair under his chin, 
 which made him appear like a rat peeping out of a 
 bunch of oakum, broke out with, — 
 
 " Well, I'll be switched if the secretary of the navy, 
 who gave that order, isn't an " 
 
 "A — a — gentlemen," interrupted Mr. Rhamrods ; 
 ^*a — really, can't — a — listen to any language disre- 
 spectful to the — a " 
 
 " Hair on our faces," said Noly, ironically ; '' and per- 
 haps you wouldn't be glad to raise a pair like this your- 
 self," stroking his whiskers complacently. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 327 
 
 '^ Fellows, I trust the game isn't entirely blocked for 
 cool, dispassionate argument upon this question," be- 
 gan Nickles, the fleet surgeon. 
 
 " Cut off your whiskers first, though," gibed in the 
 chaplairu 
 
 " Then -we can't drink brandy and gin. 
 And we'll all shave under the chin." 
 
 chanted Noly, as if he was setting up the back stay falls. 
 > " No, by thunder," continued Nickles, " not till I 
 have clearly shown this intelligent mess — that is, if 
 the caterer will hold back dinner a minute or two — 
 that the measure promulgated is diametrically opposed 
 to health, honor, and religion." 
 
 '* Proceed," solemnly observed the purser. 
 
 " Well, then, my friends, my professional opinion is, 
 the beard acts as respiratory organs to assist the lungs, 
 and was therefore intended by Providence to subserve 
 a good purpose. For example your cavalry men, who 
 wear the beard as nature intended, are not afflicted 
 like the foot soldiers, who are all more or less troubled 
 with cutaneous disorders about their muzzles, resulting 
 from the incessant scraping, lathering, and exposure in 
 the line of their duty. On the other hand, behold your 
 lusty sailor, when he jumps out of a hot hammock on a 
 ^teaming lower deck, to reef topsails in the frosty upper 
 regions: if he has a beard around the throat, it absorbs 
 by a natural process the perspiration, protects the honest 
 tar of 'all weathers from bronchitis, cynanchc trachealis. 
 
328 TALES FOR THE MAHINES. 
 
 and other painful disorders. Bat the reverse is the case 
 when your martinet captains curtail Jack of his hairy 
 proportions. Then, again, Poll delights in her Jack's 
 whiskers ; and in fact the softer sex generally do not ob- 
 ject to those hirsute appendages. 
 
 "Why, my friends," said Nickles, getting warm in 
 his lecture, dropping his knife and holding a pickle up 
 in the air on his fork, " why, a glossy beard is a mark 
 of good living — quite a sign held out, such as one sees 
 over a French auberge, ^ Ici on mange hien.^ The con- 
 templative Turks will tell a man's feeding by a glance 
 at his beard ; and they consider it more disgraceful to be 
 deprived of that manly ornament, than to be publicly 
 bastinadoed. All good Mussulmans swear by their 
 beards. The Tartars waged a bloody war, as a religious 
 principle, on the Persians, because they declined to cut 
 their beards d la Tariare. Homer wrote sublime poetry 
 on the beards of Nestor and old Priam. The ancient 
 rulers of France sealed letters with hairs from their 
 whiskers. Many famous generals were even named after 
 their beards, and martyrs have had theirs respected on the 
 scaffold from the sacrilegious axe. The beard ukase of 
 the Czar Peter almost overthrew his empire, and nearly 
 caused a massacre equal to that of St. Bartholomew. 
 The Spaniards say, ' Desde que no hay barha, no hay mas 
 alma/ — Since we have lost our beards, adieu to our souls. 
 And the grave Portuguese, too, regard the beard as one 
 of the most precious rights of man. As an instance, in 
 
TALES FOE, THE MAIlI^-ES. 329 
 
 the reign of Queen Catharine, the gallant John de Cas- 
 tro, having taken a castle in India, found himself in the 
 awkward predicament of the man who had drawn an 
 elephant in a raffle — with no means to support the 
 acquisition. So Don John called upon the inhabitants 
 of Goa for a thousand pistoles to maintain his fleet, and 
 as a security for that sum he sent one of his whiskers, 
 telling them, ' All the gold in the world cannot equal 
 the value of this natural ornament of my valor ; and I 
 deposit it in your hands as a bond for the money.' "What 
 generosity ! what heroism, my messmates ! And can you 
 doubt that the brave knight was rewarded by twice the 
 treasure he asked ? " 
 
 " I should like to make a pilgrimage to Goa," ob- 
 served Brokenberry ; "I'm rather hard up just at this 
 crisis, and flatter myself that I could supply that market 
 with as fine a pair of whiskers as Mr. Castro." 
 
 Without noticing this interruption, the doctor went 
 on. " Ay, all the great marshals, poets, and painters 
 of France took infinite pride in their beards ; and it was 
 not uncommon for a favorite lover to have his whiskers 
 trimmed, combed, curled, waxed, and perfumed by the 
 high-born dames of the court. Even Moses, in holy 
 writ, forbade the Hebrews to cut off their beards en- 
 tirely ; and the Marquesan Islanders preserve each hair 
 of their ancestors' beards with the mo^t scrupulous ven- 
 eration. Good Sir Roger de Coverley himself offered to 
 lead the fashion, at a month's notice, with a pair of 
 28* 
 
330 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 whiskers, so as to restore faces to their ancient dignity ; 
 and Hudibras, too, — 
 
 ♦ His ta-wiiy beard was th' equal grace 
 Both of his wsdom and his face.' 
 
 Again, among the celestial bodies, comets themselves 
 have beards." 
 
 " So have oysters," added Noly ; " but they have no 
 more right to them than elephants to have their names 
 inscribed with brass nails on their trunks." 
 
 " Silence ! " growled somebody. 
 
 ** And why," continued Nickles, " should we not 
 respect also the professors of the tonsorial department ? 
 It is a noble avocation. Blessings on the Romans, who, 
 in the days of Pliny, imported a troop of barbers into 
 Italy from Sicily. Regard their descendants ! See the 
 benefits they have shed upon mankind ! Look back to 
 the time of Cervantes, when the barbers' shops were 
 the resorts of the great politicians, statesmen, and wits 
 of the age. And in later times, remember that the 
 king of comedy, Moliere, was said to have derived 
 many of his unrivalled characters from the studies pre- 
 sented to him in a barber's shop ; ay, and the elbow 
 'chair is still shown at Pezenas where he silently sat 
 watching the grimaces and gestures of his favorite 
 models. Think, too, that the learned Jeremy Taylor's 
 father was a barber, and that in the present day. Jasmin, 
 the peasant poet of fair Provence and Languedoc, the 
 
TALES FOR THE MAHINES. 331 
 
 ' last of the troubadours/ is but a simple barber. And 
 although, my marine friends, it is not every barber who 
 can aspire to the fame of a Smallpeace, Higgins, or 
 Williams, yet we must look kindly on, and cherish 
 those less favored by fortune or talents. 
 
 " Yet, after all the benefits which I trust I have thus 
 unfolded to your view, as well for the toleration of 
 beards as for barbers, we have just received orders, my 
 indignant messmates, as severe as the decrees of Draco, 
 to slaughter our innocent hirsute decorations, merely to 
 gratify the absurd taste, or vanity, or jealousy of people 
 who can no more raise a crop of good wholesome hair 
 on their faces than a poor scrub of a Chinaman. 
 
 " Therefore, gentlemen," cried the impassioned 
 Nickles, as he thrust the pickle into his mouth, and 
 stuck the fork into the mahogany, " this system of per- 
 secution must be put down ; and I propose to " 
 
 " Cut off our whiskers two inches below the ear, in 
 a line with the mouth," suddenly broke in Monta- 
 cute ; whereupon all the mess shouted with one voice, 
 " Agreed ; " and the doctor, recovering his senses, 
 glanced round the table, and finding the dinner going 
 " carnis universce via," he quickly changed his tune, 
 and exclaimed, — 
 
 " Major, what's that before you ? It doesn't look very 
 tempting." 
 
 " Xo, sir ; French dish, sir ; could not recommend it ; 
 never touch these kickshaws, sir." 
 
333 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 At the same instant some person a long vray ofF said, 
 ''Major, I'll trouble you again; it's the best dish on 
 the table." 
 
 "Yes, indeed," replied the complaisant soldier; "ex- 
 cellent fricassee, Monty; always find the French cook- 
 ery delightful, because their sauces ai'c drawn from the 
 juices of the viands themselves." 
 
 "I appeal to the ghosts of all the cordon-hhus who 
 ever took their diplomas in Paris or St. Petersburg, if 
 this sauce piquante isn't sour enough to make a pig 
 squeal." 
 
 " Yes, doctor, it is rather sharp, and I always give a 
 preference to sweet sauces. You'll find it the most in- 
 digestible thing on the table." 
 
 " Glass of wine with you, Montacute," said Noly. 
 
 " Let me join you," coaxingly observed Brokenberry. 
 
 " O, no, you won't ; I'm not to be done out of my 
 tipple in that style. One at a time, if you please." 
 
 " What'll you drink ? " said Monty ; " some light 
 Wine : 
 
 "Yes," said Noly; "port; the old crusty at one 
 and six ; horrible stuff for a respectable landlord to fur- 
 nish his boarders with." 
 
 Here the caterer again piped up at what he termed 
 the " infernal growling," and hinted that nobody knew 
 what good w^ine was, and that, on his conscience, he 
 didn't believe some of the mess knew a good feed when 
 placed before them. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 333 
 
 *' No ! " screamed half a dozen disaffected persons ; 
 " then perhaps you'll serve up the myth of one for us ; 
 make a trial ; there's a good fellow — do." 
 
 " Well, then, gentlemen," said the caterer, sardoni- 
 cally, " to begin, I'd give you oysters with lemon juice, 
 — Julienne soup — " here he hesitated — "then j)oulet 
 a la Marengo " 
 
 "O Lord!" burst out Nickles, who prided himself 
 on his knowledge of gourmandise ; " chickens before 
 fish ! and then I suppose we are to have ^ islands of 
 moonshine in syllabub lakes ! ' Come, that will do for 
 to-day ; send for a hard, flinty biscuit, and break that 
 individual's head." 
 
 " O, you needn't take that trouble," cried the testy 
 caterer ; " I've intended for a long time to throw up the 
 confounded office, and now you may please to accept my 
 resignation, or leave it alone, as you prefer." 
 
 " Hillo ! you don't mean to make us unhappy," 
 shouted Montacute ; " however, we must scare up 
 another caterer, or starve." 
 
 Sam Jackstones, one of the medicos, was proposed 
 for the vacancy; but he declined the compliment, be- 
 cause he said he was loose in accounts ; at the same 
 time his principles were for unbounded extravagance, 
 if the majority sanctioned it. 
 
 " I'm blessed, gentlemen, if any majority picks my 
 pocket," nervously ejaculated the major ; "I am for 
 genteel economy." 
 
334 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " Any way, messmates, make that fruit basket a bal- 
 lot box, and pass it round to tlie marine republicans, to 
 vote." 
 
 The oranges were rolled out, and a small blue-eyed 
 Swede, who went by the name of Baron Stockholm, 
 passed the basket about the table ; the members wrote 
 their suffrages on slips of paper, and threw them in. 
 These were counted by Larry ; a tie was declared, and 
 a new election called. Hereupon there wms considerable 
 hubbub, attended by symptoms of a renewed discussion, 
 when Mr. Rhamrods rose. 
 
 Placing his arms akimbo on his hips, like a pair of 
 boomerangs, he began with, " A — gentlemen ! a — 
 there appears to have existed, of lute, some little — a 
 
 — differences of opinion upon mess matters; but — a — 
 I attribute it more to the unnatural state of existence — 
 
 a — we lead on shipboard than any other cause ; but '. 
 
 — a — if you will allow me to suggest, — a — since the 
 office of caterer is at this moment in commission, that 
 
 — a — the steward be empowered to produce the best j 
 
 — a — tipple the wine stores afford, — a — a — then I 
 would add a hope that harmony — a — in future may be 
 our watchword." | 
 
 " Agreed ! willingly ! by all means ! " said every one, 
 at the termination of this good-tempered address, and the 
 lost humor of the mess was at once restored. The ex- 
 asperated caterer was pacified, and again persuaded to 
 resume the keys of office ; and while the decanters 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 335 
 
 reflected their pale, ruby hues around, no one would 
 have believed that that assembly was aught else than a 
 band of brothers, afloat upon the high seas. 
 
 " Can't some garrulous person say something interest- 
 ing," said the fat lieutenant, after there had been a 
 few moments' quiet. 
 
 " O, yes," replied Xoly ; « I'll name the man. Now, 
 then, every body drink and nobody talk, and let's hear 
 that yarn the purser wanted to twist yesterday." 
 
 " What yarn ? " said the surprised commissary, who 
 had scarcely opened his lips during dinner, and was 
 busy cracking Brazil nuts, and carefully paring the cuti- 
 cles from the triangular kernels. 
 
 '' Why, that embassy to which you were attache, in 
 the East Indies, on board the Splinter ; let's hear it, 
 fellows, for the purser don't get a chance to talk often ; 
 and so keep perfect silence." 
 
 Just at this moment, the surgeon's steward hastened 
 into the gun room, and reported to Nickles that a marine 
 had been taken with fits. 
 
 " Hit him on the head with a top maul," said the 
 fleet, decidedly, as he winked over his wine glass at 
 his own make-believe inhumanity, and desired his subs 
 to "fix the sojer ofl"." 
 
 Hereupon a slight altercation ensued between the 
 junior doctors, which was not quelled until Broken- 
 berry rapped the table with the nut crackers, and in a 
 
336 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 voice as if from the gallery of a theatre, declared there 
 was a "nigger in the pit." 
 
 Thereupon Ladders was persuaded to leave his des- 
 sert for a time, and betake himself on an errand of 
 mercy and medicine, to the sick bay. 
 
 Fred, said the Lieutenant, as he clapped both 
 
 hands on his knees, and screwed up his lips, as if he 
 
 had a bad taste in his mouth — Fred, there's been a 
 
 great amelioration in medical practice these last twenty 
 
 years. I remember when they always dosed the reefers 
 
 with horse salts, scraped out of a barrel ; and if we 
 
 stood in need of any purifying compounds, we were 
 
 treated to sarsaparilla roots, boiled down with treacle 
 
 sirup, in iron pots ; while the lieutenants quaffed the 
 
 purest crystallized Epsom, and were soothed with the 
 
 expressed fluid extract of Swaim's Panacea. You see 
 
 what a difference rank makes, my boy, in these medicinal 
 
 phases of luxury ; and I'd advise you to get to be 
 
 a lieutenant as soon as ever your constitution will 
 
 bear it. I could wish, too, that the old Spanish ordi 
 
 nances might be revived which decreed that doctors 
 
 should not be paid except when they had cured their 
 
 patients, and that all medical attendants should head 
 
 the funeral processions of those who died in their hands. 
 
 We might even adopt the laws now in vogue among 
 
 the Chinese, who only fee the physicians while in good 
 
 condition, and severely bamboo them on the soles of their 
 
 feet when an unfortunate slips through their fingers. 
 
TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 337 
 
 " Come, Mr. Harry, go on with your yarn ; don't be 
 tedious, for it's getting late," quietly remarked the 
 gentle matron. As the Lieutenant was conscious of 
 being the best hen-pecked husband in his part of the 
 town, he resumed his narrative without a murmur. 
 
 When order once more reigned along the board, after 
 a few shakings of the head, and a little affected side 
 play, the purser began as follows : — 
 
 '^ You bright chaps never heard, perhaps, that old 
 Jack Percy, the present captain of the Juniata, some 
 few years ago, while in the China Seas, in command 
 of the Ironsides," — the purser gave it the Greek em- 
 phasis of I-ro?i-si-des, — "learned that a fleet of four- 
 masted junks had committed numerous audacious pira- 
 cies on American and English traders. These events 
 happened in the vicinity of the Straits of Malacca and 
 Gaspar ; and Percy ■'^ery naturally concluded that the 
 perpetrators belonged to the Gulf of Siam. In fact, 
 there was no doubt on this point, for the I-ro7i-si-des ac- 
 tually chased a squadron of these junks to the head of 
 the gulf, into the port of Bankok, which was a place of 
 some note in those parts. There the pirates, moored 
 in line, pointed their guns through the little portholes, 
 believing that the smaller the aperture the less chance 
 for a shot to get in, — and there they lay, perfectly well 
 pleased with themselves. 
 
 " Now, Mad Jack, being, as you know, a prompt 
 officer ; that is to say, — 
 29 
 
338 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 * Short were his orders, and his signals few, 
 Not scientific over much, or new ; 
 As having reference to little more 
 Than just to take, or sink, or run ashore, 
 Burn, or blow up, or other^^•ise annoy. 
 Those Avhom he deemed his duty to destroy.' 
 
 So he let the pirates have three broadsides of grape, 
 and a few thirty-two pound shot, as fast as ever they 
 could be poured in ; and you may safely take your oath, 
 that the mat sails of the junks, the brightly-painted 
 eyes in the prows, and the hulls were torn and smashed 
 into pieces before the smoke from the guns had cleared 
 away. During this little ball practice, some stray shot 
 ricocheted over the water upon the beach, and so on 
 into the town, where they played the very mischief 
 with about forty Siamese, leaving them, it was said, 
 only a pound of brains, half a leg, a couple of tails, 
 and an arm, among each half dozen of the wounded. 
 
 " Although the fellows killed and maimed on shore 
 were not actually under arms, or in a hostile attitude, 
 it was generally known that they were, nevertheless, 
 quite as great villains and pirates as those on board the 
 war junks, and consequently had been properly pun- 
 ished. A little disturbance of that nature produced a 
 very happy effect ; and, for a long time subsequently, 
 merchant vessels pursued their voyages without molesta- 
 tion. The affair, indeed, had been almost forgotten, 
 when all at once there sprang up a gentleman, who 
 called himself a native American, in virtue of having 
 
TALES FOll THE MA11INE3. 339 
 
 lived thirty years or more in China^ and took it into his 
 head, on the score of philanthropy, I believe, to investi- 
 gate the business. 
 
 " After an infinite deal of trouble and time spent in 
 collecting the foots, he returned to the United States to 
 preach a crusade against what he was .pleased to desig- 
 nate the ^atrocious massacre of the innocent Siamese.' 
 
 " Well, old Jack being at home in the bosom of his fam- 
 ily, and leading a quiet sort of life, away from the decks 
 and guns of a ship, was absolutely unconscious that the 
 crusader, whose name was Blister, was poking about 
 among the big bugs, and that he. Jack, came within 
 deuce ace of being turned neck and heels out of the navy. 
 
 " Fortunately, however, for Percy, a friend who hap- 
 pened to be on good terms with a trump card of the po- 
 litical pack, put in a word, and his commission was 
 saved. But a compromise was declared in fovor of 
 Mr. Blister, — who was, we all knew, quite disinterested 
 in the matter, — and he was appointed to visit Siam in 
 the capacitv of special commissioner, and charged with 
 an ample apology from the president of the American 
 realms, so as to restore our international relations to the 
 same friendly footing which had formerly prevailed with 
 those rascally pirates. 
 
 '' It was not mere peripatetic philanthropy which actu- 
 ated the commissioner while trotting about the wo]ld, 
 or simply a desire to atone for the ciimes of his coun- 
 trymen ) but he had likewise a morbid inclination for 
 
340 TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 extending the area of freedom by a private powwow with 
 the Emperor of China, and thus, as he expressed it, 
 •^ open up the commerce of the East for the American 
 eagle and the British lion.' 
 
 *' Heaven preserve you, gentlemen — there was nevei 
 any thing known so grand as this embassy since the 
 days of Lord Macartney or Amherst. I had orders, in 
 my official capacity, to buy all the old patent contraptions 
 ever invented or discovered to be worthless in the States 
 — pistols, pen makers, daguerreotype and sewing ma- 
 chines, pianos, pills, champagne imported from Newark, 
 New Jersey, caoutchouc, carbines, preserved meats, steam 
 engines on a small scale, and lots of other things, all 
 ^put down in the bills,' and intended for presents to 
 assist in ' opening up ' the commerce of Cocliin China 
 and the adjacent kingdoms. 
 
 *' The Splinter took all this trash on board, and we 
 sailed for Canton, whither the commissioner had preced- 
 ed us, and where, in due time, he was received by the 
 frigate with great banging of artillery and considerable 
 smoke. Leaving Canton River, we sailed straight for 
 the port of Hue, the capital, I believe, of Cochin China. 
 There was not sufficient water for the ship to get near the 
 town ; so, after some delay, and after a few boxes of pills, 
 which had been made up expressly for the embassy, to- 
 gether with a few^ baskets of the famous Jersey cham- 
 pagne, had been given to the one feather mandarin in 
 command, we were advised to proceed on to Saigoon. 
 
TALES rOR THE MARINES. 341 
 
 "For some private reasons best known to the natives 
 of this place, we were actually warned off the premises ; 
 not, however, until after a plentiful quantity of the pat- 
 ent pills and wine had been, as before, presented to a 
 two feather mandarin. 
 
 *^ Finding that nothing of consequence was to be made 
 at Saigoon, and that the ship's provisions were getting 
 low, we tripped anchor in self-defence, to * open up ' the 
 commerce elsewhere. 
 
 *^ Well, we sailed, contrary to the advice of the pi- 
 lots, who declared that it was coming on to blow ' sky 
 pidgeon ' to Mnakee sickee maintopsail.' In the first 
 instance we got foul of a fleet of lorchcrs, or freight 
 boats ; and then had no sooner cleared the land than we 
 caught a spurt of a gale, — the tip end of a typhoon, — 
 which nearly blew the buttons off our coats, split the 
 canvas, stove the boats, and never left us a moment's 
 peace or comfort until we got into the Gulf of Siam, 
 and cast anchor in the port of Bankok, the identical spot 
 where Jack Percy slew the pirates. 
 
 " We were speedily consoled, however, by being as- 
 sured by the commissioner that all difficulties were now 
 drawin"" to a close : he would at once demand an audi- 
 ence, deliver his credentials, go in state to the residence 
 of the emperor, and in the end ^open the commerce 
 sharp up.' 
 
 " Bueno ! For a day or two, while preparations for an 
 
 interview with the mandarins were going on, we had 
 on * 
 
342 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 leisure to wantlcr about the town, Avhcre the houses weic 
 all built on bamboo stilts, with the space beneath latticed 
 for fowls and live stock, and where the general aspect 
 of the country was marshy and filthy. 
 
 " At last an order was passed to the officers of the 
 frigate for all who could be spared from duty on the fol- 
 lowing day to attend the special commissioner, the Hon- 
 orable Mr. Blister, at his presentation on shore. It 
 was an awful struggle in that hot climate to haul on 
 a full dress coat, loaded with bullion and lace, and to 
 ship a cocked hat that made a man fiirly squint with 
 its sharpness. But there was no help for us, and just at 
 high noon we got into the boats, and, accompanied by a 
 numerous fleet of snmpajis, struck out for the shore. 
 
 ** On landing we were received by a guard of about 
 twenty soldiers, with matchlocks, blue cotton pea-jack- 
 ets, and cylindrical black hats, full four feet high. A 
 very fierce-looking guard it was. There were sedan 
 chairs on the beach also ; but as there were only enough 
 for the commissioner, the captain, and his staff, why, the 
 rest of us snobs had to plunge in their wake through 
 tlic mud. 
 
 " Luckily, we had not a great distance to walk ; and, 
 upon gaining the principal open space of the town, we 
 were ushered up a broad piazza, spread with mats of 
 different colors overhead for an awning, where we were 
 posted until the Siamese dignitaries should arrive, and 
 enter the audience chamber. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 343 
 
 " There was a prettT dense crowd in the square in front 
 of lis, and anv one acquainted with the Siamese idiom 
 must have been highly delighted at the remarks volun- 
 teered to the fan-qui'los, or he foreign devils. 
 
 " Prcsentlv, however, there was a shrill shout, accom- 
 panied bv the rattling of drums ; and from a lane on the 
 opposite side of the square, appeared a troop of soldiers, 
 habited all the same as our body guard, only their fun- 
 nel-shaped hats were half a yard higher. These were 
 followed by a gang of drummers, with little graduated 
 drums of wood, of diifcrcnt sizes, so as to preserve a 
 scale of sound when all beat in time. Then came a 
 band of fellows, like masqueraders, bedizened in the 
 queerest fashion, and bearing silvor-gilt wooden swords, 
 at least ten feet long, which they flourished, as they ca- 
 pered along, with expressive fury. In the rear of these 
 iiierrv-andrews were two led horses, richly caparisoned, 
 and at their heels a line ot palanquins ; the headmost 
 with eisxht bearers, denoting a mandarin of high caste, 
 while the whole procession was closed by more soldiers 
 :ind the rabble. 
 
 *' Thev all marched slowly up and down before the pi- 
 azza where we stood, the masquers threw somersaults, 
 and then the mandarins were assisted very tenderly out 
 of their gayly-painted and gilded palanquins ; and as they 
 marched sedately up one flight of steps, we moved up 
 another, and entered the hall of reception. 
 
 *« It was a pretty large apartment ; but since the Siam 
 
344 TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 ese consider it rather derogatory to their dignity to sit 
 in the same room with barbarians, we wcie phiced in a 
 large alcove adjoining, but in full view of the natives, 
 who were seated in double semicircular rows before us, 
 the chief mandarin being a little in advance of his ad- 
 visers. This individual, by the way, was a person of 
 great distinction, for he had a large gold button on top 
 of his skullcap, and three peacock's feathers bending and 
 waving over his face, showing at a glance that he was 
 some distant connection of the sun and moon, or at least 
 related to the asteroids. His companions, though indi- 
 viduals of high caste, were not of equal rank, and there 
 was nothing very remarkable about them, except that 
 they wore very long tails, blue silk overcoats, thick- 
 soled shoes, and had their eyes very much turned up at 
 the corners. 
 
 " I must not omit to mention that the presents for the 
 emperor had all preceded us to the town, and were 
 ranged along the walls of the audience chamber in great 
 profusion. There they were — pistols, pens, pills, In- 
 dia rubber shoes, tents and blankets, daguerreotypes, 
 et cetera. There was, in addition to these presents, a 
 model locomotive, which Mr. Blister had intended to 
 start whizzing, under actual steam, before the very eyes 
 of the emperor himself ; but, by some unforeseen acci- 
 dent, the boiler had not been included in the box, and 
 as the ship's armorer could not make one, the machine 
 was exhibited without, and no doubt succeeded quite as 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 345 
 
 well in astonishing the natives as if it had been going 
 under a full head of vapor, at the rate of sixty miles 
 the hour. 
 
 " We had also an interpreter, "who was brought all the 
 way from Canton. He was a very clever person, and 
 with a stock of about five hundred English words, could 
 impart the most intricate narrative, after his way, upon 
 any subject, moral, practical, or metaphysical, and quite 
 intelligibly too. 
 
 " When all the arrangements had been effected, the 
 Chinese squatted on the mosaic floors, and intense si- 
 lence prevailed. At a sign from the gold button digni- 
 tary, we all nodded like tipsy pendulums. Our ambas- 
 sador then stepped forth, and, through the interpreter, 
 observed that he experienced great happiness in making 
 the acquaintance of the mandarins, and he had come a 
 long M-ay to have that pleasure ; whereupon the three- 
 feather personage wagged his head and tail towards his 
 friends, and replied ^ Chin-chin,'' — that is, ' Glad to 
 hear it.' 
 
 " There was then a considerable pause ; for these 
 Cochin Chinese are a polite people, and have colleges to 
 educate their youth in that branch of learning, which 
 would not injure the manners of some of you fellows," 
 added the commissary, as he nodded over to Montacute 
 and Brokenberry, who were making sotto voce sneers at 
 his narrative, ringing finger bowls, jingling glasses, and 
 the like annoying amusements. 
 
o46 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 The purser continued : ^^ By and by Mr. Blister 
 opened his gas battery again, and desired to have the 
 honor of entertaining them with a brief speech. 
 
 " 'Chin-chin.' 
 
 '^ So he harangued them at length ; began with Con- 
 fucius and the evils of gunpowder ; glanced at the arts, 
 the Tartar wall, pestilence, and pirates ; concluding by 
 contrasting the horrors of war with the blessings of 
 peace, and the sincere desire cherished by our people to 
 ' open up ' the commerce into Cochin China and the ad- 
 jacent regions. 
 
 " At the same time he demanded leave to read the 
 letter of apology from the President of the United States 
 to the Emperor of the Celestials. ' Chin-chin ' was 
 uttered the third time, and while the Chinamen pulled 
 out their fans from the backs of their necks and began 
 quietly to fan themselves, our envoy. Blister, produced 
 the richly-bound case that contained his credentials, and 
 cutting the silk cords, down rolled the parchment, with 
 a huge red seal as big as a biscuit, and blue ribbons 
 dangling at the ends. It was one of the prettiest and 
 most portentous documents from an outside view you 
 ever saw. 
 
 "I don't remember precisely the words of this im- 
 portant missive ; nor was there, as I learned since, a 
 single copy of it preserved in the archives of the de- 
 partment of state ; but the pith of the communication 
 was, a warm panegyric upon the Celestials, a reciprocity 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 347 
 
 of souls in a commercial point of view, the grief felt 
 upon hearing that one of our sea mandarins had mur- 
 dered, with frightful artillery, the innocent and friendly 
 subjects of the emperor, and urgently requesting that 
 potentate to think no more about it, but to be comforted 
 and be friends again. 
 
 " ' Hi-yah ! ' said the three-feather gold button, with 
 the slightest touch of surprise, after this despatch had 
 been carefully rendered, word for word. ' Hi-yah,^ 
 softly murmured the other nobs, as their tails vibrated, 
 and they all moved rather uneasily on the mats, and 
 seemed to be a little disturbed at the information just 
 imparted to them. 
 
 " Meanwhile our commissioner was radiant with joy ; 
 his eyes sparkled, a smile overspread his fiice, as if he 
 was in a profuse perspiration of happiness, and we all 
 waited, in the confident belief that the commerce was to 
 be ' opened up ' in five minutes at the furthest. 
 
 " Still there was a decorous interval before any reply 
 came, the mandarins merely intimating that, as there 
 would be some time to elapse before they could give a 
 satisfactory answer to so momentous a message, they 
 would advise us to throw off our cloth coats and heavy 
 raiment. Now, with the thermometer at parboiling 
 heat, you may rest satisfied that we were not slow in 
 taking advantage of this polite suggestion, all save Lieu- 
 tenant Swayback, who candidly admitted that, since he 
 did not belong to a clean shirt fiunily, he would not 
 
348 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 risk an exposure of the arcana of his vestments to please 
 any body, not even Buddlia himself. He consoled 
 himself, however, with a sip of cooling sam-shou, fiery 
 enough to scald the back off an armadillo. 
 
 *' All this period the mandarins sat with the corners 
 of their eyes unnaturally turned up, even for them, nod- 
 ding one to another, and using their fans unceasingly. 
 They did not use these instruments on all occasions for 
 their faces, for sometimes they would raise the skirts of 
 their blue frocks, and vibrate the fans underneath, so as 
 to keep a cool ciixulation all around, during the heat of 
 their deliberations. 
 
 " By the way, let me tell you that your true Chinaman 
 can do nothing in life without a fan. Indeed, I once 
 beheld about two thousand of these natives at Canton 
 under immense excitement, with each a brickbat in one 
 hand, ready to dash out the foreigners' brains, and fan- 
 ning themselves with the other as if they never would 
 get another chance. 
 
 " Presently, however, the mandarins let fall the hems 
 of their garments, closed the fans, thrust them in the 
 cases back of their necks, shook their tails and feathers 
 in place, and having given orders to a scribe of their 
 party, he went behind a curtain for a space, and then 
 returned with a little roll of rice paper, which was 
 handed with extreme politeness to the gold button. 
 'Chin-chin,' he uttered softly, as he handed the paper to 
 his coadjutors, who said 'Chin-chin^ also. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 349 
 
 '^ * Now, gentlemen/ said our commissioner, with, 
 much complacency, ^ there's nothing like republican di- 
 plomacy. Come out plain and blunt, and the affair is 
 settled at once. Observe, in former times it took a 
 month or a year to get a reply from these people ; but 
 now these shrewd fellows have made up their minds in 
 a twinkling, and when the ' commerce is opened up,' 
 there will be no bounds to the wealth in store for us.' 
 
 " He had hardly finished these remarks when, by a 
 sign from the gold button, the interpreter took the roll 
 of rice paper, opened it, and immediately gave utterance 
 to the literal translation in these awful words : — 
 
 " * Lookee ! mandarin lik-ee talk ver-ee mush ; same 
 tim-ee, no man killee here ; all lie-e. Emperor no 
 wantee see him. Go away-ee. No com bak-ee no 
 more.' 
 
 " No sooner was this communication made than the 
 mandarins exclaimed, ^ Chin-chin,^ and rising in a body 
 from the mosaic floor, moved off in their usual po- 
 lite way, thus breaking up the conference. Mean- 
 while we stood attentively regarding our special com- 
 missioner, Mr. Blister, who was rosy with rage, and who 
 ground out, as the last blue frock of the high mandarins 
 rustled out of the chamber, * You long-tailed, stale egg 
 eating, treacherous villains, you're afraid if the emperor 
 hears that any of his subjects have been killed, that he'll 
 chop off your heads at the announcement.' 
 
 *' So we put on our coats, countermarched back to the 
 30 
 
350 TALES FOE, THE MARINES. 
 
 frigate, and sailed away from Bankok ; and to tlie best 
 of my knowledge and belief, that was as far as ever we 
 got to ' opening up the commerce ' in the dominions of 
 the Cochin Chinese. 
 
 " Hi-yahj'' added the purser, as he swallowed the 
 last of his nuts, and then pitched what he called a " man 
 drink " — a large glass of port — down after them, while 
 the majority of the mess spoke derisively of his recent 
 efforts to entertain them. 
 
 " Speaking of Jack Percy," said Sam Jackstones, 
 " I've heard a professional tradition of something which 
 happened to him w^hen in command of the Pappoose, one 
 gun schooner, in the West Indies." 
 
 " Long story ? " inquired Noly. 
 
 " No, short story," said Jackstones. 
 
 "Break stops, then." 
 
 " Why, Percy was first lieutenant ; the surgeon had 
 been ill with a constipation for a couple of weeks or 
 more ; so he made his will, and having been on cool 
 terms wdth old Jack, sent for him, made his peace, and 
 gave himself up to be disposed of as he, Percy, should 
 direct. Jack affirmed he could cure the poor man ; so 
 he had him plumped into the galley coppers, adminis- 
 tered a gross of grains of calomel, then boiled him, and 
 finally had him kneaded by a couple of stout negro 
 cooks. It may surprise you to hear that this mild treat- 
 ment had the desired effect, and the surgeon entirely 
 recovered ; but he hated Jack Percy malignantly ever 
 afterwards." . 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 351 
 
 '^ Don't wonder," said Montacute ; " lie sliould have 
 assassinated that first lieutenant the moment he had 
 strength to wield a jackknife." 
 
 '' Now I'll tell you something very amusing indeed/' 
 said young Ladders, who had just returned from the 
 sick bay ; but at that moment the sharp taps of the 
 drums were heard on the gun deck for evening divisions, 
 and, rising from the mahogany, the sea officers buckled 
 on their swords, and left the gun room comparatively 
 deserted. 
 
 I am getting dry, added the narrator ; in which his 
 audience concurred, and the party broke up. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 For some days longer the frigate drifted slowly on 
 her course, until one night the quicksilver of the barom- 
 eter began to retire within the lower bulb, and before 
 the day broke, the ship was under close-reefed topsails,, 
 a pale blue corposan on each spindle of the mastheads, 
 and attended by such crashing thunder and lightning as 
 is only enjoyed in the vicinity of the Rio de la Plata. 
 The gale, however, w^as fair, and dashing boldly into 
 the mouth of the broad river, we passed Lobos Island 
 the same day, and the following morning we cast anchor 
 off Montevideo. 
 
 At the time I was standing on the Colombine's poop, 
 borrowing a spy glass every half minute from the quar- 
 ter master on duty, for Antonietta to peep about at the 
 low, unwooded country, wdiere there was nothing to 
 relieve the monotony save the swelling hillock of the 
 mount to the west, while the city, in the opposite bear- 
 ing, lay a mass of white, flat houses. Their azoteas 
 were enlivened with the inhabitants, who, old and 
 young, w^ere amusing themselves in the innocent recre- 
 ation of flying kites. 
 
 The anchor had scarcely touched bottom, — and a 
 
 (352) 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 353 
 
 very little way it had to go, -—before, to my chagrin, I 
 heard the commodore say to his flag lieutenant, " Make 
 signal for the Juniata to weigh and to send a boat on 
 board for despatches." The order was promptly exe- 
 cuted ; the bits of gay bunting were bent on, hoisted, 
 shook out, and presently a pennant answered the signal 
 from the corvette. 
 
 "Gringo," said Montacute, "you'd better pack up 
 your traps, for there's no time to lose, if you intend to 
 rest in Mad Jack's bosom this cruise." 
 
 In a few minutes I was in readiness, had taken a ten- 
 der leave of Antonietta, 
 
 " Don't say tender,'''' said one of the Lieutenant's fair 
 auditors — she with the pretty ankles — " it is always 
 associated with beefsteaks in my mind." 
 
 Well, then, continued the narrator, I gently squeezed 
 the little flirt's 
 
 " No, don't say squeezed either," persisted the damsel; 
 " that reminds me of lemons ; say you pressed her hand." 
 
 O, of course ; I pressed her hand, and soon after I 
 was on the deck of my own ship. I was not received, 
 however, with that degree of aSectionate ardor which 1 
 somehow anticipated, nor was I indeed noticed in any 
 way except by Kox. That youth put his head up the 
 main hatch ladder, like a spectre, and exclaimed, — 
 
 "You confounded skulk, hurry and get tea, and 
 relieve me ; recollect, too, that you'll have the middle 
 watch." 
 
 SO* 
 
354 TALES FOR THE MARINEg. 
 
 The men were at the bars of the capstan, and Cap- 
 tain John Percy, with his black whalebone cane in hand, 
 was touching up the marines and afterguard in their 
 bunts, treating them the while, as they danced round 
 before him, to some of his choicest precepts, so as to 
 encourage them to get the anchor to the bows in double 
 quick time. 
 
 '^ Heave, boys," he began, with a singing, shrillish 
 tone ; " heave, my dear boys — one shoulder under the 
 bars — stand m'cII out — there she comes — don't jam 
 the messenger — keep the palls up." 
 
 Here the whalebone cane would be playing the devil's 
 tattoo on the tight trousers of the men, and his voice 
 would rise shriller and higher, until it gained a current 
 of perfect yells. 
 
 <' Heave, I say ! you lazy bones ! you infernal town 
 meeting democrats ! Take that, you lubber ! kill that 
 nigger ! Up with the anchor, I say ! " 
 
 "With such persuasive pleadings and practice, it was 
 no matter of wonder that the chain came rumbHng 
 quickly in to the hawse holes, and then "Anchor's 
 a-weigh ! " and " Anchor's up ! " following in rapid suc- 
 cession from the officer on the forecastle. " Unship the 
 bars ! hoist the jib ! let fall ! " was roared through the 
 trumpet to the sail loosers on the yards, and instantly 
 the folds of the courses and topsails swelled out from 
 the gaskets, the sheets rolled home like magic ; and as 
 the order was given to '* hoist away the topsails," the 
 
 ^ 
 
TALES FOR TILE MAKIXES. oO-J 
 
 yards rose without a pause to the mastheads. The lof- 
 tier canvas was then spread, and with the yards properly 
 trimmed, the ship fell off to the breeze, and we passed 
 close under the stem of the frisrate. I had only time 
 to exchange one hasty wave of the hand with Antoni- 
 etta, as the young beauty stood with her kerchief to her 
 eyes, surrounded by officers ; but whether she was 
 laughing or crying, I don't know ; at the time I of 
 course believed she was sublimed in tears. 
 
 On the corvette went, studding sails spread on both 
 sides, and in a couple of hours we lost sight of the Co- 
 lombine, and I was again pursuing the same liquid road 
 I had so lately passed over. 
 
 On first getting on board, I reported myself to the 
 captain ; but the only satisfaction I received was to have 
 my ears sharply pulled till my eyes watered, and gruffl3' 
 told to have my " hair cropped so close that a pair of 
 pinchers couldn't nip one of 'em." 
 
 The first lieutenant also seemed to be in an equally 
 amiable mood, for he observed, with a frown, that if he 
 ever found my hammock as much neglected as it had 
 been since I left, he'd quarantine me for a Dutch dog 
 watch ; meaning thereby the cruise. 
 
 Escaping from the quarter deck, I made a straight 
 wake forward, to seek a little sympathy from my sweet- 
 tempered friend. Jack Gracieux. He was standing on 
 the topgallant forecastle, intently peering through his 
 
356 TALES FOK THE MARINES. 
 
 eye glass at the rapidly-receding shore, but^ as I discov- 
 ered, in no enviable frame of mind either. 
 
 " Split my canvas ! " said he ; " half a dozen pairs of 
 duck trousers gone, and as many fine shirts as ever were 
 seen in New Spain ; to say nothing of minor valuable 
 gear. Alas for my shirts! that is my greatest grief; I 
 have a fondness for shirts, particularly for linen ones, 
 for there's a constitutional whiteness about linen which 
 common dingy, yellow, plebeian cotton can never attain. 
 However, it will be a warning to me never to trust a 
 washing person whose physical structure in the least com- 
 pares with mine. Indeed, I shall,. I fear, be obliged to 
 take a mental measurement of all laundry women's legs, 
 lest they devote my trousers to some unfeminine use." 
 
 Here observing me looking up into his fiice, he con- 
 tinued, — 
 
 " Why, younker, I'm ruined ; but if I had been 
 blessed Avith such a miserable pair of little trotters as 
 those lucifer matches of yours, I could not reasonably 
 fear any abstractions from my wardrobe ; and now just 
 oblige me by jumping down off this ladder, or I'll " 
 
 " Man the fore tacks, and stand by to let fall the fore- 
 sail," came from the trumpet; and finding that even 
 Jack Gracieux wished to get rid of me, I stole aft again. 
 
 Going below, along the berth deck, I found Tom 
 Slade stretched out in the gunner's state room, which, 
 as he jocosely observed^ he liked far better than the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 357 
 
 gunner's company. Slade had lost clothes also by the 
 sudden departure of the corvette — a loss which from 
 appearances he could ill afford. His outer man was cov- 
 ered with a blanket, which being of small dimensions, 
 in order effectually to screen his person, he had his big 
 toe stuck through one corner of it, while the diagonal 
 point was held fast in his teeth, " shghtly impeding his 
 articulation," he remarked, *' but still answering every 
 purpose of health, comfort, and convenience." 
 
 "Are you under hatches and arrested?" I ventured 
 to inquire. 
 
 ^^ Not exactly arrested," he rejoined, " but my affairs 
 of late have assumed so threatening an aspect, that a 
 body of gentlemen, seven or five strong, I really forget 
 which, assembled in full uniform around the cabin table, 
 where, after, as they wrote, ' a careful investigation of 
 numerous accounts and mercantile vouchers, they felt 
 bound to allow all dividends.' Accordingly, my small 
 friend, they decided that I should be declared a bank- 
 rupt, sent to the home station by the first convenient 
 opportunity, and henceforth be permitted to take a final 
 adieu of the public service. 
 
 " And now," he added, '' if you'll hand me that tum- 
 bler of whiskey out of the locker, and shut the door care- 
 fully when you go out, I shall be delighted never to see 
 you again." 
 
 In the steerage, after all hands had been piped down, 
 matters seemed to be worse. It was known that the 
 
358 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 ship ^Yas bound to the Falkland Islands and cold weather. 
 Bonny Davie was bewailing the loss of a case of gin, 
 which, after due consultation, had been ordered from the 
 city, instead of a pea jacket, to keep his blood in circu- 
 lation. In the first ten minutes I got into a fight with 
 one of my tow-lieaded messmates at the table, and a 
 black eye to enhance my beauty, for simply insisting 
 upon a fair share of the flapjacks. Towards night, 
 however, when Mickey Maginnis came down to hang up 
 my hammock, and Kit Dolphin, the dear old piebald 
 fiiced soul, found time to embrace me at the steerage 
 bulkhead, I was so glad to see them once more, that I 
 soon forgot the contused glim and the miseries of a 
 man-of-war's steerage. 
 
 The time wore on with the ordinary detestable mo- 
 notony of a life at sea, and sailing well in with the 
 Patagonian coast, in about twenty days we bore away 
 from the bleak iron-capped hills of Staten Land for the 
 Falkland Islands. Why we came to this out-of-the-way 
 group I never found out. Some said, to hang the gov- 
 ernor for not allowing the sealers to steal cattle, and 
 others to take formal possession of the islands. Be that 
 as it may, all we did, if my memory serves me, for many 
 weeks, was to knock over penguins and geese with boat 
 hooks, and shoot bullocks and wild fowl upon the plains. 
 In place of hanging the governor, we found him one of 
 the pleasantest fellows in the South Seas ; and in the lit 
 tie shed where he bivouacked, surrounded by his body 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 359 
 
 guard and garrison of some eight or ten individuals, we 
 drank his liquids and toasted our toes over his fire daily. 
 Whatever may have been our mission, it appeared to 
 terminate honorably to all parties ; and so, one chill, 
 dreary day, with the coops crammed with geese, the 
 launch packed with a small drove of bullocks, whose 
 horns had a very ominous look over the gunwale of the 
 boat, we tripped our anchor and left the Islas Malvinas. 
 
 For nearly a year and a half after this visit, we were 
 kept on the full run between Rio Janeiro, Pernambuco, 
 and Montevideo, touching at times at Santos, St. Catha- 
 rine's, and Praya Grande, but hardly ever remaining 
 long enough in port to take even a daguerreotype im- 
 pression of either of them. It was no sooner drop 
 anchor, than take in water and provisions, and off again 
 with despatches, or what not. Once it was roundly as- 
 serted by the boatswain, that we were sent for a salt 
 water wig for the commodore's wife's sister, a romantic 
 young lady of about forty-three winters, who had in 
 remote times been beloved by Carrera, on the Spanish 
 Main, and who had, ever since, taken remarkable care of 
 her toilet and coiffure. In some instances it was thought 
 she carried the passion too high, and wore her bib an 
 inch or two too low for a damsel of her complexion. 
 
 In all these cruisings of eighteen months we had 
 never yet been to Buenos Ayres ; and in consequence 
 of this forgetfulness on the part of the government, I 
 was still pining for Antonietta. At last a terrible com- 
 
360 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 motion was bruited in that city, and it was deemed ex- 
 pedient to send a ship there, to afford, if required, a 
 little aid and comfort to our countrymen who might 
 chance to stand in need of it. 
 
 "VVe were lying at Montevideo at the time, and when 
 the order came, a jack was hoisted at the fore for a pilot, 
 while the bow gun gave loud notice of it. 
 
 Presently there came on board a stout, rosy-cheeked, 
 black-eyed old fellow, as fat as a carp, who, with the air 
 of a courtier of Louis le Debonnaire's reign, doffed his 
 glazed sombrero to Mad Jack, who was standing at the 
 gangway to receive him. He was evidently of the 
 grande 71 at ion. 
 
 " Arc you a regular pilot ? " was Percy's first saluta- 
 tion ; " and what's your name ? " 
 
 " Oui, mosseul name Polarbitz." 
 
 " Well, Mr. Powderbitch, I am bound up the river, 
 and if you run the ship ashore I'll shoot you ! that's 
 alL" 
 
 " Sacre, sair, zat not all ! no, s'pose you shoot, I 
 shoot back, and me name Polarbitz, sair," retorted the 
 old trump, between his teeth, with a flash of the eye, as 
 he looked the captain full in the face. 
 
 '' Bueno,^^ returned the latter, quite delighted to have 
 found some hitch upon the pilot ; " very good, Mr. 
 Powderwitch ; let's be off at once." 
 
 The individual thus addressed stood a moment, re- 
 garding the captain with an angry gaze, as he turned with 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 361 
 
 a grin into his cabin — then throwing his right arm into 
 position, as if a small sword was squirming about in 
 somebody's lungs, he muttered a few strong expletives 
 in his native tongue, and slowly mounting the poop lad- 
 der, gave directions for weighing. 
 
 Sail was soon made ; but before getting clear of the 
 harbor, the wind fell, and there we lay becalmed on the 
 back of the muddy, flat river, quite motionless. The 
 sky was clear as a bell, but the atmosphere was as hot, 
 oppressive, and sultry as the breath of a sirocco on the 
 coast of Tunis ; and here we staid, without budging an 
 inch, from ten in the morning until four hours past noon. 
 
 The old pilot had declined his dinner, and did noth- 
 ing but take snuff violently, as he paced up and down 
 the poop. Occasionally he "svould pause in his walk, 
 look anxiously towards the west, and then resume his 
 promenade. Having apparently made up his mind as to 
 the appearance of things, he quickly descended the lad- 
 der, and putting liis head in the cabin window, he 
 said, — 
 
 " Capitain, you will have a devele of ze breeze ; you 
 had bettair drop down two anchor and all ze topmast." 
 
 " What for ? " exclaimed old Jack with a sneer, as he 
 glanced over liis shoulder at the sympiesometer. 
 
 " Ze pampero " replied the pilot, as he clapped his 
 steeple-crowned sombrero on his head, put a pinch of 
 snuff into his mouth by mistake, instead of his nose, 
 and again sought his station in a furious rage. 
 31 
 
362 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Now, you see that Percy, as stubborn an old flint as 
 he undoubtedly was, was yet a sailor, every inch of him. 
 He rarely despised a warning, come how it would ; and 
 his own excellent judgment upon nautical matters gen- 
 erally carried him clear of the blunders which other 
 men were foolishly wrecked upon. On this occasion, 
 however, there really did not seem, to all human vision, 
 any thing to require the vessel to be stripped of her sails, 
 the masts housed, and anchors down ; for a clearer after- 
 noon, and a brighter or more cloudless sky, was not to 
 be found any where on the globe. 
 
 " Zair is dam leetel time to lose, sair," again suggested 
 the pilot, with a decided tone. 
 
 "All right, Mounseer Powderbreech," said Percy, 
 coolly, and at the same time maliciously ; " but when are 
 we to look for this pampero ? and what do you judge 
 from, eh ? " 
 
 " My name, sair, for ze last time, is Polar-r-r-r-bitz," 
 making the r's burr like a humming top, " and I zay 
 zat I feel ze pampero in ze bones, like you feel ze bet 
 on ze cards at monte I ah, ha! sacre ionnerre ! voila, see 
 him com over Ensenada — dam ! " 
 
 While he spoke, away to the west, where the mirage 
 of the trees on the opposite side of the river was visible, 
 we beheld a purple roll of clouds just verging above the 
 horizon. Towards the centre of the stream an arch 
 of the same purplish-colored vapor began to lift its back 
 above water, until it had risen a considerable height, 
 
TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 863 
 
 and both ends of the span stretched from side to side of 
 the mighty river. It rose, however, very slowly ; and 
 when its form became well developed, it presented one 
 heavy, dark rope of clouds, the edges rough and ragged, 
 like a mass of coarse wool, which all came rolling round 
 and round, in a continuous whirlwind of dust and mist. 
 
 Old Percy needed but one glance at this singular phe- 
 nomenon before he gave the requisite orders to clew up, 
 furl every thing, send down light yards and top-gallant 
 masts, and to house topmasts. Both bower anchors 
 were at the same time let go under foot, with a great 
 scope of chain on each, ready on deck to veer when the 
 squall struck us. The men worked like beavers, and 
 for twenty minutes there was nothing heard but the sway- 
 ing, unfidding, and housing of masts, sending down the 
 heavy gear and light sails from aloft, and getting the 
 topsail yards upon the forward rims of the tops. 
 
 During this interval, the Juniata lay, as before, mo- 
 tionless on the shining surface of the yellow river, with- 
 out a ripple, and wondering, no doubt, why she was 
 thus stripped of her pinions and crippled in her arms. 
 Meanwhile, the dark, ominous bow came slowly up, 
 revolving as on its rising, and tinged at times by a sick- 
 ly, murky flame, reflected from the sun. On it came, 
 obscuring the sun itself for a full minute, as it passed 
 before the disk, until the mighty arch fairly spanned 
 the zenith for the whole diameter of the horizon. Still 
 there was not a breath of wind. 
 
364 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " 'Well, pilot/' said Mr. Hope, as he leaned listlessly 
 against the mizzen rigging, " that queer-looking dust 
 bow has passed over without a pufF, and we've had all 
 the trouble for nothing." 
 
 ** Noting, eh ? " returned M. Polarbitz, while he care- 
 fully removed his wig from his head and buttoned it up 
 in the breast of his coat. " Hombug, eh ? " he contin- 
 ued ; " zen, by dam, Jean Paul Polarbitz lie like ze 
 devele ! Mais, Mistaire Lieutenant, what you see by 
 ze mount zere ? Ah, ha ! " 
 
 "Every one lay down from aloft!" shouted Mr. 
 Hope ; " not even a top keeper in the tops ! Down 
 every body ! " 
 
 In the direction the pilot pointed, there was a wave 
 coming along over the water, like a huge roller just 
 breaking with its cust of spray upon a shelving shore 
 of an ocean beach, only in place of the light, clear blue 
 or bottle green, it was of a muddy yellow, with a thick, 
 dirty mist hanging over it, as if, like a net, it was attract- 
 ed by the sombre arch in the heavens. It was accom- 
 panied, too, by a low, moaning roar, as if a great drove 
 of wild bulls were bellowing to us from the pampas. It 
 moved in a straight line, never turning or curving, but 
 regular as the advance of a regiment of grenadier guards, 
 and rushing on as if to fill a vacuum, it struck the cor- 
 vette, like a clap of thunder, broad on the beam. It was 
 old Boreas himself, who 
 
TALES FOR THE MARIXES. 365 
 
 " in passion spoke these huffing things ; 
 
 And as he spoke he shook his dreadful wings ; 
 At which afar the shivering sea was fanned, 
 And the wide surface of the distant land." 
 
 The Lieutenant was fond of quoting poetry ; but being 
 discouraged by his audience, he usually refrained. 
 
 If I say, he proceeded, that the first jar fairly hurled the 
 ship's stern eighty feet, I am persuaded I should be well 
 within the mark. Indeed, a few of us thought she had gone 
 bodily up into the air, and some of the marines vouched 
 to having seen the bottom of the river itself, as the roll- 
 er, with its volume of mud and water, dashed clean over 
 the bulwarks, stove the quarter boat and weather ham- 
 mock nettings, and sAvept all before it on the decks. The 
 next instant, however, the ship swung to the influence 
 of the tornado, the slack cables which had been ranged 
 along the waist flew out in a stream of fire, wrenching 
 oflf the heads of the bits, twisting the stout compress- 
 ors in the tiers like so much bird cage wire, and never 
 stopping till the last links clinched to the kelson were 
 brought up with a surge that tore away the main hatch 
 combings, and made the Juniata quiver to the heart. 
 
 The pampero raged with tremendous violence for more 
 than an hour, while heavy clouds filled the sky almost to 
 blackness ; and then gradually the wind veered round 
 to the south-west, settled down into a hard gale, and 
 blew great guns for three days. Towards the close of 
 this entertainment Mr. Polarbitz dined with Captain 
 
366 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Percy, and before we reached our destination they were 
 sworn friends, though Percy would still persist in call- 
 ing the pilot out of his name. 
 
 At Buenos Ay res we anchored in the outer roads, 
 nearly seven miles from the city. We could barely see 
 the white towers of the churches and buildings of the 
 town, as they seemed to loom up from the water itself, 
 for, save by the effect of mirage, the land was rarely vis- 
 ible. It was always a tedious pull to reach the city ; and 
 even then we only passed from one water vehicle to an- 
 other, for the banks of the river were so low and shal- 
 low, and so filled with tuscas, — pointed ridges of hard 
 clay, — that we were obliged to get from the boats into 
 huge ungainly carts of hide, with enormous wheels, and 
 thus be rolled to the dry land. 
 
 Before leaving Rio on our last visit, I had gone rather 
 extensively into the fan business ; that is to say, I had 
 purchased an ahanico of the pearliest hue, fringed with 
 down, and the leaves painted in a style that might not 
 have displeased old Isabey himself I had impoverished 
 myself, also, at the diamond marts, by a pair of brilliant 
 eardrops, — which have been the cause of perpetual 
 discord between that lady there with the baby and my- 
 self, Pred, whispered the narrator, — all for a tiifling 
 souvenir of friendship — or, as Antonietta prettily said, 
 " uno pequeno recado de amistad " — to my wilful sweet- 
 heart. 
 
 These treasures I usually wore in my jacket pockets, 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 367 
 
 SO as to be ready at a moment's notice to deliver ; and I 
 believe on my soul that I looked earnestly for the little 
 Creole in every boat which came alongside, believing, in. 
 the warmth of my love, that she would be inconsolable 
 until we met. 
 
 The first day, however, I was disappointed, for there 
 was never a petticoat afloat. The next we assisted in 
 burying the captain of a French ship of war — Espiaux 
 was his name ; and he it was who, when a boy, behaved 
 so bravely at the wreck of the Medusa. On landing we 
 were all marched in procession ; and notwithstanding 
 the azoteas and the grilles of the heavy Spanish windows 
 were thronged with mantillas, waving fans, and lovely 
 faces, yet I could not detect those large, lustrous, black 
 orbs of my little brunette. I am confident that not one 
 who followed that gallant old sailor to the grave present- 
 ed any thing like the picture of woe that I did. But 
 what added to my sorrow, and indignation likewise, was 
 to be informed by a French midshipman, with a toss of 
 the chin and a rattle of the coil of gold aiguillettes on his 
 shoulder, in reply to my question if he knew the family 
 of my sweetheart, ^'Ah, oui, certainement ! The eldest 
 daughter was quite frappee with me before they left 
 town." If I had not been rather a small-sized person, 
 and witnesses present, I should have doubled up that 
 French aspirant on the spot. 
 
 Buenos Ayres, at the period I speak of, was, as it were, 
 just simmering down to a state of tranquillity. Eosas 
 
SC8 TALES FOR THE MARIN* E0. 
 
 had done all the fighting and assumed the supreme die- 
 tatorship. Many of the disafFected party had not, how- 
 ever, yet returned to the city, and among them the fam- 
 ily of Antonietta. Order M^as a good deal talked of in 
 the papers, but it did not wholly prevail. In iiict, dur- 
 ing the day the streets were filled with strolling guacho 
 vagabonds, who dashed at a break-neck speed up and 
 down, fresh from the Indian and civil wars with their 
 leader. At night the serenos kept close in the angles of 
 the houses, with their lanterns strapped to their girdles, 
 while they held forth their villanous long pikes, against 
 friends or foes alike, and crying the hour, with, " Son 
 las doge, trcs homhrcs asasinados, y noche screna,'' — 
 very fine evening, three men killed ; and generally 
 concluding with, " Death to the Unitarians ! " At the 
 same time, these Spanish Charleys never went out of 
 their way to arrest the leperos and robbers, who made 
 light of dealing a thrust of a cuchillo, or plundering 
 whomsoever they chose to attack. 
 
 The Plaza, however, on Sunday evenings and days of 
 grand funcion, was tolerably well filled by the crcole 
 beauties of the city, and with their large shell combs, — 
 full five feet, many of them, in span, — they moved be- 
 fore the palace as a Spanish girl only can move, on their 
 arched feet, with their robes and mantillas gracefully 
 flowing around them. 
 
 Our rendezvous on shore was at a boarding house 
 kept by a Mrs. Bells. She was a kindly Milesian lady. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARI^^ES. 369 
 
 who, I believe, had fought under Whitelock, and been 
 retained after the capitulation as a hostage. Although 
 Mrs. Bells was a motherly, good creature, and did not 
 permit the reefers to get very deep in her debt, yet we 
 all had a greater admiration for her adopted daughter 
 Brisrheda, or Miss Biddv, as we did her into Saxon. 
 She was, indeed, our especial favorite ; for a nicer, better 
 girl never lived, and I'm not positive at this minute if I 
 did not fall full as much in love with her as with the 
 little runaway brunette. Biddy was half Irish, half 
 Spanish, with fine dark-gray eyes, an earnest manner, 
 and withal a rich, plaintive voice, which makes a man 
 love a woman in the dark. It is a good many years 
 ago since I heard that Biddy married, and wandered 
 away from the land of her adoption ; but wherever she 
 went, I am persuaded that the man who won her never 
 had cause to repent his bargain. 
 
 For the long period we lay in the roads of Buenos 
 Ayres the officers had week and week about on shore, 
 so that we had a fair opportunity of mingling in Creole 
 life to advantage. Equestrian performances were our 
 chief delight ; and since horses were sold for three dol- 
 lars apiece, we went rather extensively into that species 
 of merchandise. 
 
 One morning very early, in company with a reefer 
 from an English frigate, we mounted our steeds for a 
 gallop. We had been up all night, dancing at a tertu- 
 lia, and we thought a little wholesome jolting would 
 
370 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 tranquillize our nerves, and give us an appetite for 
 breakfast. 
 
 We raced tlirougli the Alameda and along the banks 
 of the river for a while, and then turned our heads to- 
 wards the Retiro, a large open space on the outskirts of 
 the town. While traversing this place, and picking our 
 way amid the mounds, ditches, and carcasses of dead cattle, 
 our attention became fixed upon a battahon of some two 
 hundred infantry, drawn up in front of the high walls 
 of an adjoining barrack. A couple of priests, in long 
 black gowns and skullcaps, came out of a small gateway, 
 preceded by boys carrying long, lighted tallow torches, 
 the flames from wdiich flared and smoked in the young 
 beams of the rising sun. We checked our horses, while 
 the chant of the Salve, Domine, rose in hoarse, measured 
 strains from the lips of the priests and their attendants, 
 and was taken up by two or three women, kneeling near, 
 in the same melancholy, though shriller chorus. At 
 this moment the quick tap of a drum broke into the 
 chant ; the troops, who were standing at ease, drew up 
 in line in open order, and a sergeant went along the 
 ranks distributing cartridges out of a leathern bucket. 
 
 " Carga ! " said the adjutant ; and for a minute the 
 men were occupied in loading their pieces ; and nothing 
 was seen or heard but the glistening of the steel ram- 
 rods, and the dull sound of ramming home the car- 
 tridges. 
 
 While this operation was going on, the priests 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 371 
 
 approached a little ridge of uneven ground, which had 
 been thrown up, apparently, from a ditch on the other 
 side ; and when the pieces were charged, the battalion 
 filed to the right and left of the main entrance to the 
 barracks. The great timber gates swung back, and 
 though, from our position, we could not see in, we heard 
 the clinking of hammers upon chain shackles, and sup- 
 posed they were knocking off the irons from prisoners. 
 
 In a few moments, we found that our surmise had been 
 correct ; for pair by pair, a large concourse of Indians 
 presently filled the open ground, between the lines of 
 soldiers. They were huddled together, waiting for the 
 manacles to be taken from their companions ; and a more 
 hideous set of human beings I never beheld. Their 
 long, matted black locks, escaping from beneath a bit of 
 striped stuff, fell in disordered masses around their 
 gleaming, bloodshot eyes, pinched, yellow, parchment- 
 looking faces, and over their shoulders. The only cov- 
 ering they had was, here and there, a tattered bit of 
 a cotton shirt, with the sleeves knotted around their 
 loins, leaving their tawny backs bare. Their arms were 
 pinioned with thongs of raw hide, well up above the 
 elbow joint. 
 
 It seemed to me an age before the irons were all dis- 
 engaged from the legs of these poor wretches ; but 
 meanwhile one of the old women, near by, was occupied 
 handing round the crowd a deep dish, half filled with 
 paper cigars ; and to add to the obligation, in one hand 
 
372 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 she held a lighted machero, which she placed to the lips 
 of the smokers. I never saw such intense satisfaction 
 as spread over the ugly faces of those swarthy, filthy 
 Indios, as they drew in long breaths of the grateful 
 smoke, and then ejected it in volumes from the nose and 
 mouth, with a deep " oogh." Many of them smiled, 
 too, showing their teeth like the sharp fangs of a blood- 
 hound. 
 
 Presently the drums beat a long roll ; and then, with a 
 marching tap, the battalion advanced in two columns, 
 with the prisoners slouching along between them. We 
 presumed that there was to be a flogging, or an execu- 
 tion, at most ; but we were not prepared for the whole- 
 sale massacre we presently witnessed. There were 
 scarcely a dozen persons besides the troops, priests, 
 women, and ourselves, in the great open square ; and 
 we sat on our horses, looking with extreme wonder and 
 curiosity, and moving a little ahead of the procession. 
 
 " Halta ! " sung out the adjutant, with a wave of 
 his sword ; more orders followed — the battalion was 
 formed in double ranks — a sergeant's guard stepped 
 forward a few yards from the left, while the prisoners 
 stood beside the padres. The drums rolled ; an officer, 
 with a paper in his hand, walked towards the Indians, 
 touched the seven foremost of the group with his finger, 
 and motioning those selected to the ridge, they shuffled 
 to the designated spot. 
 
 " Cuiflfac?o .' " yelled out the adjutant — ^' cuidado, 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 373 
 
 Ingleses / " — Look out, Englislimeii ! — and perceiving 
 that we were the individuals alluded to, and that we were 
 directly in the line of fire, we at once leaped the dry 
 ditch, and wheeled to the rear of the troops. 
 
 By this time the victims had reached the raised earth, 
 and there stood gazing about, while the padres again 
 chanted a prayer and scattered holy water over the 
 group. A lieutenant, from the company from where the 
 guard had been taken, threw away his cigar, drew his 
 sword, and gave utterance to two short words. 
 
 "Preparhjfuego I " The discharge followed the order, 
 and when the smoke cleared away, there was not a man 
 standing among the before living cluster of seven, for 
 the balls at a distance of twenty feet had done the work 
 pretty essentially. 
 
 A thin wreath or two of smoke, either from the paper 
 cigars or burning wads, wandered for a few moments 
 wavily over the bodies, and a few dark stains and streams 
 fell, dripping, from the confused mass of limbs upon the 
 earth beneath them ; but there was not a quiver nor a 
 groan which told of the death agony. 
 
 Three more rolls of the drums, the official with the 
 paper touched seven more of the Indians, who took 
 their stand a little on one side of their fallen comrades, 
 with the same stolid air of utter indifference, and suck- 
 ing with their latest breaths the ends of the nearly con- 
 sumed cigarritos. 
 
 " Take aim — fire ! " The rolling volley, the puif 
 32 
 
3T4 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 of smoke and dust, the muskets brought to a shoulder, 
 the men wheeled, another platoon forward, and so on. 
 
 This evolution was performed nine times, and that, 
 according to my arithmetic, makes sixty-three of God's 
 creatures who were shot down before our eyes in cold 
 blood at the Retiro of Buenos Ayres, one fine morning 
 in the year of our Lord 1834. 
 
 We intended to have continued our ride to the sala- 
 dores beyond, Avhere bullocks were slaughtered by thou- 
 sands for their hides and tallow ; but we had seen quite 
 enough blood flow for one morning, and so we came 
 back to the city on a run, with a very small appetite for 
 breakfast. 
 
 That same day, however, our officers were presented 
 to his excellency, the benemerito of his country, Don 
 Juan Manuel de Rosas. He received us in the palace, a 
 large barrack of a place, fenced in by walls like a for- 
 tress, and a deep dry ditch without. We were ushered 
 into a moderate sized apartment with very meagre furni- 
 ture, and chairs being- particularly scarce, I seated my- 
 self on a brass-bound trunk. 
 
 Presently a side door opened, and in came, at a brisk 
 pace, a short and rather thick-set man, with something 
 of a German face, but with a prominent nose, as if that 
 organ was intended to breathe through, and large gray 
 eyes. He was dressed in a blue frock coat, with stand- 
 ing collar, dark pantaloons, and white dressed skin shoes. 
 There was a wild nervousness about his manner and in 
 
TALES FOR THE MARIXES. 375 
 
 his expression, and all his movements were quick and 
 decided. In conversation he was shrewd, blunt, and 
 attractive. 
 
 "SeTiores,^^ he said, " mira ! " taking down from the 
 wall a short lance, very heavy, and armed with a sharp 
 double-edged blade — '' mira ! The Indios use this 
 weapon, the lasso, and the bolas ; those balls fastened by 
 thongs of hide to an iron ring. You remember the old 
 song, — 
 
 " De mi lasso t'escapas, 
 Pero mi dis bolas, 
 Quando " 
 
 Here he whirled his arm on high, as if in the act of 
 throwing the balls. 
 
 *' They hurl them at my cavalry, trip up the horses 
 like ostriches, and then go in this way." 
 
 Here he suited the action to the word, and dashing at 
 the head of one of the officers, just grazing his ear, he 
 plunged the lance into the heavy woodwork of the door- 
 way. ,% 
 
 ^'Ah, no hay cuidado ; never fear, my friend," he 
 said, going on ; " but those miserables carried on this 
 species oijuego for two campaigns, and now I am train- 
 ing a squadron of horse to run with their fore and hind 
 legs lashed together like so many hares, so that they 
 can't be overturned by the bolas, and I shall kill all the 
 infernos of Indios." 
 
 Kosas told us also, in alluding to the execution of the 
 
376 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 morning, that those piisoners had risen and stabbed 
 their guard on the voyage down the river, which gave 
 him an additional incentive for sending them out of the 
 workl. 
 
 ^^Vamonos" he said, at the conclusion of the inter- 
 view ; " you must all come out and pass a week at the 
 estancia, and Manuelita will be glad to show you the 
 pampas." 
 
 I must admit, notwithstanding what I had seen of his 
 dictatorship in the early morning, and the news that 
 came later, how one General Quiroga insisted upon 
 being assassinated in his own carriage, and the reward 
 offered for the murderers by his rival, Don Juan, that I 
 came away very favorably impressed as to the talents of 
 Rosas for ruling the ungovernable subjects of the prov- 
 inces. 
 
 Shortly after this interview the invitation to his coun- 
 try seat was accepted, and, escorted by a guard, we rode 
 about thirty miles over the level country to the quinta 
 of Bellavista. # 
 
 It was a roughly built country residence, standing on 
 the plain within sight of the river, with broad, spacious 
 piazzas, and surrounded by mud walls and picket pens 
 for cattle and horses. We led a very pleasant life 
 at this villa. We had a bullock roasted in the hide 
 every night, which they called '' carne con cuero,'^ plenty 
 of dulces, and, what was better, wine that flowed like a 
 fountain. Wine ! ay, such wine ! broke forth the Lieu- 
 
TALES FOR THE MAEIIS'ES. 377 
 
 tenant, with enthusiasm. None of your spurious decoc- 
 tions from Cette or Marseilles, compounded of hot, fiery 
 drugs, sweet, sour, and bitter coarse grape husks, but 
 the purest of Latour, Lafitte, and Margaux, that had 
 been pressed within sight of the sugar loaf turrets of 
 those famous chateaux. E-osas was assuredly a real gen- 
 tleman in his taste for wine, and to him I am indebted 
 for implanting the savor of a pure grape juice on my 
 juvenile palate, which half a century won't eradicate. 
 Not long since, when I chanced to halt an hour in the 
 quaint old village of Margaux, I quaffed a brave flagon 
 to Don Juan, wishing " muerto a los Unitarios,^^ and 
 health and prosperity to the dictator. He has, however, 
 fallen into misfortune since, by a bad run of luck, and has 
 levanted from the broad pampas of his guacho home ; 
 but whithersoever he goes, I place illimitable trust in 
 his lova for the delicious and incomparable tipple of Me- 
 doc, and humbly pray that his cup may ever be brimming. 
 Dona Manuela, too, — that is, when we were both 
 younger, — was as fine a looking Creole doncella as ever 
 tripped along the banks of the La Plata. She w^as, at 
 the same time, a devil of a bird on horseback, and would 
 have been just the girl for Galway had she been born 
 west of Killarney. She took malicious delight in en- 
 ticing venturesome cavaliers at a stunning pace over the 
 open plains, in leaping ditches, winding around seem- 
 ingly dry bogs, when, without any warning, you were up 
 to your chin in mire, and other dangerous feats of horse- 
 32* 
 
378 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 mansliip. The number of dislocated shoulders and con- 
 tused faces that girl has on her conscience would defy [ 
 belief, and when half a dozen attaches to the foreign le- 
 gations or clumsy sailor officers were following close at j 
 her heels, she would give her stallion a shake of the I 
 rein and a touch with the steel, and away she would 
 vault like a rocket over a gaping ravine, while her at- ■ 
 tendants would come tumbling after. Then Manuela 
 would console herself for the rest of the evening by 
 sucking panties and water, and expressing her opinion 
 of the Indians and those villains of Unitarians. 
 
 She, too, I believe, has followed the fortunes of her 
 sire into exile ; but in case any timid young gentleman 
 should not admire her skill in horsemanship in the ring 
 in Hyde Park, or a quiet canter up Constitution Hill, 
 let him breathe her wild stallion in a broken country, 
 over hedges, ditches, and stone walls, and see who will 
 come off best. 
 
 After staying a week at Eosas' pampa paradise, I felt 
 a strong inclination to cut the anchor buttons from my 
 jacket and turn guacho ; then, with a lasso, enormous 
 spurs, a small triangular stirrup, a whip like a bludgeon, 
 with a heavy brass hammer at the handle, a soft saddle 
 of skins and leather, a poncho for covering, a striped 
 belcher around my head, and a knife in my girdle, to 
 pass the remainder of my days on those interminable 
 plains, eating beef without salt, and living amid the 
 bullocks and horses. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 379 
 
 Our chief amusements were in riding around the 
 estancia or over the pampas, observing the process of 
 training the uncouth, fierce-lool^ing soldiers of the gov- 
 ernor, or breaking the wild horses for the saddle. This 
 last was the more exciting sport of the two. These 
 wild animals were taken indiscriminately from droves 
 of tens of thousands, and driven into square enclosures, 
 or corrals, made by planting close fences of stout pick- 
 ets upright in the ground. They were beautiful crea 
 tures, full of fire, with flowing manes, bushy tails, and 
 eyes which blazed like congreve rockets. 
 
 They were in the first instance lassoed, thrown down, 
 and branded with the cipher of the owner. The heavy 
 wrought Spanish bit was then forced into the mouth, 
 strong enough, by the twitch of a baby's finger, to 
 wrench the jaw of the brute to splinters. This, with a 
 li"^ht, twisted rein of raw hide, hitched to a broad, net- 
 work, hide surcingle, so that the rider could fasten the 
 rowels of his spurs into the meshes around the horse's 
 belly, and then the startled animals would be cast loose, 
 and allowed to regain their feet. 
 
 On either side of the entrance to the enclosures were 
 upright posts, on which were perched a brace of savage- 
 looking guachos, their leggings fitted from the warm 
 skin of the hind legs of a horse, their heels armed with 
 the enormous rowels to the spurs used in the country, 
 a striped bandanna tied around their brows, the ends 
 hanging down on either side of the face, to fan away 
 
380 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the insects, a broad leathern belt, with a long, narrow 
 knife, and, of course, a pack of cards. 
 
 No sooner is the barrier of hide rope let fall from the 
 gateway to the corral, than the horses, wild with rage, 
 make a bolt through. There is nothing to check their 
 progress, but at the moment of leaping past the picket, 
 an agile guacho quietly drops on the astonished animal's 
 back, and then the fun begins. 
 
 You have heard, perhaps, that these men of the 
 pampas actually live on horseback. They are taught to 
 ride by instinct ; and from infancy the horse is their 
 house and home. They beg on horseback, they carry 
 milk on horseback, and they acquire the most wonder- 
 ful dexterity in the use of the lasso and bolas on horse- 
 back. As horses are to be had almost for the trouble 
 of catching them, they are treated with extreme cruelty ; 
 and though of great endurance, they can hardly stand 
 the ill usage they are forced to undergo for more than 
 three months. 
 
 But to the horse tamers. They are borne at the first 
 go off like a shot from a cannon. The enraged and 
 astonished beast, plunging, rearing, snorting, flies 
 over the plain quite frantic, until, after a couple of 
 hours' struggling, urged at all times by the spur, he 
 begins to give heed to the bit ; and at the end of four 
 hours, if his breaker be skilful, he is made to bound off 
 at a run, and is brought up all standing on a bullock's 
 hide laid upon the ground. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 381 
 
 We left the governor's hospitalities with extreme 
 
 regret : but the oraveties of the citv soon alleviated our 
 
 orrow, and we navy blues went on for a month or two 
 
 rv swimminsjlv with the fair Creoles, who were as 
 .^velv specimens of Spanish colonial beauty as a sharp- 
 sighted gentleman could any where detect. 
 
 One memorable evening I was dancing at a brilliant 
 little tertulia in the house of a Hidalgo matron — Doiia 
 Elena Sangre-Azul. I had a nice young damsel for a 
 partner in the monionero. It was my turn to perform a 
 small demi-pirouette to the clicking of the castanets, 
 and then, according to rule, rush up to my companion, 
 and spin round in the waltz. Now, I was considered 
 somewhat of an adept at this tour-de-force, and the 
 grace I displayed invariably elicited a gentle clap of 
 applause, and a rustle of fans from the sedate old ladies 
 rano-ed around the walls of the saloon. "Well, at the 
 moment of performing this astonishing feat, happening 
 to cast my eyes towards the folding doors, whom should 
 I see but Antonietta ! 
 
 Yes, there entered the young beauty, di-essed in a 
 little blue striped silk, with flounces of deep black 
 point lace, showing her slim, well-shaped, satin-cased 
 feet, her soft, roundly-turned fingers just peeping from 
 black net mits, her lovely arms bare to the shoulder, 
 with a full, swelling neck tapering up to the pure, round 
 throat, which upheld the graceful head, as if on the 
 stem of a lily. Ay! de mi! and those liquid, sloe 
 
S82 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 eyes, tlie half-closed mouth, the teeth like a mouse's, 
 the merest tinge of olive in her cheeks, as the rich blood 
 *' went and came, with tidings from the heart ; " and 
 then the great cluster of hair, banded and twisted in 
 thick folds around the brow, and knotted and confined 
 behind by one of the monstrous shell combs then worn. 
 Heavens ! how beautiful she looked ! I even felt an 
 acute pang that she was so charming, having, perhaps, 
 a faint perception that there might be others of the same 
 opinion, and I might not possibly have her all to my- 
 self. She had grown to be quite a woman in the two 
 years which had nearly passed since we parted, and 
 there was an air, too, of quiet, studied dignity, which I 
 did not altogether like. 
 
 She raised her arm, on crossing the threshold, after a 
 stately little courtesy to Dona Elena, to remove the gos- 
 samer veil which fell partly down over her shoulders, 
 and then cast a low, drooping, furtive glance around the 
 saloon. Leaving my bewildered partner to make the 
 most of the montonero, I sprang forward to Antonietta. 
 
 She was attended by a stumpy young native, not dis- 
 similar in animal structure to her fat, sweet potato ad- 
 mirer at Pinchao. This fellow, however, had more 
 pretensions to taste in raiment, for he was very gau- 
 dily attired in a pair of dazzling pumps, red silk stock- 
 ings, a pair of plaid trousers, cut rather short, and 
 bagging considerably behind. Above, he wore a white 
 waistcoat, about four inches long, with turquoise but- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 383 
 
 tons, diamond studs on his embroidered bosom, and a 
 maroon colored coat, very peaked about tbe tails, and 
 remarkably disproportloned about tbe collar. He "sras 
 one of those forced, hothouse, precocious Spanish plants 
 you meet in the tropics, scarcely out of the nursery, but 
 with a shock of coarse black hair, heavy eyebrows, and 
 the faintest possible approach to a moustache. I after- 
 wards heard that he was heir to more cattle, horses, 
 and pesos than you could count in a year. 
 
 However, I didn't notice him particularly at first ; 
 but pushing rather rudely by him, and nearly upsetting 
 one of those old Creole duennas who always attend the 
 girls, principally, I believe, to sniff snuff and suck 
 paneles, and regardless of the company, I was on the 
 point of throwing my arms around my true love, claim- 
 ing her as my own, in presence of the multitude, and 
 declaring that not even death should tear us asunder. 
 
 Antonietta, however, was not apparently in the least 
 disturbed, but almost imperceptibly repressing my ardent 
 advances, she put out her hand in the sweetest state of 
 surprise you ever saw, and said, in her pure, lisping 
 accent, — 
 
 ''Ah, Jesus ! Don Enrique ! Me alegro muchissimo 
 to see you. How long it seems ! And Pancha, and the 
 Dona and Padron — how did you leave them all ? That 
 comical Captain Flirt, of the Hazy, too," she said, call- 
 ing Jack by the name of his brig. " Really, how un- 
 
384 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 kind of you not to come and see us. Papa mIU be 
 alegre, I am sure, and so will mamma and the iiinas.'" 
 
 '' Q^uerida 'Tonietta ! " I exclaimed; "I haven't 
 breath to answer all your questions here ; but come and 
 sit beside me somewhere, away from these hateful peo- 
 ple, and let me talk to you all the evening." 
 
 '^Ah ! que triste, amigo ! I am engaged to dance a 
 minuet and the contra-danga with my cousin here," she 
 whispered, with so tearful a glance that I thought her 
 heart M'ould break in three pieces ; " let me introduce 
 you, Don Castanos Gordito." 
 
 I bowed, and the individual immediately lugged out 
 a richly-chased gold case, and offered me a cigarrito. 
 
 Meanwhile, before I could turn round, half a score 
 of dandies and elegant young fashionables had com- 
 pletely outflanked me, surrounded the pretty Creole, and 
 showered upon her more compliments, sweet nothings, 
 and pretty speeches than I could have thought of in a 
 week. In fact, during the whole tertulia I never got 
 another chance of exchanging a word with her ; and 
 when the party broke up, the little brute Don Gordito 
 was so assiduous that I could not even spread the man- 
 tilla over her shoulders, which I looked upon as my 
 peculiar office and prerogative. 
 
 However, the good little nigger Jilla, who stood by 
 with an extra shawl, was overjoyed to see me, and 
 pron:ised to tell her mistress that I should come in the 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 385 
 
 morning to deliver those precious presents in person — I 
 mean the fan and the earrins^s. 
 
 ^' Buenas-noches, Antonietta,^* I whispered, as she 
 passed out of the court yard linked to her cousin's arm. 
 " Adios, Enrique ! come and see us before you sail. 
 Calle Merced, number 48." 
 
 I don't know w^hat excuses I made to myself for this 
 decidedly cold treatment on the part of the girl ; but 
 lovers, jealous though they be, are forever disposed to 
 forgive, and I attributed her manner to the constraint 
 imposed upon her by the presence of strangers, and 
 never dreamed it was caused by a want of affection 
 for me. 
 
 Tlie next day I had no difficulty in finding the man- 
 sion of her family, as it was in the best street, and one 
 of the finest houses in the city. Entering the paiio, 
 I announced my purpose, and was shown up a stairway 
 to the azotea, (the flat roof of the building,) paved with 
 China tiles, and enclosed by a solid marble balustrade 
 on all sides. An awning was spread, and from lines 
 beneath were growing large bunches of air plants, all in 
 brilliant flower. 
 
 At the upper "end of the azotea, near by a loopholed 
 angle of the balustrade, which commanded a view up 
 axxd down two streets, sat Antonietta. Jilla was sprawl- 
 ing about a carpet at her feet, pasting and fringing paper 
 on frames for kites, while her mistress was busy peeping 
 through the apertures of the wall. She looked even 
 3^ 
 
386 TALE3 FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 more lovable than the night previous in her half ball 
 dress. Now, she had on a loose white muslin wrapper, 
 with a dark shawl carelessly thrown over her head and 
 folded over her bosom, while a little, short, brown silk, 
 quilted petticoat fell below for a skirt, but did not hide 
 her prettily turned ankles and adorable little feet. She 
 was more cordial, too, in her manner, and after welcoming 
 and making room for me on the cushion beside her, she 
 received my little presents of the beautiful fan and the 
 sparkling eardrops, with beaming rapture. 
 
 " I declare, Enrique," she said in her soft English 
 accent, " I never saw any thing so handsome as these 
 rings, with this mite of blue enamel in the centre ; they 
 will match to a charm the brooch Castanos gave me." I 
 suppose I looked troubled, for she went on — " And this 
 exquisitely painted fi\n — caramba ! Manuelita Kosas 
 and Carolina Garcia have theirs from Paris, but they 
 don't compare with this. Really, Enrique, querido, you 
 deserve a kiss ! There, one will do. Don't, or you will 
 disorder my hair, which has been arranged for puffs 
 and a sombrero, for a ride this afternoon with my 
 cousin." 
 
 This concluding piece of intelligence almost took 
 aAvay the pleasure of the innocent endearments she had 
 just granted ; but presently I recovered my spirits again, 
 and sat and chatted over all my adventures since we had 
 parted. ISTotwithstanding, however, all my address, I 
 could not induce her to open her lips upon the topic 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 387 
 
 nearest my heart ; for whenever I ventured to allude to 
 the "affections," she would suddenly divert the subject 
 by a word to Jilla about the kites, or a sly glance out of 
 the loopholes. 
 
 At the same time 1 cherished the fond hope of being 
 joined in holy wedlock, at the cathedral, by the arch- 
 bishop as soon as ever he was at leisure, and then 
 apprise my mother and grandfather of the ceremony 
 after it was over. I pictured, also, the delight they 
 would evince to see my lovely bride dance all night, go 
 to mass at daylight, and then pass the day in sleep and 
 tinkling the guitar, instead of the humdrum life of a 
 plantation, in arranging the dairy, visiting the sick, 
 making bread, or mending shirts. 
 
 I was aroused from this revery by Antonietta turning 
 with some trepidation from her lookout station, and say- 
 ing, " There, Enrique, I see the children coming from 
 school ; so you must go ; or perhaps you would like to 
 stay and take a podrida with them." 
 
 " Thank you, senorita ; I am not hungry, and I don't 
 dine at the Fonda until six o'clock." 
 
 You see I felt rather hurt at this speech, and though 
 I was tolerably small for my age, I was, nevertheless, an 
 officer — wore a dirk, steered boats, ran of errands about 
 the ship, dined with captains occasionally, and was 
 ready on the slightest provocation to fight a duel ; and so 
 to be asked to eat luncheon in a nursery of brats at noon- 
 day was really too bad. 
 
388 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 However, I smothered my indignation, and took leave ; 
 but my temper was by no means improved by meeting 
 Don Castanos Gordito at the gateway, limping along in 
 tight boots, but looking as conceited as a cockatoo. It 
 crossed my mind, afterwards, that he was " the children " 
 Antonietta had discovered coming from school. 
 
 The following evening I made another visit ; but I 
 barely had time to pay my respects to the old people in 
 the saloon, when in tripped Antonietta elegantly dressed 
 for a grand ball at the palace, and attended, as before, by 
 the stumpy cousin. My diamonds were twinkling in 
 the lobes of her patrician ears, and my fan was flutter- 
 ing in her ivory fingers ; but still I felt discontented and 
 unhappy. She was of course very much distressed to 
 be obliged to leave me ; but then her family were just 
 making friends with the governor, and she must go ; but 
 papa and mamma would make my time pass agreea- 
 bly, and she whispered, as I buttoned her glove, " I 
 shall think of you a great deal, Enrique." To do the 
 old people justice, they were extremely kind; and then 
 the children took a fancy to me — so we had a romp, a 
 series of minuets, and the gavotte ; but after all, I left 
 the house rather low in spirits. 
 
 On passing the gateway, I found Jilla alone, waiting, 
 perhaps, for some gentle swain of her own color. Feel- 
 ing a sort of affection for the black bit of humanity, I 
 gave her a dollar, and desired her to let me know in the 
 morning when her mistress would be visible. 
 
TALES FOU THE MARINES. 389 
 
 " Hola, senor ! she goes to-morro'vr early to the quinta 
 of Don Castafios's mother at La Flor." 
 
 " But who the devil is this Senor Gordito, Jilla ? " 
 
 The little imp looked inquiringly in my face for an 
 instant ; and then, with a touch of real sympathy, in a 
 hesitating voice she murmured, " El senor que la senorita 
 va casar.^^ 
 
 " What, to be married to that wretch ! Xo — mentira ! 
 it's a lie." 
 
 *' Si, si! seTiorl all true," said Jilla earnestly, and 
 crying as much for compassion for me, as for the tight 
 grip I had of her arm. " And she leaves the city to- 
 morrow, eh?" "Yes, Don Enrique, at daylight." 
 
 I rushed home in a state of semi-distraction between 
 love and revenge. The first rational thing I did was to 
 implore Miss Biddy to get up and listen to my wrongs. 
 I had also a bottle of brown stout and some biscuits, for 
 I required stimulus to keep me from committing suicide, 
 and in those days I had never tasted strong drink. 
 
 I am persuaded that Biddy listened to my griefs with 
 as much equanimity and attention as any philosopher 
 of ancient or modern times ever did to the distresses of 
 another ; but as she was the confidante in general of all 
 the young reefers who lived at the Fonda, it was not to 
 be wondered at. 
 
 " Caramba ! " she exclaimed, after patiently hearing 
 my story ; " but why didn't you tell me the name of her 
 father in the beginning ? and I could have told you the 
 33* ^ 
 
390 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 daughter has been affianced these four months. It's 
 an old story. There, don't take on so ; you'll find lots 
 of lovely girls left in Buenos Ayres." 
 
 I cried like a patent hydraulic chain pump, and my 
 gentle little companion soothed and consoled me all she 
 could ; but being sleepy, she said she must bid me good 
 night. I remember my last words to Biddy were, as 
 she was about to light her candle, "O, dear, Biddy, I'm 
 so sorry that I didn't give you the fan and the eardrops 
 instead " 
 
 Here the matron, who had remained a tolerably 
 inattentive listener to the Lieutenant's narrative, ob- 
 served, — 
 
 " Well, I don't clearly understand what right you 
 had to make away with all that property ; and if that 
 little Creole minx had been a girl of spirit she'd have 
 refused the trinkets." 
 
 The Lieutenant bowed, dropped his off eyelid in a 
 winkish manner, took a dry puff or two at his cheroot, 
 gave a deep sigh, and resumed. 
 
 I drank any quantity of porter, and it was potent ; but 
 I could not sleep, and the day had scarcely broke, in a 
 tremendous rain too, when I wended my way through 
 the puddles of the deserted streets to La Merced. I 
 was not a whit too early, however ; for before the well- 
 known house stood a queer old vehicle, with rough 
 wheels picked out with red, and a pair of oxen yoked 
 to the pole. The servants were busy loading this 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 391 
 
 structure with trunks, boxes, and cushions, while be- 
 neath the huge axles swung several sacks of grain, and 
 some cooking utensils. I knew what it all portended 
 at a glance, and fearful of being too late, I ran into the 
 patio. 
 
 I can't imagine what object I had in view in invading 
 the house at that unreasonable hour, but I must have 
 entertained the notion of attendinsj Antonietta on her 
 journey. A couple of horses, richly caparisoned for a 
 lady and cavalier, with bridles of heavily-twisted silver, 
 embroidered saddle cloths, and silver stirrups, stood 
 champing their bits beneath the shelter of the arched 
 gateway; and just beyond stood the large duenna and 
 Jilla, ready, apparently, to be packed away with the 
 cushions of the coach. At the same instant out stepped 
 Antonietta dressed for the road. An oiled silk sombrero 
 was placed jantily over her jetty tresses, a thick green 
 veil was wound round the steeple crown and fastened by 
 a silver cord, a gay poncho hung on her shoulders, while 
 with one hand she held up her riding habit, and with 
 the other grasped an elegantly-mounted whip, the long, 
 white lash wound around her arm. 
 
 I came upon her so like an apparition that she started 
 back in great affright, and Don Castanos being close at 
 her heels, she capsized him, and he rolled like a ten-pin 
 off the steps. Antonietta, with an exclamation of pity, 
 turned immediately to assist the youth on his legs once 
 more, and this devotion to my rival made the cup of my 
 misery flow over. 
 
392 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 " O coqueia ! ingrata ! " I ground out between my 
 teeth ; " actios por siempre / " — farewell forever ! 
 
 Hereupon I gave cousin Gordito, who was scrambling 
 to his pins, a kick and a push on his base, which tum- 
 bled him over into the algibe of water in the patio, 
 which had been left open to catch the rain. Without 
 deigning a look at my false mistress, and leaving my ri- 
 val to flounder about in the cistern, I rushed out into 
 the street. What was his fate, or what deterred me 
 from sticking my dirk into the bag of his trousers be- 
 hind, I can't for the life of me conceive. 
 
 As for that creole flirt, Antonietta, I never saw her 
 for years afterwards, and then she was a maiden still. 
 If her poor lover was not drowned, of course she jilted 
 him, as she did me ; and no doubt did a score more with 
 us. At the same time her little sisters had grown up, 
 married, and had lots of wee ninas themselves ; but I 
 cannot express to you in narrative, ladies, the thrills of 
 pleasure which filled my adamantine bosom on meeting 
 Antonietta again. She had dwindled away veiy sharp 
 in figure. Her teeth were not so white and pearly as 
 of yore. Her satin tresses had lost their gloss, and were 
 very much gummed, — a practice which I detest, — 
 and her complexion and voice were cracked like old 
 china. It gave me a wonderful deal of malicious satis- 
 faction, I assure you, to behold her. 
 
 Thus, Fred, continued the narrator, ended my first 
 grand passion ; and though I moped for a while, devot- 
 
TALE 3 FOR THE MARINES. 393 
 
 ed myself to Biddy, books, and porter ; and as a boy in 
 his teens will do, I forswore the cruel sex bitterly. It 
 had, however, a salutary effect upon me ; for I was enabled 
 to preserve my bruised heart intact until latterly, when 
 I had the good fortune to fall in love with that lady with 
 the blue eyes sitting at the table there. 
 
 The Lieutenant drew a long breath, and was about to 
 resume his discourse, when so merry a shout of laughter 
 rang out from the lips of his fair audience, that he con- 
 cluded it would be unsafe to continue his narrative on 
 that occasion. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 With my crushed hopes and a fair breeze, resumed 
 the Lieutenant, Monsieur PoLirbitz again took the Juni- 
 ata under his pilotage, and "svith the shght accident of 
 running us aground on the tail of the Ortiz bank, for 
 which Captain Percy actually sent for his pistols to perfo- 
 rate the body of his friend Powdcrbitch, we fortunately 
 reached Maldonado. It was a small place where seals 
 resort in great numbers ; but since there were no human 
 beings to be found, we enticed a few bullocks on board, 
 and taking in, also, a quantity of ostrich eggs, turned 
 our heels for the last time on the muddv banks of the 
 Plata. 
 
 We caught, as usual, a cracking breeze at the mouth 
 of the river, which blew the corvette, with a white bone 
 under her bows, until we entered the tropic, when, after 
 dallying off Cape Frio for a day or two, the south-east 
 trades came to our aid, and sailing on eight hundred 
 miles farther, we anchored in the glorious Bay of San 
 Salvador. 
 
 I can give you but a faint idea of the beauties of this 
 place. Imagine a low, sandy point, projecting like an 
 elbow into the sea, which presently rises as it falls back 
 
 (394) 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 395 
 
 and curves inland ; while on tlie lofty heights there 
 gleams magnificent tropical vegetation — timber and foli- 
 age bending and drooping all fresh, green, and bright 
 around the white or straw-colored villas of the suburb 
 of the Vittoria. Following the curve is the upper town, 
 Bahia, with its white houses, cathedral, towers, churches, 
 and convents, pleasantly relieving the eye along the hori- 
 zon ; while still beyond, the picture is filled in with the 
 richest verdure, tapering away down and fringing the 
 point of Bom Fin. 
 
 Again returning along the shore, the eye wanders over 
 the lower town, standing on the bay beneath the steep 
 banks, with the shipping in front, shadowed in the clear, 
 transparent depths of the harbor. Opposite to the south, 
 the gulf is of great expanse, but the land is low, flat, 
 and uninteresting. 
 
 As Ave came whistling into the bay, the whole harbor 
 was alive with canoes, and a large species of whale boat. 
 These boats were sharp at both ends, intended to sail in 
 either direction, simply by dipping their lug sails. The 
 canoes, as graceful structures, in the small way, as ever 
 floated, were long and sharp, with three or four masts each, 
 and the sweetest cut lateen sails, having a rope pennant 
 with an eye at the end, for the negroes to sit in. There, 
 by placing their feet against the gunwale or side, and 
 swinoinsr themselves well over the water, they were ena- 
 bled to keep an upright keel to the canoes, blow as it 
 would. They count the force of the wind by every man 
 
396 TALES FOR THE MAlllNES. 
 
 suspended in this way. Thus a two, three, and even a 
 five-man breeze is not uncommon, while the slim craft 
 are leaping like dolphins over the bay. 
 
 On the occasion of our visit the whaling season was 
 at its height, and the boats were in full chase after a 
 school that had come into the harbor on a frolic. One 
 of the monsters, however, being too hard pressed, and 
 anxious to avoid his pursuers, whose sharp harpoons and 
 long lances approached every instant nearer to his fins, 
 made a quick turn, and leaping athwart the Juniata's 
 hawse just as the chain was running out, brought the ship 
 up with so heavy a jar as to snap the cable like a pipe 
 stem. We thought we had got foul of an earthquake. 
 It was not many minutes, however, before the leviathan, 
 somewhat bewildered, no doubt, in his turn, by the col- 
 lision, was spurting high in the air the crimson fountain 
 of his life blood, from the deep thrusts of his enemies. 
 
 The day subsequent to our arrival we were invited to 
 a wedding and picnic at a villa in the Vittoria ; and, as 
 a matter of course, all who could went. We landed at 
 the lower town, where the blacks were far plentier than 
 I ever saw blackberries. They were great stalwart per- 
 sons, with sharp-pointed teeth, which they kept white 
 and polished by chewing and rubbing them with soft, 
 mucilaginous sticks. They were all nearly naked, but 
 the women wore enormous fiat straw hats, the size of 
 umbrellas. The odor and jabbering were positively 
 overpowering. 
 
TALES FOPw THE MAPvINES. 397 
 
 We were soon provided with caderas, or palanquins, 
 and safely carried up the steep hill — all, save the chap- 
 lain, a very heavy customer, who broke entirely throu'^h 
 his vehicle at the outset. These caderas are carried 
 obliquely, slung at the top by one pole, which rests 
 on the brawny shoulders of the negroes. With a 
 low, grunting chorus, our bearers trotted on; their 
 shining ebony skins as dry as tinder, while the heat of 
 the morning sun was frightful. In an hour we found 
 ourselves in the shaded roads of the Yittoria, the lofty, 
 close foliage waving its graceful arms overhead, shutting 
 out the gairish light of the sun, while the cool breeze, 
 from the sea beyond, rustled delightfully past us. 
 
 The gentleman to whose house, or rather palace, we 
 were asked, was considered one of the millionnaires 
 of the empire. He had a stud of horses equal to a 
 crown prince, vehicles without number, grounds laid out 
 with exceeding taste, spouting with fountains and bub- 
 bling with streams and tanks ; while along the verge 
 of the lofty banks, overlooking the bay, was a forest of 
 thriving, noble timber and fruit trees. These were 
 trained in arbors, singularly shaped domes and arches, 
 and laced and twined with the brilliant parasitical plants 
 and vines of the country. The house was of the Italian 
 order, of two stories, with lofty saloons, corridors, and 
 spacious verandaed piazzas, all gayly frescoed, and 
 made dark and cool by close, green Venetian bHnds. 
 
 Dom Martin Pereira, the proprietor of this tropical 
 <^ i 
 
398 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 paradise, was said to have amassed his fortune by deal- 
 ing extensively in Guineas ; in other words, doing a 
 heavy business in slaves, in the Bight of Benin and parts 
 adjacent. He was well satisfied, it was hinted, if one 
 out of every five of his clipper fleet could run their 
 cargoes through the fangs of the Britisli cruisers. 
 
 The way in which he made his money was none of 
 our business. We came to enjoy his hospitality, and 
 did not permit our philanthropy to interfere with our 
 appetites in the least. For you may have heard, re- 
 marked the Lieutenant, the old proverb, " He that has 
 no fools, knaves, nor beggars in his family, was got by 
 a flash of lightning." Indeed, were one to decline to 
 dine with the jolly merchants of Brazil whose hands 
 were stained by picking blackberries on the coast of Af- 
 rica, he would have very few dinners to eat in the em- 
 pire. As for Dom Martin, his only daughter. Dona 
 E-uperta, was to be married to a Scotch gentleman ; and 
 for her sake we were bound to be gallant. 
 
 The contract had been signed some days, but the 
 marriage ceremony was performed in our presence, by 
 the archbishop himself. It was the same prelate spoken 
 of by the padron, and the uncle of my deaf friend, 
 Porgallos. He was as rotund a person as ever was 
 soaked in the luscious wines which once ripened the 
 holy fathers at Avignon. He had a vinous expression 
 of nose, however, as if he was in the habit of smelling 
 boiled lobsters ; but if that, taken in connection with 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 399 
 
 a benignant visage, could have made him eligible for 
 the Papal chair, I would as cheerfully have voted for 
 him as any padre of my acquaintance. The bishop was 
 assisted by two prebendaries of high renown, and a few 
 small boys, swinging censers. 
 
 The groom was a fine, frank, florid fellow ; with a 
 good accent for broad Scotch, but a very bad one for 
 the pure Portuguese. In fact, though he had been ten 
 years in the country, he could hardly make himself in- 
 telligible, even to his youthful bride. 
 
 Dona Huperta was an interesting young woman, very 
 dark, but with large, fine eyes, and a ladylike figure, 
 which made amends for her want of beauty. 
 
 There was a grand collation in the dining room. In 
 the centre of the table a thin thread of a fountain threw 
 its cooling spray over masses of yellow pines, purple 
 figs, pomegranates, melons, and multitudes of lesser 
 fruits, which nestled in antique silver stands ; while, 
 like miniature lighthouses, arose from amid the green 
 or sunny clusters the swan-like necks of claret flasks ; 
 flanked by burly jugs of johannisberg, squatting down 
 low out of sight ; but all with great drops of cold 
 perspiration trickling down their dewy sides. Then 
 the perfume of the pineapples, the limes, guavas, 
 golden sugar bananas ; and such oranges too ! great big 
 spheres, the diameter of thirty-two pound shot, with the 
 advantage of carrying the seeds in a little baby orange 
 at the top, and leaving the great globe of pulp free from 
 
400 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 impurities of core ; — to say nothing of the delicate cold 
 pates of game, the salads, the ices, the music. The 
 reserve of the demure Brazilian damsels wore off at 
 the first pop of the champagne corks, and the en- 
 gagements for waltzes and dances kept us very busy, I 
 assure you. 
 
 After the health of the newly-married couple had 
 been drunk, and a capital sentiment uttered by his rev- 
 erence the archbishop, we all crowded to the main 
 entrance of the villa, to see the pair start for the resi- 
 dence of the bridegroom. At the foot of the marble 
 steps stood a brand new open landau, lined with white 
 and pink silk, and harnessed to a pair of jet black 
 horses, whose eyes looked to me as wicked as Satan. 
 It w^s a pretty turn out, and there stood the horses, 
 fretting and tossing the satin favors in their headstalls, 
 while a powerful negro, in snow-white muslin shirt and 
 trousers, held them firmly by the bits. 
 
 " A pleasant time to ye, lads," said honest Mac, with 
 a wave of his hand to us blue jackets, as he mounted 
 the front seat, and grasped the reins. 
 
 His little wife leaned out of the carriage door, and 
 putting her arms around her father's neck and her lips 
 to his face, sobbed out, " O mi padre ! " 
 
 The next instant, the black leaped away from the 
 horses' heads, sprang up beside his master, and the ca- 
 lash tore away through the shady thickets, out of sight. 
 The old prince of slave traders gave a yearning look 
 
TALES FOR THE MAKINES. 491 
 
 after his child, not thinking, perhaps, that the dew of 
 her last kiss was still moistening his cheek. 
 
 "We all returned to the dining hall, finished the repast, 
 and then, with our partners, books, or games, sauntered 
 for hours through the intricate groves, where music 
 was pouring its soft melody through the foliage, and 
 where many of us fluns: ourselves at full len2:th on the 
 marble benches or rustic lounges, and puffed cigars of 
 the real veguero growth, every one of which was worth, 
 in perfume alone, the amber mouthpiece of a sultan's 
 pipe, 
 
 I was comfortably convalescing, I may say, at that 
 time, from the dreadful treatment I had received from 
 Antonietta, and was doing my best to appear amiable to 
 an elderly Brazilian maiden, with a tolerably thick 
 mustache, and the most woe-begone expression I ever 
 saw. She was under rather short canvas for a virgin 
 of her time of life, and looked as if she would esteem 
 it a friendly act to be poisoned without delay. She 
 rather harmonized, however, with my own frame of 
 mind, and I had arrived at that stage of di^ust with 
 flirts and young flibbertigibbets, as, from mere propin- 
 quity, to make me fall enamoured of females old enough 
 to be my grandmother. It often happens with your 
 green hands, after their young love has been blighted, 
 to be pulled into the traces again, like an old boot, by 
 young ladies of mature age. 
 
 I had picked up sufficient Portuguese to chatter 
 34* 
 
402 TALES FOR THE MARI^'ES. 
 
 volubly, and, seated in a dense little labyrinth of the 
 wood, I was paying devoted attention to the yellow an- 
 tiquity with the down on her upper lip. I had also a 
 bottle of champagne, which I had insisted on a waiter's 
 leaving upon a wicker work settee close at hand. 
 
 If my recollection serves me, the maiden was relat- 
 ing to me the manner the gold was found in the streams 
 running through her father's domain ; though Heaven 
 knows she was too far advanced in life herself to have a 
 living sire. I was also admiring the sparkling brilUants 
 on her dingy little bolsters of fingers, with an undefined 
 hope that she would make good my loss with the Span- 
 ish brunette ; but it was a vain hope. 
 
 During a pause in the music, which seemed to be 
 playing inconveniently near, our tete-d-tcte was inter- 
 rupted by the sound of voices, apparently within a yard 
 of us, on the other side of the closely-matted under- 
 growth of vines and shrubs which divided the alleys 
 and lanes of the pleasure grounds. My companion was 
 somewhat startled, and fearing, perhaps, a little scandal 
 might arise from being seen Avith a navy officer of my 
 extraordinary attractions, she hastily snatched away her 
 hand, and left me with no other support than the cham- 
 pagne. I was on the point of following the faded 
 charmer, when my steps were arrested by hearing a 
 deep bass voice, hoarse with passion, say, in Portu- 
 guese, — 
 
 " Tell the villain that I hold no terms with pirates ; 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 403 
 
 he has already lost two fine vessels, and has played false 
 all around." 
 
 "But, Dom Martin," began a female voice, in an 
 earnest and imploring tone, "Dora Martin, I will an- 
 swer for him this time ; we have spent all, and he will 
 leave Brazil forever." 
 
 " Nad ! nao ! I have supported the scoundrel already 
 for two years, and not another milreis will I give for his 
 gaming and villanies," replied the deep lungs of a voice 
 I now recognized to be that of our host ; " not a single 
 vintem," he went on ; " and hear me ; tell him the 
 same American corvette that captured the Clara is now 
 in the harbor, and to beware lest I drop a hint to her 
 captain. There, no more. Here, however, is some- 
 thing for you. Adios.'^ 
 
 I heard the heavy, dull sound of gold, as it clinked 
 into the woman's hand. 
 
 " Another moment, Dom Martin ; I came for a good 
 purpose, God knows. Dona Ruperta, without knowing 
 what a wretch I was, has ever been kind to me ; and 
 for her sake be prepared for a serious danger which 
 threatens you." 
 
 The retreating footsteps of Dom Martin were arrested, 
 and after a pause, he said, — 
 
 " What danger ? You don't mean that the villain is 
 inciting the Congo and Loango blacks to insurrection ? " 
 
 "Be prepared for the worst," said the woman, in a 
 hurried whisper, "and I'll warn you, if possible, in 
 time." 
 
404 TALES FOU THE MAKINES. 
 
 The voice ceased, and I was debating in my own mind 
 whether to leave the shady httle bower before finishing 
 the champagne, when, through the same wall of foliage, 
 near the spot where Dom Martin and the woman had 
 stood, I beheld the dim outline of a man's figure. He 
 walked stealthily along the pathway, and as he passed 
 my position, he raised his hand with a threatening ges- 
 ture, and, as if communing with himself, hissed through 
 his lips the single word " Traidora ! " — Traitress ! 
 
 I neither saw nor heard any thing further in that 
 direction ; and the bugles pealing forth an enlivening 
 march, I sallied out of my retreat, discovered that the 
 moon had taken the place of the sun, and that it was 
 time for the dancing to begin. 
 
 Joining the crowds who were thronging the alleys, 
 and cleverly dodging my faded dulcinea, who was, I 
 divined, intent upon waylaying me for a close embrace 
 in the waltz, in the course of an hour I entered the 
 villa. 
 
 The dancing saloon was a lofty, oblong apartment, 
 running the entire breadth of the house, the ceiling 
 tastefully painted in groups and strings of the goddesses 
 of the light, fantastic toe. The walls between the mar- 
 ble pilasters were tinted salmon color, while the floor 
 was of the dark, rich, polished mahogany of the country. 
 
 I had been backing and filling over this slippery floor 
 for some time, perfectly indifferent to my fate, since I 
 felt morally certain that any accidental capsize would be 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 405 
 
 attributed to the proper cause, namely, tlie pollsliecl sur- 
 face of the mahogany. It struck me, however, pending 
 these reflections, that I ought to see a great number of 
 lights ; but though the large saloon was as brilliant as 
 day, there was not a lamp or candle to be seen. 
 
 On a closer examination for the chandeliers and wax 
 burners, I discovered that the spaces between the fluted 
 pilasters, around the cornices, and in the medallions of 
 the ceiling, were of ground glass, painted to correspond 
 with the adjoining parts, while the light M'as poured by 
 reflection into the saloon from concealed panels. The 
 effect was all that could be wished, without the heat, 
 glare, or flare of wax or oil. It convinced me, more- 
 over, that the apparent defect in my vision was attrib- 
 utable to rational causes, and not to the sparkle of the 
 champagne. At the same time, the discovery so much 
 affected me that I persuaded a nymph of some twelve 
 summers 
 
 Now, don't laugh, ladies, for I knew an admiral's 
 wife in Brazil who was the mother of seven children at 
 eighteen years of age, all single' throws, and never 
 doublets or tripods among the lot. 
 
 Well, she w^as a wild little thing, and we went to sen 
 timentalize on the piazzas. There w^as a pretty thick 
 volume of cigar smoke afloat, and a number of card 
 tables about, w^ith a very rich display of counters ; so I 
 surmised that the betting was high. In fact, your old 
 gamblers, your staid, respectable diplomats, sagacious 
 
406 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 statesmen, and the like, never put any money up. It 
 sets a bad example ; but still they bet all the deeper 
 for it, and remit to each other little Ullcts-de-hanc in 
 the morning. 
 
 Occasionally, too, some tawny old dowager, with any 
 quantity of sugar and coiFee in bags, with fingers loaded, 
 between the layers of fat, with royal brilliants, and 
 brows and jaseys with the same precious stones, would 
 be seated at the green tables, merely looking on for 
 amusement. At intervals they would give as much of 
 a nod as their unwieldy necks would stand, as much as 
 to say, " A thousand milreis on the trick," or, " Fifty 
 ounces on the game," and so on. 
 
 While cruising around this part of the mansion, I 
 was accosted by an American merchant with, " Young 
 gentleman, will you be good enough to find Captain 
 Percy for me ? " 
 
 Now, this was the very move of all others I was 
 most anxious to avoid, since I was just in that state of 
 elation to be aware, if my venerable commander caught 
 sight of me, I should certainly get my ears pinched, and 
 perhaps be sent off to the corvette. So I had exerted 
 all my tactics during the day and evening to determine 
 exactly his position, but never permitting him to know 
 mine. The fact was, that old Percy had some unac- 
 countable disinclination to have his young reefers use 
 tobacco or drink wine ; and when dining with him at 
 his own table, he would say, " Have a cigar, sir ? Ah, 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 407 
 
 you don't smoke. Steward, pass them on." But in 
 the matter of wine he never even passed the compli- 
 ment upon us ; so that we had to watch a chance, fill 
 our glasses, and under the mask of a stand of fruit, or 
 a wine cooler, toss them off surreptitiously. 
 
 In reply to my interrogator, I said, " O, yes, sir ; but 
 I can't leave the lady ; but there the gaptain stands, 
 smoking a cigar with the bishop," pointing through a 
 lane of humanity towards the balustrade of the veranda. 
 
 "Ah! muito hem; the very pair I was in search of" 
 
 The moment after, I saw all three move towards the 
 end of the piazza, where there was a sort of pavilion 
 for punch and ices ; and being joined by Dom Martin 
 and several more native and foreign gentlemen, they 
 listened with great attention to some remarks which fell 
 from the host. Believing that no danger would follow, 
 at the solicitation of my companion I fed her with ices 
 from the pavilion, and thus overheard the concluding 
 part of the conversation. 
 
 "Si, senhores," said Dom Martin, "there must be at 
 the lowest computation nearly nine thousand blacks in 
 the great apaidados. They have been going away to 
 those swamps for many months — chiefly the Loango 
 slaves, brave and fearless fellows, all of them. I have 
 every reason to apprehend danger ; and this very even- 
 ing I learned that there is a prospect of the negroes 
 being incited by foreign sailors, some of whom, in times 
 past, I have had dealings with. Moreover, our troops 
 
408 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 here are not numerous, and should an attack be made, 
 they will have as much as they can do to defend Bahia, 
 while here in the suburbs we shall be left comparatively 
 unprotected." 
 
 " Well, gentlemen," spoke up old Percy, turning to 
 the foreign consuls, " you have only to address me an 
 official letter on the subject, and I'll give you all the as- 
 sistance that can be spared from the Juniata." 
 
 I may observe here that Percy not only received the 
 thanks of the English government for the protection he 
 afforded to British subjects during the affairs which sub- 
 sequently occurred, but a splendid service of plate from 
 the foreigners themselves in San Salvador. 
 
 When the consultation broke up, I beat a retreat with 
 my youthful partner, and again sought the ball room. 
 It must have been past midnight. A long contra-danqa 
 had been formed ; but just as the headmost couples were 
 beginning to swing forward to the measured cadence of 
 the orchestra, from some unknown cause the music sud- 
 denly paused, and then ceased altogether, while a breath- 
 less silence reigned throughout the room. We all gazed 
 inquiringly from one to another ; but at the same mo- 
 ment the crowd fell back from the great doorway lead- 
 ing to the vestibule, and we beheld the powerful ne- 
 gro, who had attended the newly married couple, lean- 
 ing against the pilaster. The black stood with his 
 right arm pressed to his side, while the hand and part 
 of the forearm was snapped short off, and hung down 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 409 
 
 at nearly right angles with the remainder of the joint. 
 His dress was one mass of blood and dirt. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " exclaimed a dozen voices, 
 while some of the women screamed with fright, as the 
 slave stood trembling and gasping, with his face the hue 
 of blue ashes, on the threshold. 
 
 " Dom Martin ! " uttered the maimed negro. 
 
 " Here," said the host, as he pushed his way through 
 the terrified crowd of women, and never stopped until 
 he stood face to face with the slave. " Qwe falla " — 
 Let him speak. 
 
 I did not catch the words in reply, but Dom Martin 
 gave a frightful shudder, turned half round, with a stare 
 of agony, and while the great drops of sweat burst from 
 his forehead, he fell headlong on the floor. 
 
 All was soon explained. The horses had got away. 
 Dona Ruperta had been killed, and her husband had a 
 fractured skull. 
 
 I need not tell you that the gay wedding and ball ter- 
 minated in weeping and sorrow. Poor Mac, though he 
 partially recovered from his accident, and returned to 
 Scotland, never, I believe, fully regained his reason, save 
 to mourn for his unfortunate bride. It cast a heavy 
 gloom, too, over all the foreign society of the city, which 
 it took a long time to remove. 
 
 Meanwhile the fears of an insurrection among the 
 slaves of the province, at that time immensely outnum- 
 bering the whites, became every day more general. In 
 35 
 
410 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 consequence of the representations which had akeady 
 been made to Percy, fifty men from the Juniata, besides 
 the marine guard, were detailed for a sort of garrison 
 duty in the dwellings of the foreign residents. 
 
 Our ground was confined to the Yittoria, as I have 
 hinted, a suburb of villas, overlooking the glorious bay, 
 and faced on the opposite side by a broad road and high 
 stone walls. 
 
 The main retreat of the blacks was ascertained to be 
 about fifteen miles from the city, in the direction of the 
 open sea, and it was presumed, in case of attack, they 
 would approach by the Vittoria road, where no troops 
 were posted, and there was no impediment to oppose the 
 negroes until our little band had been landed for the 
 service. 
 
 The villas were about the third of a mile apart ; and | 
 as they were charmingly cool residences, with great 
 broad piazzas, plenty of delicious claret and pure Havanas 
 to sip and puff, while the fresh sea breezes rattled the 
 blinds of the lofty dining halls ; and since we were 
 treated, marines and mariners, with a noble hospitahty, ! 
 why, it was not in the heai't of man to wish that the 
 fears of a negro insurrection should ever end. 
 
 My quarters were at the villa of the Sardinian consul, 
 whose wife, a very handsome woman, with the blood of 
 a Balbi in her veins, was my tutoress in the interesting 
 little game of ecarte. I played for her while she did 
 the honors of her house ; and it was owing, possibly, to 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 411 
 
 the instructions she gave me, that she filled her purse 
 with yellow gold from the plethoric pockets of her 
 guests. 
 
 Every evening after the gentlemen had returned from 
 their business pursuits in the town, partaken of dinner, 
 and so forth, it was customary to close and barricade the 
 gates, station lookouts on the walls, and then stroll from 
 house to house,#and amuse ourselves with cards or dan- 
 cing until past midnight. 
 
 Each villa was a miniature fortress. The corners 
 of the rooms were stacked with fowling-pieces and 
 blunderbusses. Swords and canes were piled on chairs. 
 The ladies' work boxes were filled with bullets. Pistols 
 and percussion caps lay ready for use beside the cards 
 on the tables. The windows and doors facing the road 
 were bolted, barred, and double locked, and every thing, 
 in short, ready for a siege of any duration. Our men, 
 at the same time, eight or ten at each villa, were posted 
 about the grounds during the night, but in the day they 
 lounged and slept away the hours, as well as generous 
 cheer would allow them. 
 
 The commander-in-chief of our troops on the land 
 was, of course. Colonel Steelin, the marine officer of the 
 Juniata. You will not understand that he had actually 
 risen to that high grade in the corps ; for, according to 
 the present rate of promotion, by the nicest calculation, 
 he would have to be just two hundred and thirteen years 
 seven months and a half in the service to attain that 
 
412 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 rank, which is simply impossible. We gave him the 
 title as an affectionate sort of brevet, and believed that 
 his merits made him eligible for a brigadier. I forget 
 whether I have yet described him as he deserves. At 
 all events, a slight repetition of the virtues of a good 
 fellow is not throw^n away. 
 
 Steelin was, and is now, one of the most excellent, 
 warm-hearted, good creatures in the s^vice. To be a 
 soldier was his pride, and a good messmate his passion. 
 To maintain the foraier reputation, he always made up 
 his own bed, kept his trunk, like a canteen, packed in 
 the middle of the Atlantic, ready for a campaign any 
 where. He buttoned his military frock to the tip of his 
 stock on the coast of ^Muscat ; never gave an eighth of 
 an inch to his sword belt or sash after the heartiest of 
 dinners ; he loved the fife, but scorned the flute ; a fiddler 
 was his abhorrence, and he always advised those musical 
 gentry, on the score of economy, to grow their own cats 
 for strings. The colonel knew, besides the regulations, 
 the exploits of every distinguished soldier of modern 
 times, and as for his drill, it was perfection. 
 
 " I say, you. Private Dodds," or " Corporal Boggs," 
 as the case might be, he would exclaim, while his bullies 
 were drawn up on the lee side of the quarter deck, and 
 snatching the musket from the individual's grasp, " hold 
 the piece firm to the breast as the rock of Gib-ral-tar ! 
 Learn to stand fire, sir, like a mutton chop, and keep your 
 eye on the object, sir." 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 413 
 
 It was a delightful study, I assure you, to hear him ; 
 for he was indeed a great comfort to us. We had all 
 misgivings, however, a good while after this cruise, that 
 the colonel would fall off when he committed matri- 
 mony ; but it " never fazed him," he was wont to say. 
 He was up, kit packed, pipe clay mixed, whiskers 
 trimmed to a hair, and off to sea in a frigate on a three 
 years' cruise to the East Indies, the day after his mar- 
 riage. 
 
 Our head quarters were at the villa of Dom Martin. 
 It was the most central position, and made the best ren- 
 dezvous in case the adjacent buildings should be attacked ; 
 but the owner himself we rarely saw, since he was as 
 yet too much pressed down by the loss of his child. 
 
 One fine night, when the moon was on the wane, but 
 still nearly round, and throwing a full, soft, mellow 
 light over the broad expanse of the bay, I made a visit 
 to the colonel. My object was, to report the patrol out, 
 and that a casualty had happened to one of our gallant 
 band, who had tumbled from a ladder against the wall, 
 broken his musket, together with his shin, and received 
 several abrasions of his flesh. 
 
 " Very good, sir," said the colonel ; " I only wish 
 that he had broken his neck instead of his arms ; and I 
 rather think he must have been eating eels, to have 
 made him wriggle off the ladder, sir. I shall put him 
 in irons at daylight, sir." 
 
 I found Steeliii in the second story, or altos , as they 
 
414 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 call the upper rooms of a Brazilian house, leaning over 
 a broad iron balcony. He was flanked by a large silver 
 salver containing every variety of drink, a pyramid of 
 limes, a bowl of sugar for a brew of punch, and a bun- 
 dle of cigars. 
 
 "By Jove, sir," said the colonel, as he observed the 
 glow of pleasure with which I beheld the tempting dis- 
 play set out for his conviviality — " by Jove, sir, this is 
 one of the houses, it is. My friend, Dom Martin, lives 
 like a perfect gentleman, and if he had another daugh- 
 ter, she would be mine, sir — mine." 
 
 " I say, colonel," I began, " what a glorious big bed 
 that is ! " pointing to a great state affair, with enough 
 gauze and curtains around the superb decorations to 
 have made a suit of studding sails for a frigate. " I 
 s'pose you sleep like a top, nights." 
 
 " What ! " he exclaimed, with assumed indignation, 
 as he squeezed some lime juice over the sugar, in a 
 tumbler, and rang a bell for a servant, to bring fire for 
 his cigar — " what, sir ! do you imagine a true soldier 
 sleeps tranquilly in a bed like that in time of war ? 
 No, sir ; a cane-bottomed settee there, jacket for pil- 
 low, and sword at my side — that's ray bed, sir, and 
 ready at all hours of the night for the grand rounds, 
 sir." 
 
 I, of necessity, had no more to say, after the wisdom 
 thus imparted to me ; so I drew a chair to the balcony, 
 and while the fruits and plants gave out their delicious 
 
TALES FOR THE MARIN'ES. 415 
 
 perfume to the gentle influence of the night dew, I 
 listened to the talk of my companion relative to his 
 exploits in the field of Mars. At last he ceased, and 
 ■sve both fell into a revery ; the smoke from the cigars 
 curled in blue, spiral wreaths around our heads, and the 
 only sound that broke upon the stillness was at times 
 a large drop of moisture rolling off the foliage, and, 
 perchance, falling with a loud snap upon the broad leaf 
 of a banana or guava bush below. 
 
 Suddenly we were startled by a quick hail from a 
 sentinel, a few hundred yards on our left, of, " Stop 
 there, or I'll plug you with a balL" " Stop ! " was 
 cried the second time ; and the moment after rang out 
 the loud report of a musket, and we could hear the ball 
 whistle through the leaves and undergrowth, making 
 the dew fall like rain. 
 
 Before we had time to think, two figures sprang out 
 into one of the open parterres of flowers, from an angle 
 of the shrubbeiy ; a violent struggle ensued between 
 them ; we saw a blade gleam with a silver flash in the 
 moonlight ; there was a choking scream, some half-audi- 
 ble ejaculations of, " O Bill, coward ! how could — kill 
 me ; " and one of the two sank upon the ground. 
 
 While Steelin and I yelled for the guard to turn out 
 and arrest the intruders, the only response we at fiji'st 
 got was a flash from a pistol beneath the balcony, fol- 
 lowed by a ball, which clipped off some of the stucco 
 work on the window frame above our heads, while a 
 
416 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 voice sung out, " Take that for your pains ! " and the 
 individual leaped again within the dense thickets. 
 
 We immediately descended to the piazza, and as the 
 alarm spread in both directions, up and down the road, 
 the men lined the walls. An order was given for no 
 one to pass, and no one did escape, that we could see ; 
 but still, after a close search, we could discover no trace 
 of the person who had created the disturbance. 
 
 Our attention was now turned to the post where the 
 first alarm had been given ; and on questioning the sen- 
 try, — a plain, straightforward Yankee, — he stated that 
 a white woman, nearly out of breath, had come quickly 
 upon him, and desired to be conducted to Dom Martin 
 instantly. But while she was making the request, a 
 man dashed into the alley with a knife in his hand ; the 
 woman took to flight ; the man pursued, and not stop- 
 ping at the sentry's hail, he had fired. This was all 
 clear, and, with Dom Martin and several gentlemen 
 from the adjacent villas, we moved towards the grounds 
 in the rear, from which the colonel and I had been sa- 
 luted with the pistol bullet. 
 
 Emerging into the open garden, we beheld a human 
 form, lying, face downwards, upon a bed of brilliant 
 flowers, standing up like white and red torches in the 
 moonlight ; while all around, the plants and shrubs 
 were trampled under foot by the desperate struggle we 
 had before witnessed. We all moved hastily forward ; 
 and from the torn drapery and mass of dishevelled hair. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 417 
 
 strewed dank and wet with, blood upon the back, we 
 saw that it was a woman. She was Ivincr with her face 
 almost buried in the soft, rich earth, while between the 
 shoulders was the hilt of a knife, which had been 
 plunged in up to the guard. 
 
 " What hellish work is this ? " exclaimed Dom Mar- 
 tin, as we raised the body and bore it to the piazza. 
 *^ Bring water, quick ; she may not be dead." 
 
 AVe propped the body up on one of the great cane 
 lounges, and in a few moments, with a napkin and jar 
 of water, I had gently washed away the dirt from the 
 face, and bathed the neck and bosom. 
 
 " Stone dead," said our consul. A low groan, how- 
 ever, followed from the body ; a gurgling rattle, and 
 she slowly opened her eyes. 
 
 " Ah, poor soul ! she is the wife of a miscreant I 
 formerly employed," said Dom Martin. 
 
 Wine was brought, and a little being placed in her 
 mouth, it seemed to revive her ; for she opened her eyes 
 again wide, and blood flowed in a stream from her lips. 
 At length the hemorrhage ceased, and she appeared to 
 be regaining consciousness. Her eye first glanced upon 
 me, and she murmured, in broken whispers, " Poor 
 little — fellow, — I thought they killed — you — at Mag 
 Surfs." 
 
 I let fall the basin in absolute surprise ; then gazing 
 attentively at the dying features, I was at last enabled to 
 recognize the woman to be Loo O'Neil. But what a 
 
418 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 change ! Instead of the fine blooming woman I had once 
 seen, there lay stretched before me the hollow, ghastly- 
 cheeks, hollow eyes, and shrunken figure of one who had 
 plainly led a life of misery since we had parted. She 
 fainted away once or twice ; but recovering again, though 
 becoming weaker every minute, she mentioned the name 
 of Dom Martin. She spoke with difficulty. 
 
 " The attack of the blacks will be made before day- 
 light," said she; " they are now approaching the city — 
 by both roads. I came to warn Dona Kuperta." There 
 was another faint turn. " One body by the Yittoria — this 
 house will be plundered — there : I am going — God 
 forgive me — I am steeped in crime : he murdered " 
 
 The eyes remained wide open ; the light had left them 
 — there was a rattling struggle in the throat, and all 
 was over with Loo O'Neil. 
 
 ** Her papers are white, I really do believe, sir," said 
 the old sergeant of marines, as he brushed away a tear 
 from his bronzed cheek, and touched his cap to his 
 officer. 
 
 '^ There's no time to be lost, gentlemen," exclaimed 
 the colonel, in a low tone ; '^ but we must have a rein- 
 forcement." 
 
 " Ay, that we must," said Dom Martin. " I know 
 the revengeful villain well who has urged on these 
 poor, ignorant blacks, and he will do all he can to 
 massacre the whites." 
 
 *^ At the same time," said the consul, " we must get 
 
TALES FOR THE MAR1^-ES. 419 
 
 a message as soon as possible to the corvette ; and who 
 will go ? " 
 
 •'I will, if you please, sir," I volunteered; '^ only 
 show me the way ; " for I felt an itching to be with 
 old Jack Percy, as I felt sure that if any body would 
 circumvent Mr. Bill Lowther it would be he. 
 
 " Bravo, boy ! I'll give you a guide ; and while you 
 are gone I'll send a note to the commandant of the 
 troops to be on the alert in the city." 
 
 The guide furnished me w^as a little negro boy about 
 tei» years old ; but, saving that he was so black that I 
 could not see him at times, he performed his task well, 
 and I managed to scramble down a steep, rocky path on 
 the face of the hill towards the sea, and soon stood upon 
 the beach. The next move was to find a boat, though I 
 fancy the good people above thought I intended to swim 
 off to the ship, which lay about a mile from the shore. 
 Fortunately, we found an old log of a fishing canoe. 
 With sharp stones we cut the painter, and then, with 
 two pieces of drift wood for paddles, we put off. 
 
 The current was running strong in shore, and we were 
 whirled about a good deal ; biit presently we crossed the 
 bows of a large Brazilian frigate, called the Bahiana, 
 lying in harbor. Before I had breath to reply to the 
 hail of the sentry on post at the heel of the bowsprit, 
 he let slip a bullet at me. It was not badly aimed for a 
 Brazilian, taking into consideration that we were not 
 more than thirty feet from the muzzle of his piece ; and 
 
420 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 the ball smashed slap through the bottom of the canoe. 
 My little darkey jumped overboard with a shriek, while 
 I dropped my paddle into the water, and yelled out that 
 I was the very best amigo the empire ever had. 
 
 My cries, joined to the noise of the musket, attracted 
 attention on board the Juniata, scarcely a cable's length 
 distant, and a boat was manned and sent to pick us up. 
 
 My report was quickly made to old Percy, who was, 
 as usual, picking his teeth in his sleep. 
 
 " Orderly," he said, as the man answered the cabin 
 bell, " tell the officer of the watch to beat to quarters, 
 and prepare the second division for landing at the Vit- 
 toria. Let a boat also be sent to this frigate alongside, 
 to thank the captain for firing at one of my officers, and 
 say that there is every reason to look for an attack by 
 the blacks upon the city before daylight." Meanwhile 
 the old gentleman slipped on his trousers and upper rig ; 
 then, taking a pair of duelling pistols carefully out of 
 the case, he stepped on deck. 
 
 Fifteen minutes had not elapsed before his orders had 
 been fully executed. Both ships had beat to quarters, 
 the Brazilian with her ports triced up, battle lanterns 
 kindled, and all her boats in readiness to act. At the 
 same time, the second division of the corvette's crew, 
 about seventy men and officers, had left the ship- 
 Guided by the same little blackey who had led me down 
 the hill, we could every now and then trace their course 
 up the steep face of the ascent by the glitter of a bay- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 421 
 
 onet reflected from the last glimmers of tlie setting 
 moon. 
 
 It was near two o'clock. "We had waited a long time 
 in considerable anxiety, but all remained tranquil — not 
 a sound save occasionally the splash of a fish jumping 
 out of water, and the low, distant roar of the ocean 
 rolling upon the outer beach. The town seemed wrapped 
 in repose. The white ranges of houses, the towers of 
 churches and convents, and the deep foliage of the sub- 
 urbs were all shrouded in the dim, indistinct veil of 
 starlight. I stood beside the captain and first lieuten- 
 ant on the poop, waiting impatiently for the assault to 
 begin ; while the crew remaining on board were lying 
 on the deck at their quarters at the great guns, in readi- 
 ness to jump into the boats at the gangways, to act at 
 any point their services might be required. 
 
 " Four bells," said the orderly at the cabin doors. 
 The clang of the brass tongue of the bell had hardly 
 ceased its liquid notes, when, in the direction of the Vit- 
 toria, we heard a few dropping shots, and then a smart 
 volley. Away to the left over the city the horizon 
 became brilliant with flame, and then began the work in 
 earnest. Volley upon volley of musketry rolled in 
 rapid succession, broken in upon every few seconds by 
 the deeper boom of field pieces ; while we could hear, 
 amid the strife, the clattering of cavalry mingled with 
 the clash of steel, and above all, the wild, terrific howls 
 and shrieks of the infuriated blacks. The fire, too, was 
 36 
 
422 TALES FOR THE MARINES 
 
 kept up sharp and warm at the Vittoria, and by the 
 cheers and shouts of our people we felt assured they 
 would be able to beat off any force of unarmed negroes 
 that might be brought to oppose them, even though led 
 by sailors. 
 
 " Is my gig ready, and the men armed ? " said Percy. 
 
 " All ready at the starboard gangway, sii-," replied 
 Mr. Hope. 
 
 " Then be ready to send all the men you can spare to 
 the Vittoria in case of need. I shall go there myself, 
 and see how things get on. Come, Mr. Gringo, let us 
 shove off." 
 
 Old Dolphin gave a low whistle, the oars dipped like 
 knife blades into the water, and we spun away to the 
 lower landing. There, after waiting some time, a mes- 
 senger came, as had been agreed upon, from Steelin, 
 who reported that the blacks had been repulsed without 
 difficulty from iLe villas, and had apparently moved off 
 to join the main body in the attack upon Bahia. They 
 had evidently met with a leception they were by no 
 means prepared for ; but still the battle raged in the city 
 with great spirit. 
 
 " Pull slowly up along the town," said old Percy, as 
 we shoved off from the landing. " The chances are, 
 the negroes will be beaten ; but whether they will fall 
 back to their former ground at the swamps or be driven 
 into the bay is doubtful." 
 
 The boats from the frigate Bahiana had preceded us. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 423 
 
 and now, as the gray of morning was stealing above the 
 smoke hanging upon the hill, we all rowed past the 
 city. The firing, however, still continued hot and ir- 
 regular, and still the wild clamor of the assailants rose 
 in the deadly conflict, accompanied by the sound of 
 tom-toms and the clash of steel. The sounds came 
 nearer too, and struck with greater distinctness upon 
 our ears ; and soon the combat rolled from the outskirts 
 into the city, along by the plaza, when again the field 
 guns came into play, and the musketry poui-ed in volley 
 upon volley. 
 
 " They have made a bold stand somewhere," said old 
 Jack, " and if they overcome the troops, there won't be 
 a white left alive in the town to tell the tale." 
 
 At last there was a thundering discharge, then a 
 pause of comparative stillness, followed by a shout of 
 triumph from the troops. Then the nine pounders 
 ceased, and the firing of the musketry seemed to be 
 divided, one part echoing away back of the city, while 
 the other blazed up on the very crest of the hill towards 
 the harbor, and at the same time we could hear a few 
 spent bullets skipping about the tiled roofs of the ware- 
 houses of the lower town. 
 
 "Ah, ha!" muttered Percy, "those poor, deluded 
 slaves are retreating, and if they come this way, they 
 must bolt by the watering ravine ; so give way, lads." 
 
 In a few minutes we had swept for a mile beyond the 
 port and shipping, and reached a little stone jetty pro- 
 
4:24: TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 jecting some distance into the bay, where was a narrow 
 channel chiselled out of the rocks, for a thin stream of 
 fresh water to fill the casks in the boats beneath. A 
 large number of canoes were hauled up on the beach 
 near by, while the nets, floats, gourds, corks, and sails 
 of the fishermen were spread over them. Just below 
 the watering wharf was a broad, causewayed ascent lead- 
 ing, with one or two angles, to the plaza of the city , 
 and then above was another of more rugged ascent, and 
 forming a sort of delta in the rainy season, where nu- 
 merous paths and watercourses joined at the base, and 
 fell into the bay. 
 
 It was now broad daylight ; the firing from the hill 
 had ceased, with the exception of a few scattering shots ; 
 but the cries of the soldiers, and the slipping and clat- 
 tering of the cavalry, as the horses were urged over the 
 smooth, steep pavements, were mingled, as before, with 
 the savage, wailing shrieks of the defeated blacks. 
 
 By this time the boats of the Bahiana had taken posi- 
 tion in a line wi'th the jetty, and all were arrtied with 
 swivels, while the launch had, in addition, a howitzer- 
 built twenty-four pounder carronade in her bows, on a 
 traversing shde. We lay on our oars outside of all, 
 and waited the result with the deepest suspense. 
 
 Suddenly a simultaneous and unearthly yell arose 
 from the high bank abovi us, and quick as thought we 
 beheld a great mass of naked blacks leaping like so 
 many demons down the narrow paths of the rugged 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 425 
 
 ravine. They were in full flight ; while, hurrying down 
 the causeway, the troops came straggling along, with a 
 horseman or two at intervals in their midst/ their sabres 
 waving, and all shouting and cursing awfully. A panic 
 had evidently come upon the slaves ; and, quite fren- 
 zied, they no sooner gained the beach, than, plunging 
 into the pure, blue, tranquil water of the bay, they 
 struck out for God only knows where. 
 
 Then the boats from the frigate opened; the heavy 
 crash of the cannon followed ; the water was all foam 
 for an instant ; but when the gentle land wind rolled 
 the smoke back like a blanket, the grape and canister 
 shot had done its work, and the before transparent 
 water was discolored with blood, and covered with muti- 
 lated carcasses. Still the blacks came crowding on 
 down the hill, and in scores splashed into the bay, to 
 meet the fate of those before ; while, at the same time, 
 the soldiers and horsemen, dashing right and left among 
 them on the beach, gave them a foretaste of what they 
 had to expect from the boats. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great slaughter which took place 
 at the watering ravine, there were collected from difler- 
 ent parts of the city, and piled in heaps in the plaza, 
 upwards of seven hundred dead bodies, while, for a 
 long time after, the putrid carcasses were fl.oating about 
 the bay, the sharks having apparently been surfeited by 
 their inordinate feast. This insurrection of 1835 was 
 one of the bloodiest ever known in Brazil. 
 36* 
 
426 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 During the thickest of the melee at the ravines, when 
 the gutter of the jetty was fairly running with blood, 
 we observed four large men spring down the very face 
 of the rocky steep, and amid a mass of dust, stones, and 
 sticks which followed their footsteps, dash boldly into the 
 midst of a cluster of soldiers. As they struck right 
 and left with great knives curved like sickles, the Bra- 
 zilians fell back before the sharp steel ; and so unex- 
 pected was the attack, that two of the party had time 
 to rush to the beach, and by one vigorous shove launch 
 a light canoe which had been hauled upon the shore. 
 The hindmost pair did not, however, join their compan 
 ions without a struggle ; for no sooner had the aston- 
 ished and wounded guard given way, than three troop- 
 ers galloped up, with sabres raised, to cut the intruders 
 to pieces before they could reach the canoe. We now 
 had a good view of all four of the fugitives. The two 
 first were of huge frames, wholly naked, their bodies 
 shining like junk bottles in the sun, and their woolly 
 heads partly covered with a cap of sea shells. There 
 was no doubt of their race. Their companions, how- 
 ever, were powerful men, but not so black as the oth 
 ers i besides, they wore short trousers, and red cotton 
 kerchiefs around their brows, and had whiskers. 
 
 " De Lord knows de niggers by de wool ; dem two 
 hind chaps am stained white men," muttered Kit Dol- 
 phin. 
 
 Meanwhile the pair turned at the moment the horse- 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 427 
 
 men were in the act of striking, and diving under the 
 bellies of the horses, the blows descended harmless, 
 while the animals were completely overthrown by the 
 shock, and the riders hurled heavily from the saddle. 
 The third trooper came off still worse ; for one of the 
 fugitives seized his steed by the curb, reined him back 
 on his haunches, and then dealt the rider a dreadful 
 overhand blow with the immense knife, that nearly sev- 
 ered his leg from the trunk. Another second had not 
 passed when all four had jumped into the canoe, seized 
 the paddles, and then, with a fiendish yell of triumph, 
 shot like a meteor out into the bay. 
 
 It so happened that this rapid skirmish and flight oc- 
 curred somewhat in the rear of the main body of troops 
 who now lined the beach, and directly astern of the 
 flotilla of man-of-war boats, who, anchored in line, with 
 their swivels and guns in full play, did not see what 
 was passing, and even if they did, could not easily be 
 diverted for so small a quarry. 
 
 The canoe, however, passed close to us, urged like a 
 javelin over the calm water. We had but a glance at 
 them, but that one glance at the half-averted faces of the 
 fellows in the bow and stern was enough for us. 
 
 The gaunt, bony whaler, of whom I spoke in the 
 beginning of this yarn, Mickey Maginnis, and Kit Dol- 
 phin tuned their pipes ; nor did the presence of the 
 stern old captain restrain their deep execrations. 
 
 " Mickey," said the former, " d'ye call to mind the 
 
428 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 throttled baby aboard the English brig ? My name's 
 not Steeving Frankling, and may I never see Cape Cod 
 agin, if I don't stick wun of them viliings afore the 
 sun gits over the fore yard." 
 
 " Howly Moses ! " ejaculated the sturdy little Irish- 
 man, as he exposed his pointed teeth, and talked through 
 the hole made for his pipe ; " blast yer porth raits ! av a 
 vartuous action 'ull hang yer, it's me an '11 reeve the 
 rope." 
 
 " Bress us ! " broke in the pious Kit, as he rapidly 
 tucked up his sleeves in a tight roll to the armpits, 
 exposing a volume of muscles and sinews, in great 
 bunches, like uneven laid knots of hide rope, while the 
 white splatch on his cheek and eye seemed to turn crim 
 son with excitement, as he looked anxiously for orders 
 to the captain, and exclaimed, " Dem dam cussed dogs 
 of pirates, sar." 
 
 Mad Jack himself was a picture. AVhile the boat's 
 crew sat quivering with excitement, their brawny flip- 
 pers clutching the looms of the oars, ready to apply 
 their force in the chase, the captain's large gray eyes 
 grew as luminous as a furnace ; his lips were parted 
 over his square iron jaw, and his gaze was intently fixed 
 upon the canoe, until the smoke of the Bahiana's boats 
 hid her from sight. Then he spoke, in his calm, stern 
 way. 
 
 " Let me have these tiller ropes, boy ; I'll steer. 
 Now, men, we have a long race before us, on empty 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 429 
 
 stomaclis, and perhaps a swift fellow to take ; so save 
 your strength, and away with her." 
 
 I must tell you, Fred, that the Juniata's gig, though 
 clinker built and rather hea\y, pulled eight oars, and 
 had never been caught. At the same time we were 
 ignorant what she would do alongside one of the slim, 
 light, frail shells we had now to compete with, since she 
 had never been tried. She parted the water very hand- 
 somely, however, and whizzed away in obedience to the 
 captain's order with great rapidity, but still by no means 
 up to her speed. There was little or no wind in the 
 vicinity from where we started, for the concussion of 
 the guns had almost killed it. The smoke, too, lay in 
 light flakes of blue clouds close along the harbor, so as 
 to obscure the chase. In a few moments, however, we 
 got beyond its influence, and came out into a clear 
 atmosphere, and just in time to see the canoe skim 
 like a flying-fish round a low, sandy point ahead of us. 
 Whether the persons in her were aware that they were 
 pursued we hardly knew, but we thought they were 
 not. 
 
 ^^Now, Dolphin," said the captain, "strong and 
 long." And to me, "Youngster, pitch these heavy 
 gratings, the cushions, backboard, and every ounce of 
 extra weight, overboard." 
 
 I did as I was bid, while the boat's crew gave a tug 
 at their belts, the long oars cheeped in the rowlocks, 
 and the compressed water between the blades flashed 
 
430 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 and foamed in the rising sun, as tlie gig danced on her 
 course. 
 
 Keeping near to the edge of the point, — and low as it 
 was, we were screened from the other side by a thick 
 grove of cocoa nuts and limes, — we presently shot swiftly 
 round, and there, witliin a cable's length, was the canoe, 
 pulling but two paddles, while the negroes were step- 
 ping the masts and preparing to make sail. We were 
 nearly upon her before being discovered ; but instantly 
 resuming the paddles, and taking a sharp turn, by almost 
 superhuman efforts, the cork- like vessel glided away 
 from our grasp. 
 
 " Neber do to gib it up so," exclaimed Kit, cheer- 
 fully; "nab-bem de bery nex time but one." 
 
 Old Percy merely drew his pistols towards him on the 
 stern sheets, and whispered to me, " Bring me down 
 one of those stained white villains." 
 
 I threw up the long tube, and touched the trigger ; 
 but either my agitation or the jerking of the boat sent 
 the bullet wide of the mark, and a yell of derision 
 came from the canoe. I was about to cry with vexation 
 when the captain nodded to the remaining weapon, and 
 said, " Quick." 
 
 This trial the shot was not so bad, though the distance 
 was greater, for the ball struck the after paddle with a 
 placlc, first going smash through the paw of Tom Mur- 
 den. Esquire, who had hold of it. The paddle took a 
 kind of slue, but the fellow still continued his work. 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 431 
 
 while tlie blood ran a stream down the dark blade. 
 The captain greeted me with a smile^ but never removed 
 his gaze fi'om the chase. 
 
 On we flew, within earshot of her too, so that we 
 could hear the deep guttural grunts of the negroes at 
 every stroke of the paddles. Both boats, impelled at 
 wonderful speed, were heading for a broad belt of man- 
 groves, which lined the shore in the distance, growing 
 beneath the tall, rocky banks, where we could see a 
 cascade of water tossing its spray over the dense fohage 
 below. It was a trying race ; yet we could not gain an 
 inch. Xot a word was uttered ; old Jack bent to the 
 stroke of the oars ; the powerful crew, with short 
 Mickey Maginnis in the bow, would only at intervals 
 give a rapid glance over their shoulders ahead, and then 
 with renewed efforts apply their strength to the business 
 before them. 
 
 For four or five miles we continued on at the same 
 rate. It could not last, however, forever ; and we be- 
 gan to perceive evident signs of weakness on the part 
 of Mr. Tom Murden, who had the eyelet hole worked 
 in his hand, for his head reeled every moment as if he 
 was drunk. 
 
 " One word, lads," said the captain, as the boats 
 now rapidly neared the mangroves — " one word : don't 
 trouble the blacks ; those pirates — you understand." 
 
 Kit Dolphin threw up his flipper in token of obedi- 
 ence. At the moment the canoe passed from our sight 
 
43^ TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Straight into the laced thickets. A few seconds later, 
 the gig went crashing into the same spot in her wake, 
 and so great was her impetus that she not only cut the 
 canoe's stem clean off like a knife, but split our own 
 bow wide open, as it ran high up on the yielding brown 
 roots, and sent us all with a jerk sprawling over the 
 thwarts. 
 
 " After them ! " shouted old Jack. Kit and the whaler 
 sprang simultaneously into the deserted canoe, now half 
 full of water, and bounding on to the quivering laced 
 roots which made a kind of bridge, they overtook and 
 drove their cutlasses into the skull and body of Murden, 
 as he was picking his way, half fainting, after his com- 
 panions. He fell over with a groan, the head dipping in 
 the water, his legs caught in the fibrous roots ; a few 
 bubbles of blood and a convulsive spasm, and he was a 
 dead man. 
 
 " Be Jasus," said Mickey, as we hurried on, " there's 
 one av 'em has got his pay soup ; and I'll hang him, 
 jist for form's sake, whin I come back this way." 
 
 There was no mistaking the path the others had 
 taken; for not only did the torn foliage and broken 
 limbs and twigs denote it, but we heard the negroes 
 wailing; asfain in the same wild shrieks as on the retreat 
 from Bahia. 
 
 Getting out of the mangrove bushes, we came to a 
 cleared margin of sand, sprinkled over with palms and 
 cocoa nuts. Just beyond was a precipitous pile of rocks, 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 433 
 
 like a wall, where the shrubs and tendrils of vines, 
 mingled with luxuriant foliage, fringed the bank, and 
 nearly hid the course of the waterfall, save by the 
 gurgling mui'mur of its liquid throat, as it fell down a 
 yawning ravine into a deep chasm below. 
 
 On gaining the open spot of sand, we beheld the 
 blacks running along the coast, while before us were 
 part of the gig's crew scrambling up the bank, leaving no 
 doubt as to the track of Lowther. It was a somewhat 
 difficult steep to climb ; but even our stanch old cap- 
 tain managed to reach the top as soon as the best of us. 
 Then we all followed in the wake of Kit and the whaler. 
 The soil was very rich, and amid large forest timber 
 ran up the slim, flexile shafts of the papas, and all 
 laced with lianas and campanulas, glowing with the flit- 
 ting, brilliant insects of a Brazilian wood. Along the 
 banks of the stream, whose bed was a mass of jagged, 
 impassable rocks, the gay chintules — a kind of rushes — 
 kissed the spray of the torrent, while the lofty foliage 
 drooped in graceful bends and loops which touched 
 midway over the stream. It was scarcely thirty feet in 
 width; yet the obstacles were too serious to pass, and 
 we felt no uneasiness lest Lowther should evade us in 
 that dli-ection. 
 
 The villain, however, with wings lent him by desper- 
 ation, had outstripped us all but Kit ; and soon we heard 
 his deep roar of, " Bress Heben, treed him at last, jes 
 like a dam 'possum ! " 
 37 
 
434 TALES FOR THE MARINES. 
 
 Coming up to tlie place, we beheld tlie pirate clam- 
 bering up a giant mabogany tree to the topmost branch- 
 es, while Dolphin, with his cutlass betwixt his teeth, 
 was going up hand over fist after him. There was not 
 a pistol among us, or Kit might possibly have been 
 spared the additional fatigue, after the race, of climbing 
 up a tree. 
 
 Lowther had soon worked his way to the thorny 
 summit over the torrent, and seemed to be intently 
 examining the lesser growth below him. 
 
 " Should he attempt to leap the stream from that 
 height, he'll be dashed to atoms ; but it will only save 
 me the boat's painter, which I intend to hang him with. 
 Ah, there he goes ! " 
 
 While the captain was speaking, the villain made a 
 spring from the wide-spread branches of his perch, and 
 making a long flight through the air, he alighted upon 
 a tall, lance-like sapling, with a little tuft of branches^ 
 at the top. This gave way to the force of his leap, and 
 broke short off ; but with great presence of mind he 
 seized another within reach, M'liich bent at first like a 
 fishing rod, but did not give way. There he swung, 
 with a smile of devilish satisfaction creeping over his 
 scarred and blackened face, suspended over the turbu 
 lent torrent, waiting till the vibrations of the tree should 
 give him the chance of landing on the opposite bank, 
 and exclaiming the while, — 
 
 " So you Yankee rascals have caught me, eh ? " 
 
TALES FOR THE MARINES. 435 
 
 Then glancing up to Kit, he added, " Why don't you 
 jump, you spotted scoundrel ? " 
 
 Dolphin was, in fact, in the act of attempting the 
 leap at the risk of his life, when the fragile limbs, una- 
 ble to bear his weight, gave way, and he was precipi- 
 tated over and over throiisrh the vieldino; branches and 
 leaves to the earth. 
 
 All this took place in a much shorter time than it 
 takes to tell it. The swing, however, of Lowther's 
 pendulum movements seemed to be communicated to the 
 surrounding foliage, and as he remained dangling about 
 fifteen feet from the ground, in mid air, watching to 
 make a safe descent, three or four of the light trees were 
 without visible means bent together, and then flew back 
 with a snap, making the quiet forest to rustle and trem- 
 ble with the force. A second after we beheld the long, 
 flat head, and scaly, sinuous body of a huge boa, of the 
 size of a line-of-battle ship's hemp cable, protrude them- 
 selves many feet from the trunk of a gnarled mahogany 
 tree. With a malignant glare from his fiery eye, and 
 shooting out his forked tongue as quick as lightning, he 
 approached his victim. 
 
 The horror-stricken wretch had only time to give one 
 agonizing cry before the coils of the monster were around 
 him. Tearing him like a worm from the sapling, the 
 serpent clutched him against the hard timber ; and then, 
 not in a screw-like or spiral twist, but with the great, 
 muscular, shiny body, in writhing layers and knots, he 
 
436 TALES FOR THE MAEINB3. 
 
 craunched Lowther's bones, like so many sticks, be- 
 neath the overwhelming pressure. The blood spirted 
 from his eyes, nose, and ears, and he gave some half- 
 stifled groans, as the serpent partially relaxed his 
 hold. Making a succession of half revolutions, the 
 monster again clasped him in his deadly embrace, and in 
 one huge, hissing knot, dropped his prey upon the 
 ground. Then, amid the undergrowth, we could see the 
 coils spread out and brought together to make sure that 
 life was extinct ; then more rapid gyrations, until all was 
 still ; and finally, the boa's flat head raised high up, like 
 a flexile tube, the mouth strained open, the great fangs 
 protruding, the eyes darting flame, while the bruised, 
 shapeless mass of human flesh lay within his folds, ready 
 to be devoured. 
 
 Such was the fate of the pirate. We remained no 
 longer near the horrid spot than to be convinced that 
 the villain had at last paid the penalty of his crimes. 
 Then, retracing our steps to the mangroves, we con- 
 trived to patch up the gig and return to the Juniata. 
 
 This, said the Lieutenant, flinging his cheroot in 
 the fire, closes my narrative ; and I trust, ladies, that 
 not only you, but Fred, here, will swallow it without 
 any more compunctions of conscience than the boa had 
 in swallowing Lowther. 
 
Phillips, Sampson, Sf Co.'s Publications. 27 
 
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