Part 8 (1/2)
The two lieutenants continued their ride, bound on a visit which shall be mentioned presently. The mids.h.i.+pmen galloped along till their horses' knees trembled under them. They had left the more cultivated country, and entered a wild region, the forest closing in on every side; birds of gorgeous colours flew by or rose from the thickets; beautiful b.u.t.terflies fluttered in the glades, and monkeys gambolled in the trees, looking down on them from the branches overhead, chattering loudly as they pa.s.sed.
”We've paid a pretty high price, I've a notion, for Master Spider, since we might have had a dozen such fellows for the catching,” observed Norris, as he watched the monkeys in troops springing from bough to bough.
”But how were we to catch them, I should like to know?” asked Tom.
”They can beat any one of us at climbing, there's no doubt about that.”
”Ah, well, I suppose they can, as they are at it all day,” answered Norris sagaciously.
Meantime Master Spider had been gazing up wistfully at his relations in the trees, every now and then answering their chatterings with a peculiar cry, when, pa.s.sing under an overhanging bough, some three or four feet above him, suddenly springing on the horse's head, and thence on Gerald's, in a moment, with his long arms extended, he had laid tight hold of it, while Gerald letting go his rein, with equal tenacity grasped the end of the chain, fancying that he could haul him back; but the arms of the monkey were stronger than his. On galloped the horse, leaving him, as a consequence, hanging with one hand to the chain.
Instinctively he made a grasp at the monkey's long tail, greatly, it is possible, to the relief of the owner; and there he hung, swinging backwards and forwards between the sky and earth, the monkey jabbering and shrieking with the pain of the strap round its loins, amid a chorus of its relatives, while the other mids.h.i.+pmen gathered round, laughing till they nearly split their sides, without attempting to a.s.sist him.
Even Tom--hard-hearted fellow--forgot to help his friend.
”Bear a hand, some of ye, and catch hold of my legs, or I'll be carried off by the baste entirely,” shouted Gerald. ”And there's my horse galloped off, and I'll have none to ride back on.”
”Hold fast, Paddy! hold fast!” shouted his messmates, ”it's such fun to see you.”
”It's you I want to be holding on to me, for if ye won't haul me down the baste of a monkey will be after hauling me up. He'll be at the top of the tree in another moment, and his friends will be carrying me off among them, and I'll never set eyes again on Ballymacree, shone! shone!
but be turned into a spider-legged monkey, I will!” and poor Paddy began to cry with terror as he pictured the fate in store for him. At length Tom's regard for his friend overcame his love of fun, and throwing the reins of his horse to Norris he jumped off, and catching hold of Gerald's legs began hauling away with all his might. Now, though Master Spider could, by his wonderful muscular power, manage to support one mids.h.i.+pman, the weight of two was more than he could bear, and letting go, down came Gerald, and over went Tom, with the monkey struggling and scratching on the top of them, giving a revengeful nip on the most exposed part of his new master's body. Master Spider hadn't long his own way, however, for the reefers picking themselves up, Paddy gave him a box on the ears, which though it made him show his teeth, brought him to order, and the tired steed being found feeding close by, all hands agreed that, unless they wished to be benighted, it was about time to return s.h.i.+pward. Paddy declining the further companions.h.i.+p of Spider, Tom took charge of him, and off they set down the mountain's side, for a wonder reaching the plain without breaking their necks; their steeds happily knowing the way better than they did. Darkness came on while they were still galloping along.
”Och, sure our horses' hoofs are scattering the sparks all around us,”
cried Paddy. One of the more knowing of the party, however, discovered that the sparks were fire-flies, flitting about above a damp spot through which they were pa.s.sing.
A good supper at the hotel quickly restored their exhausted spirits, and they got safe on board with Master Spider. It was the last ride on sh.o.r.e they enjoyed for many a long day. They were soon to be engaged in more stirring and dangerous adventures.
We must now accompany the two lieutenants. On landing, having a bill to get cashed, they repaired for that purpose to the establishment of a certain Don Antonio Gomez, who acted as store-keeper and banker, and was, they heard, one of the leading men in the place. He spoke English, they found, remarkably well.
”Are you related to Mr Adair, of Ballymacree, in Ireland?” he asked, on hearing Adair's name.
”I am his son,” was the answer.
”Then I am truly delighted to see you, my dear sir,” exclaimed the Don.
”My mother is the daughter of an uncle of yours--no; let me see--of a great uncle who settled here some forty years ago or more, after the island became a dependency of England. She will be charmed to welcome you as a cousin. My wife, too, is Irish, and we have some guests also who hail from the old country, so that you will be perfectly at home.
You will come up at once, and Lieutenant Rogers will, I hope, accompany you.”
Adair, of course, said all that could be expected; how enchanted he should be to make the acquaintance of his cousin, of whom, till that moment, however, he had never heard, while Jack gladly accepted the invitation offered him. While they were speaking Don Antonio was summoned on a matter of importance.
”I regret that I cannot accompany you at present,” he said, on his return; ”I have therefore written to announce your coming, and have ordered horses, with a servant to show you the way. They will be here presently, and in the meantime you must fortify yourselves for the journey with some tiffin.”
He led his visitors to a large airy upper room looking out over the gulf. In the centre was a table spread with all sorts of West-Indian delicacies, and wines and spirits, and bottled beer. A person must go to a hot climate to appreciate the latter liquid properly. Several persons looked in, and took their seats at table as if it was a customary thing. Some apparently were resident planters; others skippers of merchantmen, and there were several foreigners, who spoke only Spanish or French.
One of the last comers was a fine military-looking man, with a handsome countenance, a few grey hairs sprinkling his otherwise dark hair and moustache. Don Antonio introduced him to the two lieutenants as Colonel O'Regan. The naval officers rose and bowed, and the Colonel taking his seat opposite to them at once, as a man of the world, entered into conversation.
”Colonel O'Regan has seen a good deal of service in the Peninsula and elsewhere,” observed Don Antonio to Adair; ”knew your uncle, Major Adair, and was with Sir Ralph Abercromby when this island changed masters, I must confess very much to its advantage.”
The colonel heard the last remark. ”I was a mere boy at the time, having only just joined my regiment,” he observed, with a smile. ”It was not a very hazardous expedition, and had there been any fighting the navy would have borne the brunt of it; but the gallant Spanish Admiral Apodaca, whose memory is not held in the highest repute hereabouts, as soon as he saw the British fleet, having landed his men, set fire to four of his s.h.i.+ps, and galloped off, that he might be the first to convey the intelligence to the Governor Chacon, who was preparing to defend the city from the expected a.s.sault. He entered at the head of a band of priests, piously counting his rosary. 'Burnt your s.h.i.+ps, admiral!' exclaimed Chacon, in astonishment. 'Then I fear all is lost.'
'Oh, no, most n.o.ble governor, all is not lost, I a.s.sure you,' answered the admiral. 'I have saved! only think I have saved the image of Santiago de Compostella, the patron of my s.h.i.+ps and myself.'”
”Come, come, you are rather hard on the worthy Apodaca--his s.h.i.+ps were only half manned, and Admiral Harvey would have captured them all after giving him a sound drubbing,” observed Don Antonio, laughing notwithstanding. ”Besides it is a proof that we had pious men among us in those days. Remember that we had not long before been deprived of the holy Inquisition.”