Part 4 (1/2)
”Now, gentlemen,” he continued, ”isn't it hard--devilish hard, don't you know, that so little is entle frittered away I don't knohether you fellows feel it You see, we ain't a ainst the blue devils, that's e are Only sometimes I feel, don't you know, that all the ru of jolly days on the other side of the water Now, don't you fellows look at oing to make such a confounded ass of myself, don't you know
But what I want you fellows to tellbeasts of ourselves, guzzling ruentlemen I didn'tin this place Ruainst rum, I'll call hientlemen--this rotten old country, don't you know No cricket, no society, no Bass, no anything Supposing we had gone to Canada with our--our capital and energies, wouldn't they have received us with open arentleet up a what-d'you-call-it to the thing they call a governentlemen; and we'll insist on it and be very first these ive theentle in return? No, no; we must let thery with theentle which the orator sat down rather suddenly on the floor Then followed ”Rule Britannia,” everyone assisting with all the breath in his lungs towas finished the loud snoring of Captain Wriothesley becas to lie on, but, becole, and stirrup-straps, had fallen to sleep with his feet on his saddle and his head on the floor
”Hallo, we can't have this!” shouted one of the fellows ”Let's wake old Cloud by firing at the wall over hi some plaster on to his head It'll be awful fun, you know”
Everybody was delighted with the proposal, except poor Chillingworth, who, after delivering his speech, had crept away on all fours into a corner, where he was sitting alone and looking very pale and an,the wall only a few inches above the recu dust and bits of plaster over his purple face I ju them in my haste that they were too drunk to hold their revolvers properly, and would kill their friend
My interference raised a loud, angry re in ainto a sitting posture, stared vacantly at us, his reins and straps wound like serpents about his neck and arms
”What's all the row 'bout?” he deht; only thing to do in this country Only don't ask ht, boys; don't cut my throat by o to sleep, Cloud,” they shouted ”Lamb's the cause of all this He says we're drunk--that's the way La to wake you up, old Cap, to have a drink--”
”A drink--yes,” assented the Captain hoarsely
”And Lamb was afraid ould injure you Tell him, old Cloud, whether you're afraid of your friends Tell Lamb what you think of his conduct”
”Yes, I'll tell him,” returned the Captain in his thick tones ”Laentlemen But you know you took him in, didn't you, now? And as ht of you felloas it, now? He couldn't be one of us, you know, could he now? I'll leave it to you, gentlemen; didn't I say the felloas a cad? Why the devil doesn't he leave me alone then? I'll tell you what I'll do with Lamb, I'll punch his daentles refused to assist hilare at , I suppose, to punch _his_ nose, but, suddenly changing s, then left the room with a hearty curse on Captain Cloudesley Wriothesley, the evil genius, drunk or sober, of the colony of English gentlemen I was no sooner outside the door than the joy they felt at being rid of eneral discharge of firears out of doors and soliloquisedmy somewhat drowsy eyes on the constellation of Orion, ”adventure the second, or twenty-second--little does it matter about the exact number of them, since they all alike end in s of dust from off my feet And, perhaps, at this verycry of the night-watchhs to find my place still vacant What e my naa, Gorostiaga, Madariaga, or any other 'aga,' and conspire to overthrow the existing order of things
There is nothing else for me to do, since this Oriental world is indeed an oyster only a sharp sill serve to open As for ar, all that is quite unnecessary One has only got to bring together a few ragged, dissatisfied e pell-worth's dilapidated old tin-pot
I alht, ready to blubber
But, after all, my position is not quite so hopeless as his; I have no brutalised, purple-nosed Briton sitting like a night the life out of rew fainter and fewer, and had almost ceased when I sank to sleep, lulled by a solitary tipsy voice droning out in a lugubrious key:
We won't go--ho I left Tolosa and travelled the whole day in a south-westerly direction I did not hurry, but frequently disreen herbage I also called during the day at three or four _estancia_ houses, but failed to hear anything that could be advantageous to oing always towards the eastern part of the Florida district in the heart of the country About an hour before sunset I resolved to go no farther that day; and I could not have hoped to find a nicer resting-place than the one now before me--a neat _rancho_ with a wide corridor supported by wooden pillars, standing a-s It was a cal on everything, even bird and insect, for they were silent, or uttered only soft, subdued notes; and that h stone walls and thatched roof, seemed to be in harmony with it all It looked like the home of simple-rassy wilderness, watered by many clear strea of the horizon, and arched over with blue heaven, starry by night and filled by day with sweet sunshi+ne
On approaching the house I was agreeably disappointed at having no pack of loud- forth to rend the presu one always expects The only signs of life visible were a white-haired old , and a few yards froirl was a picture for one to gaze long upon and carry about in hisso exquisitely beautiful It was not that kind of beauty so common in these countries, which bursts upon you like the sudden south-ind called _pa the breath out of your body, then passing as suddenly away, leaving you with hair ruffled up and mouth full of dust Its influence waswind, which blows softly, scarcely fanning your cheek, yet infusing through all your syste else in earth or heaven
She was, I fancy, about fourteen years old, slender and graceful in figure, and with a ht Oriental sun had not painted one freckle Her features were, I think, the olden brown hair hung in two heavy braids behind, almost to her knees As I approached, she looked up to rey-blue eyes; there was a bashful smile on her lips, but she did not move or speak On the -branch over her head were two young doves; they were, it appeared, her pets, unable yet to fly, and she had placed thes had crept up just beyond her reach, and she was trying to get the my horse, I came to her side
”I am tall, senorita,” I said, ”and can perhaps reach theently pulled her birds from their perch and transferred them to her hands Then she kissed theentle hesitation in her manner asked me in
Under the corridor I randfather, the white-haired old et on with, for he agreed readily with everything I said Indeed, even before I could get a re to it There, too, I irl's hter, but had black hair and eyes, and a brown skin, as most Spanish-American woolden-haired one, I thought When the girl's brother came in, by and by, he unsaddled my horse and led him away to pasture; this boy was also dark, darker even than his mother
The simple spontaneous kindness hich these people treated me had a flavour about it the like of which I have seldom experienced elsewhere