the gentlefolks in England. It was a sight
not easily described, to see niggers, savages,
and Pirates, hideous, filthy, and ferocious in
the last degree to look at, squatting about
grimly upon a natural carpet of beauty, of
the sort that is painted in pictures with
pretty fairies dancing on it.

The mules were unloaded, and left to roll
among the flowers to their hearts' content. A
neat tent was set up for the Pirate Captain, at
the door of which, after eating a good meal,
he laid himself down in a languishing attitude,
with a nosegay in the bosom of his waistcoat,
and his guitar on his knees, and jingled away
at the strings, singing foreign songs, with a
shrill voice and with his nose conceitedly
turned up in the air. I was obliged to
caution Short and the sailors—or they would, to
a dead certainty, have put all our lives in
peril by openly laughing at him.

We had but a poor supper that night.
The Pirates now kept the provisions they
had brought from the Island, for their own
use; and we had to share the miserable
starvation diet of the country, with the
Indians and the Sambos. This consisted of
black beans fried, and of things they call
Tortillas, meaning, in plain English, flat cakes
made of crushed Indian corn, and baked on a
clay griddle. Not only was this food insipid,
but the dirty manner in which the Indians
prepared it, was disgusting. However, complaint
was useless; for we could see for ourselves that
no other provision had been brought for the
prisoners. I heard some grumbling among our
men, and some little fretfulness among the
children, which their mothers soon quieted.
I myself was indifferent enough to the
quality of the food; for I had noticed a
circumstance, just before it was brought to us,
which occupied my mind with more serious
considerations. One of the mules was
unloaded near us, and I observed among the
baggage a large bundle of new axes, doubtless
taken from some ship. After puzzling
my brains for some time to know what they
could be wanted for, I came to the conclusion
that they were to be employed in cutting
our way through, when we came to the
forests. To think of the kind of travelling
which these preparations promised—if the
view I took of them was the right one—and
then to look at the women and children,
exhausted by the first day's march, was
sufficient to make any man uneasy. It
weighed heavily enough on my mind, I know,
when I woke up among the flowers, from
time to time, that night.

Our sleeping arrangements, though we
had not a single civilised comfort, were,
thanks to the flowers, simple and easy
enough. For the first time in their lives, the
women and children laid down together, with
the sky for a roof, and the kind earth for a
bed. We men shook ourselves down, as well
as we could, all round them; and the Pirates,
relieving guard regularly, ranged themselves
outside of all. In that tropical climate, and
at that hot time, the night was only
pleasantly cool. The bubbling of the stream,
and, now and then, the course of the breeze
through the flowers, was all we heard.
During the hours of darkness, it occurred to
me—and I have no doubt the same idea
struck my comrades—that a body of
determined men, making a dash for it, might now
have stood a fair chance of escaping. We
were still near enough to the sea-shore to
be certain of not losing our way; and the
plain was almost as smooth, for a good long
run, as a natural race-course. However,
the mere act of dwelling on such a notion,
was waste of time and thought, situated
as we were with regard to the women
and children. They were, so to speak, the
hostages who insured our submission to
captivity, or to any other hardship that might
be inflicted on us; a result which I have no
doubt the Pirate Captain had foreseen, when
he made us all prisoners together on taking
possession of the Island.

We were roused up at four in the morning,
to travel on before the heat set in; our
march under yesterday's broiling sun having
been only undertaken for the purpose of
getting us away from the sea-shore, and from
possible help in that quarter, without loss of
time. We forded the stream, wading through
it waist-deep: except the children, who crossed
on our shoulders. An hour before noon, we
halted under two immense wild cotton-trees,
about half a mile from a little brook, which
probably ran into the stream we had passed
in the morning. Late in the afternoon we
were on foot again, and encamped for the
night at three deserted huts, built of mud
and poles. There were the remains of an
enclosure here, intended, as I thought, for
cattle; and there was an old well, from which
our supply of water was got. The greater
part of the women were very tired and sorrowful
that night; but Miss Maryon did wonders
in cheering them up.

On the third morning, we began to skirt
the edge of a mountain, carrying our store
of water with us from the well. We men
prisoners had our full share of the burden.
What with that, what with the way being
all up-hill, and what with the necessity of
helping on the weaker members of our
company, that day's march was the hardest I
remember to have ever got through.
Towards evening, after resting again in the
middle of the day, we stopped for the night
on the verge of the forest. A dim, lowering,
awful sight it was, to look up at the
mighty wall of trees, stretching in front, and
on either side of us without a limit and
without a break. Through the night, though
there was no wind blowing over our encampment,
we heard deep, moaning, rushing
sounds rolling about, at intervals, in the
great inner wilderness of leaves; and, now
and then, those among us who slept, were