who, like myself, was leaning over the bulwarks
looking at the town, 'what think ye of
El Dorado?' 'Faith, I think,' said he, 'that its
only virtue is that it tells the truth; for it says,
as plain as can be, that Yellow Jack is always in
command of the garrison here, and that he'll give
half of us permanent quarters on the ground-floor.'

"With this pleasant prophecy ringing in my
ear, I landed on the muddy quay, and, as the
smell at this point was anything but agreeable,
and the sun piping hot, I made tracks for my
quarters as fast as possible. I found I was
billeted on a Señor Rivas, who lived at some
distance from the river; and I might have had
a difficulty in finding my way, but that the
adjutant, who spoke Spanish, was quartered
there, too, and I had but to put myself under
his guidance. Mighty glad I was to get under
shelter, and to take in succession a cup of good
coffee, a cigar, and a siesta. But that which
pleased me most was that the señor had two
pretty daughters, Luisa and Helena.

"'Come along, my boy,' said Power, the
adjutant, shaking me as I still lay snoring.
'It's cool now, and I'm going to see the
recruits land. Are you ready for a walk?'

"'I'm ready, all that's left of me; bedad, I
think the musquitoes have eaten off both my
ears,' said I, rubbing the injured parts.

"Off we started, and were down at the quay
in half the time we took to come from it. It
was just as well we got there, for the men were
in bad humour at being kept on board for some
hours after the officers landed, though there was
a good reason for it, to save them, namely, from
exposure to the sun in the heat of the day.

"However the boys, as Donnelly, the orderly
sergeant, called them, soon showed their ill-
humour. Among the natives who were helping
to get their kits out of the boats, was
a huge negro. He stood six feet five at
the least, and had lots of sinew, and a head
like that of a bonassus. He picked up the
heaviest box like a feather, and walked away
with it; but, in trying to get hold of too many
things at once, he let one man's kit fall into the
water. It was quickly fished out again, but
with plenty of black mud sticking to it.

"'Tare and 'ounds,' said the man to whom
it belonged, 'you great murthering villain! is
that the way you wash clothes in your
counthrey, with mud for soap, to make 'em as black
as your own ugly face. Take that, thin!'

"With these words he struck the giant a blow
on the head as he was leaning over to get hold
of some more boxes. It was a hard knock, and
sounded as if one had struck a paving-stone with
a heavy mallet, but it made no more impression
on the African than it would have done on a
bufllalo. It roused his fury, however, which he
showed very much as a buffalo would have done.
He shook his great head, and glared about him
like a demon, then went back a few paces, and
putting his head down, ran at poor Paddy, who
was squaring away, not expecting that sort of
combat, and struck him full amidships, sending
him flying a dozen yards at least, and knocking
all the breath out of his body. As flesh and
blood cannot see a comrade mauled, without
coming to the rescue, there was soon a ring
of fellows round the nigger, all wanting to
revenge Paddy's disaster. But one down, and
another come on, blackey was a match for them
all; and one after another down they went, none
of them knowing what to do with an antagonist
who came on like a ram.

"Things were looking 'entirely onpleasant,'
as poor Paddy, who had begun the fight, and
who was now sitting up again, coughing,
observed, when Donnelly stepped up to the
adjutant, and, touching his cap, said:

"'By yer honour's lave?'

"'Oh! of course, Donnelly, of course,' replied
Power; and, turning to me, he added, 'Now
you'll see some fun.'

"In a trice the sergeant had stripped, stepped
into the ring, and confronted the African. He
was a small man compared with his antagonist,
and rather too handsome for a gladiator; but he
was young, muscular, active as a deer, and his
fine clear blue eyes were bright with confidence.
There was no need of a challenge. In love and
war gestures are everything, and no sooner did
Donnelly present himself than the negro
retreated, as before, a few paces, lowered his
head, and came thundering at him with fifty-
bull power. But this time the issue was very
different from that of the preceding encounters.
Just as the negro was almost upon
him Donnelly made a side spring at him, and
struck him a tremendous blow in the face
with his knee, at the same time planting a right-
hander behind his ear that would have stunned
an ox. The effect of this judicious appeal to the
knowledge-box of the African was to drive him
obliquely headlong to the ground, the blood
streaming from his nose and mouth. One
would have thought that his late defeat would
have taught him caution, and that he would
have changed his tactics; but no—he rose
lowered his head once more, and rushed upon
Donnelly, like a thunderbolt. Again he was
met, and his rush turned aside, by a fearful
blow from Donnelly's knee, of such force that
the negro turned a complete somersault, and
then lay extended flat on his back, and this time
without power to rise.

"'Faith, sergeant, you have killed the black
baste this time entirely,' was the exclamation
that greeted the victor. Power and I, afraid that
the man was dead, made them lift him up, and
give him some brandy. After a time he revived.

"Night fell before our labours in superintending
the landing of the men were over, and we
were glad to get back to our quarters without
any further rambling about the town. The
miasmatic influences at Angostura are increased
tenfold after the sun goes down, and, to say
nothing of the musquitoes, all sorts of noxious
insects and reptiles get abroad, for which
reasons, or for others as good, that I don't
know, people there soon get to their beds."

"I don't wonder at that, major," said I,
interrupting him, "if what the consul in