54

A STREET SQUABBLE.

are not very scrupulous about the mode of taking revenge. An incident which occurred to myself will serve to illustrate this point. I was walking down the street in company with a young lady, and when passing the door of a shop, a dog sprang from it, and barking very fiercely, was about to seize my companion. I placed myself between her and her assailant; and, fortunately having a very strong thick stick in my hand, I met his attack with a blow which felled him to the ground. The owner came out of the shop apparently in a furious passion; he stormed, and swore, and threatened, with so much rapidity, that he soon went beyond my small stock of Portuguese (of which language I had now acquired a slight knowledge). However, as he did not seem to wish to come within reach of the stick which had so rudely received his dog, the tongue was the only weapon of offence he employed. A number of people now collected round the shop door; and not wishing to embroil myself, much less my companion, in a street squabble, we pursued our way towards the American consul's.

At the time I thought no more of the matter; but two days afterwards as I was passing the same spot, a shopkeeper who lived opposite to the man whose dog I had struck, beckoned me into his house. As he spoke a few words of English, he soon made me understand that his opposite neighbour was a man of a very malicious dispo

sition; that the dog had been either killed by the blow, or so much hurt that they had since been obliged to destroy it; and that he had more than once expressed his determination to have my life if ever he could find me out of doors after it was dark. My informant strongly urged the propriety of my remaining at home, for he was sure that the fellow would fulfil his promise. I thanked him for his warning; but thinking it most likely that this threatening talker was not so formidable a person as his neighbour believed him to be, I asked my new friend if he would go over with me and faithfully translate the expressions I should use, promising at the same time that they should not be offensive, or such as to provoke an affray. He agreed to do so; and crossing the street, we entered the man's shop.

As soon as he saw me, he appeared very much surprised, and I desired my interpreter to inquire of him whether it was true that he had more than once said, he would have my life if he found me in the street after dark? He seemed a little confused, but answered stoutly that "He had said it, and he meant it;" to which I answered that it was quite fair, and that I would be equally frank with him. I then stated that I always carried a brace of pistols about my person, and as he had now declared his intentions, I added that if ever I fell in with him, or saw him abroad

after dusk, I should immediately shoot him. So I took off my hat, and making him a low bow left his shop. It is needless to add, that my idle threat answered the intended purpose; for I never carried pistols or any other defensive weapon, nor heard anything more of the valiant proprietor of the dog.

But to return from this digression: the doctor having now declared that Denis might be moved on board with the others, we embarked on the 13th, parting with sincere and, I believe, mutual regret, from those on whose hospitable kindness we had been so unexpectedly thrown. I had been domesticated in the house of the British consul, and the constant aim of himself and his amiable family was to contribute every thing in their power to my comfort; so well did they succeed, that I almost felt in leaving them that I was leaving a home.

The whole party on board were silent and melancholy, and few words were interchanged, while the black rocks, the white-washed houses, and verdant hills of Fayal, gradually faded in the distance,

A

CHAPTER IV.

A Whale shot.

A dead Calm.-Scant Allowance of Provisions during the Voyage. The Anchor off Sandy Hook. Quarantine Station.- View in the Narrows. - Variety of Shipping.-Quarantine Hospitals.-New York.-Iced Punch. -Land at New York.-An American Table d'hôte.-Oppressive Heat.-Episcopalian Church.-Costume of American Ladies. Visit to Rockaway.-American Omnibus.-Desolate Marsh.-Reception by Sir C. Vaughan.-Rockaway.-Mint Julep. The celebrated Compounder of this Nectar.

I WILL not detain the reader by a detailed account of our voyage from the Azores to New York. It was tedious and unlucky to an unusual degree. After passing Flores and Corvo, (the two westernmost of the Azores,) we never once squared the yards until we arrived within thirty miles of New York. We had a continued succession of baffling head-winds and dead calms; during the latter, we lay for many days together in the midst of the Mexican Gulf stream, under a sun of burning heat, unrefreshed by a breath of air, and with no other amusement than to watch the sails idly flapping against the masts, and the gambols of the dolphins, black fish, and other tenants of the western main.

58

A WHALE SHOT.

The average voyage from Fayal to New York being estimated at sixteen days, the captain justly considered himself sufficiently provided when he had taken in supplies for twenty-six; indeed, in respect to some articles, such as fowls, sheep, &c. I believe our provisions had exhausted the whole island market. When we had been a month at sea, of course we were reduced to a somewhat scant allowance, and to other annoyances was added the failure of our stock of oranges, of which we had laid in a great many chests, and which we considered a luxury preferable to wine or any other refreshment.

The only incident worthy of mention which occurred during this tedious voyage, was one which I should be afraid to relate, had it not been witnessed by a whole ship's company.

On the evening of the 22nd June, several whales were playing round the ship. I was on deck with my double-barrelled rifle, and was talking near the bows of the ship with an old sailor who had served many years on board a whaler. As one of the whales came up above the water, not more than thirty or forty yards distant, he directed me to aim about three feet behind the head, and rather low in the body; I obeyed his instructions, and lodged both the balls within a few inches of each other in the part which he had pointed out. They pierced the thick coat of blubber, and both probably entered the heart; for after a few convulsive struggles, which discoloured the water with blood