Three of the party did so as the balsa, falling off into the current of the right arm of the Arroyo, was whirled with lightning speed down the stream. 66 They'll be on the big rock below the island in a minute," said Dugald—“ but, Steenie-Steenie-they are on us." however, succeeded in setting fire to the inner Maton, que no tiene mas que un agujero CHAPTER IX. THE ESCAPE. We had reserved our second barrel, for- of the old proverb. tunately; and now we saw rushing towards us a party of savages who had landed on the left side of the island, and had come whooping round upon our rear. We fired upon the savages, who wounded some of us with a shower of arrows, and then banged away with our pistols, and at last grappled with them. Nicolas, with his axe, swept down Indian after Indian; Luis threw his opponent; and I managed to throw mine to the ground, after a severe struggle; while Colville and Dugald drove back the four Indians with clubbed rifles who had charged them with their tomahawks. Arangoiz was but a poor opponent to a powerful savage who pressed upon him vigor-los Indios, but with a very disheartening effect ously, until Luis tripped up the Indian's heels, and then we all fought our way to the wicket, and in pell-mell we bounded, while yell after yell resounded along the palisades. "Fortunate for us that they did not know the localities well, Stephen, or else they might have reached the wicket before us." 66 Hang these arrows," muttered Colville, as he drew an arrow from his sombrero, through whose crown it had winged its way. "Severe tulzie that, Steenie, I reckon," quoth Esculapius. 66 Carquemos las escopetas, senores, por un otro atáqué," said Arangoiz, as he took out his flask and small bullets, and loaded carefully his rifle and pistols, an operation which we imitated him in, accelerated by another lluvia de saetas, which struck the inside palisadoes at their tops, and fell some of them at our feet. We now manned the averturas in the palisades, and waited till we should find a fair opening for our services on the infuriated masses outside, who now begun to clamber up the palisades, and to fire down on us from the trees around which commanded our position. These latter gentry we had to fear more than the crowd outside; but as we thinned them with a few shots, they began to deem it unadvisable to risk their dusky persons up so high from the ground; and now they began chopping down matorral and limbs of trees, and collecting the withered grass and palitos. These, despite our continued volleys, they piled round the palisadoes and set on fire. They then decamped, and watched the effect from a little distance, as well as we could infer from our limited means of observation. The palisades began to catch fire, and we saw in about an hour that many of them were crumbling rapidly away, and we thereupon retired inside the inner palisades into the corral. The savages now afforded an unerring mark to the rifles as they burst in through the fire-consumed palisades, and we kept them at bay for a long time, as they were obliged to be cooped in the area between the half-burnt palisades and the inner ones. They, * Let us load our firearms for another attack, gentle men. THE exertions to extinguish the flames proved ineffectual, and the red men, meantime, were piling fuel round the inner palisadoes, the last barrier between us and them; and I began to think that my scalp was not very safe, when Arangoiz suddenly beckoned to Hercules, and that worthy disappeared into the stable where our mustenos were located, which building formed one end of the casa, whose roof was by this time blazing away most cheerfully for upon its defenders. I wondered for what purthe more especially as I did not see him leading pose Nicolas had disappeared into the cavallada, forth the horses; the stable was untouched by senoritas themselves. Arangoiz all this time the flames as yet, and neither could I see las appeared to be perfectly cool, and the coureur as unconcerned; the latter firing and loading in rapid alternation, and humming "Jean de Nivelle a trois enfans, then a shot would follow in the midst of the old air, and― "Ha! ha! ha! vraiment Jean de Nivelle est triomphant!" while Luis reloaded. 'Vamonos, senores!" quoth Arangoiz, in a deep tone at my ear; and he walked into the cavallada, followed by the coureur and our trio in mute amazement. In the floor of the stable a large opening was now perceptible, over which a trapdoor was fitted, but raised at the present moment. Arangoiz now led out the mustenos, and fastened slings under their barriga; and then we slung them down the hoya by means of a "whip fastened to the tijido. Luis then fastened his charrette to the rope, and it was lowered down, Nicolas below unloosing the slings. We now fastened a chair to the rope reeved through a block in the tijido of the stable, one end of which depended into the abyss below. "Vamos hijos vamos! be lively!" sang out Senor Arangoiz, as he laid hold of the end of the rope, and bade me jump into the chair, which I did, and was lowered away for some time, until I felt a hand seize the chair, and Nicolas bidding me jump of, while he sang out "Iza! iza!" and up the chair went again, and down it came with Colville, and at last Luis came down last of all, bringing an iron chain, which was fastened to the trapdoor above, down with him. We now unreeved the rope through the whip, and hove upon the trapdoor, which fell with a loud noise into its berth, and then we hooked the other end on + The mouse which has only one opening is soon caught. to an argolla of iron bedded in the rock at our feet; so that it would take the Indians, if they discovered the trapdoor, an immensity of labour and time to lift it, unprovided as they were, with tools requisite for such an undertaking. The tijado overhead had taken fire while we stood in the cavallada slinging down the silla de brazos, and we heard the savages whooping in the corral; but they did not approach the house, fearing our rifles, being contented to burn us out, as they thought must have been the case. Presently a fearful crash overhead announced the falling in of the vijas of the tejido, and then a terrific whoop of triumph from the Indians, who deemed that we were all smothered in the ruins, and whom we could hear yelling overhead. "They are looking for our scalps now," muttered Luis; "what a state of wonder they will be in shortly when they can't find our bodies. Now, senores, come along, we must not tarry here;" and we proceeded along a horizontal passage, guided by a few rays of light, and feeling a fresh breeze fanning our cheeks as we advanced, until shortly we could see glimpses of the sky and matorral overhead, and Arangoiz informed us that we had now passed under the Arroyo, and were proceeding under the mainland. The horses preceded us, and las senoritas Arangoiz walked with our party; and now we caught a fair view of the star-lighted heavens, and at last emerged through a jungle of matorral into the middle of a bosque of stately arvols, whose giant trunks shot up into the heavens, shrouding the light from us with their leafy canopy. "To horse, gentlemen, at once," shouted Arangoiz, as he assisted his daughters to mount their steeds, and then jumping up himself on a powerful black musteno, we all followed his directions, mounted, first having re-loaded our fire-arms, and then struck out on the prairie. We had now left our hiding-place about half a mile behind us, and were directing our course towards a clump of rooles, every now and then casting glances over our shoulders to see if we were discovered by the Indians, whom we could see swarming through the trees, and some of them standing on the mainland on our side of the Arroyo, looking around and tracking the prairie as if for marks of feet. They now apparently found out the trail of the waggon and the coureur, for we could see them dispersing along the Arroyo in such a manner as to assure us they would very soon catch sight of us unless we reached the bosque before they could sight us, of which there was very little chance apparently. A sudden ejaculation from Arangoiz at this juncture startled me, and looking back I saw a sight which considerably surprised me. As if by magic, the bank of the Arroyo was peopled by horsemen marching in a long, straggling line intermixed with the foot Indians. "Carramba," " ejaculated Nicolas, "Estau ginetes ;" and he looked at Arangoiz. 66 Buen esta, Nicolas," responded he; and then he spoke to Luis for a few moments in an under tone. "Eh bien, Monsieur Arangoiz, d'où viennent ces cavaliers ?" "Me estodo uno," replied Arangoiz smiling. The mounted Indians now gave a loud, prolonged yell, and -much of curious interest and historic in- hair of the head and beard. To salute a man the respect. The Druids were accustomed to cultivate their beards, and permit them to grow to a great length; and they were no less celebrated for their white robes and silver knives, their religious services and metrical theology, than for their venerable beards. In ecclesiastical history we find that priests have fallen to loggerheads on the subject of beards: those of the Greek Church adhering to beards, and those of the Roman Church inclining to razors. By the statutes of some monasteries, the lay monks were obliged to let their beards grow, while the priests were closely shaven. The old kings of France had their beards platted and knotted with gold; the kings of Persia did the same; the Chinese were scrupulously careful in attention to their beards,-but, alas, nature has bestowed upon them no luxuriant crop of the facial ornament. Better be whipped and branded with a red-hot iron than have your beard cut off in Turkey. One of the buffoons of the bashaw took it into his head one day, for a frolic, to shave his beard, "which," says Belzoni, "is no triffe among the Turks, as some of them, I really believe, would sooner have their head cut off than their beard." In this state he went home to his women, who actually thrust him out of the door; and, such was the disgrace of cutting off his beard, that even his fellow-buffoons would not eat with him till it was grown again. Beards are a religious article with the Arabs. Mohammed never cut his beard. The razor was never drawn over the face of the Grand Signor. Persians who clip their beards are considered downright heretics; only the slaves of the seraglio are shaven. Whilst the Gauls were under the sway of their native sovereigns, none but nobles and Christian_priests were permitted to wear long beards. It was a privilege of the few, not the right of the many. Legislation clipped their beards; but the Franks having made themselves masters of Gaul, bondsmen were commanded to shave their chins. Even the right of wearing a short beard was taken away, and a clean shave was the lot of the serfs so long as servitude continued in France. Beards and barbers are historical. In the days of old, the Tartars waged a long and bitter war with the Persians about the growth and management of the beard; many a stout hero bit the dust in defence of his beard, and the fearful struggle cost many valuable lives. No doubt the Greeks wore beards till the time of Alexander, who ordered them to be shaved, lest they should afford a handle for their enemies in the tug of war; and the old Greek barbers shaved every chin. The people of Italy did not begin to shave till four centuries after the foundation of Rome, when Ticinius brought over from Sicily a company of barbers who became immediate favourites; and to be among the shaven was a test of respectability. Persons of standing had their children shaved by a person of the same or even greater quality, who, by performing the work of the barber, became the adoptive father of the person so shaved. The hair removed from the face was carefully preserved and consecrated to the gods! In solemn strains blind Homer tells of the white beard of Nestor, and amid all the heroism of the heroic story he does not forget the beard of old King Priam. And Virgil tells us of the beard of Mezentius, so thick and long that it covered all his breast. Socrates is called by Persius the bearded Who has not heard of Robert of France, master; Pliny the Younger talks of the white with his long white beard, who on every battlebeard of Euphrate, a Syrian philosopher, and plain led on his harnessed knights, and in the of the awe with which it inspired the people; struggle of the fight was still conspicuous for Plutarch speaks of the long white beard of an the beard, which was let down outside his old Laconian, who used to say: "Seeing conti-euirass, and which floated in the breeze like a nually my white beard, I labour to do nothing unworthy of its whiteness;" Strabo relates that the Indian philosophers, called Gymno sophists, were careful to have long beards to captivate the veneration of the people. The Jews esteemed the beard very highly; thus Hanun, king of the Ammonites, designing to insult David in the person of his ambassadors, cut off half their beards. The Hebrews wore a beard on the chin, but not on the upper lip or cheeks. Mourning was-and still is among the modern Jews-indicated by neglecting the beard; and intense grief, by plucking away the silver-scarf? or of that celebrated German painter, in the days of Charles V., who long ago would have been forgotten altogether if his beard had not made him remembered ?-it was so long that it reached the ground, and was looped to his girdle with a golden chain; or how, in those old times, two or three hairs from the king's beard were the sure and certain pledge of safety? how solemn deeds and acts of government were sealed with melted wax, in which a hair or two from the king's beard made all complete and legal; or how, as tokens of favour, a small portion of the sovereign's beard would be sent to some beloved courtier, who treasured it more than gold or jewels? how, in the reign of Catherine, queen of Portugal, John de Castro took the castle of Diu, in India, but how he was obliged to ask the people of Goa to lend him one thousand pistoles; and, as a security, sent them one of his whiskers, saying,-"All the gold in the world cannot equal what I now send, but I deposit it with you as a security for the money." So charmed were the people of Goa with this conduct that they sent him back the money and the whisker too? How, in the days of our own King Henry VIII., when the good Sir Thomas More was brought to the block-and really in those troublous times it seemed a very lottery whether one's head was high in favour at Westminster or Windsor, or high in public odium on the Bridge-gate-be lifted up his beard and permitted it to fall on the further side of the block, saying in his quiet way, "My beard has not committed treason, and it would be an injustice to make it suffer?" how when, in France, Louis XIII. ascended the throne, and was without a beard, all the courtiers ex TATE SPADE cept Sully shaved their chins; and how, when that wise man, with his long beard, appeared at court, the shavelings laughed at his grave appearance; which ridicule drew from the minister the remark, "Sire, when your father did me the honour to consult me on his great and important affairs, the first thing he did was to send away all the buffoons and stage-players of the court ?" how, in Spain, when Philip V. succeeded to the throne, and with a shaven chin began to reign, the fashion was imitated by all classes, but with great reluctance and sorrow; for, said they, "Since we have lost our beards we have lost our souls ?" SPADE BEARD, QUEEN ELIZABETH'S TIME. In Green's "Quip for an Upstart Courtier" (1592), we have a description of the Elizabethan barber, who, says the author, after dressing the head, "descendeth as low as the beard, and asketh (his customer) whether he please to be shaven or no? whether he will have his peak cut short and sharp, amiable like an inamorata, or broad pendant, like a spade, to be terrible like a warrior or soldado? whether he will have his crater cut low like a juniper bush, or his suberche taken away with a razor? if it be his pleasure to have his appendices pruned or his moustachios fostered, or turned about his ears like the branch of a vine, or cut down to the lip with the Italian lash, to make him look like a half-faced baby in brass ?" The wits (or witlings) of that age ran a tilt with their quills against the fashion, but with no better success than Quixote's attack on the windmill! Czar Peter, in his most successful efforts for the civilization of his land, insisted on his subjects shaving their beards. Hair, or the fashion of wearing it, has ever been a matter of dispute. Loudly the church denounced both flowing locks and flowing beards as "burdles of vanity;" but though it sometimes happened that a temporary reformation was effected, the old fashion came back again, and the gallants of the age in the lordly Strand or Paul's-walk, the Rialto of Venice, the public walk of Paris, the Grand Square of St. Peter at Rome, or the fashionable resorts of Madrid, still sported their flaunty locks and perfumed beards. But for a long while beards went out of fashion. Everybody was bare faced; then came whiskers-the truly British whisker, modelled after a mutton-chop; and lastly, beards. To wear the beard appears to us a very natural and useful arrangement; to cut and shave it off extremely unnatural, and sometimes dangerous; but all in due time our readers will have to settle this question for themselves, when, slightly adapting the language of the Prince of Denmark, they will have to say "To shave or not to shave, that is the question!" Time works wonders. A change has indeed come over the trade of the barber-surgeon, and a wondrous difference exists between the old blood-letter surgeon of the past, surrounded by court gallants, and holding no small place in public estimation as a man of science and philosophy and the cheap barber with his pole, his jack-towel, his small looking-glass, his windsor chair, his copy of the weekly paper and of Punch, his picture of a bear, his birds,nearly all barbers have birds, and his endless flow of intelligence and small talk. Talk! all barbers talk. Of everything, all the news of the day from all quarters of the world, with a mild suggestion now and again that your hair is getting a little thin at the crown, and would be all the better for a daily application of the Never-withering and Perpetual-sprouting growHair on the old Leather-trunk Madagascan Cream! Thinking of barbers, I recall a hunch-backed little fellow in the line who used to clip me for nothing, and curl me gratis, when I was a boy, on account of my father having goodhumouredly painted his pole red, blue, and gold! "No, no," he used to say, when I offered the honorarium, no money from you, sir; papa was good enough to operate on my pole for nothing, 'tis but right I should operate on yours on equal terms." 66 A CURE FOR BAD TEMPER. A STORY FOR OUR YOUNGEST READERS. WILLIAM-Willy we usually call him-is generally a good-humoured, tractable, obedient boy, and on this account most people are fond of him. He is eight years old, a very interesting age with a sharp-witted boy, who is beginning to observe, and to whom all things bear a novel aspect; and it is this makes him so agreeable to his mamma, a lady of education and refinement. But sometimes it happens-just as we get dark days in May-that William disappoints and annoys everybody by rising in a bad temper; then he is the last to appreciate kindness and least susceptible to conviction. All seems infected that the infected spy, And all seems yellow to the jaundiced eye. One day last week, for instance, he rose with no pleasant smile upon his cheeks (and he can smile very pleasantly when he pleases), but with an angry frown, a knitting of the brow, and a pouting of the lips, very disagreeable to see on any face, especially on a child's All day long he was in a bad temper. He quarrelled with the maid who dressed him; gave his mother good morning in a surly tone; complained at breakfast that his toast was burnt black, and as hard as a bit of wood, that the coffee was too hot, and the milk too cold. With his tutor he was rudely impatient, and exceedingly troublesome. His books could not be found; his pens would not write, the ink was too thick, the paper was too rough, the lessons were too hard-everything was wrong. "Depend upon it, Willie," said the tutor, in a conciliatory way, "it is only the bad workman who complains of bad tools." "Oh!" said Willie, "I think I have done very well, but you are never satisfied, Mr. Brownly; if I write ever so well, you tell me it looks as if a fly had dipped its legs in the ink and then run over the paper! You are always trying to make me do more than I can, and rebuking me because I don't work like a steam-engine of ten-horse power. You always do complain!" "Not always, my dear pupil; notice, I have written on several of your copies-Goodvery good, bold and free."" 66 Yes," said Willie, "I see what you have written, but I cannot see that one copy is better than the other." "One not better than another?" says the tutor, rather impatiently, "why, where are your eyes, Master William? Look here, for instance, here is a regiment of letters tumbling all sorts of ways, some to the right, some to the left, and some, as if they were ashamed of themselves, hiding behind a blot!" "I don't like to be made fun of, and mamma don't like it either; you ought to speak in a different way, Mr. Brownly." Glad enough is the tutor when the morning lessons are over, glad enough to resign his pupil into the hands of Madame Fugue the music mistress, who is trying to make him play Rousseau's Dream on the piano. Nothing satisfies William; he will not see the difference between a crotchet and a quaver, of course cannot stretch his fingers to strike the octave, and is not going to try! When the dinner hour arrives he grumbles with everything and at everybody; when, after dinner, his mamma wishes him to go for a walk, he objects on the score that it is too hot; to amuse himself he tries to build a bridge with his box of bricks, and succeeds in making a rubbish heap; endeavours to put together a dissected map, but loses all patience because Essex will not fit into Cumberland; condescends to beat the drum, and runs the drum-stick through the parchment; charges on a favourite cat as the cause of his disaster; tumbles over an ottoman, and gets up with a bruised elbow and a rueful countenance. Finally, after tea, he creates some confusion by a determined opposition to bed; but at last capitulates and falls asleep. Now you may very naturally ask, why his mamma should allow Willie to conduct himself in this way without a word of reproof. That the maid should submit, may be accounted for on the score that by pleasing the child she pleased the mother; and as for poor Brownly the tutor, and Madame Fugue the music mistress, they belonged to the order of teachers, and were too well accustomed to bad treatment of all sorts to think of anything like resistance. But, really, mamma had resolved on a plan to cure her boy of his bad temper; the maid, the music mistress, Brownly the tutor, were all taken into council, and what happened you shall hear. Next day Willie awoke in a good humour. He had slept off all his bad temper, and was as bright and cheerful as ever. While the maid was dressing him, he was a little surprised to find that she looked exceedingly cross, and two or three times said in a sharp tone: "Will you stand still, Master William ? you fidget me out of my life!" Willie said he thought he was standing still, but he would be more careful. "More careful, indeed," Lucy answered; you are more trouble than three boys; now, are your hands washed ?-no, I never saw such a child in all my life-come, pick up the soap, and wash them directly!" When Lucy combed his hair she seemed maliciously inclined to put him to as much inconvenience as possible. He submitted quietly, but as soon as he was dressed and left alone with his mamma, he said to her : "I don't know how I have offended Lucy, mamma, but it seems as if I had done so." "Lucy," his mamma answered, "is only in a bad temper." |