( 415 ) 



SKETCHES IN PORTUGAL. 



ALTHOUGH it was almost impossible to procure a horse for love or 

 money, yet, nevertheless, by a singular piece of good fortune, I suc- 

 ceeding in getting one ; and sticking a pair of huge horse-pistols into 

 my belt, in addition to my sword, I mounted " my gallant gray," about 

 seven o'clock, and, in company with Holdenand Micklethwaite on foot, 

 started off once more to join the grand army. On reaching a little 

 hamlet contiguous to where the troops were assembled, we found all 

 the houses filled with officers and their horses. Dismounting at the 

 the one occupied by the emperor, I led my horse under an archway 

 into the yard, to look for a corner where I could pass the night, but 

 here, and even the garden at the back, was so crowded with horses 

 that I could not find a clear spot to make a field bed upon ; and I 

 was afraid to part company with my horse lest I should never see it 

 again. Thus circumstanced, I put about to go in search of an habita- 

 tion elsewhere j but, perceiving some horses feeding on Indian corn- 

 leaves, beneath two wooden flights of steps, which ran up the outer 

 wall on either side of the archway, I considered that my nag had 

 equally as good a right to his supper, and leading him where there 

 were only two, took the bit out of his mouth, and secured him by the 

 bridle to a ring in the wall. I then advanced a few steps to look 

 for Holden and Micklethwaite, whom I had not seen since I dis- 

 mounted ; and the moment I emerged from under the stairs, " O ! 

 there you are, are you ?" I exclaimed to somebody who was resting 

 his hands upon the bannister ; and who, by the faint light cast on the 

 spot by a purser's dip, suspended in a lantern from the wall, I felt 

 sure was Holden. 



" Oh ! there you are, are you ? Come, old boy (and here I gave 

 him a smart slap on the shoulder), suppose " Leaving the sen- 

 tence unfinished, I started back for, without speaking, he turned 

 sharply round, and to my extreme confusion, presented, not the fair 

 rubicund visage of my friend Holden, but the swarthy, and now aus- 

 tere countenance of Don Pedro himself. 



" God bless me !" I ejaculated in English, being completely taken 

 aback; then hastily recollecting myself, said, "I trust your majesty 

 will have the goodness to pardon me, for I really thought it 

 was " 



"Whom?" he demanded, with the utmost composure, and relax- 

 ing his features into a smile. 



" One of the English volunteers, Sir," I replied. 



" And what has brought you here ?" he continued. 



Rather than hesitate, and being at a loss for the Portuguese phrase 

 to express myself as I wished, I answered, oddly enough, 



" Mil sandades a suajilha, Senor."* 



" Ha, ha, ha !" chuckled his majesty, as he ascended the stairs, 

 at the top of which, on the landing-place, were several officers of the 

 staff, whom I had not noticed before, laughing at the scene they had 



* Literally, "Affection for your daughter, Sir." 



