THE CATALAN CAPUCHIN. 667 



white wool, and decorated with three silver stripes on the right cuff, de- 

 noting the rank of its late owner, who had evidently been a small man, 

 as the black bony paws of Llanero protruded at considerable length 

 from beneath the sheep-skin cuffs. His trousers, too, originally of 

 white duck, were stained here and there, and reached half-way down 

 the calves of his legs. This deficiency, however, was pretty well con- 

 cealed by a pair of Wellington boots, which were coaxed into a junc- 

 tion with the shorts and laced up tightly round the leg. His costume 

 was completed by a black beaver hat, which, from the circumstance 

 of being distinguished by a broad gold band and buckle, must ori- 

 ginally have graced the tympanum of some intelligent functionary of 

 the hall-door or coach-box. This was further distinguished by a huge 

 white feather, late the pride of some French drum-major, which was 

 upreared directly in front, and nodded backward or forward ac- 

 cording to the movement of the wearer. In this warlike panoply 

 Llanero took his leave of the Liberator, and pressing a Flechera 

 into the service, set sail from Angostura up the Orinoco, to teach 

 the wilful inhabitants of the upper country a salutary lesson on the 

 duties of freemen. Shortly after, we find our friend comfortably es- 

 tablished in a small town, by the river's side, and had pitched his 

 tent at a very respectable domicile, which had heretofore owned some 

 Spaniard as master. But the war had caused more than one house 

 to change proprietors. He had hitherto succeeded wonderfully in his 

 mission ; perhaps, by the natural blandness and insinuating manners 

 peculiar to gentlemen of his class ; but, wherever he went, he per- 

 suaded people to forward large supplies to Angostura, for which they 

 received the written acknowledgment of the Liberator, and his com- 

 pliments on their distinguished patriotism. The only difficulty he 

 experienced was his entire ignorance of the country ; it was an un- 

 known land to him, as his operation had been confined to the plains 

 and forests on the other side of the river. He was, therefore, occa- 

 sionally liable to mistakes, which he was often indebted to the natural 

 shrewdness of his character and of which, by-the-way, he was not a, 

 little vain to escape the consequences. 



Late one evening he was sitting alone under his porch, in all the 

 dignity of power, trying the respective merits of a bottle of gin and 

 one of rum, which he had received that day as a present from head- 

 quarters, and enjoying the luxury of knowing he had nothing to do till 

 the next day; most of the inhabitants had retired to rest, and nothing 

 was heard but the wailing melancholy cry of the Curacoa on the plains, 

 the hoarse croak of the bull-frog, and the tramp of the sentinel of the 

 lance guard that were quartered at his own residence : Llanero was 

 dozing comfortably over his cigar, and visions of rank and power, 

 conjured up by the potent spirit of gin, were dazzling his excited 

 imagination, when, suddenly, he bent forward his head, and the fume 

 of his cigar ceased to circulate. His mouth was half-unclosed, and 

 his eyes strained towards a certain point ; his attitude and manner 

 betrayed intense interest. The well practised ear of Llanero, culti- 

 vated to an extraordinary extent by his former habits of vigilance, had 

 detected in the distance the tramp of a horse as at full speed. He 

 listened until he became assured ; then, starting upon his legs, he 



