A WILD BIDE. 217 



which are most commonly in use, even this fact may need 

 to he re-stated more than once. 



"We re-emharked again, and rowed down to the river-mouth 

 to pick up shells, and drink in the rich roaring trade hreeze, 

 after the choking atmosphere of the lagoon ; and then rowed 

 up home, tired, and infinitely amused, though neither ^Manati 

 or Boa-constrictor had been seen ; and then we fell to siesta ; 

 during which with ^Ir. Tennyson's forgiveness I read 

 myself to sleep with one of his best poems ; and then went to 

 dinner, not without a little anxiety. 



For M (the civilizer of Montserrat) had gone off early, 



with mule, cutlass, and haversack, back over the Doubloon 

 and into the wilds of Manzanilla, to settle certain disputed 

 squatter claims, and otherwise enforce the law ; and now the 

 night had fallen, and he was not yet home. However, he rode 

 up at last, dead beat, with a strong touch of his old swamp-fever, 

 and having had an adventure, which had like to have proved 

 his last. For as he rode throuc^h the Doubloon at low tide in 

 the morning, he espied in the surf that river-god, or Jumby, 

 of which I spoke just now ; namely, the grey back-fin of a 

 shark; and his mule espied it too, and laid back her ears, 



knowing well what it was. M rode close up to the brute. 



He seemed full seven feet long, and eyed him surlily, dis- 

 inclined to move off; so they parted, and M went on 



his way. But his business detained him longer than he 



