124 DRENCHED IN THE TEMPEST. 



had killed the day before with an arrow, for he had 

 neither powder nor fire-arms. 



They supposed that a small wood of plantain-trees 

 concealed the hut of the farm ; but this man, so proud 

 of his nobility and the colour of his skin, had not taken 

 the trouble of constructing even a hut of palm-leaves. 

 He invited them to have their hammocks hung near his 

 own, between two trees ; and he assured them with an 

 air of complacency, that, if they came up the river in the 

 rainy season, they should find him beneath a roof They 

 soon had reason to complain of a system of philosoph}' 

 which was indulgent to indolence, and rendered a man 

 indifferent to the conveniences of life. A furious wind 

 arose after midnight, lightnings flashed over the horizon, 

 thunder rolled, and they were wet to the skin. During 

 this storm a whimsical incident served to amuse them 

 for a moment. Dona Isabella's cat had perched upon 

 the tamarind-tree, at the foot of which they lay. It fell 

 into the hammock of one of their companions, who being 

 hurt by the claws of the cat, and suddenly aroused from 

 a profound sleep, imagined he was attacked by some 

 wild beast of the forest. They ran to him on hearing 

 his cries, and had some trouble to convince him of his 

 error. While it rained in torrents on their hammocks 

 and on their instruments which they had brought ashore, 

 their host congratulated them on their good fortune 

 in not sleeping on the strand, but finding themselves in 

 his domain, among whites and persons of respectability. 

 Wet as they were, they could not easily persuade them- 

 selves of the advantages of their situation, and they 

 listened with some impatience to the long narrative 

 which he gave of his pretended expedition to the 



