306 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



old women admitted that, though a good catch, 1 had 

 no spirit ; the young ones ' admired the money, but 

 disliked the man ; ' and, as I did not form one of the 

 coryphtes, who were quadrilling upon the quarter-deck, 

 I was likely enough to be left to meditative solitude. 



" But there was another person who appeared to hold 

 no communion with the company One lady seemed 

 a stranger to the rest. Accident placed me beside her, and 

 thus she became more intimately my compagnon de voyage. 



" She was certainly a fine-looking woman ; her face 

 was comely, but somewhat coarse ; her hair and brows 

 black as the raven's plumage, her nose rather too marked 

 for a woman's but then her waist and legs were unex- 

 ceptionable. She evidently possessed a sufficiency of 

 self-command ; no mauvaise honte, no feminine timidity 

 oppressed her. She looked bravely around, as if she 

 would assert a superiority ; and accepted my civilities 

 graciously, it is true, but with the air and dignity of 

 a duchess. She was, from the start, no favourite with 

 the company, and there was no inclination evinced by 

 any of her own sex to make approaches to familiarity. 

 The cockney beaus looked upon her as a fine but formid- 

 able animal ; and to me, unworthy as I was, the honour 

 of being cavalier serviente, was conceded without a 

 contest. Indeed, at dinner, my fair friend proved 

 herself too edged a tool for civic wit to touch upon. 

 When, with ultra-elegance, an auctioneer, whose assur- 

 ance was undeniable, pressed ' the Hirish lady to teeste 

 a roast fole,' she obliterated the accomplished appraiser, 

 by brusquely replying, ' that no earthly consideration 

 could induce her to eat horse-flesh ! ' 



" And yet to this woman I was irresistibly attracted. 

 I sate beside her on the deck, and I ministered to her 

 coffee-cup ; and when the Nereid disembarked her 



