32 Travels and Adventures 



on the still night air than the next one begins with 

 a shrill piping treble ; this, in turn, giving place to 

 another who, in a soft singing voice, prolongs the two 

 words to twice their ordinary length ; while a fourth, 

 seemingly impatient at being disturbed, jerks out the 

 words in a sharp military rattle, and so on until the 

 twelfth one pronounces them all " alerta " in a tone at 

 least an octave higher than his predecessors. As the 

 vessels are moored almost directly under' the walls of 

 the prison, this half-hourly repetition of so extraordi- 

 nary a comedy renders sleep utterly impossible, and 

 we were not sorry when next morning the Phantom 

 steamed out to sea and so gave us a chance of a nap 

 in the cradle of the deep. 



Our next calling-place was the island of Curacoa, 

 and in the short sail from Puerto Cabello nothing 

 occurred worth the attention of the reader. To the 

 traveller whose business is to investigate the beauties 

 of foreign lands, the first impressions of the island 

 are anything but satisfactory. As far as the telescope 

 can reach nothing is to be seen but an expanse of 

 sandy desert or barren rocks, and these, if not entirely 

 devoid of vegetation, only produce a weedy scrub. 

 However, this monotony is soon relieved by our 

 coming: in sight of the whitewashed walls of the 

 old-fashioned Dutch town. Two well-garrisoned forts 

 form a sufficient protection to the town and harbour. 



