TERCEIRA. 
17 
lose no time in parting with such company/ There 
was a wistful look in their hang-dog faces, an occa- 
sional murmur about Ingleses, dinheiro, &c., which 
rendered our council of war wonderfully unanimous 
in the determination of beating a retreat. Eager 
directions were given us as to the exact route we were 
to pursue ; it might be in charity — but we did not 
think so. Men when they are very hungry and very 
tired are never very philanthropic. 
The night was unusually dark, and even had we 
been inclined to keep the road pointed out to us, we 
probably should not have been able to do so; hut we 
thought any other preferable, and staggered on, almost 
heedless of our course. After many hours of painful 
wandering we saw lights in the distance, and found 
that we had providentially taken a pretty direct route 
to Praya ; we entered the town a little after midnight. 
When we presented ourselves before our host we 
were dismayed to find only one of our comrades 
whom we had left upon the coast ; he enquired 
eagerly if we had brought news of his lost compa- 
nion; who, followed by his dog, had descended the 
cliff, promising to skirt the shore, hut whom we had 
not again seen. Until nightfall our friend had 
fatigued himself with fruitless search; his call was 
unreturned, save by a melancholy echo from the 
rocks below. Our arrival relieved both our friends 
from much anxiety on our own account, but it de- 
stroyed their hope that he who was missing had fallen 
c 3 
