ehended the gesture, and continued working away till it seemed as
if either his head or his arms and fiddle would part company, flying off
in different directions. Still Bill danced, and the black fiddler
played, roars of applause proceeding from the thick lips of the
dark-skinned audience.
At length, Mammy Otello, fancying that Bill himself would come to
pieces, or that he would fall down exhausted, rushed in, and seizing him
in her arms, carried him to a seat, amid the laughter and shouting and
grinning and stamping of all present; the fiddler, dropping down his
right hand, and letting his instrument slip from his chin, gave vent to
a loud gasp, as if he could not either have continued his exertions many
seconds longer.
Bill wanted to go back for his friends, to bring them up to see the fun,
but his hostess would not hear of it; and, whenever he got up to beat a
retreat, she ran and brought him back again. Meantime, the room was
occupied by the negroes, who danced away in a fashion Bill had never
seen before.
They bowed and scraped, and set to each other, however, with all the
dignity of high-bred persons. At length Bill watched his opportunity
and while Mammy Otello had gone to another part of the room, he bolted
out of the house, and set off as fast as his legs could carry him to his
companions in captivity.
"I told you, Bill, that hornpipe of yours would gain friends wherever
you go," said Jack. "I wish the old lady would give me a chance,
however. Perhaps she will now be civil to us on your account."
The next day, when Mammy Otello came, she seemed rather inclined to
scold Bill for running away. He got Mr Collinson to explain that he
would not have done so had the rest of the party been invited, as he did
no think it fair to enjoy all the fun by himself.
"Bon garcon; bon garcon!" said Mammy Otello. "The next time, for his
sake, we will invite you all."
Mr Collinson was surprised, after the many promises of assistance made
by Monsieur Mouret, the planter, that he should neither have seen nor
heard anything of him. At length one day, a black, dressed in livery,
rode into the village, inquiring for the English lieutenant who had last
come. On seeing Mr Collinson, he presented a note in a lady's hand.
It contained but a few words. It was from Mademoiselle Mouret.
"The day after you came here," she said, "my father was taken ill, just
as he was about to set off to Point a Petre, to make inter
|