emblage it would be hard to conceive,
consisting as they did of adventurers from every land of Europe,--the
wild and reckless outcast of every clime and country, the beggared
speculator, the ruined gambler, the duellist with blood upon his hand,
the defaulter with shame upon his forehead; all that good morals reject,
and the law pursues, mingled with others whose faults went no further
than waste or improvidence, or the more venial sin that they came poor
into the world, and were stamped "Adventurers" from the cradle.

A service that never exercised too nice a scrutiny into the habits of
its followers, and whose buccaneer life had all the freedom of piracy,
with the assumption of a recognized class, offered no mean attraction
to the lover of enterprise; and certainly, if the standard of morals was
low, that of daring, reckless adventure was the very opposite.

Amid this pleasant company we must now ask pardon for introducing our
reader, with this saving assurance, that he shall not have long to
commune with such companionship. It was, as we have said, a summer's
night. A sky all glittering with stars spread its dark blue canopy over
a scene where, amid the banana, the manioc, and the plantain, flowers of
every bright hue were blooming, and fountains gushing; while, through an
atmosphere tremulous with the song of the mocking-bird, fire-flies were
glancing and glittering.

In the deep piazza before the villa was now assembled a numerous party
of men disposed in every attitude of lounging, ease, and abandonment;
they seemed, though perhaps after very different estimates, to be
enjoying the delicious balm and freshness of the night air. They were of
various ages; and although the greater number showed by their dress that
they belonged to the naval service, other signs, not less distinctive,
pronounced that they were drawn from classes of life as varied as they
were numerous; while, here and there, a caballero might be seen attired
in the picturesque costume of the Caraccas, his many colored scarf and
plumed hat aiding, in no inconsiderable degree, the picturesque effect
of a scene Salvator might have painted.

Not only beneath the piazza itself, but on the marble steps, and even
beneath them again, on the close-shaven turf, the party lay, sated as it
were with splendor, and recruiting strength for new dissipations. Some
sat talking in low and whispering voices, as if unwilling, even by a
sound, to break the stilly calm.