t scudding away on a
good wind. Then said old Menendez, as he sat at the tiller:

"What were you hollerin' at them Injuns about?"

"I didn't know that we were hollerin'," said I, "but they were bothering
us to buy their sea-beans."

"That's curious," he said. "They aint much given to that sort of thing.
But there's no tellin' nothin' about an Injun. If I had my way, I'd
hang every one of 'em."

"Rather a blood-thirsty sentiment," said I. "Perhaps some of them don't
deserve hanging."

"Well, I've never seen one o' that kind," said he, "and I've seen lots
of Injuns. I was in the Seminole war, in this State, and was fightin'
Injuns from the beginnin' to the end of it. And I know all about how to
treat the rascals. You must hang 'em, or shoot 'em, as soon as you get
hold of 'em."

This aroused all the old sympathy for the oppressed red man that dwelt
in the heart of young Rectus, and he exclaimed:

"That would be murder! There are always two kinds of every sort of
people--all are not bad. It is wrong to condemn a whole division of the
human race that way."

"You're right about there bein' two kinds of Injuns," said the old
fellow. "There's bad ones and there's wuss ones. I know what I've seen
for myself. I'd hang 'em all."

We debated this matter some time longer, but we could make no impression
on the old Minorcan. For some reason or other, probably on account of
his sufferings or hardships in the war, he was extremely bitter against
all Indians. "You can't tell me," he replied to all of our arguments,
and I think he completely destroyed all the sympathy which Rectus had
had for the once down-trodden and deceived Minorcans, by this animosity
toward members of another race who were yet in captivity and bondage. To
be sure, there was a good deal of difference in the two cases, but
Rectus wasn't in the habit of turning up every question to look at the
bottom of it.

The North Beach is the seaward side of one of the islands that enclose
the harbor, or the Matanzas River, as it is called. We landed on the
inland side, and then walked over to the beach, which is very wide and
smooth. Here we set to work to fish. Old Menendez baited our lines, and
told us what to do. It was new sport to us.

First, we took off our shoes and stockings, and rolled up our trousers,
so as to wade out in the shallow water. We each had a long line, one end
of which we tied around our waists. Menendez had his tied to a
button-hole of his