hat his suspicions
ripened into certainty.

If I were writing the story of Don Rafael's life, instead of my own,
I might give an interesting and instructive narrative, which
showed,--as he alleged,--how those potent controllers of
outlaws,--"circumstances,"--had changed him from a very respectable
soldier of fortune into a genuine buccaneer. He asserted that my
uncle had been his schoolmate and professional companion in the old
world. When the war of South American independence demanded the aid
of certain Dugald Dalgettys to help its fortune, Don Rafael and my
uncle had lent the revolutionists of Mexico their swords, for which
they were repaid in the coin that "patriots" commonly receive for
such amiable self-sacrifice. _Republics_ are proverbially ungrateful,
and Mexico, alas! was a republic.

After many a buffet of fortune, my poor uncle, it seems, perished in a
duel at which Don Rafael performed the professional part of "his
friend." My relation died, of course, like a "man of honor," and soon
after, Don Rafael, himself, fell a victim to the "circumstances"
which, in the end, enabled him to slaughter my shipmates and save my
life.

I must admit that I use this flippant tone with a twinge of sorrow,
for I think I perceived certain spasms of conscience during our
interview, which proved that, among the lees of that withered heart,
there were some rich drops of manhood ready to mantle his cheek with
shame at our surroundings. Indeed, as he disclosed his story, he
exhibited several outbursts of passionate agony which satisfied me
that if Don Rafael were in Paris, Don Rafael would have been a most
respectable _bourgeois_; while, doubtless, there were many estimable
citizens at that moment in Paris, who would have given up their shops
in order to become Don Rafaels in Cuba! Such is life--and
"circumstances!"

Our chat wasted a large portion of the afternoon. It was terminated by
a counsel from my friend to be wary in my deportment, and a direction
to console myself with the idea that he did not mean I should tarry
long upon the island.

"You see," said he, "that I do not lack force of eye, voice, and
personal influence over these ruffians; yet I do not know that I can
always serve or save a friend, so your fate hangs very much on your
circumspection. Men in our situation are Ishmaelites. Our hands are
not only against all, and all against us, but we do not know the
minute when we may be all against each other. The