hammock which he had brought
from his boat and swung in front of the native hut, he heard as in a
dream, the puffing of the tug on its return to Atlamalco. He did not
rouse himself to look at her, as she glided past in the moonlight, but
it was a great relief to know that she had gone back. President
Yozarro was so proud of his navy that most of the voyages up and down
the Rio Rubio were taken for his personal pleasure. He would be at
home, therefore, on the morrow when his American visitor presented
himself.

And such was the case. The forenoon was no more than half gone, when
the small sailing craft rounded to at the wharf in front of the native
town, and Major Starland leaped ashore. It was agreed that Captain
Guzman should await his return to the pier. The alert American noted
everything. The tug seemed to be crouching beside the wharf, a hundred
feet distant, like a bull dog waiting for some one to venture nigh
enough for him to leap forward and bury his fangs in his throat. But
no steam was up, and the war craft, like everything else, was adrowse
and sleeping.

The city of Atlamalco sprawled over half a square mile, the most
ancient dwellings being made of adobe, squat of form and with only a
single story. The more pretentious were of a species of bamboo, of
large proportions, and, although divided into a number of apartments,
they too consisted of but a single story, like most houses in an
earthquake country. They were of flimsy make, for the climate was
generally oppressive, and the narrow streets were fitted only for the
passage of footmen and animals with their burdens. The swarthy, untidy
inhabitants are among the laziest on earth, for, where nature is so
lavish, the necessity for laborious toil is wanting. The avenues
leading to the wharf slope gently upward, winding in and out, and
mingling in seemingly inextricable confusion.

Pen cannot describe the vegetable exuberance of this portion of South
America. Sugar, coffee, cocoa, rice, tobacco, maize, wheat, ginger,
mandioc, yams, sarsaparilla, and tropical fruits beyond enumeration
smother one another in the fierce fight for life. The chief dependence
of the people is upon mandioc, manioc, or cassava, which the natives
accept as a direct gift from the prophet Sune. This, however, is not
the place to dwell upon the endless variety of trees and the fauna and
flora of that extraordinary country.

Major Starland left his rifle in charge of Captain Guzman, a