h to
secure a graceful partner, the result is highly satisfactory. I am
almost tempted to trespass upon the early hours of the morning, for the
sake of the music of 'La Danza' and those open-air refreshment stalls
where everything looks hot and inviting. The night breeze is, moreover,
cool and exhilarating, and, after all, it is not later than nine
P.M.--in Europe. I lead on, nevertheless, in the direction of the
heights of El Tivoli, where I reside; stopping not in my upward career,
save to pay a flying visit at a ball of mulattoes. A crowd of uninvited
are gazing, like myself, between the bars of the huge windows; for the
ball is conducted upon exclusive principles, and is accessible only with
tickets of admission. Two 'policias,' armed with revolvers and short
Roman Swords, are stationed at the entrance-door, and this looks very
much like the precursor of a row. Mulatto balls generally do end in some
unlooked-for 'compromisa,' and it would not surprise me if this
particular ball were to terminate in something sensational.

I am home, and am myself again, ruminating upon the events of the day
and night, and I arrive at the conclusion that the despised and
oppressed negro is not so ill off as he is made out to be, especially in
carnival time. As I enter, our grulla thinks it must be six o'clock, and
essays to shriek that hour, as is her custom; but I startle her in the
middle of her fourth chime, and she stops at half-past three. Then I
climb into my aerial couch, in whose embrace I presently invoke that of
the grim masker, Morpheus!

CHAPTER XV.

AN EVENING AT THE RETRETA.

A Musical Promenade--My Friend Tunicu--Cuban Beauties--Dark
Divinities--A Cuban Cafe--A Popular 'Pollo'--Settling the Bill.

The Retreta is a musical promenade, or 'retreat,' held upon the evenings
of every Sunday and Thursday, between the hours of eight and ten, in the
Plaza de Armas. Here all the fashionables of Santiago congregate, to
converse and to listen to the military band. Those who reside in the
square itself, or in the adjacent streets, have a few ordinary chairs
conveyed from their houses and planted in a convenient situation near
the music. The promenade is a broad gravel walk, in the centre of a
railed square, and is bounded by little garden plots, fountains, and
huge overhanging tropical trees. Those who have not brought with them
any domestic furniture, occupy, when weary with walking, the stone
benches at th