Cubans meet at a public
refreshment-room, settling the bill is a serious matter. Everybody
aspires to the privilege, and everybody presents his coin to the waiter.

'Here, garcon! Take for all,' says one of the company, offering a golden
doubloon to the attendant.

'Excuse me, I spoke first,' observes another, exhibiting a gold coin of
about the size of a five-shilling piece.

'No, no; it was I,' protests a third; while others, with fingers in
fobs, wink and shake their heads at the bewildered waiter as if to imply
that one of them will settle with the 'mozo' in secret.

The mozo will not, however, accept payment from anybody.

'Esta pago ya' (it is already paid for), he observes, and walks away.

The company are amazed. Who could have been guilty of the treacherous
act? and how and when was it performed?

Presently one of the party rises and feigns impatience for his
departure. He smiles, and all declare that he was the culprit.
Subsequently, this individual leads the waiter into a dark corner of the
cafe, where accounts are squared; by which we know that before the
refreshments were ordered he had arranged with the garden about payment.

'Nada, chicos!' observes the successful payee, as we quit the cafe,
'otra dia tocara a ustedes.' (Never mind, my boys! it will be your turn
another day.)

CHAPTER XVI.

AT A CUBAN BALL.

The Philharmonic and its Members--A Street Audience--The
Guests--Engaging Partners--'La Carabina'--'La Danza Criolla'--Dance
Music--Refreshments--A Pretty Partner--A Night with Cuban
Gamblers--Spanish Cards--An Old Hand--'Temblores!'

The saloons of the Philharmonic are well suited for dancing as well as
for other purposes. The spacious apartments are entered by enormous
doors, and those which are set apart for the use of the dancers are
separated one from the other by narrow slips of wall. The heat,
generated by the gas, finds an easy egress through the open doors and
unglazed windows, and by these means the ventilation within is only
surpassed by the open air. A balcony--resembling part of a ship's
upper-deck--occupies the entire breadth of the building, and it affords
an excellent promenade and lounge in the intervals of dancing. The
street is crowded with a mixed audience, composed of coloured people and
of whites in mourning, for whose accommodation chairs of all kinds are
brought from their houses in the neighbourhood. The interior of the
Philharmonic i