uld probably prove to be no more than a
drunken frolic, and that if it were received and treated as such all
would doubtless turn out well; but he very earnestly urged upon
Courtenay and me the desirability of our retiring and keeping out of
sight so long as our visitors remained on board, which I thought good
enough advice to be acted upon, and we accordingly retreated below
forthwith. At first sight this retreat of ours smacked a little, I will
admit, of slinking off out of possible harm's way; but after all what
good could we have done by remaining on deck? And having thus far
carried our somewhat foolhardy adventure prosperously through, it was
scarcely worth while to endanger its ultimate success by courting risks
in which the remarks or questions of a drunken desperado might at any
moment involve us.

We had barely made good our retreat when the boat arrived alongside, and
her occupants were in another moment in possession of the felucca's
deck. A torrent of ribald banter and raillery--of the sort which,
coming from a drunken man, is expected to be received as jovial humour,
but which a chance word or inadvertent glance of misappreciation may in
a moment cause to be exchanged for expressions and acts of the most
diabolical ferocity--was at once discharged by these ruffians at Carera
and his crew, who, anxious to propitiate their most unwelcome visitors,
did their best to retort in kind; and for the next twenty minutes or so
the little vessel fairly rang with the most foul, blasphemous, and
blood-curdling language it has ever been my misfortune to listen to.
Fortunately for us our knowledge of the Spanish tongue, though it had
proved sufficiently thorough to deceive Carera and his crew into the
belief that we were their fellow-countrymen, was not equal to the
comprehension of one-half of the utterances to which we were just then
compelled to listen, or I have no doubt we should have been even more
thoroughly shocked and disgusted than we were.

And here let me break the thread of my story for a moment to speak an
earnest word of kindly caution to my youthful readers. Avoid the use of
foul, obscene, or blasphemous language, my lads, as you would avoid the
most deadly pestilence. I am grieved to notice that it is sometimes the
fashion among lads, ay, even in some cases those of respectable
parentage, to freely _garnish_, as they think, their conversation
habitually with language of the most vile and disgusting