ad not a
bar of Scheherezade or of the Round Table in his lute. Goodwin was
employed with large projects: what time he was loosed from them found
him at his home, where he loved to be. Therefore it will be seen that
there was a dearth of fellowship and entertainment among the foreign
contingent of Coralio.

And then Dicky Maloney dropped down from the clouds upon the town,
and amused it.

Nobody knew where Dicky Maloney hailed from or how he reached
Coralio. He appeared there one day; and that was all. He afterward
said that he came on the fruit steamer _Thor_; but an inspection of
the _Thor's_ passenger list of that date was found to be Maloneyless.
Curiosity, however, soon perished; and Dicky took his place among the
odd fish cast up by the Caribbean.

He was an active, devil-may-care, rollicking fellow with an engaging
gray eye, the most irresistible grin, a rather dark or much sunburned
complexion, and a head of the fieriest red hair ever seen in that
country. Speaking the Spanish language as well as he spoke English,
and seeming always to have plenty of silver in his pockets, it was
not long before he was a welcome companion whithersoever he went. He
had an extreme fondness for _vino blanco_, and gained the reputation
of being able to drink more of it than any three men in town.
Everybody called him "Dicky"; everybody cheered up at the sight of
him--especially the natives, to whom his marvellous red hair and his
free-and-easy style were a constant delight and envy. Wherever you
went in the town you would soon see Dicky or hear his genial laugh,
and find around him a group of admirers who appreciated him both for
his good nature and the white wine he was always so ready to buy.

A considerable amount of speculation was had concerning the object of
his sojourn there, until one day he silenced this by opening a small
shop for the sale of tobacco, _dulces_ and the handiwork of the
interior Indians--fibre-and-silk-woven goods, deerskin _zapatos_ and
basketwork of _tule_ reeds. Even then he did not change his habits;
for he was drinking and playing cards half the day and night with the
_comandante_, the collector of customs, the _Jefe Politico_ and other
gay dogs among the native officials.

One day Dicky saw Pasa, the daughter of Madama Ortiz, sitting in the
side-door of the Hotel de los Estranjeros. He stopped in his tracks,
still, for the first time in Coralio; and then he sped, swift as a
deer, to find Vasquez