t, however, altogether forget my books, and employed myself in
studying Spanish grammatically. Altogether, we had a pleasant voyage,
and arrived safely at Port Royal.

Leaving the ship, we took up our abode at Kingston, which I thought a
remarkably hot and unpleasant place.

My uncle laughed at my complaints of the heat. "You'll find your native
land much hotter, my boy," he observed. "You've been so long getting
cooled down in England that you forget what heat is."

I suppose that I had done so; though my father's house being on elevated
ground, the atmosphere round it was much cooler than in the low plains.

We had to wait for some time till my uncle could secure a passage on
board a schooner, the _Flying Fish_, Captain Longswill, bound for the
coast of Venezuela. She was a fast, rakish craft, carrying four long
guns, and a parti-coloured crew of determined-looking fellows. Soon
after we got on board, she made sail out of the harbour and stood away
for her destination.

"You should know how to load and work a gun," said my Uncle Denis to me,
after we had got clear of the land; "you may some day have to use one in
earnest."

I, of course, was perfectly ready to be instructed; and the captain
directing three of the crew to assist us, we cast the gun loose, loaded
it, and fired it off. This we did several times, Uncle Denis desiring
me to watch carefully how each movement was made. I worked away with
him till my arms and back ached. By that time I began to feel myself an
accomplished gunner. We then ran in the gun and secured it.

We performed the same operation the next day, the whole crew being also
exercised at the guns. We then took a turn at rifle-shooting and
sword-exercise.

The _Flying Fish_ had a full and valuable cargo of merchandise which was
worth protecting; and as pirates at that time swarmed in those seas, it
was important to be able to beat them off, though few would have dared
to attack so stout a vessel as our schooner.

We were frequently becalmed, but in about a week we sighted the lofty
summits of the eastern range of the mighty Cordilleras, which sweeps
round along the northern coast of that portion of South America. As we
drew nearer, the view was indeed grand and sublime, some of the
mountains being of so great a height as to be at all times covered with
snow; while their bases, adorned with the finest trees and shrubs, are
clothed with perpetual verdure. We were expecting to