If Martin Rattler was amazed at the treatment he experienced at the
hands of his new acquaintances on arriving, he had occasion to be very
much more surprised at what occurred three hours after his
incarceration.
It was getting dark when he was locked up, and for upwards of two hours
he was left in total darkness. Moreover, he began to feel very hungry,
having eaten nothing since mid-day. He was deeply engaged in devising
plans for his escape when he was interrupted by the door being unlocked,
and a Negro slave entering with four magnificent candles, made of
bees-wax, which he placed upon the table. Then he returned to the door,
where another slave handed him a tray containing dishes, knives and
forks, and, in short, all the requisites for laying out a supper-table.
Having spread a clean linen cloth on the board, he arranged covers for
two, and going to the door placed his head to one side and regarded his
arrangements with much complacency, and without paying the slightest
attention to Martin, who pinched himself in order to make sure he was
not dreaming.
In a few minutes the second Negro returned with an enormous tray, on
which were dishes of all sizes, from under whose covers came the most
savoury odours imaginable. Having placed these symmetrically on the
board, both slaves retired and relocked the door without saying a word.
At last it began to dawn on Martin's imagination that the overseer must
be an eccentric individual, who found pleasure in taking his visitors by
surprise. But although this seemed a possible solution of the
difficulty, he did not feel satisfied with it. He could with difficulty
resist the temptation to attack the viands, however, and was beginning
to think of doing this, regardless of all consequences, when the door
again opened and the Baron Fagoni entered, relocked the door, put the
key in his pocket and, standing before his prisoner with folded arms,
gazed at him intently from beneath his sombrero.
Martin could not stand this. "Sir," said he, starting up, "if this is a
joke, you have carried it far enough; and if you really detain me here a
prisoner, every feeling of honour ought to deter you from adding insult
to injury."
To this sternly delivered speech the Baron made no reply, but springing
suddenly upon Martin, he grasped him in his powerful arms and crushed
him to his broad chest till he almost broke every bone in his body!
"Och! cushla, bliss yer young face! sure it's yersilf, an' no mistake!
Kape still, Martin, dear. Let me look at ye, darlint! Ah! then, isn't
it my heart that's been broken for months an' months past about ye?"
Reader, it would be utterly in vain for me to attempt to describe either
the words that flowed from the lips of Martin Rattler and Barney
O'Flannagan on this happy occasion, or the feelings that filled their
swelling hearts. The speechless amazement of Martin, the ejaculatory
exclamations of the Baron Fagoni, the rapid questions and brief replies,
are all totally indescribable. Suffice it to say that for full quarter
of an hour they exclaimed, shouted, and danced round each other, without
coming to any satisfactory knowledge of how each had got to the same
place, except that Barney at last discovered that Martin had travelled
there by chance, and he had reached the mines by "intuition." Having
settled this point, they sobered down a little.
"Now Martin, darlint," cried the Irishman, throwing aside his hat for
the first time, and displaying his well-known jolly visage, of which the
forehead, eyes, and nose alone survived the general inundation of red
hair, "ye'll be hungry, I've small doubt, so sit ye down, lad, to
supper, and you'll tell me yer story as ye go along, and afther that
I'll tell ye mine, while I smoke my pipe,--the ould cutty, boy, that has
comed through fire and wather, sound as a bell and blacker than iver!"
The Baron held up the well-known instrument of fumigation, as he spoke,
in triumph.
Supper was superb. There were venison steaks, armadillo cutlets, tapir
hash, iguana pie, and an immense variety of fruits and vegetables, that
would have served a dozen men, besides cakes and splendid coffee.
"You live well here, Barney--I beg pardon--Baron Fagoni," said Martin,
during a pause in their meal; "how in the world did you come by that
name?"
Barney winked expressively. "Ah, boy, I wish I may niver have a worse.
Ye see, when I first comed here, about four months ago, I found that the
mine was owned by an Irish gintleman; an', like all the race, he's a
trump. He took to me at wance when he hear'd my voice, and then he took
more to me when he comed to know me character; and says he to me wan
day, `Barney,' says he, `I'm gittin' tired o' this kind o' life now, and
if ye'll agree to stop here as overseer, and sind me the proceeds o' the
mine to Rio Janeiro, a great city on the sea-coast an' the capital o'
Brazil, I'll give ye a good share o' the profits. But,' says he, `ye'll
need to pretind ye're a Roosian, or a Pole, or somethin' o' that kind;
for the fellows in thim parts are great rascals, and there's a few
Englishmen among them who would soon find out that ye're only a jack-tar
before the mast and would chate ye at no allowance; but if ye could
spake no language under the sun but the gibberish pecooliar to the
unbeknown provinces o' Siberia, ye could escape detection as far as yer
voice is consarned; and by lettin' yer beard grow as long as possible,
and dressin' yersilf properly, ye might pass, and be as dignified as the
great Mogul.'
"`Musha!' said I, `but if I don't spake me own tongue I'll have to be
dumb altogither.'
"`No fear,' says he; `I'll tache ye enough Portuguese in a month or two
to begin with, an' ye'll pick it up aisy after that.' And sure enough I
began, tooth and nail, and, by hard workin', got on faster than I
expected; for I can spake as much o' the lingo now as tides me over
needcessities, and I understand most o' what's said to me. Anyhow, I
ginerally see what they're drivin' at."
"So, then, you're actually in charge of the mine?" said Martin, in
surprise.
"Jist so, boy; but I'm tired of it already; it's by no means so pleasant
as I expected it would be; so I'm thinkin' o' lavin' it, and takin' to
the say again. I'm longin' dreadful to see the salt wather wance more."
"But what will the owner say, Barney: won't he have cause to complain of
your breaking your engagement?"
"Niver a bit, boy. He tould me, before we parted, that if I wanted to
quit I was to hand over the consarn to the interpreter, who is an honest
fellow, I belave; so I'm jist goin' to pocket a di'mond or two, and ask
lave to take them home wid me. I'll be off in a week, if all goes well.
An' now, Martin, fill yer glass; ye'll find the wine is not bad, after
wan or two glasses; an' I'll tell ye about my adventures since I saw ye
last."
"But you have not explained about your name," said Martin.
"Och! the fact is, that when I comed here I fortunately fell in with the
owner first, and we spoke almost intirely in Irish, so nobody understood
where I comed from; and the interpreter hear'd the master call me by my
name; so he wint off and said to the people that a great Barono
Flanagoni had come, and was up at the house wid the master. But we
corrected him afterward, and gave him to understand that I was the Baron
Fagoni. I had some trouble with the people at first after the owner
left; but I pounded wan or two o' the biggest o' them, to such a extint
that their own friends hardly knew them; an iver since they've been
mighty civil."
Having carefully filled the black pipe, and involved himself in his own
favourite atmosphere, the Baron Fagoni then proceeded to relate his
adventures, and dilated upon them to such an extent that five or six
pipes were filled and finished ere the story came to a close. Martin
also related his adventures; to which his companion listened with such
breathless attention and earnestness that his pipe was constantly going
out; and the two friends did not retire to rest till near day-break.