The Argosy — page 218: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

201 THE CRUISE OF THE RESERVE SOUADRON. By CuarLes W. Woop, AUTHOR oF * THROUGH HOLLAND,” “ IN THE BLACK FOREST,” ETC. NCE in Arosa Bay, everything approaching to a Northern climate had disappeared. ‘The heat, indeed, was intense, the roads were inches thick in dust, the long stretch of flat shore looked white and broiling in the sunshine. Here and there, in our walks, we encountered the grateful shade of a small plantation of trees ; and, at intervals, the eucalyptus, though casting little shadow, broke the extreme fervour of the glare. Yet the Spanish women braved the noonday heat with no other covering to their heads than the graceful mantillas Many, indeed, disdained even that small protection, and seemed to think nothing of the scorching rays, that we, sheltered by umbrellas, und It so hard to endure with serenity of mind. The town is called Carril. It is a seaport of some little con- sequence, being the nearest to Santiago, and in direct railway com- munication with that venerable city. Carril is divided into two distinct portions, separated from each other by more than a mile of hot, straight, dusty white road: if, indeed, both settlements were called Carril—-a point I never ascertained with complete ac- curacy. Carril proper was in itself small, rather dilapidated-looking, yet not unpicturesque. These foreign towns seldom are unpic- turesque ; they possess details of colouring and arrangement, all seen through a rarified atmosphere, that we in England know nothing about, might sigh for in vain, and in vain attempt to imitate. The houses were small and sufficiently homely; only one here and there, such as the custom-house on the quay, rising to anything of importance. Most of the green Venetian shutters were closed against the heat; but the lower half was made to lift up; anda dark-eyed Spanish beauty looked more captivating than ever, as, from these picture-frames, she dispensed abroad the favour of her glances. It was from such a coign of vantage that Captain Pyramid received his magnificent lily, which he afterwards pressed between the leaves of the Sanskrit volume so often in his hands in the ward-room. The sight of it would cast a halo upon that not very romantic labour, and spur him on to fresh triumphs, as he quietly assured me. He would now and then get laughed at by one or the other on the score of sentiment; but they who laughed were actuated by burning jealousy much more than by the spirit of fun. Van Stoker, whose mind was filled with one image, and one image alone, left him in peace; felt for him, indeed, much sympathy ; offered him—with a CORNICLOOL SS) (c©)