ets of the Blue Mountains, towering to a great
height behind. Such scenes were a new thing to my untraveled eyes,
they were in very truth the revelation of a new world to me.

Our arrival was the occasion of great festivity; all the
inhabitants of Spanish Town, the capital, from the governor
downward, were lavish in their hospitality; and for some days it
was one round of balls and banquets, to which we came with unjaded
appetites and vigor after our long voyage. And I warrant you that
the officers of Collingwood's regiment then in garrison were soon
mighty jealous, for the ladies of the place, English and Creole
alike, preferred us naval men to them as partners. I confess I
nearly lost my heart a dozen times, and the thirteenth might have
been fatal, only it chanced that her name being Lucetta reminded me
of a certain Mistress Lucy at home in England, whom the others had,
so to speak, elbowed out of my recollection. My wandering fancy
being thus recalled to her, I remembered that her estates were in
Jamaica, and she had lived here during all her childhood, and then
I was for seeking out the house, and assuring myself that her
interests were being well guarded.

But I learned that her estates lay on the north side of the island,
two good days' journey distant. They were being managed by a
careful Scotchman named McTavish, who sent large and regular
consignments of sugar and tobacco to the port for shipment to
England. I would have gone a thousand miles to see Mistress Lucy,
but had no interest in the excellent McTavish, and so I remained in
Spanish Town.

After a week or two of high revelry, the admiral, yielding to the
entreaties of the governor and merchants, sailed to Puerto Bello to
demand satisfaction of the Spaniards for several depredations which
they had committed on their ships, goods, and men. We had but a
rough answer from the admiral of the Barlovento fleet, he alleging
that whatever the Spaniards had done had merely been in reprisal
for similar doings of the Scotch settlers on Darien, and he could
not be persuaded that the Scotch and English were two separate
nations, and as often (in those times) enemies as friends. But
after several messages he assured us at length that if we would
retire from before the fort, our demands should be satisfied. This
was an instance of the notorious perfidy of the Spaniards, for
after our departure, notwithstanding their solemn promises, nothing
was effected.

We retu