teresting but constantly
wailing infant which was soon afterwards joined by its mother. A hammock
for Vincent was here too, and shortly we were settled for the night in
our several places.

I had expressed a preference to stay outside in my hammock, but the plan
not proving a feasible one, I drenched a handkerchief with some
perfumery, tied it under my nose, and tried to find relief in slumber
sweet.

I was awakened by a queer sort of noise that made me feel creepy and
afraid to breathe. I cannot describe it, for I do not know anything it
was like. The darkness was so thick that I could cut it, I am sure, and
the only certainty I felt at having found myself where I last remember
having been, was the ever strengthening odor of that meat.

When I could bear the suspense no longer, in a frenzy of fear I broke
the spell of silence and fairly shrieked to Vincent. I made known my
woes; he lighted a match, and there, just above my head, upon two pegs
driven into the wall for that express use, sat two parrots dressing
their feathers and making themselves both comfortable for the night and
beautiful for the morrow. They looked as if they felt injured, and I
know I did, at being thus disturbed.

The rest of the night passed somehow--the baby squalled, the parrots
verbally expostulated, a hen in one corner of the room let her presence
be known, a horrid cat under one of the beds joined in the performance,
and the fleas grew more than lively, but the most potent factor was that
too long-dead one which appealed to another sense than that of hearing.

How thankful I was when the dawn broke and I felt at liberty to release
myself from the imprisonment I had for hours endured and go out into the
fresh air. It was really cold I found, but soon after the sun climbed up
over the mountain before us, we became aware that his genial rays were
shedding comfortable warmth as well as benignant light upon all around.

We made an early start, as gladly saying good-by to _San Pedro_ as we
had regretfully bid farewell to _La Breita_ the previous morning.

The road was a good one from a Honduranian standpoint, and the only
novel feature of the landscape was the appearance of the rocks. The
cliffs were black, and looked as if for centuries water had lashed in
restless and often unsubdued fury around their bases, giving them that
peculiar formation so well known to geologists.

All the plains were thickly strewn with black bowlders of sizes ra