but to do something for my entertainment also. A chatter in a corner
settled what it should be. Two or three brought sticks, while two or
three brought coals. A fire was quickly kindled in the centre of the
court; and as its flames lit up the area, a whirling circle of
half-stripped girls danced to the monotonous beat of a _tom-tom_.
Presently, the formal ring was broken, and each female stepping out
singly, danced according to her individual fancy. Some were wild, some
were soft, some were tame, and some were fiery. After so many years I
have no distinct recollection of the characteristic movements of these
semi-savages, especially as the claret and champagne rather fermented
in my brain, and possessed me with the idea that it was my duty to
mingle in the bounding throng. I resolved that the barbarians should
have a taste of Italian quality!

Accordingly, I leaped from the hammock where I had swung idly during
the scene, and, beginning with a _balancez_ and an _avant-deux_,
terminated my terpsichorean exhibition by a regular "double shuffle"
and sailor's hornpipe. The delirious laughter, cracked sides,
rollicking fun, and outrageous merriment, with which my feats were
received, are unimaginable by sober-sided people. Tired of my single
exhibition, I seized the prettiest of the group by her slim, shining
waist, and whirled her round and round the court in the quickest of
waltzes, until, with a kiss, I laid her giddy and panting on the
floor. Then, grasping another,--another,--another,--and another,--and
treating each to the same dizzy swim, I was about waltzing the whole
_seraglio_ into quiescence, when who should rise before us but the
staring and yawning _Mongo_!

The apparition sobered me. A quarteroon pet of Ormond,--just spinning
into fashionable and luscious insensibility,--fell from my arms into
those of her master; and while I apologized for the freak, I charged
it altogether to the witchcraft of his wit and wine.

"Ha!" said the Mongo, "St. Vitus is in your Italian heels the moment
you are within hail of music and dancing; and, by Jove, it seems you
can scent a petticoat as readily as a hound tracks runaways. But
there's no harm in _dancing_, Don Teodore; only hereafter I hope you
will enjoy the amusement in a less uproarious manner. In Africa we are
fond of a _siesta_ after dinner; and I recommend you to get, as soon
as possible, under the lee of another bottle."

We retired once more to his mahogany; an