mpo suggested that he sing comic songs in the streets
which he had learned in Jolliginki. But the Doctor said he did not think
that the islanders would care for African music.

The other thing that kept us was the bullfight. In these islands, which
belonged to Spain, they had bullfights every Sunday. It was on a Friday
that we arrived there; and after we had got rid of the able seaman we
took a walk through the town.

It was a very funny little town, quite different from any that I had
ever seen. The streets were all twisty and winding and so narrow that
a wagon could only just pass along them. The houses overhung at the top
and came so close together that people in the attics could lean out of
the windows and shake hands with their neighbors on the opposite side
of the street. The Doctor told us the town was very, very old. It was
called Monteverde.

As we had no money of course we did not go to a hotel or anything like
that. But on the second evening when we were passing by a bed-maker's
shop we noticed several beds, which the man had made, standing on
the pavement outside. The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the
bed-maker who was sitting at his door whistling to a parrot in a cage.
The Doctor and the bed-maker got very friendly talking about birds and
things. And as it grew near to supper-time the man asked us to stop and
sup with him.

This of course we were very glad to do. And after the meal was over
(very nice dishes they were, mostly cooked in olive-oil--I particularly
liked the fried bananas) we sat outside on the pavement again and went
on talking far into the night.

At last when we got up, to go back to our ship, this very nice
shopkeeper wouldn't hear of our going away on any account. He said the
streets down by the harbor were very badly lighted and there was no
moon. We would surely get lost. He invited us to spend the night with
him and go back to our ship in the morning.

Well, we finally agreed; and as our good friend had no spare bedrooms,
the three of us, the Doctor, Bumpo and I, slept on the beds set out for
sale on the pavement before the shop. The night was so hot we needed
no coverings. It was great fun to fall asleep out of doors like this,
watching the people walking to and fro and the gay life of the streets.
It seemed to me that Spanish people never went to bed at all. Late as it
was, all the little restaurants and cafes around us were wide open,
with customers drinking coffee an