ir melody. Zachariah made up for his
brother's timidity. Full of fun, what dreadful faces the young Gipsy
would pull, they were absolutely frightful; then he would twist and turn
his body into all sorts of serpentine contortions. If spoken to he would
suddenly, with a hop, skip, and a jump alight in his tent as if he had
tumbled from the sky, and, sitting bolt upright, make a hideous face till
his mouth nearly stretched from ear to ear, while his dark eyes sparkled
with wild excitement, he would sing--

"'Dawdy! Dawdy! dit a kei
Rockerony, fake your bosh!'

"At one time a woman brought an exceedingly fat child for us to look at,
and she wanted Esmeralda to suckle it, which was, of course, hastily
declined. We began to ask ourselves if this was forest seclusion. Still
our visitors were kind, good-humoured people, and some drank our brandy,
and some smoked our English tobacco. After our tea, at five o'clock, we
had a pleasant stroll. Once more we were with Nature. There we lingered
till the scenes round us, in their vivid beauty, seemed graven deep in
our thought. How graphic are the lines of Moore:--

"'The turf shall be my fragrant shrine,
My temple, Lord, that arch of Thine,
My censor's breath the mountain airs,
And silent thoughts my only prayers.

"'My choir shall be the moonlight waves,
When murm'ring homeward to their caves,
Or when the stillness of the sea
Even more of music breathes of Thee!'

How appropriate were the words of the great poet to our feelings. We
went and sat down." "As we were seated by our camp fire, a tall, old
man, looking round our tents, came and stood contemplating us at our tea.
He looked as if he thought we were enjoying a life of happiness. Nor was
he wrong. He viewed us with a pleased and kindly expression, as he
seemed half lost in contemplation. We sent for the flask of brandy.
Returning to our tents we put on our Napoleon boots and made some
additions to our toilette." Of course, kind Mr. Petalengro would assist
lovely Esmeralda with hers. "Whilst we were engaged some women came to
our tents. The curiosity of the sex was exemplified, for they were dying
to look behind the tent partition which screened us from observation. We
did not know what they expected to see; one, bolder than the rest, could
not resist the desire to look behind the scenes, and hastily drew back
and dropped the curtain, when we said rather sharply,