ul ship, rising and
sinking with the swell of the sea, now high in sight, and anon buried
in a cloud of snowy spray. One hand, buried in curls, I have said,
supported her head, the other, by her side, grasped the folds of her
robe, beneath which peeped out a tiny foot in a way that was rather
dangerous to my sane state of mind to observe.

"We had sat a few moments in silence, when Clara suddenly spoke.

"'Come hither, senor,' said she, 'look out upon this beautiful
landscape, and tell me whether in your boasted land there can be found
one as lovely. Have you such a sky, such a moon, such waters, and
graceful trees, such blue mountains--and, hark! have you such music?'

"I approached to her side and looked out. The band at the barracks had
just begun their nightly serenade, and the music traveled across the
bay to strike upon our ears so softly, that it sounded like strains
from fairy land.

"'They are playing an ancient march of the days of Ferdinand and
Isabel,' whispered Clara; 'could you not guess its stately measures
were pure old Castilian? Now mark the change--that is a Moorish
serenade; is it not like the fitful breathings of an Eolian harp?'

"The music ceased, but it died in cadences so soft that I stood with
lips apart, half in doubt whether the spirit-sound I yet heard were
the effect of imagination or not. Reluctantly I was compelled to
believe myself deceived, and then turned to look upon the landscape. I
never remember of seeing a lovelier night. It was now nine o'clock,
and the sounds of business were hushed on the harbor, but boats,
filled with gay revelers, glided ever the sparkling surface of the
water, whose laugh and song added interest and life to the scene.
Nearly opposite to us, upon the other side of the bay, were the
extensive barracks, hospital, and the long line of the Marino, their
white stuccoed walls glowing in the moonlight. On our left the
beautiful city rose like an amphitheatre around the head of the bay;
the hum of the populace, and the rumbling of wheels sounding faintly
in the distance. Behind the town the blue conical peaks of the
mountains melted into the sky. On our right was the roadstead and open
sea, the moon's wake thereon glittering like a street in heaven, and
reaching far away to other lands. All around us grew a wilderness of
palm, orange, cocoa, and magnolia trees, vocal with the thousand
strange noises of a tropical night. Directly below us, but a cable
length fro