his
remark, he hurried out of the room with an air which made me much
inclined to laugh. My fair cousins, however, did not appear to notice
the style of his exit, and talked on as before, asking all sorts of
questions, and answering those I put to them. My aunt spoke little;
indeed, I was struck with her reserved manner and melancholy expression
of countenance. After a time Carlos returned.

"Well, are you now inclined to take a stroll round our castle and
grounds?" he said.

"With much pleasure," I replied.

"We'll go too," exclaimed the young ladies together; and each putting on
a large straw hat which lay near them, they accompanied us.

Carlos led the way with the air of a person who considers himself master
of the house. He first showed me the various rooms, which opened into a
broad passage, and then going into the veranda, he pointed out how
completely it commanded the approaches to the house on every side.

"You see these two guns, and you observe that we can wheel them round to
any point which may be attacked. Not that I, for my part, believe the
Redskins will ever venture to come near us."

The house, I saw, was built on a point, so that, except on one side, it
was surrounded by water. The upper floor to which he conducted us
contained several rooms. The roof, however, was low, the windows
narrow, and so placed that musketry could be fired from them in all
directions, or missiles could also be showered down on the heads of any
assailants who might reach the gallery below. The rooms were furnished
in a way suitable to the climate, and wore an air of neatness and
comfort. Two of them, I guessed, from their appearance, belonged to my
fair cousins; while another, the walls of which were ornamented with
guns and pistols, swords, bows and other Indian weapons, Carlos told me
was his.

At the back of the house were outbuildings and huts, in which the blacks
on the property lived; and the whole of the rest of the island was
occupied by an orange grove and garden, in which grew a great variety of
vegetables.

"Now you must come down and see the lower regions of our castle," said
Carlos, descending the steps.

The ground-floor had but a few strongly-barred windows, opening on the
water, which we had not observed on approaching, and a single door into
the back of the house. There was a kitchen of large size on one side,
and on the other the rooms of the domestics.

"We are not without our dungeon,"