ted up. "Miss Eurydice, you open de ball."

Miss Eurydice had but a sorry partner, but she undertook to instruct me.
O'Brien was our _vis-a-vis_ with Miss Euterpe. The other gentlemen were
officers from the ships, and we stood up twelve, checkered brown and
white, like a chess-board. All eyes were fixed upon Mr Apollo Johnson,
who first looked at the couples, then at his fiddle, and lastly, at the
other musicians, to see if all was right, and then with a wave of his
_bow-tick_ the music began. "Massa lieutenant," cried Apollo to O'Brien,
"cross over to opposite lady, right hand and left, den figure to Miss
Eurydice--dat right; now four hand round. You lilly midshipman, set your
partner, sir; den twist her round; dat do; now stop. First figure all
over."

At this time I thought I might venture to talk a little with my partner,
and I ventured a remark; to my surprise she answered very sharply, "I
come here for dance, sar, and not for chatter; look, Massa Johnson, he
tap um bow-tick."

The second figure commenced, and I made a sad bungle; so I did of the
third, and fourth, and fifth, for I never had danced a cotillon. When I
handed my partner to her place, who certainly was the prettiest girl in
the room, she looked rather contemptuously at me, and observed to a
neighbour, "I really pity de gentleman as come from England dat no know
how to dance nor nothing at all, until em hab instruction at Barbadoes."

A country dance was now called for, which was more acceptable to all
parties, as none of Mr Apollo Johnson's pupils were very perfect in
their cotillon, and none of the officers, except O'Brien, knew anything
about them. O'Brien's superior education on this point, added to his
lieutenant's epaulet and handsome person, made him much courted; but he
took up with Miss Eurydice after I had left her, and remained with her
the whole evening; thereby exciting the jealousy of Mr Apollo Johnson,
who, it appears, was amorous in that direction. Our party increased
every minute; all the officers of the garrison, and, finally, as soon as
they could get away, the governor's aid-de-camps, all dressed in _mufti_
(i.e., plain clothes). The dancing continued until three o'clock in the
morning, when it was quite a squeeze, from the constant arrival of fresh
recruits from all the houses of Barbadoes. I must say, that a few
bottles of eau de Cologne thrown about the room would have improved the
atmosphere. By this time the heat was terribl