Accordingly, I leaped from the hammock where I had swung idly during the scene, and, beginning with a _balancez_ and an _avant-deux_, terminated my terpsichorean exhibition by a regular "double shuffle" and sailor's hornpipe. The delirious laughter, cracked sides, rollicking fun, and outrageous merriment, with which my feats were received, are unimaginable by sober-sided people. Tired of my single exhibition, I seized the prettiest of the group by her slim, shining waist, and whirled her round and round the court in the quickest of waltzes, until, with a kiss, I laid her giddy and panting on the floor. Then, grasping another,--another,--another,--and another,--and treating each to the same dizzy swim, I was about waltzing the whole _seraglio_ into quiescence, when who should rise before us but the staring and yawning _Mongo_! The apparition sobered me. A quarteroon pet of Ormond,--just spinning into fashionable and luscious insensibility,--fell from my arms into those of her master; and while I apologized for the freak, I charged it altogether to the witchcraft of his wit and wine. "Ha!" said the Mongo, "St. Vitus is in your Italian heels the moment you are within hail of music and dancing; and, by Jove, it seems you can scent a petticoat as readily as a hound tracks runaways. But there's no harm in _dancing_, Don Teodore; only hereafter I hope you will enjoy the amusement in a less uproarious manner. In Africa we are fond of a _siesta_ after dinner; and I recommend you to get, as soon as possible, under the lee of another bottle." We retired once more to his mahogany; and, under the spell of my chieftain's claret and sea-yarns, I was soon lapped in delicious sleep. * * * * * Next day the captain of the Areostatico drew me aside confidentially, and hinted that Ormond had taken such a decided fancy for me, and _insinuated_ so warm a wish for my continuance _as his clerk_ at Bangalang, that he thought it quite a duty, though a sad one, to give his advice on the subject.