On the way to the boat, my voluptuous companion dropped all her bundles, one by one, and they were promptly picked up, taken care of, and carried after us, by a little native with nothing but a hat on—whose attention and fidelity I generously rewarded with a silver half-dollar on arriving at the water’s edge.
I will not take it upon myself to say that Mrs. “Pheel” had drank too much, as I should not wish to do her the slightest injustice: it may have been the extreme heat of the climate; it may have been her obesity; it may have been her anxiety; it may have been that she was not blessed with a strong constitution; it may have been all or part of these combined that governed her conduct: but certain it is, that Mrs. “Pheel,” acted strangely and unlike a lady at the beach. Some little delay was occasioned there, by the fact that the native who engaged to take us to the steamer, had to go and hunt up his partner; and during the interval, Mrs. “Pheel” not only talked strangely, walked strangely, and bore herself in an unaccountable manner; but actually became unreasonable, unmanageable, and even pugnacious. She first opened our eyes by declaring that we were going to rob her, and adding:
“Bedad, I’ll make Pheel put a head on yez all!”
This was somewhat startling to me, as I had one head that suited me very well, and, with my means of perambulating, did not desire to be encumbered with another.
“Madam,” I remonstrated, “I pray that you will be quiet. We are your friends, and you are welcome to go with us to the steamer. I hope——”
“Where’s my fan?” she interrupted, springing with some abruptness to a new theme of conversation.
“I do not know. Have you lost one?”
“Bedad some one’s sthole it,” she vociferated.
By this time a dozen natives had collected on the beach, and were viewing the female Caucasian with mingled wonder and amusement.
Mr. Hawes was sitting on an old spar at this time, calmly fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan he had carried all day. The object, at this unfortunate moment, caught the eye of Mrs. Pheel.