Many inquiries are made after our gipsies and donkeys. The gipsies were still unwell. Esmeralda managed some beefsteak and tea as she lay on deck. The gipsies had our best encouragement.
The barrister and the officer recovered from the Roman fever (a member of the Naval and Military Club) were both charmed with our gipsies’ names.
The officer especially so, and gave occasionally, the following recitation:—
“Upon a time it came to pass
That these two brothers die did;
They laid Tobias on his back,
And Ezekiel by his side did.”
This quotation from a popular song, was considered a very apt illustration, of the probable fate, of our two gipsies, Noah and Zacharia, before the expedition was ended.
The Birmingham bagman, was soon seen hovering on the narrow bridge, leading to the forecastle above the waist of the steamer. At times, he leaned upon the handrail, and would look down upon the deck below, where our gipsies reclined. Sometimes after gazing at them, he made some observation to Esmeralda. Occasionally he came to us, and was exceedingly anxious about the donkeys.
So frequently did he come, and so many were his suggestions, that at last we began to fear, we should be in the same melancholy position, as Sinbad the Sailor, with the Old Man of the Sea.
The passengers seemed most pleased with the name of Esmeralda. The portly English gentleman said it was a gipsy queen’s name. The barrister often hummed an air from a favourite opera called “Esmeralda,” which had been brought out in London that very season.
The Chevalier was in excellent spirits at dinner. He had been engaged upon a diplomatic mission to England. We discovered ourselves as Freemasons, which led to our taking champagne together at dinner.
A young Norwegian, who spoke English exceedingly well, and his English wife, sat near us.