As she passed Tom his bright face took her fancy, and she glanced at him with a smile.
"Wasn't that a beautiful lady?" he cried to Mr. Jollytarre.
"Indeed she was. But what do you think of her method of travelling? Slow as the ox-cart, eh?" Then suddenly, "Tom, I have it; we'll go on horseback." And almost in the same breath, cried, "Caballos."
The lieutenant's knowledge of Portuguese was limited, and he was obliged to make a little of it, mixed with Spanish, go a long way.
But the people about him were quick-witted, and it seemed to Tom that two horses with their two owners appeared on the scene as if by magic.
"Now, Tom," said Lieutenant Jollytarre, "you may walk if you please—I shall ride. The coasting I told you of is up there at that church. Will you take a horse?"
Tom replied by leaping into the saddle, and starting off at a slow canter.
As they rode away, the owners of the horses followed them, keeping up to the increasing pace by each clinging to his horse's tail.
This was all very well as long as they remained in the narrow streets, where a little steering was necessary; but as they left them, Tom grew impatient for a run.
"See here, now, this won't do," he called to his man. "I ain't a baby. I know how to ride. Leave go."