When we entered the `shop' we found the old gentleman busy at
work preparing to charge his soda-fountains. He looked as bright as
a lark and seemed to be in fine spirits.

`Ah, good morning, boys,' he said. `I am glad you've come. You
should keep better hours for business. Now off jackets and go to
work. We have enough to keep us all busy. A dozen gentlemen
have already called in to get a glass of soda. I am losing ten dollars
clear every hour the soda is delayed!'

`Hope you slept well last night, sir?' said Hewitt dryly, though he
had five minutes before privately expressed to us the wish that the fleas
had flayed him.

`Haven't had such a night's rest since I left Boston!'

`Confound his tough old hide,' said Hewitt aside to us. `He has
the cuticle of a rhinoceros. But here comes Ned. He looks pale
enough. How did you sleep, sir?' asked Hewitt gravely.

`Sleep! I liked to have been eaten up. I never knew the like.—
The fleas in this country have bills like forceps. I walked the roof all
night,' and he twisted up his face till it seemed as if the rim of his
spectacles twisted too. Did you have any fleas where you slept?'

`We had mattrasses-stuffed with them,' answered Radsworth.

`Come boys, don't talk but work. We must have every thing ready
by noon. I mean to charge two of the fountains and set 'em up ready
to sell from by twelve o'clock.'

By twelve o'clock, for we went cheerfully to work to help him, we
had the fountains ready, the pipes screwed, the syrups and tumblers all
set out upon the counter, and everything put in apple-pie order. Ned
had cut out of blue and yellow paper a scolloped border for each shelf
which he had nailed on, and had suspended paper festoons around the
window and over the pictures that hung upon the walls. The whole
interior had quite a respectable and inviting look. As I had some skill
in lettering it fell to me to paint in red letters on a blue ground upon
small boards the signs of the establishment. I had them both ready
by two o'clock and stuck out on either side of the door. As signs in
Montevideo are hardly known, they attracted not a little attention.—
One of them was done in Spanish, the other in English. They read
as follows:—

`Agna de Soda.' `Soda-water.'

The charge of one of the fountains was given to Hewitt, and the
other I took; for the affair had got to be for us by this time quite

[figure description] Page 084.[end figure description]

amusing, and a joke that we took no little pleasure in carrying through.
Doubtless the old gentleman thought all this while that he had four
very precious docile fools to deal with. But our time came by and by.
We let him have his now.

In a few minutes the room was filled with customers. English and
American naval officers, sea-captains of all nations, and Brazilian officers
of both services. We could hardly draw fast enough for the thirsty
crowd. The quarters of dollars poured in upon us as fast as the old
man could gather them up. It was a new thing. Many of them, particularly
the natives had never seen soda before. Its sparkling coolness
was refreshing. It was a new sensation to them. The syrups
were delicious. I drew four tumblers for one fierce Brazilian naval
captain, in succession, for which he threw down a Spanish dollar.—
Old Bedrick was in raptures at this wonderful success. The sweat
poured down his cheeks with excitement. All day the demand contioned
with but little abatement. The old man charged his fountains
four times. Hewitt and I were relieved by Fairtax and Radsworth,
and sometimes Edwin would condescend to draw a glass for a customer.
It was a hard day's work. We were glad when it became night;
for then all places of business closed, save three or four cafes kept
open by special license from the Governor. We closed our shop and
went up stairs to supper, where also we had dined. Bedrick having
commissioned William, his son, to cater, and look after these matters.
To do Bill justice he-did his duty by us. He got the beds up, `the
parlor' (I mean the large saloon) furnished with furniture brought out
in the ship, and the crockery placed in a cupboard. He proved himself
a good house-keeper, and when we went up stairs at the close of
the day's work, (which had brought the old man in two hundred and
thirty-seven dollars,) we found a nice supper set out for us, and every
thing in the bed-room looking quite comfortable,' The walls to be
sure were bare, and the floors brick, and every thing had a prison-like
look from the peculiar structure of the mansion; but things were so
much better than we looked for that we were quite pleased. The old
gentleman had grown so rich in one day that he had no appetite to eat.
He had put all his money in a shot bag, and it lay by his plate. He
looked more like eating its contents than those of his plate and cup.
A wax candle stood in the centre of the table, and we seven sat around
it, and made, I must say, a very merry supper. We were all in the
best of humors. The old man praised us, and we almost loved him as
a father, but resolved to run away from him, nevertheless, the first good
opportunity.

That night we slept better; for I had taken the precaution to elevate
my mattrass upon the table, while the rest slept upon the roof or upon
boards laid from the window to a bench. The old man, between joy,
and dollars and fleas, did not get a wink's sleep. I heard him up half
the night, and always heard at the same time the clink of silver. I
dare say he passed the night counting his gains and killing fleas. I do
not say the fleas did not trouble me. They were few, however, compared
with those that made my acquaintance the night preceding. I

[figure description] Page 085.[end figure description]

do not think I was bitten by more than a hundred and fifty on this second
trial of sleep vs. fleas.

Affairs went on swimmingly for several days. The soda was a great
card in the town, and took well. The receipts, however, were never
afterwards so large as on the first day; for many then came in to taste
it who never came a second time. Our custom, therefore, settled
down into a certain number that imbibed it as a luxury. The old gentleman
was shrewd. When he found the soda palled, he added Port
wine to their glasses, and so introduced the soda-sangaree to the Brazilian
palate. At other times he added coniac. The latter took admirably,
and in a few days the simple soda was rarely called for. We
however did well, and as the old gentleman had two other fountains,
he resolved to hire a shop at the other extremity of the city near the
gate, and place in charge of it, Fairfax and Radsworth, with his son
Edwin to oversee. He therefore, made a selection, hired a room at the
corner of two frequented streets within sight of the principal gate, and
not more than a hundred rods from it. To this place he removed the
two soda fountains, and having employed our friend Freelove, soon had
things looking quite shop-like. Fairfax and Radsworth made no objections
to taking charge; for it was our policy to live on the old gentleman
as long as we found it for our interest, looking round us in the
meanwhile for some opportunity of bettering our condition. We were
not a little mortified at times on finding ourselves treated coolly as inferiors,
by young officers, both English and American, who came into
our shops, when, forgetting that we were `bar-tenders' we presumed
upon our birth and education and respectability at home, to converse
freely with them. We, however, pocketed the slight, knowing that
we were only playing at soda-shop for the time being.

After we had been a fortnight in Montevideo, both shops were in full
blast with their four fountains. The old man now passed his time in
making the soda and trotting between his two shops, which were about
half a mile apart. He took upon an average one hundred and fifty
dollars a day in both places together. We lived in the rooms over the
first shop on the Quay street. The old man having then got matters in
full tide of success began to play the petty tyrant. He compelled us
to rise at daybreak, and follow him to market with baskets like servants.
This we had to do, or else break out into open rebellion before
the time was ripe. He wanted to make us wash for `the family,' two
at a time each week, and also to act as cook by turn. We positively
refused to do any other washing than our own, but consented after
some parleying to cook. He would have compelled us to make the
beds and keep the house clean, but we told him we would not, and that
he must hire a black woman. Finally, he consented to do so, but as
she could not speak English nor he Portuguese, they quarrelled a dozen
times the first day in their own dialect, and at night the old man
kicked her out of the house.

Half an hour afterwards we were at supper, when four black soldiers
headed by a sergeant, entered the room, and surrounded the table in
silence. The old black woman hobbled in in their rear.

`That is the old man,' she said in Portuguese, pointing fiercely at

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our `merchant,' who became very pale, while we looked on dismayed.
`You owe this woman two dollars for her day's work,' said the sergeant
sternly in Portuguese; `pay her or come with me to prison!'

`What is that he says?' asked the old man looking at his son for an
interpretation. Ned interpreted as much as he understood and I what
I comprehended, and so made it clear.

`I don't owe her a cent! She lies! She undid every thing I told
her to do, I won't pay her!'

`Que dice el caballero?' asked the sergeant turning to me and addressing
me in Spanish.

`He says,' I answered after a moment's reflection upon what Spanish
I had learned, `he says that he don't owe her anything!'

`Then he must go to prison!'

`What does he say?' inquired the old man.

`That you must go to the calaboose!'

`You had best pay her father,' said Ned as white as a sheet.

`It's robbery, downright robbery,' cried the avaricious old man taking
two dollars from his waistcoat pocket, and throwing them at the
woman's head. She grinned and picked them up and was going off,
when the sergeant called her and compelled her to relinqnish to him
one of the dollars, which she did with very ill grace. The whole party
then left us to ourselves. The old man are no more supper. He did
not like this summary way of administering justice at all. He abused
the city, the soldiers, the government, and every negro woman in general,
and this one in particular. Our friend, the carpenter, soon came
in and turned the tide. He said he had obtained a pass for us to be
out till ten o'clock, and that if we chose to go with him as a guide, he
would take us to the great square to hear the Governor's band before
the palace, and visit some of the saloons and cafes, and show us something
of the city. The old man would have prevented our going, but
without paying him any attention we sallied out, each armed with a
stout cudgel, and some of us with daggers.

Although we had been a fortnight in the city we had seen very little
of it, so closely had we been kept in our shops; once in a while, only,
could we get half an hour to ramble through the streets. Evenings
we dared not venture forth on account of the strict military police.—
The most we saw of the city was mornings going to and from market.
At such times we were entertained with a variety of novel and interesting
objects. The streets, at that hour, were filled with negroes, the
men nearly naked, and the women in gay petticoats and flashy turbans.
The dogs, too, that we encountered were innumerable. Their name
was `Legion.' And such dogs. They looked and acted like gaunt
wolves or starved hyenas. They would sometimes assemble in scores
in the middle of the street, or by the side of an old wall growling,
snarling, and fighting savagely over carrion. They turned aside for
no one. Not even horses galloping past could move them. They
would show their sharp, white fangs, and snap at the horse's legs.—
These animals always sheered from them with fear. We were told by
Freelove that when very hungry they will attack negroes carrying marketing
and if he defends it, it is at the risk of being torn in pieces.—

[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]

He said, also, that he saw a wounded man who had been stabbed and
was running from his murderers pursued by a pack of these dogs, who
getting the scent of blood, took up the hue and cry, overtook him,
leaped upon him, bore him to the ground and literally tore him in
pieces and devoured him.

We saw these dogs in hundreds about the market, the bolder ones
prowling among the meat stalls, the more cautions sitting in groups of
twenty or thirty at a little distance waiting to pounce upon the offals
after the marketing was over. I am puzzled to tell which we dreaded
most, the dogs or the soldiers. The latter were lawless, wanton and
cruel. They knew that any act of aggression against the citizens
would be overlooked by their superiors, and they were always ready
to insult. That so few outrages were committed by them is surprising,
when they were at liberty to run any body through the body they
chose.

The market stalls were occupied wholly by black women. Among
them and the numerous individuals of the race I encountered in the
city, which is as full of negroes as it is of dogs or of soldiers, I saw
for the first time the pure Afric slave speaking his own jargon with his
fellow. They were nearly naked, of a shining black, their breasts and
faces tatooed, and the feature excessively ugly and brutal. It is worthy
of remark how soon the native African falls into the habits of the
slave. I saw one day at work upon the mole about thirty blacks,
strong, athletic fellows with only a piece of white cotton about their
loins, which, I was told, had only been landed seven weeks from Africa.
They were unloading a Brazilian brig, and seemed as docile and
laborious as those who were born slaves. You can tell the newly imported
slave by his nakedness, and also more truly by a certain Indianlike
wildness in his eye and movements. Most of the slaves wore
amulets about their necks, beads, bones, sharks' teeth, brass or copper
rings, which also encircle their wrists and depend from their ears.—
Those who are Catholic christians add crosses. I have seen several
with iron collars rivetted (for life) on their necks by their masters. I
have seen them with their backs striped like the hide of the zebra
with the welts of the lash. They are seemingly, withal, a mirthful
race, especially the females, who are ever chattering and laughing.