He passed me on to
other plantations; and I made the complete round of the
island before returning to my comrades at Golden Grove. A
few weeks afterwards I stayed with a Spanish gentleman, the
Marquis d'Iznaga, who owned six large sugar plantations in
Cuba; and rode with his son from Casilda to Cienfuegos, from
which port I got a steamer to the Havana. The ride afforded
abundant opportunities of comparing the slave with the free
negro. But, as I have written on the subject elsewhere, I
will pass to matters more entertaining.
CHAPTER XVII
ON my arrival at the Havana I found that Durham, who was
still an invalid, had taken up his quarters at Mr.
Crauford's, the Consul-General. Phoca, who was nearly well
again, was at the hotel, the only one in the town. And who
should I meet there but my old Cambridge ally, Fred, the last
Lord Calthorpe. This event was a fruitful one, - it
determined the plans of both of us for a year or more to
come.
Fred - as I shall henceforth call him - had just returned
from a hunting expedition in Texas, with another sportsman
whom he had accidentally met there. This gentleman
ultimately became of even more importance to me than my old
friend. I purposely abstain from giving either his name or
his profession, for reasons which will become obvious enough
by-and-by; the outward man may be described. He stood well
over six feet in his socks; his frame and limbs were those
of a gladiator; he could crush a horseshoe in one hand; he
had a small head with a bull-neck, purely Grecian features,
thick curly hair with crisp beard and silky moustache. He so
closely resembled a marble Hercules that (as he must have a
name) we will call him Samson.
Before Fred stumbled upon him, he had spent a winter camping
out in the snows of Canada, bear and elk shooting. He was
six years or so older than either of us - I.E. about eight-
and-twenty.
As to Fred Calthorpe, it would be difficult to find a more
'manly' man. He was unacquainted with fear. Yet his
courage, though sometimes reckless, was by no means of the
brute kind. He did not run risks unless he thought the gain
would compensate them; and no one was more capable of
weighing consequences than he. His temper was admirable, his
spirits excellent; and for any enterprise where danger and
hardship were to be encountered few men could have been
better qualified. By the end of a week these two had agreed
to accompany me across the Rocky Mountains.
Before leaving the Havana, I witnessed an event which, though
disgusting in itself, gives rise to serious reflections.
