by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER SIXTY ONE.
A MILLINER'S BOX.
I was not long about this business. I soon perceived that the back ofthe empty space was closed in by a large box, and a similar one blockedup the right side. The left was the diagonal edge of the case itself,about twenty inches or two feet in width.
But I troubled myself very little either about back, left, or right. Itwas the ceiling of the little chamber that had the greatest interest forme; for it was in that direction I intended, _if possible_, to continuemy tunnel.
I knew that I was now far enough in the horizontal direction; for thechief advantage I had gained by the discovery of the empty space was,that it carried me the thickness of the piano-case--about two feet, as Ihave said--in this course, besides the distance that was open, upwards.Neither forward, then, nor to the right or left, did I wish to go,unless forced to do so by an obstacle. Upward was the echo of mythoughts. _Excelsior_! _excelsior_! Two or three stages more--perhapsless, if no obstacle intervened--and I might be free. My heart beatjoyfully as the prospect passed before my mind.
It was not without a keen anxiety that I raised my hand to the ceilingof the empty chamber. My fingers trembled as they touched what I wellknew to be canvas, and involuntarily they recoiled from it. O, mercy!--once more that hated fabric--a bale of linen!
I was not so sure of this however. I remembered the mistake I hadalready made in this regard. I must examine farther.
I closed my fist, and gave the bottom of the package a smart rap with myknuckles. Ha! it was a pleasant sound that answered to the blow. Itwas not a bale of linen, then, but a box, covered, like many others,with several folds of coarse cheap canvas. It could not be cloth,either; for instead of the dull report which the cloth-boxes give outwhen struck, the one in question returned a hollow sound, precisely thatof one that was empty!
This appeared strange enough. It could not be empty, else why was itthere? and yet if not empty, what did it contain?
I hammered upon it with the haft of my knife--still the same hollowsound!
"Good!" thought I. "If empty, all the better; but if not, surely thereis something in it of a light nature--something that may be easily gotrid of. Good!"
After making this reflection, I resolved to waste no more time inconjectures, but to satisfy myself of the contents of this new box, bymaking my way into it; and in a trice I had ripped off the canvas thatprotected its bottom.
I found the position in which I stood inconvenient. The triangularspace, narrowing acutely towards the bottom, hindered me from standingfairly on my feet; but I soon remedied this defect, by filling the anglewith some pieces of cloth and velvet that were near at hand. I thenproceeded more comfortably with my work.
I need not detail the mode in which I burrowed through the bottom of thebox. It was just as with the others, and succeeded as well. I had tomake one cross-cut, and in this my newly-hafted blade behaved admirably;after which, I pulled out the divided pieces.
I was not a little surprised when I arrived at the inside, andascertained the contents of the box. It was some time before I couldmake them out by the "feel," but when I had succeeded in getting oneseparated from its fellows, and ran my fingers over its outline, I atlength recognised what they were. They were _bonnets_!
Yes, ladies' bonnets, and nothing but that--all apparently full"trimmed," and garnished with their feathers, flowers, and ribbons.
Had I at that time possessed a more intimate knowledge of the costumesof the Peruvians, I should have been more surprised, perhaps, to findsuch an odd "item" in the list of their imports. I should have knownthat such a thing as a bonnet is never seen upon the beautiful head of aPeruvian lady. But I knew nothing of this then, and I was onlysurprised by the oddity of such an article occurring in the cargo of agreat ship.
The explanation was given me afterwards, thus:--that there were Englishand French ladies living in many of the South American cities--the wivesand sisters of English and French merchants resident there, as well asof various representative officials--and that these, although so veryfar distant from their homes, still obstinately persisted in followingthe fashions of London and Paris, notwithstanding (it was added) theridicule with which such an absurd headdress was regarded by their fairsisters of Spanish America.
For these sojourners, then, the box of bonnets had been intended.
I am sorry to add that for that season their expectations must have beendisappointed. The bonnets could never have reached them, or, if theydid, it must have been in such a state as to render them unfit for anypurpose of adornment. Mine was an unmerciful hand; for, once insidethat box, it never ceased from wreck and ruin till the whole of thosebeautiful "ducks" were crumpled up and stowed away in less than a tenthpart of the valuable space they had hitherto occupied.
No doubt many an imprecation was afterwards heaped on my devoted head;and the only apology I can make is to speak the simple truth--that withme it was a matter of life or death, and the bonnets had to go. It wasnot likely that this would be satisfactory in the quarter where thebonnets were expected. I never heard whether or no. I only know that Iwas enabled afterwards--but long afterwards--to satisfy my ownconscience about the matter, by _paying the damage_ claimed by theTransatlantic milliner.