Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/139

CH. VIII.] epulis" of the Romans, who had only one posture at their meals, and every body knows that was lying. As the supper disappeared, my companion suggested the propriety of anticipating our wants for the next day's journey; as the place we were about to stop at would, in all probability, not be provided with any thing we could eat: accordingly, something was prepared, which, however, kept the cooking business going on, to our great annoyance, for an hour or two longer; and it was midnight before I could close my eyes. This was the more disagreeable, as we started, the next morning, at half past four, and as my rest had been disturbed, even during this short interval, with a rather peculiar occurrence: the fact was, I was awakened, about an hour after I had fallen asleep, with a sort of tickling sensation in my face; and, jumping up, I thought I could distinguish something black upon my pillow: at first, I guessed it was the cat, as it seemed to make a sort of purring noise, and felt hairy: I accordingly