Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1855-01-18

around the edge Of the ring, and which they
won and lost with nonchalance worthy Of
a better cause.
Glover and bis companions, on entering
the ampitbeatre. took their seats near the
door, and shortly after the officers of the
OHIO arrived, and obtaining pieces a short
distance from the men, were soon engaged
in making .rihing bets with those around
them, on such birds as happened TO excite
their admiration.
Gallant birds they certainly were, and
worthy Of ell admiration but unless hsto-
~ is TO be disbelieved, they were guilty Of
most extraordinary anschronisms.
Time, place, and facts were utterly disre-
garded 10 the scenes there enacted, and the
verv dead were brought from their graves
10 fight for the amusement Of the inconside-
rate spectators.
julius Caesar was there, picking quarrel
with the Duke of Wellington; Plu.arch was
slrutting sbont with large red comb in his
head Lord Byron, with bare legs end steel
spurs, was seen running away from Chris
,opher COLUMBUS; end Mark Antony was
heard pronouncing sn extremely tautologi-
cal ora.lon over the dead body Of Don
Quixote.
1t is true that the eloquence Of this Mr..
Antony was no. quite equal 10 that Of auo.h-
er of the same name, who once began en- ad-
dress by making the unreasonable request
,hs. his friends ss we'll as The Romans and
coun,rymen,a would lend him their ears :
hu! his style was certainly more lerse and
aconic, for his preface consisted Of 'cock-a,'
his story of 'doodIe,' and The conclusion Of
'doo.' Such brevi,y should certainly have
ranked with the 'veni, vidi, vci' Of olden
times, and the 'Sevas,opo est pris' Of our
day. But to return TO our unfortunate bird,
who had been covered oil this time with
sack cloth, if not with ashes, and who had
been kept entirely in the dark with regard
TO these proceedings. Various contests had
taken place, many a gallant bird had fallen
a victim TO his bravery, and the interest Of
the audience was beginning 10 dag, when .
Creole stepped into the ring, and offered to
match splendid bird which he held under
his arm. sgainst anything that had wings,
on the island.
most celebrated one in the Havana, and the
owners efforts TO find an an.sgonis. seemed
likely 10 prove futile. .r.s
Signor Amingo's black game cock, 'Sstsn,'
was known TO every one in the town as hav-
ing whipped the bes. birds the island had
produced. and being still in his prime, no
one cared about losing fine bird by match
=, - 4.
lers. lDcensed with the idea Of winning
neither money nor renown with his fsvorie
bird, he al las, offered TO stake an hundred
doubloons against if,v, and no one accept
ing his chslIenge, he was preparing to leave
the ring, when our boa,sw ain sprang up, and
in very bad Spanish, smsllering Of which
he had acquired in bis wanderings, asked
him if he was willing 10 match him against
a curious-looking bird which be had with
him in bag.
against anything tina. has wings is my
challenger proudly replied Amigo produce
your bird, SIR
Wiibou, further parIey, Will united the
bag, and produced, to the as,onishment Of
the officers and the rest of the assembly, the
most curious-looking specimen Of The fea,h-
cred tribe .ha, had ever graceG or disgraced
a cockpit.
]. was q bird sbou, the size Of large
rooster, with no tail, no comb, end no steel
gaffies. Comb it seems he never had had,
and as for tail, if lie had ever been blessed
with such an appendsge, the ruthless sailors
must have 'clipped it short and driven j. in,'
for not ves,ige Of it remained and 10 add
TO the Disagreement, he was smesred with
a mixture Of grease end blocking, until his
original color had been entirely lost. A
loud shout of derision crosse from the spec
,a,ors at the impudence of the Yankee, IN
offering SO miserable creature as the an.ago-
mis-. Of 'Ss.an,' the pride of the Havana, and
as they doubtless thought, the hero of an
hemisphere.
But to the experienced eyes Of The officers
Of the Ohio, the secret was now revealed,
and beneath the grease and SCOT, in spite Of
the clipped wings and Clipped feathers, they
perceived the eye Of an old bald eagle, and
the terrible beak and claws, which the sail
ors had almost managed to conceal by COW
ering them with feathers, taken from the
chickens Of some by-gone dinner.
The officers now regretted that they had
permitted the men 10 come ashore, as they
were fearful iha. the ar,iice, if discovered,
might lead to blows; and The determined
character Of the men rendered them very
dangerous when excited.
Matters, however, had now proceeded too
far to be stopped, and they had to content
themselves with relying on the prudence Of
Glover. Although they knew that he wac
a perfec! devil when his blood was up, they
sill knew him TO be man of his word, and
,ha, he would not make a disturbance If he
could help il; so hoping .ha. their presence
would have its influence with the audience,