Clumsy two-wheeled carts came bumping past, some with prehensile-footed negroes perched upon them, others driven by turban-crowned Hindoos.  A fleet of dilapidated surreys and coaches, each equipped with a musical chime and drawn by a flea-bitten, ratlike horse, thronged the square.  Kirk noticed with amusement that the steeds were of stronger mentality than the drivers, judging from the way they dominated the place, kicking, biting squealing, ramming one another, locking wheels and blocking traffic, the while their futile owners merely jerked the reins after the fashion of a street-car conductor ringing up fares, or swore softly in Spanish.  Silent-footed coolies drifted past, sullen-faced negroes jostled him, stately Martinique women stalked through the confusion with queenly dignity.  These last were especially qualified to take the stranger’s eye, being tall and slender and wearing gaudy head-dresses, the tips of which stood up like rabbits’ ears.  Unlike the fat and noisy Jamaicans, they were neat and clean, their skirts snow-white and stiffly starched, and they held themselves as proudly erect as if pacing a stage.

The indescribable confusion of races reminded the young American of a Red Sea port where the myriad peoples of the far East intermingle.  He heard a dozen different dialects; even the negroes used an accent that was difficult to understand.  One thing only struck a familiar note, and that with peculiar force and sharpness.  Down the railroad track toward him came a locomotive with the letters “P.  R. R.” upon it, at which he said aloud: 

“Hurrah, I’m in Jersey City!  I’ll take the Twenty-third Street Ferry and be at the Astor in no time.”

He made his way slowly through the turmoil to the cable office, where he wrote a message, only to have it refused.

“We don’t send C. O. D.,” the operator told him.

“Must have coin in advance, eh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I left my gold-purse on the dresser,” Kirk said, cheerfully.  “I’ll be back later.”  Then he wandered forth again, bearing his bundle of shirts beneath his arm.  He thought of appealing to the Cortlandts before they left for Panama City, but could not bring himself to ask a favor from that slim, agate-eyed man for whom he felt such an instinctive distaste.  Instead, he resolved to enlist the services of the American consul.

He began to feel the heat now, and his borrowed collar drooped, but as he neared the seaward side of town there was a remarkable transformation.  A delightful, cooling breeze swept in from the ocean, and, when he finally came out upon a palm-guarded road along the breakers, he paused in silent enjoyment.  The trade-winds were drawing inward as steadily as if forced by a great electric fan, piling the green waters upon the rocks in a ceaseless, soothing murmur, making the palm fronds overhead rustle like the silken skirts of an aerial ballet.  The effect was wonderful, for, while the air was balmy and soft, it was also deliciously refreshing and seemed to have magic properties.