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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Harry Milvaine, by Gordon Stables
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Harry Milvaine
+       The Wanderings of a Wayward Boy
+
+Author: Gordon Stables
+
+Release Date: September 6, 2011 [EBook #37325]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARRY MILVAINE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Harry Milvaine
+The Wanderings of a Wayward Boy
+By Gordon Stables
+Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 27 Paternoster Row, London.
+This edition dated 1887.
+
+Harry Milvaine, by Gordon Stables.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+HARRY MILVAINE, BY GORDON STABLES.
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER ONE.
+
+IN THE LAND OF BROWN HEATH.
+
+CHILD HAROLD.
+
+Young Harry Milvaine stood beside the water-tank, and the water-tank
+itself stood just outside the back kitchen door.  He was hardly high
+enough, however, to look right over it and down into it, though it was
+full to the brim--overflowing in fact, and the water still pouring in
+from the spout that led from the house-top.  But Harry was of an
+inventive turn of mind, young though he was, so he went and fetched a
+stable bucket, and very heavy he thought it; but when he turned this
+upside down and mounted on the bottom, he was possessed of a coign of
+vantage which was all that could be desired.
+
+Harry had mastered the situation.
+
+He now watched with intense interest the bright clear bubbles that were
+floating about on the surface.  Bright clear bubbles they were and large
+as well, and in them was a miniature reflection of all the surroundings,
+the Portuguese laurel trees, the Austrian pines, the vases on the stone
+pillars of the gate, with their trailing drapery of blood-red
+nasturtiums, the rose-clad gable of the stable, and last but not least
+his own wondering face itself.  And a queer little face it was, no
+saying what it might turn like in after life.  Neither fat nor lean was
+it, certainly not chubby, regular in features, and somewhat pale.  But
+it was Harry's eyes that people admired; that is, whenever Harry stood
+long enough still to permit of admiration, but he was a restless child.
+His eyes then were very dark and almost round, and there was a depth of
+expression in them which sometimes made him look positively old.
+
+Yes, those beautiful bubbles were mirrors, and looking into them was
+just like peeping through a looking-glass into fairyland.  Harry clapped
+his tiny hands and crowed with delight.  They went sailing about, here
+and there all over the surface; then a happy thought struck Harry and he
+called them his ships.  The vat was the deep blue sea, and the bubbles
+were ships.  Ships of war, mind you, and Harry was a king, and there
+were enemy's ships there also.  Every now and then two or even three of
+these bubble-ships would meet and join; then of course there would be a
+desperate fight going on, and presently one would disappear, and that
+meant victory for the other.  Sometimes one of the bubble-ships sailing
+all by itself would suddenly burst, and that meant a vessel gone down,
+perhaps with all hands; for Harry had heard his father speak of such
+things.
+
+On the whole it was altogether as good as a play or a pantomime.
+
+It was raining--yes, it was pouring, and Harry was wet to the skin, and
+had been so for an hour or more.  But he did not mind that a bit.  In
+fact, I am not sure that he was even conscious of it; or if conscious of
+it, that he didn't prefer it.  At any time, when a heavy shower came on,
+Harry loved to get out in it, and run about in it, and hold up his palms
+to catch the drops, and his face to feel them patter on it, only they
+fell on his eyes sometimes and made him wink.
+
+Well, but one might get tired even of a pantomime after a while, so by
+and by Harry left the vat, and left his ships to shift for themselves.
+
+"I won't be a king any more," he said to himself.  "I'll go and be a
+forester.  Good-bye, ships," he cried, "I'm off for a run.  By and by
+I'll come back again and see you--if you're good."
+
+Eily, his long-haired Collie dog, who had been sitting wistfully
+watching her young master all the time that the naval warfare was going
+on, was quite as wet as he; and looked the picture of misery and
+forlornness; but when Harry proposed a romp and a run, she forgot her
+misery.  First she shook pints of water out of her massive coat, then
+she jumped and capered for joy in the most ridiculous manner ever seen,
+making leaps right round and round like a teetotum and pretending to
+catch her tail.
+
+The rain rained on, but away went the pair of them, running at full
+speed as if their very lives depended on it.
+
+Down the lawn and through the shrubbery, and out at the gate, which they
+did not stop to shut, and across a road, and through a long field, and
+past the Old Monk oak, past the great mill-dam, past the mill itself,
+and they never checked their headlong speed till they were right into
+the forest.
+
+Not a forest of oak but of pine-trees, with ne'er a bit of undergrowth,
+for Harry's home was in Scottish wilds.  No, never a bit of undergrowth
+was there, and hardly a green thing under the tall, bare tree-stems,
+that looked for all the world like pillars in some vasty cave.  And all
+the ground was bedded deep with the withered pine-needles that had
+fallen the year before.  Among these grew great unsightly toad-stools,
+though some were pretty enough--bright crimson with white spots.
+
+Now Harry had a pet toad that he kept in a little box deep hidden among
+the pine-needles at the foot of a tree.  He went straight for him now,
+and pulled him out and placed him on one of the very biggest and
+flattest of the toad-stools.  And there the toad squatted, and Eily
+barked at him and Harry laughed at him, but the great toad never moved a
+muscle, but simply sat and stared.  He did not seem half awake.  So
+Harry soon grew tired of him; he was not fast enough for Harry, who
+therefore put him back again in his box, covered him up with the
+withered needles, and told him to go to sleep; then away went he and
+Eily shouting and barking till the woods rang again.  Soon they came to
+a brawling stream.  It was fuller than usual, and Harry got a great
+piece of pine bark, and launched it for a ship, and ran alongside of it,
+on and on and on till the streamlet joined the river itself, and Harry's
+ship was floated away far beyond his reach.
+
+The river was greatly swollen and turbulent with the rains, and its
+waters were quite yellow.  Trees were floating down and even
+corn-sheaves--for the season was autumn--and now and then stooks of
+golden grain.  Harry paused and looked upon the great river with awe,
+not unmingled with admiration.
+
+"Wouldn't I like to be a sailor, just," he said, "that is," he added,
+turning round and addressing Eily, "a real sailor you know, Eily; and go
+and see all the pretty countries that nursie reads to me about when I'm
+naughty and won't sleep."
+
+Eily wagged her tail, as much as to say, "It would be the finest thing
+in the world."  For Eily always coincided with everything her little
+master proposed or said.
+
+"And you could go with me, Eily, of course."
+
+"Yes," said Eily, talking with her tail.
+
+"And there would be no more nasty copies to write, nor sums to do."
+
+"No," said Eily.
+
+"And, oh! such a lot of fruit and nuts, Eily; but, come on, I want to
+make faces at the bull."
+
+"Come on, then," said Eily, speaking with her eyes this time.  "Come on,
+I'm ready.  We'll make faces at the bull."
+
+So off they ran once more.
+
+The bull was a splendid Highland specimen, with a rough buff jacket,
+hair all over his face and eyes, and horns as long as both your arms
+outstretched.  Just such an animal as Rosa Bonheur, that queen of
+artists, delights to paint.
+
+He dwelt in a field all by himself because he was so fierce that no
+other creature or human being dare go near him except a certain sturdy
+cowherd, who had known Jock, as the bull was called, since he was a
+calf.
+
+Jock was quite away at the other end of the field--which was well
+walled--when Harry and his canine companion arrived at the five-barred
+gate.
+
+"I know how to fetch him down, Eily," said Harry.  Then he called out as
+loud as he could: "Towsie Jock!  Towsie Jock!  Towsie!  Towsie!
+Towsie!"
+
+The great bull lifted his head and sniffed the air.
+
+"Towsie Jock!  Towsie!  Towsie!  Towsie!"
+
+With a roar that would have frightened many a child, he shook his great
+head, then came on towards the gate, growling all the while in a most
+alarming way.
+
+"Towsie Jock!  Towsie!  Towsie?" cried the boy.
+
+Jock was at the gate now.
+
+His breath blew hot and thick from his nostrils, his red eyes seemed to
+flash fire.
+
+"Towsie Jock!  Towsie!  Towsie!"
+
+The bull was mad.  He tore up the earth with his fore-feet, and the
+grass with his teeth.
+
+"Towsie!  Tow--"
+
+Before Harry could finish the word, greatly to his horror, the bull
+threw off the top bar with one of his horns, and in three seconds more
+had leapt clean over.
+
+But Harry was too quick for him, and what followed spoke well for the
+presence of mind of our young hero.
+
+To have attempted to run straight away from the bull would have meant a
+speedy and terrible death.  He would have been torn limb from limb.  But
+no sooner did the bar rattle down, than both Harry and Eily sprang to
+the stone fence and jumped over into the field, just as the bull jumped
+out of it.
+
+Jock was considerably nonplussed at not finding his tormentor where he
+had expected to.
+
+"Towsie!  Towsie!" cried Harry, and the bull leapt back into the field,
+and Harry and Eily scrambled out of it.  This game was kept up for some
+time, a sort of wild hide-and-seek, much to Harry's delight; but each
+time he leapt the wall he edged farther and farther from the gate.
+
+The bull got quieter now and kept inside the field, and pretended to
+browse, though I do not think he swallowed much.  He followed along the
+stone fence all the same, but Harry knew he could not leap it.  In the
+adjoining field, which belonged to Harry's father, great turnips grew,
+and Harry went and pulled two of the very biggest, and threw over the
+wall to the bull.
+
+"Poor Jock!" said the boy, "I didn't mean to vex you."
+
+Jock eyed him a moment as if he did not know what to make of it all,
+then began quietly to munch the turnips.
+
+And Harry stole back and put up the top bar of the gate.
+
+Meanwhile the rain continued unremittingly, but being wet to the skin,
+Harry could not well be wetter, and that is how he consoled himself.
+The afternoon was already far spent, by and by it would be dark, so he
+prepared to hurry home now.
+
+He knew his way through the forest, but there were many attractions--a
+wild bee-hive for instance in a bank.  He must stop and beat the ground
+above it, then bend his ear down to hear the bees buzz, till at last one
+was sent out to see what the matter was and whether or not the end of
+the world had come.
+
+A hole where he knew a weasel lived; he would have liked to have seen
+it, only it would not come out.  Rabbit's holes, that he crept towards
+on hands and knees, and laughed to see the bunnies scurry away.  A deep
+water-pit where queer old-fashioned water-rats (voles) lived, some of
+whom came out to look at him and squeezed their eyes to clear their
+sight.  And so on and so forth.  It was quite gloaming before he got
+near the lawn gate; and then, when he did find his way inside among the
+shrubbery, he found the sparrows were just going to bed, and bickering
+and squabbling at a terrible rate, about who should have the dry boughs
+of the pines, and who should not.
+
+Meanwhile he was missed.  He was often missed for the matter of that,
+but he had seldom been so long away on such a night.
+
+His father was an easy-minded farmer, who tilled his own acres; he was
+reading the newspaper in an easy chair, and his mother, a delicate,
+somewhat nervous, lady, was sewing near the window.
+
+When the evening shadows began to fall, the nurse tapped at the room
+door and entered.  "Has Harry been here, mum?"
+
+"No, Lizzie; don't you know where he is?"
+
+"Haven't seen him for hours, mum.  I made sure he was here."
+
+"Oh! you silly child, to let him out of your sight like that.  Go and
+look for him at once."
+
+"Where _is_ the child, I wonder," she continued, addressing her husband.
+"Where _can_ Harold be?"
+
+"Mm? what?" said Harry's father, looking lazily over his newspaper.
+"Child Harold?  Gone on a pilgrimage perhaps."
+
+"Oh! don't be foolish," said his wife, petulantly.  "Well, my dear, how
+should I know.  Very likely he is up in the dusty attic squatting among
+the cobwebs, or rummaging for curiosities in some old drawer or
+another."
+
+But Harry was not upstairs among the cobwebs, nor rummaging in any
+drawer whatever, nor talking to John in the stable, nor playing with his
+toys in the loft, nor anywhere else that any one could think of.
+
+So there was a pretty to do.
+
+But in the midst of it all, lo!  Eily and Harry both presented
+themselves at the hall door, and you could not have said which of the
+two was in the most miserable plight.  Both were _so_ wet and _so_
+bedraggled.
+
+"Oh! please, dear mamma," said Harry, "I'm _so_ hungry and so is poor
+Eily."
+
+His mother was too happy to scold him, and his father laughed heartily
+at the whole affair.  For Harry had neither sisters nor brothers.
+
+While the boy was being stripped and re-dressed in dry clothes, the dog
+threw herself in front of the kitchen fife.
+
+Presently they both had supper.  If Harry was pale while playing at
+bubble-ships in the water-vat, he was rosy enough now, and verily his
+cheeks shone in the lamplight.
+
+Before he knelt down that night by his mother's knee to say his prayers,
+she asked him if he had done much wrong to-day.
+
+"Oh! yes, dear mamma," was the reply, "I _did_ tease Towsie so."
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER TWO.
+
+ADVENTURES IN THE FOREST.
+
+At breakfast next morning young Harry was much surprised and concerned
+to be told that he was going to have a governess.
+
+"A guv'niss," he said, pausing in the act of raising a spoonful of
+oatmeal porridge to his mouth, "a guv'niss, papa?  What's a guv'niss?
+Something to eat?"
+
+"No, child; a governess is a lady, who will do the duties of a teacher
+to you, learn you your lessons and--"
+
+"Mamma can do that."
+
+"And give you sums to do."
+
+"Ma does all that, papa."
+
+"And go with you wherever you go."
+
+Harry leant his chin upon his hand thoughtfully for a moment or two;
+then he said:
+
+"Mm, will the guv'niss go high up the trees with me, papa, and will she
+make faces at Towsie?"
+
+"I don't think so, Harold."
+
+"I don't want the old lady," said Harry.
+
+"Your leave will not be asked, my dear boy."
+
+"Then," said Harry, in as determined a voice as he could command, "I
+shall _hate_ her, and _beat_ her, and _bite_ her."
+
+"I'm afraid," said Mr Milvaine, turning to his wife, "that you spoil
+that child."
+
+"I'm afraid," returned Mrs Milvaine mildly, "I have received assistance
+from you."
+
+Harry's governess came in a week.  It was surely a sad look-out for her,
+if she was to be hated and beaten and bitten.
+
+She was not a prim, angular, starchy, "tawsey"-looking old maid by any
+means.  At most she had seen but nineteen summers; fresh in face,
+blue-eyed, dimpled, and with beautiful hair.
+
+Harry soon took to her.
+
+"I sha'n't beat you," he said, "as long as you're good."
+
+The attic was cleared of cobwebs and rubbish, and turned into a
+schoolroom, and studies at regular hours of the day commenced forthwith.
+
+Harry determined to make his own terms with his "guv'niss."  He would be
+good, and learn his lessons, and do his sums, and write his copy and all
+that, if she would read out of a book to him every day, and describe to
+him a scene in some far-off land.
+
+She promised.
+
+Before commencing lessons of a forenoon, Miss Campbell read a portion of
+one of the Gospels to him, and then she prayed.  Miss Campbell was one
+of those girls who are not ashamed to pray, not ashamed to ask mercy,
+help and guidance from Him from whom all blessings flow.  Before leaving
+school Miss Campbell took the Book again, but now no other portion would
+he allow her to read except the Revelations.  There was a charm about
+these that never, never palled upon the child.
+
+But always in the evenings "Guvie" had to devote herself to a different
+kind of literature, and the books now were usually tales of adventure by
+land and at sea.
+
+Miss Campbell did try her wee pupil with "Sandford and Merton."  I am
+sorry to say he would have none of it.  The "Arabian Nights" pleased
+better, but he could not quite understand them.
+
+For Sunday reading nothing delighted Harry better than Bunyan's
+"Pilgrim's Progress."  I am happy in being able to put this on record,
+and boys who have not read the work, have a real treat in store for
+them.
+
+So Miss Campbell and her pupil got on very well together indeed; and
+many a delightful walk, ay, and run too, they had in the forest.  They
+were a trio-now, because Eily always made one of the number.  She went
+to school as well as Harry, and if she did not learn anything, at all
+events she lay still and listened, and that is more than every dog would
+have done.
+
+Harry introduced his "Guvie," as he called her, to his pet toad, which
+she pretended to admire, but was secretly somewhat afraid of.
+
+"John told me, Guvie," he said one day, "that toadie would go to sleep
+all winter, so I'm going to put a biscuit in his box for his breakfast
+when he wakes, then we won't go near him till spring-time comes."
+
+They say the child is the father of the man.  I believe there is much
+truth in the statement, so that, in describing Harry's character as a
+_young_ boy, I am saving myself the trouble of doing so when he is very
+much older, and mingling in wilder life.
+
+He was impulsive then and brave, fond to some extent of mischief of a
+mild, kind nature, but he was tender-hearted.  One day in the forest he
+came to the foot of a great Scotch fir-tree.
+
+"There is an old nest up there, Guvie.  I'm off up."
+
+She would have held him, but he was far beyond her reach ere she could
+do so.  He stopped when about ten feet above her.
+
+"I knew, Guvie," he cried, with a roguish smile on his countenance,
+"that you would try to catch me if you could.  Now come, Guvie, catch me
+now, if you can."
+
+"Oh! do come down, Harry dear," the poor girl exclaimed.  "You frighten
+me nearly to death."
+
+"Don't die, Guvie dear, there's a good Guvie; I'm only going to the top
+of the tree, to the very top you know, no farther, to pull down the old
+nest, else the nasty lazy magpie will lay in it again next year, and not
+build a new one at all."
+
+"Do, Harry, come down," cried Miss Campbell, "and I'll give you
+anything."
+
+"No, no, Guvie; papa always says, `Do your duty, Harold boy, always do
+your duty.'  I'm going to do what papa bids me.  Good-bye, Guvie, I'll
+soon be back."
+
+And away he went.  It seemed, several times ere he reached the top, that
+he would be back far sooner than even he himself expected, for little
+branches often gave way with a crack that sent a thrill of horror
+through Miss Campbell's heart.
+
+"Oh! what if he should fall and be killed," she thought.
+
+But presently Harry was high high up on the very point of the tree.  He
+proceeded at once to throw down the great nest of sticks and grass and
+clay; no very easy task, as he had to work with one hand, while he held
+on with the other.
+
+But he finished at last, and the nest lay at Miss Campbell's feet.
+
+The wind blew high to-day, and the tree swayed and swayed about, just
+like a ship's mast at sea.
+
+"Oh!  Miss Guvie, do try to come up," cried the boy, looking down.  "It
+is so nice; and I can see all over the country.  Wouldn't I like to be a
+sailor.  Do come up."
+
+But Miss Campbell only cried, "Do come down."
+
+When he did obey her at last, she could contain herself no longer.  Down
+she must sit on a bank of withered pine-needles and give vent to sobs
+and tears.
+
+Then the boy's heart melted for her, and he went and threw his arms
+around her and kissed her, and said:
+
+"Oh!  Guvie dear, don't cry, and Harry will never, never be _quite_ so
+naughty again.  Don't cry, dear, and when Harry grows a big man, he will
+fight for you and then marry you."
+
+She was pacified at last, and they started for home.
+
+"I'll keep firm hold of your hand," said Harry, "and then you won't cry
+any more, and nothing can hurt you."
+
+"We'll both want brushing, won't we, Harry?" she said, smiling.
+
+It was true.  For Harry's jacket was altogether green, with the mould
+from the tree, and he had transferred a goodly portion of it to her
+velveteen jacket, while hugging her.
+
+"Ha!" laughed Harry; "we are both foresters now, Guvie.  What fun!  All
+green, green, green."
+
+But Harry had given his governess a terrible fright, and she tried to
+make him promise that he would not climb trees again.
+
+The boy held his wise, wee head to one side for a few seconds and
+considered.
+
+"That wouldn't do, Guvie," he said.  "But when I go up a tree you shall
+come with me.  There now!"
+
+"But, dear child, _I_ cannot climb trees."
+
+"You could a beech?" quoth Harry.
+
+"Well, I might a beech, a little way."
+
+"If you don't climb a beech, I shall go a mile high up into a fir," said
+the young rascal.
+
+So poor Miss Campbell had to consent, and in the depth of the forest
+where many lordly beeches grew, "Guvie" took lessons in climbing.
+
+It certainly is no difficult operation for even a girl to get out on to
+the arm of a beech tree.  One could almost walk there, and the branches
+are as clean as a table.
+
+The governess was further commanded by her lord and pupil to take books
+with her up into the trees and read to him.
+
+When summer came, and the beech trees were one mass of tender green
+leaves, with the bees all singing their songs, as they flew from flower
+to flower, it was far from unpleasant to get up into leafland, and while
+away an hour or longer with a delightful book.
+
+Sometimes indeed they went high enough to let a branch shut out the view
+of the earth entirely, and then it was like being in fairyland.
+
+One beautiful evening in the latter end of June Miss Campbell and he
+went out for a stroll as usual.
+
+Eily did not follow them.  Truth to say, Harry had shut her up in the
+saddle-room.
+
+There was much to be seen and noticed, and oceans of wild flowers to
+cull, and there were birds' nests to be visited, many of which contained
+only eggs, while others had in them little half-naked, hairy "gorbals,"
+that opened such extraordinary big gaping yellow mouths, that they could
+have swallowed a church--that is, if the church were small enough.
+
+There grew not far from the five-barred gate, mentioned in last chapter,
+an immensely large and beautiful beech tree; and it had its branches
+close to the ground, so that it presented no great difficulty to get up
+into it.
+
+Miss Campbell had never been this way before, but to-night her guide led
+her hither, under pretence of showing her a tree with a hawk's nest in
+it.
+
+The hawk's nest was up there in the pine tree-top right enough, and it
+was not an old one either, for when Harry kicked the tree and cried
+"Hush-oo-oo!" out and away flew the beautiful and graceful bird.  Then
+they came to the beech tree.
+
+"Let us get up here and read," said Harry; "the sun isn't thinking of
+going down yet.  I don't think the sun is moving a bit.  I don't suppose
+he knows what o'clock it is."
+
+As soon as they were safely and securely seated, and Miss Campbell had
+read a short but stirring story to her pupil, Harry pulled aside a
+branch.
+
+"Do you see that grass field?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"Well, do you know who lives there?"
+
+"No, Harry."
+
+"Towsie."
+
+"And who is Towsie?"
+
+"Why, silly Guvie, Towsie is Towsie, of course; Towsie is his Christian
+name; Jock, I suppose, is his papa's name.  Towsie Jock, there now!"
+
+"What nonsense _are_ you talking, dear?" said Miss Campbell.
+
+"Why, telling you about Towsie Jock, to be sure.  Towsie Jock is _so_
+funny, and what faces he makes when I make faces at him!  Mind you,
+Guvie, I don't think he quite likes to be called Towsie Jock.  And _I_
+wouldn't either, would you, dear Guvie?"
+
+"I haven't the remotest idea, Harry, what it is all about, nor who or
+what Towsie Jock, as you call him, or _it_, is."
+
+"Oh, haven't you, Guvie?  Well, you shall see.  Mind you it isn't a
+hedgehog.  Something, oh, ever so much bigger."
+
+As he spoke Harry slipped like an eel down from the tree.  He
+accomplished this by sliding out to the tip of the branch, out and out
+till it bent with his light weight, and dropped him on the ground.
+
+Harry went straight to the gate, the top bar of which he had previously,
+in one of his lonely rambles, taken the precaution to tie down.  He
+looked now to see that the fastening was all secure, then commenced to
+shout.
+
+"Towsie Jock!  Towsie Jock!  Towsie!  Towsie!  Towsie!"
+
+Jock was at a distant corner of the field, his favourite corner, on high
+ground, where he could see the country for miles around.  He was
+standing there chewing his cud and looking at the sky.  Perhaps he was
+wondering what kind of a day it was to be to-morrow.
+
+Suddenly he thrust one ear back to listen.
+
+"Towsie!  Towsie!" came the shout in shrill treble.
+
+"It is that monkey again," said Towsie, to himself.  "If I can only pin
+one horn through him, I'll carry him all round and round the field, at
+the gallop too."
+
+Miss Campbell, from the tree, first heard a dreadful bellowing roar,
+which ended in one continuous stream of hoarse explosions, as it were.
+
+"Wow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow," and next moment, to her horror, she saw a
+gigantic horrid homed bull coming tearing towards the gate, his nose on
+the ground, and his tail like a corkscrew over his back.
+
+"Harry, Harry!" she screamed.  "Oh! fly, Harry, fly!"
+
+"He can't get over, Guvie," cried Harry, coolly.  "Let me introduce you,
+as papa says.  That is Towsie Jock.  Towsie!  Towsie!  Towsie Jock!
+Towsie Jock!"
+
+"Wow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!"
+
+On came the bull as mad as ever bull was.
+
+Miss Campbell shouted again, and screamed with terror.
+
+"Harry, come, oh, dear Harry, come up.  For my sake then."
+
+"But he _can't_ get over, I tell you, Guvie."
+
+"But I'm fainting, Harry."
+
+"Oh, in that case I'll come, Guvie.  Papa says, `Always, whatever you
+do, Harry, be kind and polite to ladies.'  I'm coming, Guvie.  Don't
+fall till I get hold of you."
+
+And none too soon.
+
+"Wow-ow--_woa_!"
+
+Next moment the gate flew in splinters with the awful charge of that
+Highland bull.
+
+Miss Campbell's head swam, but she clutched the rash boy to her breast,
+and thanked God he was saved.
+
+Meanwhile the bull was at the foot of the tree.  He first commenced an
+attack upon it with head and horns; every time, he battered it he shook
+it to its uttermost twig and leaf.  But Miss Campbell and Harry had a
+safe seat in a strong niche between two great branches, with another
+branch to sit on and one behind.
+
+At every blow the bull reeled back again.
+
+The governess was white and trembling.
+
+Harry was as cool as a hero.
+
+He looked down and enjoyed the performance.
+
+"Isn't he naughty and wicked!" he said.
+
+"Won't he have a headache in the morning, Guvie!"
+
+While attacking and battering the tree, Towsie Jock was silent, only the
+noise of the "thuds" resounded through the forest.
+
+"If I had a big turnip now," said the boy, "to throw down, Towsie would
+eat it and go away, oh! _so_ well pleased, and not naughty at all."
+
+Towsie soon saw that to knock down that sturdy old beech was impossible;
+he commenced, therefore, with angry bellowings to root round it with his
+feet.
+
+But even of this he soon tired.  He stood up, red-eyed and
+furious-looking, and sniffed and snorted.
+
+"May I cry `Towsie' again, Guvie?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no."
+
+"He can't climb the tree, you know.  He'll go away presently, then we
+can get down and run, Guvie dear."
+
+But Towsie had evidently no such intentions.  He stood there for quite
+half an hour, then he began to chew his cud again.  That was a pacific
+sign, and Miss Campbell gave a sigh of relief.
+
+Towsie Jock was a good general.  He had tried and tried in vain to storm
+the citadel, that is, the tree; he had tried to batter it down, and he
+had tried to undermine it; now the only thing to do was simply to lay
+siege to it.
+
+And this he did by quietly lying down.
+
+Meanwhile, far away in the east, they could see, through the greenery of
+the branches, red or crimson streaky clouds, and they knew that gloaming
+was falling, and that gloaming would soon be followed by night.
+
+The red clouds grew a lurid purple, then grey, then seemed to melt away,
+and only a gleam of light remained in the west.  That also faded, and
+next a bright, bright star peeped in through the leaves at them, and all
+grew gloomy around.
+
+Still the bull lay still.
+
+Miss Campbell took a scarf from her neck and bound one of Harry's arms
+tightly to a branch, lest he might sleep and slip from her grasp.  For
+Harry had grown very silent.
+
+"Harry, dear," said Miss Campbell, "say your prayers."
+
+"Guvie," replied the boy, "papa tells me I should bless my enemies; must
+I pray for Towsie Jock?"
+
+"If you like, dear."
+
+Then Miss Campbell bethought her of a story, the funniest she could
+remember, and began it.
+
+Harry laughed for a time.  But he soon grew suddenly silent.
+
+He was fast asleep!
+
+Meanwhile more and more stars came out, cushat's croodle and song of
+bird gave place to the deep mournful notes of the brown owl, and the
+gloaming deepened into night.
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER THREE.
+
+THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST ONES--AN UGLY FIGHT.
+
+Great was the anxiety at Beaufort Hall, as Harry's home was called, when
+the shadows fell and the stars peeped out from the sky's blue vault.
+Poor fragile Mrs Milvaine was almost distracted, but her husband took
+matters more easily, more philosophically let us call it.
+
+"Don't fidget, my darling," he said, "they'll turn up all right in a
+short time.  Just you see now, and it won't do the triflingest morsel of
+good to worry yourself.  No, nor it won't bring them a minute sooner."
+
+"They may have fallen into the river," said Mrs Milvaine.
+
+"Well, I don't deny that people have fallen into rivers before now, but
+the probability is, they haven't," replied the farmer-laird.  [A farmer
+who owns the acres he tills.]
+
+"They may have lost themselves in the forest, and may wander in it till
+they die."
+
+"Nonsense, my love."
+
+"Harry may have climbed a tree, fallen down and been killed, and Miss
+Campbell may even now--"
+
+"Stop, stop, dear! what an imagination you have, to be sure?"
+
+"They may both be gored to death by that fearful bull, their mangled
+bodies may--"
+
+Mr Milvaine put his fingers in his ears.
+
+But when eleven o'clock rang out from the stable tower, and still the
+lost ones did not appear, then even the laird himself got fidgety.  He
+threw down his newspaper.
+
+But he did not permit his wife to notice his uneasiness.  He quietly lit
+his pipe.
+
+"I'll go and look for them," he said, and left the room.  He returned
+presently wrapped in a Highland plaid, with a shepherd's crook in his
+hand, much taller than himself, and that is saying a good deal, for this
+Scottish laird stood six feet two in his boots, and was well made in
+proportion.
+
+He bent down and kissed his wife.
+
+"Don't fret, I'll soon find them," he said.  "They have gone botanising,
+I suppose, and have lost themselves, and are doubtless in Widow
+McGregor's cottage, or in the cleerach's hut."
+
+Out he went.  Rob Roy McGregor himself never had a more manly stride.
+
+He went to the stable gallery first, or rather to the foot of the stair.
+
+"John!" he cried,--"John!  John!"
+
+"Yes, yes, sir," was the reply, and a stream of light shot out into the
+darkness as John threw open the door.
+
+"Miss Campbell and Master Harry are lost somewhere in the forest.  Bring
+a bull's-eye lantern, and let us look for them.  Bring the
+rhinoceros-hide whip, too; we may come across some poachers."
+
+In five minutes more master and man had started.
+
+John was nearly as tall as his master.  This was partly the reason why
+the laird had engaged him.  Coachmen do not often have great brown
+beards and moustaches, but John had; coachmen do not often wear the
+Highland dress, but John did, and a fine-looking fellow he was when so
+arrayed.  But every horse and every cart about this farmer-laird's place
+was big.  The dog-cart had been specially built for him, and there was
+not another such in the country.
+
+Away they went then.
+
+It was half-past eleven when they started, and twelve by watch when they
+found themselves in the forest.
+
+"It is always hereabout they do be," said John.  "Just hereabouts, sir."
+
+Then they shouted, singly.
+
+Then they shouted again--together this time; shouted and listened, but
+there was no answering call.
+
+There was a rushing sound among the tall spruces, and a
+flap-flap-flapping of wings, as startled wild pigeons fled from their
+nests away out into the dreary depths of the forest.
+
+There was the too-whit, to-who-oo-oo of an owl in the distance, but no
+other sound responded to their shouting.
+
+"We'll go straight on to the widow's," said the laird.
+
+"Right, laird."
+
+So on they went again, often pausing to wave the bull's-eye, to shout,
+and to listen.
+
+All in vain.
+
+When they reached Widow McGregor's cottage all was darkness and silence
+within.
+
+They knocked nevertheless, knocked again and again, and at last had the
+satisfaction of hearing a match lighted, then a light shone through the
+door seams, and a voice--a somewhat timorous and quavering one--
+demanded:
+
+"Wha's there at this untimeous hoor o' nicht?"
+
+"It's me, Mrs McGregor; me, Laird Milvaine.  Don't be alarmed."
+
+The bolt flew back, and master and man entered.
+
+Of course the lost ones were not there, and the widow shook and trembled
+with fear when she heard the story.
+
+She had only to say that the cleerach, who was a kind of forest ranger
+or keeper, had seen both the lost ones that afternoon gathering wild
+flowers.
+
+"We'll go to his house at once."
+
+It was only two miles farther on.
+
+They bade the widow good-night, and started.  She told them, last thing,
+that she would go to her bed and pray for them.
+
+But they had not gone quite one mile and a half, when a brawny figure
+sprang from behind a tree, and a stentorian voice shouted:
+
+"You thieving scoundrels, I have you now!  Stop, and hold up your arms,
+or by the powers above us I'll blow the legs of you off!"
+
+The flash of John's lantern revealed a stalwart keeper with
+double-barrelled gun presented full towards them.
+
+"It's me and my man John," said the farmer, quietly.  [The author is not
+to blame for the honest laird's bad grammar.]
+
+"Heaven have a care of me, sir," cried the cleerach.  "If I'd fired I'd
+ne'er have been forgiving mysel'.  Sure it was after the poachers I was.
+But bless me, laird, what brings you into the forest at such an hour?"
+
+The story was soon told, and together they marched to the cleerach's
+cottage.  A one-roomed wooden hut it was, built in a clearing, and
+almost like that of a backwoodsman.  The only portion not wood was the
+hearth and the chimney.
+
+All the information the cleerach could give them was hardly worth
+having, only he had seen Miss Campbell and young Harry, and they were
+then taking the path through the forest that led away to the river and
+past the field where the bull was.
+
+"Then goodness help us," exclaimed the farmer.  "I fear something has
+happened to them."
+
+Nothing could be done till daylight.  So the three sat by the fire, on
+which the cleerach heaped more logs; for, summer though it was, the
+night was chill, and a dew was falling.  It was quite a keeper's
+cottage, no pictures on the walls except a Christmas gift-plate or two
+from the London Illustrated Weeklies, and some Christmas cards.  But
+stuffed heads and animals stood here and there in the corners, and skins
+of wild creatures were nailed up everywhere.  Skins of whitterit or
+weasel, of foumart or pole-cat, of the wild cat itself, of great
+unsightly rats, of moles and of voles, and hawks and owls galore.
+
+Scotchmen do not easily let down their hearts, so these men--and men
+they were in every sense of the word--sat there by the fire telling each
+other wild, weird forest tales and stories of folk-lore until at length
+the daylight streamed in at the window--cold and comfortless-looking--
+and almost put out the fire.  "Will you have breakfast, laird, before
+you start?"  The laird said, "Yes."
+
+The fire was replenished, and soon the keeper's great kettle was
+boiling.  Then in less than five minutes three huge dishes of oatmeal
+brose was made, and--that was the breakfast, with milk and butter.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Towsie Jock never moved from under the tree all the night long.  Poor
+Miss Campbell was weary, tired, and cramped, but she dared not sleep.
+Once or twice she caught herself half-dreaming, and started up again in
+fright, and thanked Heaven she had not gone quite to sleep.
+
+How long, long the stars seemed to shine, she thought!  Would they never
+fade?  Would morning never, never come?
+
+But see, through the green leafy veil a glimmer of dawn at last, and she
+lifts up her thoughts in prayer to Him who has preserved them.
+
+How soundly Harry sleeps in her arms!  How beautiful the boy looks, too,
+in his sleep!  The young image of his stalwart father.
+
+The light in the east spreads up and up, and the stars pale before it,
+and disappear.  Then the few clouds there are, begin to light up, and
+finally to glow in dazzling crimson and yellow.
+
+She is wondering when assistance will come.  But the sun shoots up, and
+help appears as far away as ever.
+
+"Towsie, Towsie," mutters the boy in his sleep, and smiles.
+
+A whole hour passes, and hope itself begins to die in the poor girl's
+breast, when oh! joy, from far away in the forest comes a shout.
+
+"Coo-ee-ee!"
+
+Then a shrill whistle.  Then silence.  She knows that assistance is not
+far off, if she can only make them hear.  She knows that the silence
+which succeeds the shouting means that they are listening for a
+response.
+
+She tries to answer, but no sound much louder than a whisper can she
+emit.  The cold dews have rendered her almost voiceless.
+
+Now she shakes and tries to arouse Harry.
+
+"Harry, Harry, awake, dear!"
+
+"Whe--where am I?" cries the boy, rubbing his eyes.
+
+"In the forest, Harry; in a tree."
+
+"Oh, I remember now," says Harry, smiling, and looking down; "and
+there's Towsie.  What a jolly sleep I've had, Guvie!  Have you?"
+
+Again came the shout, this time somewhat nearer.
+
+"Answer, dear; answer, I'm _so_ hoarse.  Cry as loud as you can."
+
+Harry did as told.  It would hardly be heard fifty yards away, however.
+
+But it had one effect.  It roused Towsie Jock.  All his wrath seemed at
+once to return, and he prepared once more to attack the tree.
+
+"Towsie Jock, Towsie, Towsie!" sang the boy.
+
+For the life of him he could not help it.
+
+"Wow-ow-ow-wo-ah!" roared the bull.
+
+That was a sound that could be heard for one good mile at least.
+
+The three men advancing to the rescue heard it.
+
+For the first time since he had left home the farmer-laird felt real
+dread and fear.  In his imagination he could see the mangled bodies of
+his son and the governess, with the bull standing guard over them.
+
+"Come on, men.  Great heavens!  I fear the worst now."
+
+Milvaine had his strong, tall crook, John his terribly--punishing hide
+whip, the cleerach had a double-barrelled gun.
+
+The bull--infuriated now beyond measure--came roaring to meet them.
+
+The cleerach fired at his legs.  The shot but made him stumble for a
+moment; it had no other effect.  On he came wilder than ever.  He seemed
+to single the farmer himself out, and charged him head down.  Mr
+Milvaine met the charge manfully enough.  He leapt nimbly to one side,
+striking straight home with the iron-shod end of the crook.  It wounded
+the bull in the neck, but ill would it have fared with the farmer had he
+not got speedily behind a tree.
+
+Whack, whack, whack.  John is behind the bull with his whip of hide.
+
+The bull wheels round upon him ere ever he can escape, and runs him
+between his horns against a tree.
+
+John has seized the horns, and thus they stand man and brute locked in a
+death grip.
+
+The farmer has stumbled and fallen in running to John's assistance.  The
+cleerach is loading again, when help comes from a most unexpected
+quarter, and Eily herself rushes on the scene.
+
+She at once seizes the bull by the hock.  The roar he emits is one of
+agony and rage, but John is free.
+
+Eily easily eludes the bull's charge.  He follows a little way towards
+the gate, then turns, when she fixes him again.  And this game continues
+until the bull is fairly into the field.
+
+Whenever the bull turns Eily seizes his hock; whenever he gives her
+chase she runs farther into the field, barking defiantly.
+
+"I think, men, we may safely leave the brute to Eily," said Laird
+Milvaine; "but where _can_ the dear children be!"
+
+"Safe, safe, safe!" cried a voice from the tree.
+
+Miss Campbell could speak now.
+
+"Thank God!" was the fervent ejaculation breathed by every lip.
+
+An hour afterwards Harry was in his mother's arms, laughing and crowing
+with delight as he related to his mamma all the fun of what he called
+the jolly match with Towsie.
+
+His mother's eyes were red with weeping, but she was laughing now
+nevertheless.
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+HARRY MILVAINE, LANDED PROPRIETOR--HIS BUNGALOW, AND HOW HE BUILT
+IT--"I'LL BE A SAILOR, TO BE SURE."
+
+Were I to tell one-half of the adventures of the child Harold, as his
+father called him, I would fill this whole book with them, and would not
+have space to say a word about his career as a youth and young man.  So
+I shall not begin.
+
+No more vivacious reader of books of biography, travel, and adventure,
+perhaps ever existed than Harry Milvaine was when about the age of ten.
+I have often wondered when he slept.
+
+At midsummer in the far north of Scotland there is light enough all
+night to read by.  Harry took advantage of this, and would continue at a
+book from sunset till sunrise.
+
+The boy had a deal of independence of character and real good feeling.
+
+"I must have light to read by all night in winter," he said to himself,
+"but it would be unfair to burn my father's candles.  I'll make some."
+
+There was an odd old volume in Mr Milvaine's library, called "The Arts
+and Sciences," which was a very great favourite with Harry because it
+told him everything.
+
+It taught him how to make moulded candles.  He possessed a tin
+pen-and-pencil case.  This made a first-rate mould.  He collected fat,
+he got a wick and fixed it to the bottom of the case and held it in the
+position described by the book, then he poured in the melted fat, and
+lo! and behold, when it cooled, a candle was the result.  He worked, in
+his own little tool-house, away down among the shrubbery at the bottom
+of the lawn, and made many candles.  John, the coachman, admired them
+very much, and so did the female servants.
+
+"Dear me?" said one old milk-maid, "it's your father, Master Harry, that
+should be proud of his bonnie, bonnie boy."
+
+This old milk-maid had a beard and moustache that many a city clerk
+would have envied, and she was reputed to be a witch accordingly, but
+she dearly loved little Harry, and Harry loved her, and made a regular
+confidante of her.
+
+She did not give him bad advice either.  One example in proof of this.
+Harry came to her one day in great grief.  He was not crying, but his
+mouth was pursed up very much, and he was very red in the face.
+
+"Oh, Yonitch, Yonitch!" he exclaimed, in bitterness, "what _shall_ I do?
+I've shot papa's favourite cock."
+
+"Shot him dead?  Have you, dear?" said Yonitch.
+
+"Oh, dead enough, Yonitch.  I fired at him, and my arrow has gone clean
+through his breast.  I don't think I really meant it, though."
+
+Yonitch ran down with him to the paddock to view the body, and there
+certainly never was a much "deader" cock.  The arrow was still sticking
+in his breast.
+
+"What shall I do?  Shall I bury the cock and run away?"
+
+"That would not be brave, dear.  No Highlander runs away.  Go straight
+to your father and tell him."
+
+Harry did so.
+
+"What's the matter, lad?" said his father.  "Hold up your head.  What is
+it?"
+
+"Papa," replied the boy, not daring to look up, but speaking to a plough
+that stood near.  "Papa, I took my bow and arrows--"
+
+"Yes, boy."
+
+"And I went down the paddock."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"And I fired at the cock."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And I'm afraid he--wants to be--buried."
+
+"Well, well, well, never mind, boy; I forgive you because you've come
+like a man and like a Highlander and told me.  We'll put the poor cock
+in the pot and have him for dinner."
+
+"Oh, no, no, dear papa," cried Harry, looking up now for the first time,
+"I could not bear to see him cooked."
+
+"Well, go and bury him yourself, then."
+
+Harry ran off happy, and Yonitch and he dug a grave and buried the poor
+cock's corpse, and it took Harry a whole week's work in the tool-house
+to fashion him a "wooden tombstone," and write an epitaph.  The epitaph
+ran as follows:--
+
+  here lies
+  papa's poor cotching chiney cock
+  croolly slane by harry
+  with his bow and arrie.
+
+  he sleeps in peas.
+
+That tool-house and workshop of Harry's was quite a wonderful place.
+And wonderful, indeed, were the things Harry turned out of it.  I'm not
+joking.  He really did make good useful articles--boxes, picture frames,
+a footstool for his mother, a milking-stool for Yonitch, and an
+extraordinary rustic-looking, but comfortable, arm-chair for his father.
+It had a high back and a carpet bottom, and seated in it, on the
+verandah on a summer's evening, with his pipe and his paper, papa did
+look the very quintessence of comfort and jollity.
+
+But Harry might often have been seen at the village carpenter's shop,
+taking lessons in the useful art of joinery.
+
+In return for the high-backed chair, his father presented him, when
+Christmas came round, with a turning lathe.  Then I think that Harry's
+cup of bliss was full to overflowing.
+
+But his workshop soon proved too small to hold all his belongings.  He
+secured a piece of ground from his father in a quiet and sheltered
+corner of the paddock, and within this he determined to do great things,
+as soon as spring brought out the daisies, and the ground was dry.
+
+Now let me tell the reader, before I go a line farther on with my story,
+that though I am bound, in justice to my young hero, to say that he
+never neglected his lessons, nor his prayers, dear lad, still I do not
+wish to make him out a greater saint than perhaps most boys of his age
+are.
+
+He is painted from the life, mind you, and I have not hid his failings
+from you.  Nor need I hesitate to say that a fight between Harry and
+some village lad was of no very rare occurrence, and it was no uncommon
+thing to meet him coming homewards after one of these tulzies, with his
+jacket all covered with mud and his face all covered with blood.
+
+So there!  I hide nothing, good or bad.
+
+Harry was going to do great things then with his bit of ground.  He felt
+himself to be a small landed proprietor, a laird in miniature.  He
+thought and planned in his spare moments all the livelong winter.  He
+even put his plans on paper.  This he did in the stillness of night, by
+the light of his own moulded candles.
+
+Harry was immensely rich--at least he thought himself so.  He had a
+money-box in the shape of a dog-kennel that stood on the mantelpiece of
+his own room, and goodness only knows how much money it did _not_
+contain.  For years back, whenever he had received sixpence or a
+shilling from a relation or friend, pop! it had gone into the kennel.
+Half-crowns were too big to go in, but he changed them for smaller
+coins, and in they went.  There was one whole sovereign in and one half
+one.
+
+But Harry had not depended altogether for his riches on the charity of
+friends and relations.  No, for he was a wealthy dealer in live stock.
+Not cattle and horses, nor sheep and pigs.  Harry's was a London market,
+and a world-wide market.  His medium for sale was a paper called _The
+Exchange and Mart_, and his stock consisted of canaries, siskins, and
+British birds of all kinds.  The latter he found in the woods and wilds,
+and reared by hand.  He also sold guinea-pigs, white rats, piebald mice,
+hedgehogs, and snakes.
+
+So no wonder he had amassed wealth.
+
+And now spring came.  The robin left the gateway where he had been
+singing so sweetly all the winter, and went away to the woods to build
+himself a nest.  The primroses came out in the copses, and as soon as
+the blackbird and thrush saw them they started singing at once.
+
+The trees all burst into bud and then into leaf.  The young corn grew
+green in the fields, seeing which the lark tried how high he could mount
+and how loud he could sing.
+
+And the wind blew soft and warm from the west, and the sun shone forth
+bright and clear, and dried up the roads and the fields, and chased
+every bit of snow away from the glens and straths, only permitting it to
+remain here and there in the hollows on the mountain tops.
+
+Then Harry prepared for action.
+
+It may be thought strange that Harry had no companions of his own age.
+But I am writing the history of a strange and wayward boy, a boy who
+never wanted or sought for companionship, a kind of miniature edition of
+Robinson Crusoe he was, only he liked Yonitch to come and look at his
+work sometimes.  There was also the joiner's man, who used to come up
+now and then and give Harry hints about "this, that, or t'other."  So
+the boy did not feel lonely.
+
+Andrew was this joiner's man's name.  He was a kind of
+Jack-of-all-trades.
+
+And never went about without his snuff-box.
+
+He was very fond of Harry.  In two evenings he dug and levelled and
+raked all Harry's estate for him, and Harry was duly thankful, because
+digging is very hard work.
+
+Harry bought snuff for Andrew, and Andrew was happy.
+
+Wire fencing now occupied our hero's attention.  He went all by himself
+(accompanied by Eily, of course) to a neighbouring town to buy the
+galvanised iron mesh, and found that the money he had taken from his
+kennel for this purpose was more than sufficient.
+
+Next he planned his garden, and laid out and gravelled his walks,
+bordering them nicely with old bricks.  He gravelled quite a large space
+at one end, because here he was to build his house.
+
+The floor of this was laid first and plastered over with a mixture of
+Portland cement and sand, and when dry it was as hard and firm as
+marble.
+
+Then the uprights were put in, one for each corner, and the roof put on.
+At this work he received valuable assistance from Andrew, and paid him
+in snuff.
+
+The roof Andrew thatched, and when the house was built, it was a very
+rustic and very romantic one indeed; partly bungalow, partly
+summer-house.
+
+Lovely flowering climbers were planted, quick growing ones, wild
+convolvulus and clematis, with a few roses, and before the summer was
+half done all the walls were covered with a wealth of floral beauty.
+
+Inside everything was neatness and regulation.  One end was the working
+end, tool-bench, and lathe.  All the rest of the house or room was like
+a boudoir, a sofa, chairs, a bookcase, brackets, candlesticks, a mirror
+or two, flower vases--all perfect and beautiful.
+
+And all devised by Harry's own hands.
+
+Am I not right in saying he was a kind of second edition of Robinson
+Crusoe?
+
+The garden, too, was well planted, and all along the wire fence,
+entirely covering it, were wild convolvuluses.
+
+Miss Campbell was permitted to visit the hermit Harry in his charming
+abode.  But _not_ to mention _lessons_.  Harry's was quite a
+pleasure-house, and lessons would have been out of keeping altogether in
+it.  But she had to read stories to him.
+
+Yonitch was another invited guest.  _She_ did not read stories.  But she
+told the most wonderful fairy tales, and even ghost stories, that ever
+any one listened to.
+
+One day, when Harry was away fishing, his father happened to look into
+his quarters and took the liberty of having a peep through his books.
+They were nearly all books of adventure and travel, and mostly sea
+stories, with just a sprinkling of poetry.
+
+Harry's father went away--thinking.
+
+How was this to end?  He wished his son, his only son, to remain at home
+with him, to grow up with him, and help to farm his little estate.  But
+those books?  What could the boy's bent be?
+
+That evening, after supper, he asked Harry straight what he would like
+to be.
+
+Harry had an old-fashioned way of speaking, as boys have who are brought
+up by themselves, and only hear their elders talk.
+
+He cocked his head consideringly on one side and replied--
+
+"Oh! a sailor, papa.  There can't be any question about that."
+
+"Ah! boy, I'll send you to school, and that'll knock all that nonsense
+out of your head."
+
+Harry looked at his father wonderingly.  He could not understand what
+his father meant any more than if he had talked Greek.
+
+"Draw your stool near my knee, my lad, and I'll suggest to you what
+you'll be, and you shall choose.  Well, then, first and foremost, how
+would you like to be a doctor?  Fine thing to be a doctor, drive about
+in a beautiful white-lined carriage, have the entree of all the best
+houses, have a splendid house yourself, and--"
+
+"Nasty man!" said Harry.
+
+"Who?" said Mr Milvaine.
+
+"Why, the doctor to be sure.  Dear papa, I wouldn't take physic myself
+even, and I'm sure I wouldn't ask anybody else to.  No, papa, I'll be a
+sailor."
+
+"Well, how would you like to enter the Church? how would you like to be
+a clergyman?  No one in the world so highly respected as a clergyman.
+He is fit to sit down side by side with royalty itself, and his holy
+mission, Harold--"
+
+"Stop, stop, papa.  I say my prayers every morning and I say my prayers
+every night, but somehow I go and do naughty things just the same.  You
+know I tree'd poor guvie for a whole night, and I tease poor Towsie, and
+I slew the Cochin China cock.  No, no, dear papa; I'm not good enough to
+be a clergyman.  I'll be a sailor."
+
+"Well, how would you like to enter business, and rise, perhaps, to be
+Lord Mayor of London, and ride in a gilded coach, and live in a house
+like a palace--"
+
+"Papa, papa, don't; I would rather live in the beech tree in the forest
+than in a palace.  I'll be a sailor."
+
+His father bent down, and took Harry's hand in his.  "Wouldn't you like
+to stay at home and help your papa, when he grows old, to farm, and take
+your poor old mother to church every Sunday on your arm?"
+
+"If you wished it very much, papa; but you see, papa--"
+
+The boy ceased speaking, and gazed into the fire for fully a minute.
+
+Then up he jumped and clapped his hands.
+
+"Ha?" he laughed, "I have it, dear papa.  I have it.  I'll do both."
+
+"Both what?"
+
+"Why, I'll go to sea first, and visit all kinds of strange places and
+strange countries, and kill, oh! such lots of lions and tigers and
+savages; and then, papa, come back and help you to farm, and take my
+mamma to church.  Isn't it fun?"
+
+His father laughed, and took up his pipe.  Shouldn't wonder, he thought
+to himself, but there may be some little truth in that old saying: "The
+child is the father of the man."
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE STORY THAT THE SWALLOW TOLD.
+
+That garden and that bungalow was a continual source of delight to young
+Harry.  All the improvements which he was constantly carrying out inside
+the room itself, he planned and executed without assistance, but Andrew
+the joiner used to come up of an evening pretty frequently, and give him
+advice about the garden.  So it flourished, and was very beautiful.
+
+Andrew was often out and about the country doing odd jobs at the
+residences of the gentry, and whenever he could beg a root of some rare
+plant or flower he did so, and brought it straight home to the young
+laird, as he called Harry.
+
+And Harry would give him snuff.
+
+Not, mind you, that it was for sake of the snuff that Andrew did these
+little kindnesses to Harry.  Truth is he dearly loved the boy.
+
+A harum-scarum sort of a young man was Andrew, and there were people in
+the parish who said he was only half-witted, but this was all nonsense.
+Andrew came out with droll sayings at times--he was an original, and
+that is next door to a genius; but the truth is he had more wit and a
+deal more brains than many, or most of his detractors.
+
+Andrew was tall and lank, and not an over-graceful walker, but he had a
+kind face of his own and black beads of eyes, round which smiles were
+nearly always dancing, and it did not take much to make Andrew laugh
+right out.  A right merry guffaw it was too.  Sometimes it made the dogs
+bark, and the cocks all crow, and the peacock scream like a thousand
+cats all knocked into one.  That is the kind of young man Andrew was.
+He came from the low country, and spoke a trifle broad.  But that did
+not matter, his heart was as good as any Highlander's.
+
+Harry and his friend frequently went to the forest together, but never
+again near Towsie's gate, because the boy had promised not to tease the
+bull any more.  A promise is a sacred thing, and Harry knew this.  The
+boy had a hundred friends in the forest.  Yes, and far more.
+
+For he loved nature.
+
+And there was not a bush or tree he did not know all about: when they
+budded, when they broke into leaf, and even when those leaves would fade
+and fall and die.
+
+There was not a flower he did not know, nor a bird he could not
+recognise by name, by note or song, by its nest or by its eggs.
+
+He was no wanton nest-robber, though; a boy who is so has no manliness
+or fairness or gentlemanly feeling about him.  Harry never robbed a
+nest, but more than once he pitched into other boys for doing so, and
+fought sturdy battles in the forest in defence of his friends the birds.
+
+Did you ever notice, dear reader, what a sweet sweet song that of the
+house-martin is?  With its coat of dusky black, the little crimson blush
+on its breast, and its graceful form, the martin is a charming bird
+altogether.  But its song is to my ears ineffably sweet.
+
+It is not a loud song, and the bird always sits down to sing.  It is not
+loud for this reason: away in the wilds of Africa, where this birdie
+frequently goes, there are so many enemies about that to sing very
+loudly would lead to the discovery of its whereabouts, and it would
+probably be killed and devoured.
+
+For this very reason many of the birds in Africa sing not at all.  Gay
+and lovely are they even as the flowers, the glorious flowers that adorn
+the hillside and forest and plain, but silently they flit from bough to
+bough.
+
+One evening Harry was seated on his sofa, or rather he was half
+reclining thereon, reading a volume of his favourite poet--Campbell, I
+think.  It was very still and quiet.  His little window, round which the
+roses and the clematis clung, was open, and the sweet breath of flowers
+floated in with the gentle breeze.
+
+It was so still and silent that Harry could hear the soft foot-fall of
+Eily the collie, as she came along the gravelled path towards the
+bungalow door.
+
+"Come, in Eily," he said, "and lie down, I'm reading."
+
+"Oh?" he added, as he looked up, "what have you in your mouth?  A bone?"
+
+Eily advanced, and put her chin ever so gently on, her young master's
+knee.
+
+No, it was not a bone, but a bird, a lovely martin.
+
+Not a tooth had Eily put in it, not a feather had she ruffled, and
+hardly had she wetted its plumage.
+
+Harry took it tenderly in his hand.
+
+"Where did you get it, Eily?  In the loft?"
+
+Eily wagged her tail.
+
+Swift as lightning though they may fly out of doors, no bird is more
+easily captured inside than the house-martin.  If found in a loft they
+appear to lose presence of mind at once, and after flying about for a
+short time usually alight against the glass.  When one is taken its
+little heart may be felt beating against the hand, as if it verily would
+break.
+
+And no wonder.
+
+Fancy, reader, how you should feel were you captured by some great ogre,
+taller than a steeple, and carried away, expecting death every minute.
+
+"Give it to me, Eily.  Give it quick.  I hope you haven't draggled its
+plumage very much.  Now shut the door."
+
+Eily went and did as she was told.  [It is very seldom a dog is taught
+this trick, but it is a very handy one.--G.S.]
+
+Harry admired it for a little while.  Then he gently kissed its brow.
+Its wee beak was half upturned, and its black beads of eyes appeared to
+look appealingly at him.
+
+"What are you going to do with me?" it seemed to ask.  "Are you going to
+kill me, or swallow me alive as we martins do the flies?"
+
+"_I'm_ not going to harm you a bit," said Harry.
+
+"I'm only going to hold you in my hand for a short time to admire you.
+How soft and warm you feel, and what a pretty dusky red patch you have
+on your breast!  I've often listened to your song as you sat on the
+apple tree.  But why do you sing so soft and low?"
+
+"Because," replied the bird, talking with its eyes--at least Harry
+thought he could read the answer there--"because in our country if we
+sang too loudly our enemies would hear us and come and kill us."
+
+"And who are your enemies?"
+
+"Big birds with terrible claws and beaks, that want to fly at us and
+devour us.  And terrible snakes that glide silently up the branches on
+which we are perched, and sometimes strike us dead, as quick as a
+lightning's flash."
+
+"And I suppose you _must_ sing?"
+
+"Oh yes, we must sing, because we are so very happy, and we love each
+other so."
+
+"And why are your wings and back so dusky and dark?"
+
+"That our enemies may not see us."
+
+"But I've read," said Harry, "that many tropical birds were all bright
+and gay with colours of every hue."
+
+"Oh yes, so they are, but then these live all their lives among flowers
+as gorgeous in colour as they themselves are, and so their enemies
+mistake them for the flowers among which they dwell."
+
+"Do you come from a very far-off land?"
+
+"_Yes_, a very very far-off land."
+
+"And is it very beautiful there?"
+
+"Very _very_ beautiful."
+
+"I _would_ like to go to that far-off beautiful land.  How do you get
+there?"
+
+"We fly."
+
+"Yes, I know, but I can't, though I once tried I made a pair of wings
+out of an old umbrella; they were so awkward, though, and would not
+work.
+
+"But I meant," continued Harry, "which way do you go?"
+
+"Southward and southward and southward, and westward and westward and
+southward again."
+
+"What a funny road!  I should get dead tired before I was halfway."
+
+"So do we: then we look about for a ship or a rock, if at sea, and
+alight to rest."
+
+"And aren't you afraid the sailors may shoot you?"
+
+"Oh no; for sailors do so love to see us on the yards.  [How true!
+G.S.]  They dearly love us.  We remind them of England and their cottage
+homes and their wives and little ones, and of apple orchards and flowery
+meadows and crimson poppies in the fields of green waving corn, and all
+kinds of beautiful things."
+
+"No wonder they love you!"
+
+"Yes; they do so love us; I've seen the tears start to the eyes of
+little sailor lads as they gazed at us.  And I know the men tread more
+lightly on the deck for fear of scaring us away."
+
+"And when rested you just go on again?"
+
+"Yes, on and on and on."
+
+"I should lose my head."
+
+"We don't--something seems to guide us onward."
+
+"I suppose you see some terrible sights?  Have you seen a shipwreck?
+_I_ should like to."
+
+"Oh no, no, you would not.  If you once saw a shipwreck, or a ship
+foundering at sea, you would never never forget it."
+
+"Tell me."
+
+"I cannot.  No one could.  But somehow it is usually at night we witness
+these awful scenes.  I have seen a ship sailing silently over the
+moonlit water, the yellow light streaming from her ports, and I have
+heard the sounds of music and laughter, and the voices of glad children
+at play.  And I have seen the same vessel, but a short hour after,
+drifting on in the darkness to the pitiless rocks before a white squall.
+Ah! white was the squall, white were the waves, but not more white than
+the scared, dazed faces of those poor shrinking, moaning beings who
+rushed on deck when she struck."
+
+"What did you do?"
+
+"Flew away.  Just flew away."
+
+"Tell me more."
+
+"What shall I tell you of?"
+
+"About your own bright home in the far-off land."
+
+"Shall I speak to you of the coralline sea that laves the tree-fringed
+shores of Africa?"
+
+"Yes, yes, tell me of that."
+
+"Rippling up through the snakey roots of the mangrove trees, bathing the
+green branches that stoop down to kiss them--oh! 'tis a lovely sea, when
+the great sun shines, and the cyclone and squall are far away, calm and
+soft and blue.  Yet not all blue, for on the coral flats it is a tender
+green, and grey where the cloud shadows fall on it.  But all placid, all
+warm and dreamy as if fairies dwelt in caves beneath.  Then the little
+green islands seem to float above the sea as if only just let down from
+heaven.
+
+"Sometimes great sharks float upwards from the dark depths beneath, and
+bask on the surface with their fins above the water, and white sea-gulls
+come and perch upon them just as starlings do on sheep at home."
+
+"How strange!  Don't the sharks try to kill the birds?"
+
+"No, they like it, and I think the birds sing to them and lull them to
+sleep, or that they tell them tales of far-off lands as I am speaking
+now to you.
+
+"But on the coral reefs, where the sea, at a distance, looks so sweetly
+green, if you were there in a boat and looked away down to the bottom,
+oh! what a sight would be spread out before you!  A garden of shrubs and
+waving flowers more lovely than anything ever seen on land."
+
+"How I should like to go there!  But the interior of Africa is very
+gorgeous too, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, to us who can fly quickly from place to place, through flowery
+groves, where birds and blossoms vie with each other in the beauty of
+their colours, where the butterflies are like fans, of crimson and green
+where the very lizards and every creeping thing, are adorned with
+rainbow tints and ever-changing bright metallic sheen."
+
+"There are dark corners, though, in this strange land of yours, are
+there not?"
+
+"Yes, dark, dark corners; but I must not tell you of these, of the deep
+gloomy forest, where the gorilla howls, and wretched dwarfs have their
+abode, or of the great swamp lands in which the dreadful crocodile and a
+thousand other slimy creatures dwell, and where, in patches of forest,
+the mighty anacondas sleep.  Nor of the wondrous deserts of sand, nor of
+the storms that rise sometimes and bury caravans of camels and men
+alive.  No, we swallows think only of the beauty of our African home, of
+its roaring cataracts, its wooded hills, its peaceful lakes and broad
+shining rivers, and of the glorious sunshine that gladdens all.
+
+"But now I must go.  Pray let me free.  I have much to do before the
+summer is over, and that kind something beckons me back again--back to
+the land of the sun."
+
+"Go, birdie, go, and some day I too will take my flight to the Land of
+the Sun."
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER SIX.
+
+HARRY'S SCHOOL-DAYS--LOST IN A SNOWSTORM.
+
+Harry Milvaine had aunts and uncles in abundance, and about as many
+cousins as there are gooseberries on an ordinary-sized bush; for he had
+first cousins and second and third cousins, and on and on to, I verily
+believe, forty-second cousins.  They count kinship a long way off in the
+Scottish Highlands.
+
+And they used all to visit occasionally at Beaufort Hall.  They did not
+all come at once, to be sure, else, if they had, there would have been
+no beds to hold them.  They would have had to sleep in barns and byres,
+under the hayricks and out on the heather.
+
+Oh, it was no uncommon thing now for Harry to sleep on the heather.  On
+summer nights he would often steal out through the casement window of
+his bedroom, which opened on to the lawn, and go quietly away to a
+healthy hill not far off.  Here he would pull a bundle of heather for a
+pillow, and lie down rolled in his plaid with Eily in his arms and a
+book in his hand.  As long as there was light he would read.  When it
+grew semi-dark he would sleep, and awake in the morning as fresh as a
+blackbird.
+
+Once only he had what some boys would consider an ugly adventure.  On
+awaking one morning he felt something damp and cold touch his knee--he
+wore the kilt.  He quickly threw off the plaid, and there, close by him,
+was an immense green-yellow snake.  The creature was coiled up somewhat
+in the form of the letter W.  It was fully as thick as the neck part of
+an ordinary violin, and it glittered all over as if varnished.  A
+wholesome, healthy snake, I assure you.  He raised his head and hissed
+at Harry.  That snake would have fain got away.  Very likely he had said
+to himself the night before:
+
+"I'll creep in here for warmth and get away again in the morning, before
+the human being is awake."
+
+But the snake had overslept himself and was caught napping.
+
+Now there are two animals that do not like to turn tail when fairly
+faced--a cat and a snake.  Both feel they are at a disadvantage when
+running away.
+
+I have often proved this with snakes.  Give them a fair offing, and they
+will glide quickly off; but catch them unawares, and get close up to
+them, and they will face you and fight.
+
+Harry knew this and lay perfectly still.  Granting that these great
+green-yellow Highland snakes are not poisonous, they _bite_, and it is
+not nice to be bitten by a snake of any kind.
+
+Just at that moment, however, Eily returned from the woods where she had
+been hunting on her own account.  She took in the situation at a glance.
+Next moment she had whirled the snake round her head and dashed it
+yards away, where it lay writhing with a broken back.  Many dogs are
+clever at killing snakes.  Then she came and licked her master's hand.
+
+Every time any of Harry's aunts came they made this remark:
+
+"How the boy does grow, to be sure!"  Every time one of Harry's uncles
+came he made some such remark as this:
+
+"He'll be as big a man as his father.  He is a true Highlander and a
+true Milvaine."
+
+Harry liked his uncles and aunts very well after a fashion, but he cared
+little or nothing for his cousins.  Some of them called him the hermit.
+Harry did not mind.  But he would coolly lock his garden gate and sit
+down to read or to write, or begin working at his lathe, while his
+cousins would be playing cricket in the paddock; then perhaps he would
+come out, look for a moment, with an air of indifference, at the game,
+then whistle on Eily and go off to the woods or the river.  This was
+exceedingly inhospitable of Harry, I must confess, only I must paint my
+hero in his true colours.
+
+"Why don't you play with your cousins, dear?" his mother would ask.
+
+"Oh, mamma!"  Harry would reply, "what _are_ they to me?  I have books,
+a gun, and a fishing-rod, and I have Eily; what more should I want?"
+
+The name of Hermit followed him to the parish school.  Our tale dates
+back to the days before School Boards were thought of.
+
+Harry was eleven now, and therefore somewhat too old for a governess.
+So Miss Campbell had gone.  I'm afraid that Harry had already forgotten
+his promise to marry her when he "grew a great big man."  At all events
+he did not repeat it even when he kissed her good-bye.
+
+What a long, long walk Harry had to that parish school!  How would the
+average English boy like to trudge o'er hill and dale, through moor and
+moss and forest, four long miles every morning?  But that is precisely
+what Harry had to do, carrying with him, too, a pile of books one foot
+high, including a large Latin dictionary.
+
+Harry thought it delightful in summer; he used to start very early so as
+to be able to study nature by the way, study birds and their nests,
+study trees and shrubs and ferns and flowers.
+
+Scottish schoolboy fashion, he took his dinner with him.  A meagre meal
+enough, only some bread-and-butter in a little bag, and a tin of sweet
+milk which he carried in his hand.
+
+Eily always went along with him, but she waited at a neighbouring farm
+until school came out in the forenoon, when she had part of Harry's
+dinner; then she was invariably at the gate at four o'clock, and wild
+with joy when the homeward journey commenced.
+
+Several other boys went Harry's road for more than two miles, but it was
+the custom of the "Hermit" to start off at a race with his dog as soon
+as he got out, and never halt until he put a good half-mile betwixt
+himself and the lads, who would gladly have borne him company.
+
+No wonder he was called "Harry the Hermit!"
+
+Dominie Roberts, the parish schoolmaster, was a pedagogue of the old
+school.  And there exist many such in Scotland still.
+
+He would no more think of teaching a class without the tawse in his
+hand, than a huntsman would of entering the kennels without his whip.
+As my English readers may not know what a "tawse" is, I herewith give
+them a recipe for making one.
+
+Take, then, a piece of leather two feet long, and one inch and a half
+wide.  The leather ought to be the thickest a shoemaker can give you, of
+the same sort as he makes the uppers of a navvy's boots with.  Now at
+one end make a slit or buttonhole to pass two fingers through, and cut
+up the other into three tags of equal breadth and about three inches
+long.
+
+Then your tawse is complete, or will be so as soon as you have heated
+the ends for a short time in the fire to harden them.
+
+It is a fearful instrument of torture, as my experience can testify.  It
+is not quite so much used in schools now, however, as it was thirty
+years ago, when the writer was a boy.  But it _is_ still used.  Such a
+thing as hoisting and flogging, I do not believe, was ever known in a
+Scottish school.  It would result in mutiny.
+
+You have to hold out your hand.  The teacher says "_Pande_" (in Latin).
+Then he lets you have it again and again, sometimes till he is out of
+breath, and your hands and wrists are all blistered.
+
+I remember receiving six-and-thirty "pandeys," because I had smashed a
+tyrant boy who had bullied me for months.  It was a cruel injustice; for
+the bully got no punishment except that which I had given him.
+
+Dominie Roberts was a pedagogue, then, of this class.
+
+All the boys were afraid of him.  Harry was not.  Though only eleven
+years of age, Harry was nearly as tall as the dominie.
+
+There was a consultation one day as to who should steal the tawse.
+
+No boy would venture, but at length--
+
+"I will," said Harry.
+
+"Hurrah! for the Hermit!" was the shout.
+
+The dominie went out of the schoolroom every forenoon for half an hour
+to smoke.  A pretty hubbub and din there was then, you may be sure.
+
+The day after the theft of the tawse was determined on, as soon as the
+pedagogue had stumped out of the school--he wore a wooden leg from the
+knee--Harry went boldly up to the desk and seized the tawse.
+
+"What shall I do with it?" he asked a schoolboy.
+
+"Pitch it out of the window."
+
+"_No_," cried another, "he would get it again.  Put it in the fire."
+
+Harry did so, and covered it up with burning coals.
+
+By and by back stumped the dominie.  He held his nose in the air and
+sniffed.  There was a shocking smell of burning leather.
+
+The dominie went straight to the fire, and with the poker discovered the
+almost shapeless cinders of his pet tawse!
+
+He grew red and white, time about, with rage.
+
+"Who has done this thing?" he thundered.
+
+No reply, and the dominie thumped on the floor with his wooden leg, and
+repeated the question.
+
+Still no answer.
+
+"I shall punish the entire school," cried Dominie Roberts.
+
+He stumped out again, and many of the boys grew pale with fear, and the
+smaller ones began to cry.
+
+Presently the dominie returned.  In his hand he bore a long piece of a
+bridle rein, and this he fashioned into a tawse in sight of the whole
+school.  Then he called the biggest class, and once more demanded the
+name of the culprit.
+
+No reply, but every lad in the class began to wet his hands and pull
+down his sleeves.
+
+"All hands up," was the terrible command.
+
+The punishment was about to commence when forth stepped Harry the Hermit
+into the middle of the circle.
+
+"Stay a moment, if you please, sir," said Harry.
+
+"You know, then, who committed the crime?" asked the dominie, sternly.
+
+"I do; it was myself."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Because the other boys wanted to, but were afraid."
+
+"Which other boys?  Name them."
+
+"I will not."
+
+"_Pande_, sir, _Pande_."
+
+Five minutes afterwards Harry staggered back to his seat, pale-faced and
+sick.
+
+He sat down beside his class-mate, and was soon so far recovered as to
+be able to whisper--
+
+"How many did I have?"
+
+"Two-and-twenty," was the reply.  "I counted."
+
+"And that new tawse is a tickler, I can tell you," said Harry.
+
+He did not climb any trees that day going home.  He could not have held
+on.  Nor was he able to eat much supper, but he did not tell the reason
+why.
+
+But, apart from his fondness for corporal or palmar punishment, Dominie
+Roberts was a clever teacher, and Harry made excellent progress.
+
+Autumn came round, and stormy wet days, and many a cold drenching our
+hero got, both coming to and going from school.  But he did not mind
+them.  They only seemed to render him hardier and sturdier, and make his
+cheeks the ruddier.
+
+Then winter arrived "on his snow-white car," as poets say, and often
+such storms blew that even grown-up people feared to face them.  But
+Harry would not give in.  On evenings like these John would be
+dispatched to meet Harry, and many an anxious glance from the
+dining-room window would his mother cast, until she saw them coming up
+the long avenue, Eily always first, feathering through the snow, and
+barking for very joy as she neared the house.
+
+Sometimes the roads would be so blocked with snow, that Harry found it
+far more convenient to walk along on the top of the stone fences, often
+missing his feet, and getting plunged nearly over his head in a
+snow-bank.
+
+In the early part of January, 186-, I forget the exact day and date, one
+of the most fierce and terrible snowstorms that old men ever remembered,
+swept over the northern shires of Scotland.
+
+When Harry left for school that morning there seemed little cause for
+alarm.  There was no sunshine however, and the whole sky was covered by
+an unbroken wall of blue-grey cloud.  Towards the forenoon snow began to
+fall--a kind of soft hail like millet seeds.  The ground was hard and
+dry to receive it, so it did not melt.
+
+The schoolboys tried to mould it into snowballs, but it would not
+"make," it would not stick together--evidence in itself that the frost
+was intense.
+
+Gradually this soft, fine hail changed to big, dry flakes.  Then the
+wind began to rise, and moan around the chimneys, and go shrieking
+through the leafless boughs of the ash trees and elms.  The snowfall
+increased in density every minute.  Looking up through the falling
+flakes, you could not have seen three yards.
+
+Dominie Roberts at two o'clock began to get uneasy, and gave many an
+anxious glance towards the windows, now getting quickly snowed up.  So
+great, too, was the frost that, though a roaring fire of wood and peats
+burned on the hearth, the panes were flowered and frozen.
+
+At half-past two it began to get rapidly dark, so the dominie dismissed
+his class with earnest injunctions to those boys who had far to go, not
+to delay on the road, but to hurry home at once.
+
+It might have been thought that on an evening like this, Harry would
+have been glad of companionship on the road.  Not he.  He went off like
+a young colt, with Eily galloping round him, as soon as ever he got
+outside the gate.
+
+The wind blew right in his face, however, and the drift was whirling
+like smoke right over every fence.  The roads were also barricaded every
+few yards with high wreaths of snow, blown off the fields and hills.
+
+The wind blew wilder, and every minute the cold seemed to grow more and
+more intense.
+
+Harry's face and hands were blue and benumbed before he had gone a mile
+and a half, Eily's coat was white and frozen hard; but on went the pair
+of them, battling with the storm, Harry holding his head well down, and
+keeping his plaid up over his nostrils.
+
+Often he had to turn round and walk backwards by way of resting himself.
+
+The snow-wreaths were most difficult to get through, the smoking drift
+cutting his breath and nearly suffocating him.
+
+So ere long his strength began to fail.  Hardy though he was, Highlander
+though he was, bred and born among the wild, bleak mountains, and reared
+in the forests, his powers of endurance gave out.
+
+He crouched down and took the half-frozen dog in his arms.  He talked to
+her as if she had been a human being, and the probability is that she
+_did_ know what he said.
+
+"Oh, Eily," he said, "I do feel tired."
+
+The kindly collie licked his face.
+
+"But come on," he cried, starting up again; "we must not give in.  We
+have only about a mile and a half to go if we cross through the wood.
+We'll soon get home.  Come on, Eily, come on."
+
+In a short time he had reached the wood.  It was mostly spruce and fir,
+and the branches were borne half to the ground with the weight of snow
+at one side, while the other was bare, and the wind tearing through
+them.
+
+He leaped the "dyke," [a stone fence] and was glad he had done so.
+There was far more shelter here, and the blasts were less fierce and
+cutting.  He walked faster now.  The wood was about half a mile wide.
+Arrived at the other side, a path by a stone fence led all the way down
+to his own home in the glen beneath.
+
+He hurried on.  How strange the wood looked under its mantle of snow!
+But he could not see any distance ahead owing to the drift.  Sometimes
+the wind would catch a tree and roar through it, and for the moment he
+would be almost suffocated with the smother of falling snow.
+
+He had gone on quite a long way, when he suddenly came to a clearing.
+He had never seen it before; never been here before.  Then the awful
+truth flashed at once across the boy's mind--_he was lost_!
+
+How long he wandered in the wood before he sank exhausted beside a tree
+he never could tell.
+
+Night and darkness came on, the storm roared through the wood with
+ever-increasing force, but Harry knew nothing of it.  He slept--slept
+that sleep that seldom knows a waking in this world.
+
+And the drift banked up--the cruel drift--up around him.  It hid his
+legs, his arms, his shoulders, and at last his head itself.
+
+Still the snow fell and the wind blew.  It blew with a moaning,
+whistling sound through the tall pine-trees, as it does through rigging
+and cordage of a ship in a gale.  It blew with a rushing noise through
+the closer-branched spruce trees, and ever in a momentary lull you might
+have heard the frozen tips of the branches knocking together as if glass
+rattled.
+
+It was a terrible night.
+
+As usual on stormy evenings, stalwart John had gone to meet young Harry;
+but he kept the road.  It never struck him that the boy would have
+ventured through the wood in such a night.
+
+Harry's parents were sitting in the parlour anxious beyond all
+expression, when suddenly the quick, sharp, impatient bark of the collie
+rang out high above the howling wind.
+
+In she rushed whining when the door was opened.  But out she flew again.
+
+"Oh, come quickly," she seemed to say, "and save poor young master!"
+
+Mr Milvaine well knew what it meant.  Five minutes after, with lanterns
+and poles, he and two trusty servants were following close at the honest
+dog's heels.
+
+Up the hill by the fence side, up and up and into the wood, and never
+did the faithful animal halt until she led them to the tree where she
+had left the boy.
+
+For a moment or two now she seemed lost.  She went galloping round and
+round the tree; while with their lanterns Mr Milvaine and his servants
+looked in vain for poor Harry.
+
+But back Eily came, and at once began to scrape in the snow.  Then
+something dark appeared, and Eily barked for joy.
+
+Her master was found.
+
+Was he dead?  They thought so at first.  But the covering of snow had
+saved him.
+
+They poured a little brandy over his throat, wrapped him tenderly in a
+Highland plaid, and bore him home.  Yet it was days before he spoke.
+
+Dear reader, did ever you consider what a blessing our loving Father has
+given us in a faithful dog?  How kind we ought to be, and how
+considerate for the comfort of such a noble animal!  And ever as they
+get older our thoughtfulness for their welfare and care of them ought to
+increase.  Mind, too, that most good thinking men believe that dogs have
+a hereafter.
+
+"I canna but believe," says the Ettrick shepherd, in his broad Doric,
+"that dowgs hae souls."
+
+My friend, the Rev J.G. Wood, in his book called "Man and Beast," has
+proved beyond dispute that there is nothing in Scripture against the
+theory that the lower animals will have a hereafter.
+
+And note how the goodly poet Tupper writes about his dear dog Sandy:
+
+  "Shall noble fidelity, courage and love,
+      Obedience and conscience--all rot in the ground?
+  No room be found for them beneath or above,
+      Nor anywhere in all the universe round?
+  Can Fatherhood cease? or the Judge be unjust?
+      Or changefulness mark any counsel of God?
+  Shall a butterfly's beauty be lost in the dust?
+      Or the skill of a spider be crushed as a clod?
+
+  "I cannot believe it: Creation still lives;
+      The Maker of all things made nothing in vain:
+  The Spirit His gracious ubiquity gives,
+      Though seeming to die, ever lives on again.
+  We `rise with our bodies,' and reason may hope
+      That truth, highest truth, may sink humbly to this,
+  That `Lo, the poor Indian' was wiser than Pope
+      When he longed for his dog to be with him in bliss!"
+
+Book 1--CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+LEAVING HOME.
+
+From what I have already told the reader about Harry Milvaine, it will
+readily be gathered that he was a lad of decided character and of some
+considerable determination.  A boy, too, who was apt to take action at
+the first touch of the spur of a thought or an idea.
+
+What I have now to relate will, I think, prove this still further.
+
+He left his uncle--a younger brother of his mother--and his father one
+evening talking in the dining-room.  He had bidden them good-night and
+glided away upstairs to bed.  He was partially undressed before he
+noticed that he had left a favourite book down in the library.
+
+So he stole silently down to fetch it.
+
+He had to pass the dining-room door, and in doing so the mention of his
+own name caused him to pause and listen.
+
+Listeners, they say, seldom hear any good about themselves.  Perhaps
+not, but the following is what Harry heard:
+
+"Ha!" laughed Uncle Robert, "I tell you, brother, I'd do it.  That would
+take the fun out of him.  That would knock all notions of a sailor's
+life out of the lad.  It has been done before, and most successfully
+too, I can tell you."
+
+"And," replied Harry's father, "you would really advise me to--"
+
+"I would really advise you to do as I say," said uncle, interrupting his
+brother-in-law.  "I'd send him to sea for a voyage in a whaler.  They
+sail in February, and they return in May--barely three months, you see."
+
+"Indeed, then I do think I'll take your advice.  But his mother loves
+the dear, brave boy so, that I'm sure she'll feel the parting very
+much."
+
+"Well, well, my sister'll soon get over that."
+
+Harry stayed to hear no more.  He went back to his room without the
+book, and, instead of going to bed, lay down upon his sofa with the
+intention of what he called "doing a good think."
+
+For fully an hour he lies there with his round eyes fixed on the
+ceiling.
+
+Then he starts up.
+
+"Yes," he cries, half aloud, "I'll do it, I'll do it.  My father will
+see whether I have any courage or not."
+
+He goes straight to the little money-box kennel that stood on the
+mantelpiece.
+
+The canary and pigeon business had been profitable with Harry for some
+time past.
+
+He was very wealthy indeed.  More so even than he imagined, for now when
+he counted his horde it ran up to 4 pounds, 15 shillings, 6 pence.
+
+"Splendid!" said Harry to himself; "I couldn't have believed I was so
+rich."
+
+Then he knelt down and said his prayers, far more fervently than he was
+wont to do.  Especially did he pray for blessings to fall on his dear
+mother and father.
+
+"I don't think it is quite right," he said to himself, "what I am going
+to do, but it will be all right again in a few months."
+
+He lay down in bed and slept soundly for hours.  But the stars were
+still shining thickly when he awoke and looked out of the window.
+
+There was snow on the ground, hard, crisp snow.
+
+Harry lit his candle, then he got out his small writing-case, and, after
+some time and considerable pains, succeeded in writing a letter, which
+he carefully folded and addressed.
+
+Young though he was--with his tiny fowling-piece--a gift from one of his
+uncles--the boy could tumble either rabbit or hare, or bring down a bird
+on the wing, but he was not particularly clever with the pen.  I wish I
+could say that he was.
+
+He now got a small bag out of the cupboard, and into this he put a
+change of clothes.  Having washed and dressed, he was ready for the
+road.
+
+He opened his door quietly, and walked silently along the passage, boots
+in hand.  He had to pass his mother's room door.  His heart beat high,
+it thumped against his ribs so that he could almost hear it.  How he
+would have liked to have gone in, and kissed his dear mother good-bye!
+But he dared not.
+
+Not until he was quite out of doors among the snow did he put on his
+boots.  Eily, not knowing him, made a rush, barking and fiercely
+growling.
+
+"Hush, Eily! hush!" he cried; "it's me, it's Harry, your master."
+
+Eily changed her tune now, and also her attitude.  The hair that had
+been standing up all along her back was smoothed down at once, and as
+the boy bent to tie his boots she licked his hands and cheek.  The poor
+dog seemed really to know that something more than usual was in the
+wind.
+
+There was a glimmer of light in the east, but the stars everywhere else
+were still very bright.
+
+Harry stood up.
+
+Eily sat motionless, looking eagerly up into his face, and her eyes
+sparkled in the starlight.
+
+She was waiting for her master's invitation to go along with him.  One
+word would have been enough to have sent her wild with joy.
+
+"Where can he be going?" she was asking herself.  "Not surely to the
+forest at this time of night!  But wherever he goes, I'll go too."
+
+"Eily," said the boy, seriously, even sadly, "I'm going away, far, far
+away."
+
+The dog listened, never moving ear nor tail.
+
+"And, Eily, you _cannot_ come with me, dear, dear doggie."
+
+Eily threw herself at his feet, or rather fell; she looked lost in
+grief.
+
+He patted her kindly.
+
+This only made matters worse.  She thought he was relenting, that his
+words had been only spoken in fun.  She jumped up, sprang on his
+shoulder, licked his ear, then went gambolling round and round him, and
+so made her way to the gate.
+
+It was very apparent, however, that all these antics were assumed, there
+was no joy at the dog's heart.  She was but trying to overcome her
+master's scruples to take her along with him.
+
+Harry followed her to the gate.
+
+"It must not be, Eily," he said again; "I'm going where you cannot come.
+But I will come back, remember that."
+
+His hand was on her head, and he was gazing earnestly down at her.
+
+"Yes, I'll come back in a few months, and you will meet me, oh! so
+joyfully.  Then we'll roam and rove and run in the beautiful forest once
+more, and fish by the river, and shoot on the moorland and hill.
+Goodbye, Eily.  Be good, and watch.  Good-bye, goodbye."
+
+A great tear fell on Eily's mane as he bent down and kissed her brow.
+
+Eily stood there by the gate in the starlight, watching the dark
+retreating figure of her beloved young master, until a distant corner
+hid him from view, and she could see him no more.
+
+Then she threw herself down on the snow; and, reader, if you could have
+heard the big, sobbing sigh she gave, you would believe with me, that
+the mind of a dog is sometimes almost human, and their griefs and
+sorrows very real.
+
+Hastily brushing the tears from his eyes, Harry made the best of his way
+along the road, not daring to look behind him, lest his feelings should
+overcome him.
+
+He kept repeating to himself the words he had heard his uncle make use
+of the evening before.  This kept his courage up.  When he had gone
+about a mile he left the main road and turned into a field.  A little
+winding church-path soon brought him to a wooded hollow, where there was
+a very tiny cottage and garden.
+
+He opened the gate and entered.
+
+He went straight to the right-hand window, and, wetting his forefinger,
+rubbed it up and down on the pane.
+
+The noise it made was enough to awaken some one inside, for presently
+there was a cough, and a voice said--
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"It is I, Andrew: rise, I want to speak to you."
+
+"Man! is it you, Harry?  I'll be out in a jiffy."
+
+And sure enough a light was struck and a candle lit.  Harry could see
+poor faithful Andrew hurrying on his clothes, and in two minutes more he
+had opened the door and admitted his young friend.
+
+"Man!  Harry," he said, "you scared me.  You are early on the road.
+Have ye traps set in the forest?  D'ye want me to go wi' ye?"
+
+"No such luck, Andrew," replied the boy.  "I've no traps set.  I won't
+see the forest for many a long day again."
+
+"Haud your tongue, man!" cried Andrew, looking very serious and
+pretending to be angry.  "Haud your tongue.  Are ye takin' leave o' your
+reason?  What have ye in that bag?  Why are ye no dressed in the kilt,
+but in your Sunday braws?"
+
+Then Harry told him all--told him of the determination he had for many a
+day to go to sea, and of the conversation he had overheard on the
+previous evening.
+
+Andrew used all the arguments he could think of or muster to dissuade
+him from his purpose, and enlarged upon the many dangers to be
+encountered on the stormy main, as he called it, but all to no purpose.
+
+"Mind ye," said Andrew, "I've been to sea myself, and know something
+about it."
+
+Honest, innocent Andrew, all the experience he had of the stormy main
+was what he had gained in a six hours' voyage betwixt Granton and
+Aberdeen.
+
+But when Andrew found that nothing which he could adduce made the
+slightest impression on his young friend, he pulled out his snuff-horn,
+took two enormously large pinches, and sat down in silence to look at
+Harry.
+
+The boy pulled out a letter from his breast-pocket.
+
+"This is for my dear mother," he said.  "Give it to her to-day.  Tell
+her how sorry I was to go away.  Tell her--tell her--."
+
+Here the boy fairly broke down, and sobbed as if his heart would break.
+
+My hero crying?  Yes, I do not feel shame for him either.  The soldier
+or sailor, ere journeying far away to foreign lands, is none the less
+brave if he does pause on the brow of the hill, and, looking back to his
+little cottage in the glen, drop a tear.
+
+Do you remember the words of the beautiful song--
+
+  "Mid pleasures and palaces tho' we may roam,
+  Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
+  A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
+  Which, seek thro' the world, is ne'er met elsewhere.
+
+  "An exile from home, splendour dazzles in vain,
+  Oh! give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
+  The birds singing gaily that came at my call,
+  And give me the peace of mind dearer than all?"
+
+Andrew, when he saw Harry crying, felt very much inclined to join him.
+There was a big lump in his throat that he could hardly gulp down.  But
+then Andrew was a bit simple.
+
+Harry jumped up presently and took two or three strides up and down the
+floor of the little room, and so mastered his grief.
+
+"It won't be for such a very long time, you know, Andrew," he said.
+
+"No," said Andrew, brightening up.  "And I'll look after your garden,
+Harry."
+
+"Thank you, Andrew, and the turning lathe and the tools?"
+
+"I'll see to them.  You'll find them all as bright as new pins on your
+return."
+
+"And my pets, Andrew?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, look after those too.  Sell them all as soon as you can--rats,
+mice, guinea-pigs, and pigeons, and all."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And, Andrew, keep the money you get for them to buy snuff."
+
+"Good-bye, Andrew."
+
+"Good-bye.  Mind you take care of yourself."
+
+"I'll do that for my mother's sake."
+
+Andrew pressed Harry's soft hand between his two horny palms for just a
+moment.
+
+"God bless you, Harry!" he muttered.
+
+He could not trust himself to say more, his heart was too full.
+
+Then away went Harry, grasping his stick in his hand and trudging on
+manfully over the hills, with his face to the east.
+
+By and by the sun rose, and with it rose Harry's spirits.  He thought no
+more of the past.  That was gone.  He felt a man now; he felt he had a
+future before him, and on this alone he permitted his thoughts to rest.
+
+Now I do not mean to vindicate that which my hero has done--quite the
+reverse.  Obedience to the wishes of his parents is a boy's first duty.
+
+Still, I cannot help thinking that my young hero had a bold heart in his
+breast.
+
+See him now, with the sun glinting down on his ruddy face, on which is a
+smile, and on his stalwart figure; he is more like a boy of fifteen than
+a child under twelve.  How firm his tread on the crisp and dazzling
+snow, how square his shoulders, how springy and lithe his gait and
+movement!  No, I'm not ashamed of my hero.  Hear him.  He is singing--
+
+  "There is many a man of the Cameron clan
+      That has followed his chief to the field,
+  And sworn to support him or die by his side,
+      For a Cameron never can yield.
+
+  "The moon has arisen, it shines on that path,
+      Now trod by the gallant and true--
+  High, high are their hopes, for their chieftain has said,
+      That whatever men dare they can do.
+          I hear the pibroch, sounding, sounding,
+          Deep o'er the mountains and glens,
+      While light-springing footsteps are trampling the heath--
+          'Tis the march of the Cameron men."
+
+Poor brave, but rather wayward, boy! the gallant ship is even now lying
+in Lerwick Bay that soon shall bear him far o'er Arctic seas.
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER ONE.
+
+A LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE.
+
+HARRY IN A QUEER POSITION.
+
+Very picturesque and beautiful does the Greenland fleet of the sealers
+and whalers appear from any of the neighbouring hills which enclosed
+Lerwick Sound in their midst, giving it the appearance of some great
+Highland lake.  The dark blue rippling water is to-day--as Harry gazes
+on it--studded with threescore gallant ships, many of them steamers, but
+each and all having tall and tapering masts.  Then the bare, treeless,
+rugged mountains; the romantic little town with its time-worn fort; the
+boats flitting hither and thither like birds on the water, and lofty Ben
+Brassa--capped in snow--looking down upon all, form a scene of
+impressive beauty and quiet grandeur that once beheld is not easily
+forgotten.
+
+The town, however, like many others in this world, looks immensely
+better at a distance than it does upon close inspection.  The streets,
+or rather lanes, are close and confined.  Indeed, there is but one
+principal street, which is transversed by a multitude of lanes, which on
+one side lead down to the sea, and on the other scramble up a steep
+hill.  And in the rainy season these lanes are converted into brawling
+streams which pour their roaring floods down into the tide-way.
+
+The houses in the street are built in the Danish or Scandinavian style,
+and are mostly built with their gables to the front, while at every ten
+or twelve yards' distance, one of these buildings stands threateningly
+forth across the path in a thus-far-shalt-thou-go sort of fashion,
+giving to the street a very awkward appearance, and on dark nights
+seriously endangering the noses of the pedestrians.
+
+Harry had come by steamboat from Aberdeen, to which fair granite city he
+had trudged all the way on foot.  He had to harbour his funds, rich and
+all though he thought himself, and I believe that during all that long,
+weary walk to the city, he subsisted almost entirely on bread and cheese
+washed down with milk.  But he was young and strong and hardy.
+
+He had taken steerage fare to Lerwick, and no sooner had he ensconced
+himself on the locker than he fell sound asleep, and never lifted his
+head for twelve whole hours.
+
+In most books of travel by sea the author says nothing about
+seasickness.  This is something very real and very dreadful
+nevertheless.  There is no cure for it, nor ever will be, till the world
+is at an end.  Only its effects can be mitigated by fresh air and
+exercise on deck.  One must fight the fearful malady, and, as you fight
+it, it will flee from you.  Intending sailor-boys would do well to
+remember this.
+
+The passage to Lerwick had been a stormy one; unable to remain below,
+owing to the heat and the unsavoury nature of the atmosphere, Harry had
+gone on deck.  It was night, but there was never a star to be seen, only
+the blackness of darkness overhead, pierced by the white light that
+streamed from the funnel, only the wild waves on every side, their white
+crests flashing and shimmering here and there as if they were living
+monsters.  Sometimes one would hit the ship with a dull, dreary thud,
+and the spray would dash on board, and anon the steamer would duck her
+head and ship a great green sea that came tumbling aft, carrying
+everything movable before it, and drenching every one to the skin whom
+it met in its passage.
+
+Poor Harry was too sick and ill to care much what became of him.
+
+He had crawled in under a tarpaulin, and there, with his head on a coil
+of ropes, fallen soundly asleep once more.
+
+It was a painful first experience of the sea, and to tell you the truth,
+even at the expense of my young hero's reputation, more than once he
+_almost_ wished he had not left his Highland home.  Almost, but not
+quite.
+
+And now here he was standing looking down from a hill-top, and wishing
+himself safe and sound on board one of these stately Greenland ships.
+But how to get there?
+
+That was the difficulty.
+
+There was no great hurry for a week.  He had secured cheap lodgings in a
+quiet private house, so he must keep still and think fortune might
+favour him.
+
+The object of the captains of these Greenland whalers in lying for a
+time at Lerwick is to ship additional hands, for here they can be
+obtained at a cheaper rate than in Scotland.
+
+All day the streets were crowded to excess with seamen, and at night the
+place was like a bedlam newly let loose.  It was not a pleasant scene to
+look upon.
+
+Now Harry Milvaine had read so much, that he knew quite a deal about the
+manners and customs of seafarers, and also of the laws that govern
+ships, their masters, and their crews.
+
+"If I go straight to the captain of some ship," he said to himself, "and
+ask him to take me, then, instead of taking me, he will hand me over to
+the authorities, and they will send me home.  That would not do."
+
+For a moment, but only a moment, it crossed his mind to become a
+stowaway.
+
+But there was something most abhorrent in the idea.  A mean, sneaking
+stowaway!  Never.
+
+"I'll do things in a gentlemanly kind of way, whatever happens," he said
+to himself.
+
+Well, anyhow, he would go and buy some addition to his outfit.  He had
+read books about Greenland, and he knew what to purchase.  Everything
+must be rough and warm.
+
+When he had made his purchases he found he had only thirty shillings
+remaining of all his savings.
+
+As he was bargaining for a pair of thick mitts a gentleman entered the
+shop and bade the young woman who had been serving Harry a kindly good
+morning.
+
+"What can I do for you to-day, Captain Hardy?" asked the woman, with a
+smile.
+
+"Ah! well," returned the captain, "I really didn't want anything, you
+know.  Just looked in to have a peep at your pretty face, that's all."
+
+"Oh, Captain Hardy, you're not a bit changed since you were here last
+season."
+
+"No, Miss Mitford, no; the seasons may change, but Captain Hardy--never.
+Well, I'll have a couple of pairs of worsted gloves; no fingers in
+them, only a thumb."
+
+"Anything else?"
+
+"Come, now to think of it, May-day will come before many months, and--"
+
+"Oh, sly Captain Hardy," said Miss Mitford, with a bit of a blush, "you
+want some ribbons to hang on the garland [Note 1].  Now I daresay you
+have quite a pocketful, the gifts of other young ladies."
+
+"'Pon honour, Miss Mitford, I--"
+
+"No more, Captain Hardy.  There?" she added, handing him a little
+packet, "they are of all the new colours, too."
+
+"Well, well, well, I daresay they are delightfully pretty, but I'm sure
+I sha'n't remember the names of one-half of them."
+
+"And when do you sail?"
+
+"Oh, I was going to tell you.  The _Inuita_ is going first this year.
+Will be first among the seals, Miss Mitford, and first home."
+
+"And I trust with a full ship."
+
+"God bless you for saying that, my birdie.  Well, we're off the day
+after to-morrow at four o'clock.  Good-bye; come and see you again
+before I sail."
+
+And off dashed Captain Hardy of the good ship _Inuita_.
+
+A great kindly-eyed man he was, with an enormous brown beard, which I
+daresay he oiled, for it glittered in the winter sunshine like the back
+of a boatman beetle.
+
+"One of the best-hearted men that ever lived," said Miss Mitford to
+Harry, as soon as he was gone; "strict in discipline, though; but his
+officers and men all love him, and he has the same first mate every
+year.  May Providence protect the dear man, for he has a wild and stormy
+sea to cross!"
+
+Harry soon after left the shop.
+
+"The _Inuita_," he said to himself--"the _Inuita_, Captain Hardy, sails
+the day after to-morrow at four o'clock.  Well, I'll try, and if I fail,
+then--I must fail, that's all."
+
+This was on a Thursday, next day was Friday.  On this day it is supposed
+to be unlucky to sail.  At all events, Captain Hardy did not mean to.
+Not that he was superstitious, but his men might be, and sure enough, if
+they afterwards came to grief in any way, they would lose heart and make
+such remarks as the following:
+
+"Nothing more than we could have expected."
+
+"What luck _could_ happen to us, when we sailed on a Friday?"
+
+Captain Hardy was a man who always kept a promise and an appointment.
+He had told his mate that he would sail on Saturday at two in the
+afternoon, and his mate got all ready long before that time.
+
+The captain was dining with friends on shore.
+
+About half-past one a boat with two lazy-looking Shetland men pulled off
+to the ship.
+
+"Well," cried Mr Menzies, the mate, "bright young men you are!  Why
+weren't you here at twelve o'clock, eh?  There, don't answer; for'ard
+with you.  Don't dare to speak, or I'll take a belaying-pin to you."
+
+About a quarter before two another boat was seen coming off.
+
+"More Shetlanders, I suppose," said the mate to the spectioneer.
+
+"I don't think so.  There is only the boatman and a lad, and the lad has
+an oar.  You never see a Shetlander take an oar, if he can help it."
+
+"By gum! though," cried the mate, enthusiastically, "that youngster does
+pull nimbly.  Why he feathers his oar like one of an Oxford eight!"
+
+"He seems a genteel lad," replied the spectioneer; "but it won't do to
+tell him he rows well.  Make him too proud, and spoil him."
+
+"Trust _me_," said the mate, with a grim smile.  "I'll talk to him in
+quite a different fashion."
+
+He lowered his brows as he spoke, and tried to look old and fierce.
+
+"Boat there!" he shouted, as she was nearly alongside.
+
+"Ay, ay, sir," sang Harry, standing up and saluting.
+
+Harry believed this was the correct thing to do, and he was not _very_
+far wrong.
+
+"What do you mean, sir, by coming here at this time of day?  The orders
+were, Mr Young Griffin, that every one should be on board by ten
+o'clock this forenoon; and look you here, I've a jolly good mind to
+bundle you on shore again, bag and baggage."
+
+"Don't, sir," began Harry; "I wish to--"
+
+"Don't answer me.  Up you tumble.  Here, one o' you greenhorns, standing
+there with your fingers in your mouths, up with the boy's bag, and send
+it below."
+
+"If you please, sir, I want to speak with the captain, I--"
+
+"Oh, you do, do you?" sneered the mate, in a mocking tone.  "He wants to
+speak to the captain, does he?  Perhaps he wants to make a complaint,
+and say the first mate scolded him.  Never been to sea before, poor boy.
+Has he brought his feather-bed and his night-cap, and a bottle of hot
+water to put at his feet?  A pretty ticket you'd be to go and speak to
+the captain."
+
+"But, sir, I--"
+
+"_Don't_ answer me," cried the mate, talking now in a loud, commanding
+voice.  "If you say as much as one word more, or half a word, I'll
+rope's-end you within an inch of your life.  Now for'ard you fly.  Down
+below till we're clear off.  You are no use on deck.  Only have your
+toes tramped."
+
+Harry opened his mouth to speak.
+
+The mate made a rush for a rope.
+
+Harry ran, and dived down the fore-hatch.
+
+There was a little old man poking the huge galley fire and stirring soup
+with a ladle at one and the same time.  He had no more hair on his head
+than the lid of a copper kettle, and he did not wear a cap either.
+
+"Are you the cook?" said Harry.
+
+"No, I'm the doctor."  [Greenlandmen usually call the cook "doctor."]
+
+"Well, doctor," began Harry, "I want to tell you something.  I'm in a
+very queer position--"
+
+"Don't bother _me_!" roared the grim old man, turning so fiercely round
+on him, ladle in hand, that Harry started and quaked with fear.  "Don't
+bother _me_," he roared, "or I'll pop you into the boiling copper, then
+you'll be in a queerer position."
+
+Harry fell back.  He did not know well what to do.  So he went and sat
+down on a locker.
+
+Presently past came a young sailor.
+
+"I say, common sailor!" cried Harry.
+
+The youth turned sharply round.
+
+"I'm in a queer position."
+
+The youth pulled him clean off the locker and threw him straight across
+the deck, where he lay nearly stunned and doubled up.
+
+"That's a queerer position, ain't it, eh?  Well, don't you come for to
+go to call me a common sailor again, drat ye."
+
+A great mastiff dog came along and licked Harry's face, and then lay
+down beside him.  Harry put an arm round the noble dog's neck and patted
+and caressed him.
+
+By and by there arose on deck an immense noise and shouting, rattling of
+chains, and trampling of feet, and high above all this din the merry
+notes of a fiddle and a fife, playing lively airs.  [When heaving
+windlass or capstan in Greenland ships the fiddler is nearly always
+ordered to play.]
+
+Said Harry to himself, "It is evident they are having a dance, and no
+doubt they will keep it up quite a long time.  Well, there is little
+chance of the ship sailing to-night.  By and by I'll slip quietly up and
+go straight to the captain's cabin and tell him all and ask him to take
+me."
+
+Then he began to think of home, of his mother and father, of Eily and of
+Andrew--and in a few minutes, lo and behold! our hero was fast asleep.
+
+When he awoke it was inky dark where he lay, only at some distance he
+could see the glimmer of the galley fire, and see the old, bald cook
+moving about at his duties.
+
+The great dog still lay beside him, and some kind hand had thrown a rug
+over the pair of them.
+
+But the vessel was no longer still, she was slowly pitching and rolling,
+in a way that told Harry, novice though he was, that they were at sea.
+
+There was no noise on deck now, only occasionally the steady tread of
+heavy footsteps was audible, or the flop-flap of canvas, or a quick,
+sharp word of command, followed by an "Ay, ay, sir," and the rattling of
+the rudder-chains.
+
+"Heaven help me!" said Harry to himself.  "I was in a queer position
+before, I'm in a queerer now.  Oh! dear me, dear me, I'll be taken for a
+stowaway."
+
+This thought so overcame him, that he almost burst into tears.
+
+Some time afterwards there came towards him with a lantern a red-haired
+and red-bearded little man.  He had a kind and smiling face.  He bent
+down, and Harry sat up on his elbow.
+
+"Don't move, my sonny," he said.  "You'll be a bit sick, I suppose?"
+
+"No."
+
+"No?  Well, I've brought you a bit of a sandwich, and I don't know whose
+watch you're in, but we always give green hands some days' grace.  I'm
+the second mate, and I advise you not to turn out to-night, but just to
+eat your supper and lie still till eight bells in the morning watch."
+
+"But oh, sir," cried Harry, "I'm in such a queer position!"
+
+"I'll remedy that," said the second mate.
+
+Away he went, and in a minute back he came again, and in his hand a huge
+flock pillow.  This he placed under Harry's head and shoulders.
+
+"There," he said, "that's a better position.  Keep still and you won't
+get sick, and Harold there will keep you warm."
+
+"Is the dog's name Harold?"
+
+"Yes, boy."
+
+"And mine is Harry.  How strange!"
+
+"Well, there are two of you.  Good-night, sonny."  And off went the
+fiery-whiskered but kindly little second mate.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  In Greenland ships, on May-day, there is great rejoicing, and a
+garland bedecked with ribbons--every one contributing--is hung from the
+stays high aloft.
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER TWO.
+
+FIRST EXPERIENCES OF LIFE AT SEA.
+
+Harry awoke next morning cold and shivering; his companion, Harold, the
+mastiff, had left him.  He started up.  It was broad daylight, and the
+men were having breakfast, and chaffing and laughing, and all as happy
+as sailors can be.
+
+It was not long before he noticed his friend the second mate coming
+below, so he started up and went to meet him.
+
+"What cheer, my sonny!" said Wilson--for that was his name.
+
+"Come along through to the half-deck," he continued, "and have some
+coffee.  That'll put you straight."
+
+He led Harry on deck.
+
+The sea seemed mountains high.  Great green waves, with combing, curling
+tops, that every moment threatened the good ship with destruction, so it
+seemed to Harry.
+
+"What an awful sea?"
+
+"Awful sea, sonny?" laughed Mr Wilson.  "Call that an awful sea?  Ha!
+ha!  Wait a bit, my boy."
+
+They went down another ladder into the second officer's quarters.  Here
+also lived the spectioneer or third mate, the carpenter, and the cooper,
+and an extra gunner.
+
+A rough kind of a cabin, with a table in the middle a stove with a
+roaring fire in it, and bunks all round.
+
+"Mates," said Mr Wilson, "this is the youngster I was speaking about;
+I'm going to have him in my watch.  He doesn't know much; in fact, I
+don't think he knows he's born yet."
+
+"What's your name, sonny?"
+
+"Harold Milvaine."
+
+"Well, Harold Milvaine, have some breakfast; you look as white as a
+churchyard deserter."
+
+"Because--because I've such a dreadful story to tell you."
+
+"Well, eat first."
+
+Harry did so, and felt better.
+
+"Now sit down on the locker, put your toes to the fire.  That's right.
+Now, heave round with this dreadful yarn of yours.  Listen, mates."
+
+Without a moment's hesitation, though looking very serious, Harry told
+them all his story from the commencement.
+
+"Well," said the mate, "it isn't so very dreadful after all, but I think
+you ought to see Captain Hardy at once.  What say you, mates?"
+
+"That's right," said the carpenter; "I'd go at once."
+
+The captain was in his cabin, and kindly bade them both sit down.
+
+Then, at the instigation of the second mate, Harry told all his story
+over again.
+
+"A plain, unvarnished tale," said Captain Hardy, when he had finished.
+"There is truth in the lad's eyes, Mr Wilson.  But tell me, youngster,
+why did you not explain to the mate the purpose for which you came on
+board?"
+
+"He would not let me say one single word, sir."
+
+"True enough," said the mate, coming out of his state-room laughing.
+"The boy is right, sir; I took him for some hand you had engaged and
+sent him flying for'ard."
+
+"But look here, lad, when you heard us stamping round and heaving in the
+anchor, why did you not come up and speak to me?  I would have put you
+on shore again at once."
+
+"Oh, thank you, sir, but I didn't know.  I heard music, and I thought
+you were all dancing, and wouldn't sail till Monday, and then--I fell
+asleep."
+
+"Ha! ha! ha! there will be little dancing in our heads, boy, till we're
+full to the hatches with skins and blubber; then we'll dance, won't we,
+Wilson?"
+
+"That we will, sir."
+
+"Well, well, boy, it is curious.  I'm half inclined to be angry, but I
+daresay you couldn't help it.  And I don't know what to do with you."
+
+"Oh, I don't want wages; only just let me remain in the ship."
+
+"Let you remain in the ship?  Why, what else can I do?  We'll never
+touch land again, lad, till we go back to Lerwick.  Do you think I'd
+pitch you overboard as they did Jonah?"
+
+"As for wages," he continued, "nobody stops in my ship that isn't paid.
+But tell me now, I seem to know your face--have I seen you before?"
+
+"I saw you at Miss Mitford's, sir."
+
+"Whew-w-w," whistled the captain, "that accounts for the milk in the
+cocoanut."
+
+"She gave you some beautiful rib--"
+
+"That'll do, boy, that'll do," cried Captain Hardy, interrupting him.
+"Well I'll rate you as second steward, and as you say you want to learn
+to be a sailor you can join the second mate's watch."
+
+"I'll have him, sir," said Wilson, briskly.
+
+Harry's heart was too full to speak, but from that moment he determined
+to do his duty and prove his gratitude.
+
+Duty! what a sacred thing it is, and how noble the man or boy who never
+shirks it, be that duty what it may!
+
+  Duty--though thy lot be lowly,
+      God's broad arrow though art seen,
+  Making very triflers holy,
+      And exalting what were mean;
+  In this thought the poor may revel,
+      That, obeying Duty's word,
+  Lowliness is on a level
+      With my lady or my lord.
+
+Captain Hardy soon found out Harry's worth.  He could trust him
+implicitly, for the boy was far too manly to tell a falsehood, even to
+hide a fault.
+
+The worthy captain, however, seemed really astonished when the boy told
+him he was not twelve years of age.
+
+He had guessed him at nearly sixteen.
+
+"Never mind," he said, with a smile, "you've been growing too fast,
+you've been growing to the length.  The cold will alter that, and you'll
+grow to the breadth."
+
+Cold?  It was indeed cold, and the farther north the good ship went the
+colder it got, the more fiercely blew the wind, and the higher and
+wilder were the seas.  Harry slept in a bunk in the half-deck, and used
+to amuse his mates by telling them stories, composed on the spot; he had
+an excellent imagination, and on these occasions made good use of it.
+
+The fire was kept in all the livelong night, but, notwithstanding, the
+bunks and the counterpane used to be thickly snowed over long before
+morning with the frozen breath of the sleepers.
+
+The days were terribly short, and the nights dark and gloomy in the
+extreme.
+
+About a week after the good ship sailed she fell in with streams, first
+of wet snow, then of small pieces of ice that cannonaded against the
+ship's side with a terrific noise.
+
+Now the crow's nest or look-out barrel was hoisted at the main-truck.
+
+Harry astonished the second mate, and every one who saw him, by getting
+up to this giddy altitude the very second day.
+
+The captain had been up there for hours and sang down for a cup of
+coffee.
+
+The steward was too much of a landsman to venture, so Harry volunteered.
+
+"_My_ sonny," said Wilson, "you'll break your neck."
+
+"I've climbed trees as tall as that in Benbuie forest," was Harry's
+reply.
+
+The warm coffee was put in a tin bottle, and up Harry spun with it.
+Hand over hand he went with all the agility of a monkey.
+
+He sat in the nest till the captain had finished.  Sat delightedly too,
+for the sea-scape, visible all around, was splendid, and he had a
+feeling that he was flying in the air with no ship beneath him whatever,
+as happy and free as the wild sea-birds that were whirling and screaming
+around him in the sky.  The lovely sea-gulls, the malleys, the dusky
+skuas, and the snow-white sea-swallows--they charmed Harry beyond
+measure.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+But a fierce gale of wind blew from the north-east, and lying to, the
+_Inuita_ was drifted away off from the ice and far, far out of her
+course.
+
+This gale continued for ten days off and on.  Boats were smashed, a
+top-mast carried away, the bulwarks were splintered, and two poor
+fellows were washed overboard.
+
+Their cries for assistance--the assistance that none could render them--
+were heart-rending.  They were both strong swimmers, which only made the
+bitterness of death ten times more bitter.
+
+But the sky cleared at last, the wind blew fair, and in ten days more
+they had sighted the main pack of ice lying to the north and east of the
+lonely island of Jan Mayen.  Named after its discoverer--rugged, rocky,
+and snowy--it rises boldly from the frozen sea, and after forming a
+number of smaller hills, or rather mountains, shoots abruptly into the
+clear icy sky to a height of 6,000 feet, shaped like a cone or an
+immense loaf of sugar.  Although volcanic fires once have gleamed from
+the lofty summit of this mountain, old King Winter now sits here alone,
+Vulcan has deserted him, without leaving him a spark to heat his toes.
+This is indeed the throne of King Winter, and looking down, his cold eye
+scans his icy region, stretching for many and many a mile over the
+Greenland sea.  On this isle of desolation few have ever trod, and the
+few who have visited it have no desire to return.  Around its crags
+flutters the snow-bird, and the ice-bear crouches in his den among its
+rocks; the great black seal, the sea-horse, and the lonely walrus float
+around it, or find shelter near it from the storm or tempest; but
+nothing else of life is ever found on its deserted and inhospitable
+shores.
+
+Seals were seen on the ice the very next day, and the work of
+destruction commenced.  It was a sickening scene.  So thought young
+Harry.
+
+Many years ago the present writer described it in the following
+language:
+
+Great is the cruelty practised during young sealing.  Seldom do the men
+take time to kill the creatures they catch, but set about flaying them
+alive, and a young seal is so much more pretty and innocent-looking than
+even a lamb.  This they say they do to save time, but could they not
+kill so many seals first, say a thousand, and then commence to flay
+those first struck, which would then be quite dead?  As an experiment, I
+have seen the flayed body, red and quivering, thrown into the sea, and
+seen it swim with its own mother beside it.  This is no exaggeration,
+and any sealer will tell you the same.  It is strange why the sight of
+blood should stimulate men to acts of cruelty; but it is none the less a
+fact, for I have seen men on these occasions behaving with all the
+brutality of wild beasts.
+
+One could not easily fancy a scene more impressive and wild than that
+which is presented by the crews of a few ships at work on the ice.  The
+incessant moaning of the innocent victims, mingled with the laugh and
+joke of their murderers; the timid and affrighted, although loving look
+of the mothers, so different from the earnest, blood-thirsty stare of
+the authors of their grief.  Some are flaying; some are stabbing; some
+are dragging the fruits of their labour towards the ships; and some are
+drinking at the ship's side; but over all there is blood--blood on the
+decks, blood on the bulwarks; the men's hands are steeped in it, and the
+blood is dripping from their clothes.  The snow--the beautiful snow,
+which but yesterday sparkled and glittered in the sunshine, as only the
+snows of Greenland can, to-day is deluged in blood.  Nothing but blood,
+blood wherever we look!  The meat which the men are eating and the glass
+from which they are drinking are bloody; and the very rudder-wheel has
+been touched by bloody hands.  But then there is joy in that bloody
+scene--joy to master and joy to man; and the sight of the blood proves a
+stimulant for still greater exertions and more cruelty.
+
+Yes, it is years since I wrote in this strain, but the cruelties go on
+now as then.  Oh! boys of happy England, raise your voices whenever
+opportunity occurs against cruelty and against oppression of every kind,
+whether against the tyranny that crushes the poor that the rich may live
+luxuriously, or cowardly crime that ties a helpless dog or cat to the
+vivisection table.
+
+Harry managed to endear himself to all hands.  He was, indeed, the
+favourite of the ship.  But he did not neglect his education; Mr Wilson
+was a good teacher of practical navigation and practical ship's work,
+and in a month or two he had made a man of Harry, or a sailor at all
+events.
+
+Captain Hardy soon found out that the boy could shoot, so he gave him a
+short, light double-barrelled rifle, and Harry used to go out regularly
+to stalk seals, when the old sealing commenced.  Dangerous work at
+times, and our hero had more than one ducking by slipping into the sea
+between the icebergs.
+
+The dog Harold always went with the boy Harry, and although mastiffs are
+not called water-dogs, still on one occasion, when his young master fell
+into the sea, dog Harold sprang after him, and supported him until
+assistance came.
+
+Harry's opportunity of proving his gratitude came soon after this.
+
+While out walking one day with the dog, they were suddenly startled by
+the awful roar of a huge bear.  The brute appeared immediately after
+from behind a hummock of ice, and prepared for instant action.
+
+The great mastiff's hair stood on end with rage, from skull to tail.  He
+gave Bruin no time to think, but sprang at once for his throat.
+
+It was indeed an unequal contest, and would speedily have been all over
+had not young Harry shown both pluck and presence of mind.  He rushed
+forward, and, biding his chance, fired both barrels of his rifle at once
+into the bear's neck behind the ear.
+
+He actually clapped the muzzle there before he drew the triggers.
+
+What mattered it that the recoil threw him on his back, Bruin was slain,
+and Harold the dog was saved, though sadly wounded and torn.
+
+Before the month of May the _Inuita_ had a good voyage on board.  She
+continued, however, to follow the old seals north as far round as
+Spitzbergen.  The character of the ice now entirely changed: instead of
+fields of flat floe, with hummocks here and there, which put Harry in
+mind, as he traversed them, of a Highland moorland in mid-winter, there
+were pieces large enough to have crushed a ship as big as Saint Paul's
+Cathedral.
+
+The mountains, too, on the islands among which the _Inuita_ sailed were
+rugged and grand in the extreme, and the colours displayed from the
+terraced cliffs of ice and rock, when the sun shone on them, were more
+resplendent than any pen or pencil could describe.
+
+Around these islands were walruses in abundance, and many fell to the
+guns.
+
+Going shoreward one day over the thick bay ice, to enjoy with Mr Wilson
+and some others some sport among the bears, Harry, who was foremost, was
+startled beyond measure to notice the ice ahead first heave, then crack
+and splinter, while a moment afterwards a head, more awful than a
+nightmare, was protruded.
+
+Harry's fear--if fear it could be called--was however but momentarily:
+next moment his rifle was at the shoulder, and the monster paid his life
+as the penalty for his curiosity.
+
+In a month the _Inuita_ was--what her captain wished her to be--full to
+the hatches with blubber and skins.
+
+Then all sail was set for merry England.
+
+There was nothing but joy now on board, nothing but jollity and fun.
+
+The men had a ball almost every night, with singing and story-telling to
+follow.
+
+"I do believe, my dear boy," said Captain Hardy to Harry one evening,
+"that _you_ have brought all the luck on board.  Well, now, I'm going to
+tell you a secret."
+
+"I don't want you to, you know."
+
+"Oh, but I want to tell somebody," said the captain, "and it may as well
+be you.  It is this: As soon as I get my ship cleared and paid off at
+Hull, I am going straight back to Lerwick to ask Miss Mitford if she
+will be my wife."
+
+"Oh, I'm sure she will be glad to!"  Harry said.
+
+"Tell me, boy, what makes you think so?"
+
+"Well, because she told me you were the best man in the service, and the
+tears were in her eyes when she said so."
+
+"God bless you for these words, dear lad.  And you'll come and see us
+sometimes, won't you?  I'm going to leave the sea and settle down in a
+pretty little farm near Hull."
+
+"That I will, gladly," said Harry.
+
+In course of time the ship arrived safely in harbour.  Her owners were
+delighted at Captain Hardy's success, and made him a very handsome
+present.
+
+Some weeks after this, when the _Inuita_ was dismantled and lying in
+dock, Hardy, with Harry and Harold the mastiff, suddenly appeared at
+Beaufort Hall.
+
+I leave the reader to imagine the joy that their presence elicited.  But
+it was quite affecting to see how his mother pressed her boy to her
+breast, while the tears chased each other over her cheeks.
+
+Eily went wild with joy, and when honest Andrew met his friend Harry
+again, and shook him by the hand, he could not speak, so much was he
+affected, and he had to take five or six enormous pinches of snuff by
+way of accounting for the moisture in his eyes.
+
+Captain Hardy was a welcome guest at Beaufort Hall for many days.
+
+"Your dear boy," he said, "has had a terribly rough first experience of
+a life on the ocean wave, but he has braved it well, and that is more
+than many boys of his age would have done.  But I tell you what it is,"
+he added, "Harry Milvaine _will_ be a sailor."
+
+"I fear so," said his mother, sadly.
+
+"Ah, my dear lady, there is many a worse profession than that of an
+honest sailor."
+
+"But the dangers of the deep are so great, Captain Hardy."
+
+"Dangers of the deep?" repeated this kindly-hearted sailor.  "Ay, and
+there are dangers on the dry land as well.  Think of your terrible
+railway smashes, to say nothing, madam, of the tiles and chimney-pots
+that go flying about on a stormy day."
+
+Mrs Milvaine could not keep from smiling.
+
+But our wilful, wayward Harry had it all his own way, and three months
+after this he was treading the decks of a Royal Navy training ship, a
+bold and brisk-looking naval cadet.
+
+From the training ship, in good time, after having passed a very
+creditable examination indeed, he was duly entered into the grand old
+service.
+
+His first ship--if ship it could be called--was H.M. gunboat, the
+_Bunting_.
+
+Harry was going to a part of the world where he was bound soon to get
+the gilt rubbed off his dirk.
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER THREE.
+
+H.M. GUNBOAT "BUNTING" IN CHASE--A DARK NIGHT'S DISMAL WORK.
+
+It was a night of inky darkness.  All day it had been squally, with a
+more or less steady breeze blowing between each squall, and the sea had
+been greatly troubled; but now the wind had nearly fallen, the waves
+were crestless, foamless, but still they tossed and tumbled about so
+that the motion on board Her Majesty's gunboat the _Bunting_ was
+anything but an agreeable one.  There could be but little danger,
+however, for she was well off the land, pretty far out, indeed, in the
+Indian Ocean.
+
+Every now and then there was the growling of distant thunder; every now
+and then a bright flash of lurid lightning.  But between these flashes
+was a darkness that could be felt, and never a star was visible.  Nor
+could there be, for at sunset the clouds seemed a good mile thick.
+
+The _Bunting_ had been in chase most of the afternoon, but nightfall put
+an end to it.
+
+It was in the days--not so long ago--when Said Maja reigned Sultan of
+Zanzibar, and all the coast line from near Delagoa Bay in the south to
+beyond Bareda in the north was more or less his sea-board.  It was in
+the days when the slave trade in this strange wild city of the coast was
+flourishing in all its glory, the Sultan having liberty from our
+government to take slaves from any one portion of his dominions to
+another.  Hundreds of dhows, nay, but thousands, then covered that
+portion of the Indian Ocean which laves the forest shores of Eastern
+Africa.  They were either laden with slaves, or returning empty to fetch
+another cargo.
+
+Our cruisers boarded all they met, but it was but seldom one fell into
+our hands as a prize, for these cruel and reckless dealers in human
+flesh found no difficulty in obtaining a permit from the Sultan's
+ministers to carry on their inhuman traffic.  A bribe was all that was
+necessary, and the words, "Household slaves of H.M. the Sultan," in the
+certificate, were all that was necessary to set British law and British
+cruisers at defiance.
+
+These dhows were and are still manned and officered by Arabs--gentlemen
+Arabs they term themselves.  Many of these men are exceedingly handsome.
+I have often admired them in the slave market, both the old and the
+young.  Let me try to describe them:
+
+Here, then, is a young gentleman Arab, probably about twenty-five years
+of age.
+
+He wears a kind of gilded night-dress of snow-white linen, which reaches
+some distance below the knee; around the waist of this is a gilded and
+jewelled sword-belt, supporting a splendid sword, and probably jewelled
+pistols.  Over this linen garment may be a little jacket of crimson with
+gold braid, worn loose, and hardly visible, because over all is an
+immense flowing toga of camel's hair of some dark colour.  This is also
+worn open.
+
+On the head is a gigantic turban, gilded or even jewelled, and the naked
+feet are placed in beautiful sandals.
+
+He is very tall, lithe, wiry, and stately, and his face is goodly to
+behold, his nose being well chiselled, and mouth not large.
+
+His colour is usually white or brown, though sometimes black, and dark
+hair in beautiful ringlets, escaping from under the turban, flows down
+nearly to the waist.
+
+In his hand he bears a tall spear, on which he leans or touches the
+ground withal when walking, as a Highland mountaineer does with his long
+crook.
+
+The carriage and walk of this Arab is grace itself, and gives the
+individual a noble and majestic appearance, which it is difficult to
+describe.
+
+Except the Scottish costume, I know of no dress half so picturesque as
+that of the gentleman Arab and slave-owner.
+
+But here is an old gentleman.  Is he bent and decrepit?  Nay, but sturdy
+and stately as his son, he walks with the same bold grace, is dressed in
+the same fashion, keeps quite as firm a hold of his spear, and could
+draw his powerful sword and wield it with equal if not greater skill and
+agility.
+
+But his long beard and moustache are as white as the paper on which I am
+writing.  His brow is wrinkled, and the eyes that glint and glare from
+beneath the bushy eye-brows are as quick and fierce as those of a golden
+eagle.
+
+Those Arabs hate the English with a deadly hatred.  Even the sight of a
+blue-jacket makes them scowl.  I have passed--more than once--a doorway
+in Zanzibar, in which one of these men stood, and I have seen him gnash
+his teeth at the sight of my uniform, and finger his sword or knife,
+nervously, restlessly, as if he hardly could keep from plucking it out
+and plunging it into my heart.
+
+It was in pursuit of one of the dhows manned by such gentleman Arabs
+that the _Bunting_ had been all the previous afternoon.
+
+Had the wind fallen earlier, this dhow would soon have been a prize; but
+as it did not, she had shown them a clean pair of heels, and might now
+be anywhere.
+
+That she was a slaver without papers there was not a doubt, and well
+laden too, for she was deep in the water.
+
+I am going to make a terrible statement, but it is a true one, and if it
+only has the effect of causing even one of my readers to hate slavery
+half as much as I do, it will not be made in vain.
+
+Just then, as American traders in crossing the Atlantic, when a
+dangerous gale comes on, lighten the ship by throwing the cattle
+overboard, so, at times, do these gentleman Arabs lighten their dhows
+when chased.
+
+It is a terrible sight to see poor oxen hoisted up in straps with block
+and tackle and whirled into the storm-lashed ocean.  O God, how
+mournfully they moan, how they seem to plead for mercy!  That moan once
+heard can never, never be forgotten.
+
+The loading of a slave-ship is a terrible sight, but ah! the ruthless
+cruelty of lightening a dhow of slaves.  They are got up one by one or
+two by two.  Children, poor young girls and boys, are pitched screaming
+into the sea, probably to be devoured by sharks next moment.  And sharks
+speedily come to a feast of blood of this kind.
+
+But whether men or women--if they struggle, and sometimes whether they
+struggle or not--they are ruthlessly slain on the deck before being
+thrown overboard.  The knife across the neck is used for this terrible
+butchery.  I have been told by eye-witnesses, themselves prisoners, and
+expecting every minute that their turn would come, that the victims are
+handed on deck to those who do the work, and that these latter think
+less about it than a farm servant does of killing a fowl, sometimes
+laughing and joking with their companions the while; and if telling a
+story of any kind, they do not even permit the murder they are
+committing from interrupting their discourse for a single moment.
+
+It is far more unpleasant for me to write these lines than it can
+possibly be for any one to read them.
+
+"I think," said Mr Dewar, the navigating sub-lieutenant, as he entered
+the captain's cabin after a preliminary service tap at the door--"I
+think I've done all for the best, and done right, sir."
+
+"Well?" replied Captain Wayland--captain by courtesy, remember, for he
+really was but a first lieutenant by rank, though in command of the bold
+and saucy _Bunting_.  He was seated now in his beautiful little saloon,
+which was situated right aft, right abaft the gun-room or ward-room--the
+_Bunting_ had, of course, only one living deck, under that being the
+holds, and above it the main or upper deck, with no other covering
+except the sky, and now and then a sun awning.  This last was not only a
+luxury but a positive necessity in these seas, where the sun blisters
+the paint, causes the pitch in the seams to bubble and boil, and takes
+the skin as effectually off one's face as if a red-hot iron were passed
+over it.
+
+I have called Captain Wayland's quarters a beautiful little saloon.  So
+it was, but do not imagine, dear reader, that the Lords Commissioners of
+the Admiralty had anything to do with the decorating of it.  No, they
+supplied a table, cushioned lockers, and a few chairs, also cushioned,
+but so hot and clumsy that sitting on one was like sitting on a large
+linseed-meal poultice.
+
+Captain Wayland returned them to the dockyard, and bought himself others
+that could boast of elegance and comfort; he re-painted his saloon, too,
+and hung a few tasteful pictures in it and no end of curtains, to say
+nothing of a great punkah over the table, which was waving back and fore
+now, the propelling power being a little curly-headed nigger-boy who
+squatted in a far-off corner, string in hand.
+
+"Well, sir," replied Mr Dewar, in answer to the captain's single word
+of inquiry, "I've douced every glim."
+
+"In mercy's name," cried the captain, "do speak English, Mr Dewar!"
+
+"Well, sir, pardon me, I quite forgot myself, but really we've got into
+a slangy habit in the ward-room; the only one who does speak decent
+English is young Milvaine, and he is a Highland Scotchman."
+
+"Sit down," said the captain, "and have a glass of claret.  You'll find
+it good."
+
+"Raggy Muffin!" he continued, turning half round in his easy chair.
+
+The nigger-boy let go the punkah string and sprang to his feet.
+
+"Raggy Muffin stand befoh you, sah!" he said, bowing his towsie head.
+
+"Right, Raggy.  Now bring a bottle of claret."
+
+"Right you are, sah.  I fetchee he plenty quick."
+
+"And I'll bring myself to an anchor," said Mr Dewar, "and have a glass
+of grog with pleasure."
+
+Respect of person was not the crowning virtue of this warlike youth.
+
+The captain fidgeted uneasily.
+
+"Well, sir, I've douced--I mean I've put out all lights.  I have men in
+the chains--not that we're likely to fall in with shoal water here, you
+know--"
+
+"Oh, bother, you're right to be safe.  The _Wasp_ ran aground in about
+this same place.  Well, who's watch is it?"
+
+"Young Milvaine's."
+
+"Right, we're safe."
+
+Mr Dewar looked at Captain Wayland for a few moments.
+
+"You believe in that youngster, sir?" he asked.
+
+"I do.  He's faithful, bold, or rather brave--"
+
+"Yes, sir, he's as plucky as a bantam.  He thrashed big Crawford the
+first day he came on board.  Crawford has been good-natured ever since.
+He showed fine fighting form when we brushed against those Arabs above
+'Mbasa, and he jumped overboard, you know, and saved Raggy's life off
+the Quillimane river."
+
+"Raggy die some day for Massa Milvaine," put in the nigger-boy.
+
+"Hush, Raggy, when your betters are talking."
+
+"Raggy die all same, though," the boy persisted.
+
+"The young scamp will have the last word.  Yes, Mr Dewar, young
+Milvaine ought to have a medal for that; but, poor fellow, he won't,
+though I'm told there were sharks about by the dozen."
+
+"I saw it all," said young Dewar.  "It was my cap that fell off, just
+before we crossed the bar.  Raggy made a plunge for it, and over he
+went; Milvaine threw off his coat, and over he went.  The coolness of
+the beggar, too, amused me."
+
+"Don't say `beggar.'"
+
+"Well, `_fellow_.'  There was a basking shark in the offing, with its
+fin above the water, and a bird perching on it like a starling on the
+back of a sheep.  The cap--the very one I wear now, sir--was between
+this brute and Milvaine, but no sooner had he got Raggy--
+cockerty-koosie, as he called it--on his shoulder, than he swam away out
+and seized the cap with his teeth, then handed it to Raggy.  And the
+young monkey put it on, too.  We picked him up just in time, for the
+sharks looked hungry, and angry as well."
+
+Mr Dewar helped himself to another half-tumbler full of claret.
+
+"There is a wine-glass at your elbow," said the captain, with a mild
+kind of a smile.
+
+"Bother the wine-glass!" replied the middy.  "Pardon me, sir, but I'd
+have to fill it so often.  My dear Captain Wayland, there's no more pith
+and fooshion in this stuff than there is in sour buttermilk."
+
+The captain laughed outright.  Mr Dewar was an officer of a very old
+and obsolete type.
+
+"Why, my dear sir, that is my very best claret.  Claret Lagrange, Mr
+Dewar; I paid seventy-five shillings a dozen for it."
+
+"Raggy," he added; "bring the rum, Raggy."
+
+"Try a drop of that, then."
+
+"Ah! that indeed, captain," exclaimed Mr Dewar, with beaming eyes.
+"That's a drop o' real ship's."
+
+He was moderate, though, but he smacked his lips.  "I feel in famous
+form now," he said.  "I hope we'll come up with that rascally dhow
+before long.  With my good sword now, Captain Wayland, and a brace of
+colts, I think--"
+
+At this moment Midshipman Milvaine--our Harry--entered, cap in hand.
+
+He has greatly improved since we last saw him, almost a giant, with a
+bright and fearless eye and a most handsome face and agile figure.  His
+shoulders are square and broad.  He is very pliant in the waist; indeed,
+the body above the hips seems to move independent of hips or legs.
+Harry had now been four years in the service, and was but little over
+sixteen years of age.
+
+"Anything occurred, Mr Milvaine?"
+
+"Yes, sir, something is occurring, something terrible, murder or mutiny.
+The night is now very still, and the stars are out I can't see
+anything, but from away over yonder, two or three points off the port
+bow, there is fearful screaming, and I can even hear splashing in the
+water."
+
+Captain Wayland sprang up, so did young Dewar.
+
+"The scoundrels!" cried the former.  "It is the dhow.  They are
+lightening ship to get away from us with the morning breeze."
+
+"Mr Milvaine," he added, hurriedly, "we'll go to quarters.  Do not
+sound the bugle.--Let all be done quietly.  Keep her, Mr Milvaine,
+straight for the sounds you hear, and tell the engineers to go ahead at
+full speed."
+
+"The moon will rise in half an hour," said Harry.
+
+"Thank Heaven for that," was the captain's reply.
+
+For the boats of a small ship like the _Bunting_ to board a heavily
+armed fighting dhow like the one they had been giving chase to, is no
+mean exploit even by day: by night such an adventure requires both tact
+and skill and determination as well.
+
+But the thing has been done before, and it was going to be tried again
+now.
+
+The captain himself went on deck.
+
+There was already a faint glimmer of light from the rising moon on the
+south-eastern sky.
+
+But the sea was all as silent as the grave; there was the rattling of
+the revolving screw and the noise of the rushing, bubbling, lapping
+waves as the vessel cleaved her way through them.  Further than this,
+for the space of many minutes, sound there was none.
+
+"In what direction did you say you heard the cries?" asked Captain
+Wayland of young Harry Milvaine.
+
+"We are steering straight for it now, sir, and--"
+
+Suddenly he was interrupted.  From a point still a little on the port
+bow, and apparently a mile distant, came a series of screams, so
+mournful, so pleading, so pitiful, as almost to freeze one's blood.
+
+"Ah-h!  Oh-h-h!  Oh!  Oh!  Oo-oo-ok!"
+
+The last cry was wildly despairing, and cut suddenly short, as I have
+tried to describe, by the letters "ok."
+
+A moment or two afterwards there came across the water the sound of a
+plash, and next minute there was a repetition of the dreadful yells and
+cries.
+
+The captain took two or three hasty turns up and down the deck.  He was
+a very humane and kindly-hearted officer.
+
+"I hardly know what to do for the best," he said.
+
+"Suppose, sir," replied Mr Dewar, whom he seemed to be addressing, "we
+fire a gun to let her know we are near?"
+
+"No," replied the captain; "there is still wind enough, and time enough,
+for her to escape in the dark.  We'll keep on yet a short time.  Stand
+by to lower the boats.  They are already armed?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Escape in the dark!" muttered the captain to himself through his set
+teeth.  "Dark indeed will be the work as soon as our lads get on board
+of this fiend's ship."
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+LIFE IN A GUNBOAT--THE CAPTAIN'S BIRTHDAY.
+
+Mr Dewar had charge of the first cutter, Mr Mavers, sub-lieutenant, of
+the second, and Harry himself commanded the whaler.
+
+These were all the boats told off for the fight, about five-and-thirty
+men all told.
+
+Five-and-thirty men?  Yes, but they were five-and-thirty
+broad-shouldered British blue-jackets, armed with cutlass and revolver.
+And what is it, pray, that blue-jackets will not dare, ay, and _do_ as
+well as dare?
+
+Even Dr Scott and the other officers had left their swords behind them,
+preferring the ship's cutlass.
+
+Every man had stripped to the waist before starting, for the night was
+sultry and hot.
+
+The boats were silently lowered before they came in sight of the dhow,
+therefore before the dhow could see the _Bunting_.
+
+With muffled oars, nearer and nearer they sweep to the spot from whence
+the sounds proceed.
+
+The whaler, being lighter, well-manned and well-steered by Harry, took
+the lead.
+
+The _Bunting_ came slowly on after the boats.
+
+But behold! the latter are seen from the dhow's decks, and lights spring
+up at once, and a rattling volley flies harmlessly over the heads of our
+advancing heroes.  At the same time it is evident that boarding-nets are
+being quickly placed along the bulwarks of the slaver.
+
+In a few minutes the whaler is at the bows of the dhow.  This was
+unprotected by netting, and low in the water, for the vessel was deep.
+Harry was the first to spring on board, followed instantly by his
+fellows.
+
+He speedily parried an ugly thrust made at his throat by a spear, and
+next moment his assailant fell on his face with a gash on his neck and
+his life's blood welling away.  For a few seconds this part of the dhow
+bristled with spears, and one or two of Harry's men succumbed to the
+lunges and fell to the deck.
+
+But the Arabs retreated before the charge, fighting for every inch of
+deck, however.
+
+Meanwhile the cutters were boarding.  They were cutters in more ways
+than one, for they had not only to defend themselves against
+spear-lunging, but to slash through the netting.
+
+A bright white light now gleamed over the dhow's deck.  The _Bunting_
+was nearly alongside, and burning lights.
+
+It was well this was so, for on the deck of that slave dhow stood fully
+seventy as brave Arabs as ever drew a sword or carried a spear.
+
+They went down before our blue-jackets, nevertheless, in twos and
+threes.  The modern colt is a glorious weapon when held in a cool hand
+and backed by a steady eye.
+
+Their very numbers told against these Arabs, but they fought well and
+desperately, for they were fighting with the pirate-rope around their
+necks.  Arab dhows who fire on our British cruisers are treated as
+pirates, and, when taken red-handed, have a short shrift and a long
+drop.
+
+That they fought with determined courage cannot be gainsaid--gentlemen
+Arabs always do--but they have not the bull-dog pluck of our fellows.
+They cannot hang on, so to speak; they lack what is technically called
+"stay."  Nor were they fighting in a good cause, and they knew it.
+
+They knew or felt that they could not, if killed, walk straight from
+that blood-slippery battle-deck into the paradise of Mahomed.
+
+Add to this that their weapons were far inferior to ours.  Their spears
+were easily shivered, and even their swords; while their pistols could
+scarcely be called arms of precision.
+
+So after a brave but ineffectual attempt to stem the wild, stern rush of
+our British blue-jackets, they fell back towards the poop, so huddled
+together that the fire of our men riddled two at a time.  They finally
+sought refuge in the poop saloon, and even down below among the
+remainder of those poor trembling slaves who had not been butchered or
+forced to walk the plank.
+
+Many were driven overboard, or preferred the deadly plunge into the
+ocean to falling into the hands of the British.
+
+The captain surrendered his sword, standing by the mainmast.  He was a
+tall and somewhat swarthy Arab, and spoke good English.
+
+"Slay me now, if so minded, you infidel dogs," he shouted, "or keep me
+to satiate your revenge?"
+
+Meanwhile, up rose the moon--a vermilion moon--a moon that seemed to
+stain all the waves with long quivering ribbons of blood, and the
+shadows of the two ships were cast darkling on the water far to the
+west.
+
+A wretched half-caste Arab was found skulking under the poop, and
+dragged forth by one of the _Bunting's_ men.  He had _not_ been in the
+fight, yet he had a most terrible appearance.
+
+He was very black and ferocious-looking, dressed only in one white
+cotton garment, with a rope for a girdle, from which dangled an ugly
+knife.
+
+This fiend in human form was dabbled in blood; his face, hands, bare
+arms, and all the front of his garment were wet with gore.  He had been
+the butcher of the innocent slaves.
+
+He was dragged forth and dragged forward, but suddenly, with an
+unearthly yell, he sprang from the sailor's grasp, and next moment had
+leapt into the sea.
+
+He was watched for a few moments swimming quickly away from the ship,
+then a strange commotion was seen near him, and the wretch threw up his
+arms and disappeared.
+
+He had been dragged under by the sharks.
+
+It is through no love of the sensational I pen these lines, reader, nor
+describe the capture of this blood-stained dhow.  The story is almost
+from the life, and I deem it not wrong that my young readers should know
+something of the horrors of the slave trade.
+
+Two hundred living slaves were found in the hold of the dhow, many dead
+were among the living, and many dying.  And it will never be known in
+this world how many poor creatures were butchered or thrown overboard to
+lighten the ship.
+
+The vessel was condemned at Zanzibar, and taken away out to sea and set
+on fire.  Nothing was taken out of her except a few shields and spears
+that the men got by way of curios.  She was simply burned, and sank
+hissing and flaming beneath the waves.
+
+The slaves were liberated.  Well, even their liberty was something.  But
+that would not restore them their far-off happy homes amid the wild and
+beautiful scenery in the African interior: no, nor restore them their
+friends and kindred.  Henceforward they must languish in a foreign land.
+
+"What became of the captain of the dhow?"  I fancy I hear some of my
+readers ask.  Have I not, I reply, given you horrors enough in this
+chapter?  But, nevertheless, I will tell you.  He and five others were
+hanged.  This end was at all events less revolting than an Arab
+execution as sometimes carried out.  Fancy five political offenders tied
+hand and foot, and placed on their backs all in a row in the prison
+yard, an Arab executioner with a sharp sword leisurely stepping from one
+to another and half-beheading them!
+
+It was a very lovely morning.  Harry came on the quarter-deck just as a
+great gun was fired from the bows of the _Bunting_; making every window
+in the front part of the town rattle, and multiplying its echo among the
+distant coral islands.  That gun told the condemned men that their day
+had come.
+
+"What a lovely morning!" said Harry to Mavers, who was leaning over the
+bows, looking seaward and eastward where the sun was silvering a broad
+belt of long rippling wavelets.
+
+"Charming," replied Mavers; "but bother it all, Milvaine, old man, I
+fell asleep last night thinking about those poor beggars that have to
+die this morning."
+
+"So did I," said Harry, "and I dreamt about them."
+
+"You see," continued Mavers, "it is one thing dying sword in hand on a
+battle-deck, and another being coolly hanged.  But notwithstanding,
+Milvaine, don't let us fall into the blues over the matter; the villains
+richly deserve their fate."
+
+"Yes," he added, after a pause, "it is a lovely morning.  What a
+beautiful world it would be if there was neither sin nor sorrow in it!"
+
+The doctor joined them.  He was a young man of a somewhat poetical
+temperament, curiously blended with an intense love for anatomy and
+post-mortems, and a very good fellow on the whole.
+
+"Talking about the condemned criminals?  Eh?" he said.  Then he laughed
+such a happy laugh.
+
+"I'm going to post-mortem them.  Will you come and see the operation?"
+
+"Horrible--no!"
+
+"Oh, it is all for the good of science.  Shall I describe it?"
+
+"No, no, no?" cried Harry.
+
+"Then come below to breakfast, boys."
+
+"Why," said Mavers, "you've almost taken away my appetite."
+
+"And mine too," said Harry Milvaine.
+
+"Stay," exclaimed the doctor, "I will restore it.  Listen."
+
+He threw himself into an attitude as he spoke.
+
+  "Sweetly, oh, sweetly the morning breaks
+              With roseate streaks,
+  Like the first faint blush on a maiden's cheeks.
+  Alas! that ever so fair a sun
+  As that which its course has now begun
+  Should gild with rays, so light and free,
+  That dismal dark-frowning gallows-tree."
+
+"I'm not sure," said Mavers, laughing, "that you haven't made matters
+worse.  But come along, we'll go below, anyhow."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The _Bunting_, as her name implies, was only a little bit of a gunboat,
+but to the slave-dealing dhows she became the scourge of the seas in the
+Indian Ocean, all the way south from Delagoa Bay, to Brava and Magadoxa
+in the north.
+
+She was always appearing where least expected, sometimes far out at sea,
+at other times inland on rivers or wooded creeks.  She could sail as
+well as any dhow, and that is saying a good deal, and she could steam
+well also.
+
+Many a prize fell to her lot, many a cutting-out expedition the boats
+had, and right bravely they did their work.  So the prize money that
+would fall to the share of even the ordinary seamen when the commission
+was completed, would be rather more than a trifle.
+
+On Saturday nights, when, after dancing for a time to the merry tunes
+the doctor played on his fiddle, the sailors would assemble round the
+fo'c's'le to smoke their pipes and quaff the modest drop of rum they had
+saved to toast their sweethearts and wives in, they might be heard
+building castles in the air as to what they would do with their prize
+money.
+
+Perhaps the conversation would be somewhat as follows:--
+
+"I'm going to pour all my prize money into my old mother's lap straight
+away as soon as I gets it."
+
+"Ah! well, Jack, you _have_ a mother, I hain't, but I'll give mine to my
+Soosie.  My eye! maties, but she's a slick fine lass.  Talk about a
+figure!  Soosie's is the finest ever you saw.  Blow'd if two arms would
+meet round her waist, fact I tells ye, mates.  I've seen a
+rye-nosser-oss with not 'arf so fine a figure as Soosie's got."
+
+"But," another would say, "I'm going to keep all my prize money in the
+bank till I serves my time out in the service; then I'll take a
+public-house."
+
+"That's my ambition too, Bill."
+
+"Yes, and ain't it a proper ambition too?"
+
+"That it be."
+
+"And if ever any of you old chums drops round to see Jack behind his bar
+counter--ahem! my eye! maties, won't I be glad to see you just!  Won't I
+get out the longest clay pipe in the shanty, and the best nigger head!
+And won't I draw ye a drop o' summut as will make all the 'air on your
+'eads stand straight up like a frightful porkeypine's!  And maybe there
+won't be much to pay for it either?"
+
+It will be noted from the above conversation that the aims in life of
+the British man-o'-war sailor are seldom of a very exalted character.
+
+But even in the little ward-room prize money was not altogether left out
+of count in conversation on Saturday nights.
+
+"I believe," said the doctor once, "I shall have over a thousand pounds
+when I get home.  I think I'll cut the service, buy a shore practice,
+and settle down."
+
+"Bah!" cried Mavers, "you're too old a sailor for that, Mr Sawbones.
+Don't talk twaddle.  Take out your old fiddle and give us a tune."
+
+The worthy medico never required two biddings to make him obey a behest
+like this.
+
+Out would come the violin, and his messmates would speedily be in
+dreamland as they listened; for the doctor played well on that king of
+instruments.
+
+Songs were sure to follow, during which very often the door would open,
+and there would be seen standing smiling the captain himself.
+
+You may be sure that room was speedily made for him, and so these happy
+evenings would pass away till eight bells (twelve o'clock) rang out
+Ding-ding, ding-ding, ding-ding, ding-ding--that is the way they went,
+and this warned every one it was time to turn in.
+
+The _Bunting_ could not be said to be a very well-found ship, as far as
+the officers' mess was concerned.  There is as much difference usually
+between the mess in a gunboat and a flagship as between that of a humble
+cottage and a lord mayor's mansion.
+
+So the _Buntings_, as the other ships called them, roughed it rather.
+They _could_ have bought nice things about big towns like the city of
+the Cape, or even at Zanzibar, but they had only the ship's cook, and
+the steward was a half-caste Portuguese, whose only strong point was an
+excellent curry, into which, however, he often slipped more garlic that
+was palatable to English tastes.
+
+For three more years the _Bunting_ carried it with a high hand among the
+slavers on the Eastern coast.  Even Harry himself now began to long for
+home, and to see his dear mother and father again.
+
+Letters came but about once in three months, and the mail never failed
+to bring Harry a bundle that kept him reading for a week, because he
+read them all over and over again, put them aside for days, took them
+out once more, and again read them.
+
+His old friend Andrew's letters were always comical, and his
+good-natured, simple face invariably rose up before our hero's mind's
+eye as he perused them.
+
+Even his old dominie did not forget Harry.  By almost every mail now the
+_Buntings_ expected a letter from their lordships ordering them home.
+
+It came at last, and, strange to say, it came on.  Captain Wayland's
+birthday.
+
+"Putting both events together, boys," said the doctor to his messmates,
+"I really don't think we can do better than invite the skipper to
+dinner."
+
+"Good?" cried Harry.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried another.
+
+"Steward!" cried Dewar.
+
+"Ess, sir; Ise here, sir."
+
+"Well, come here, you dingy son of a Portuguese cook."
+
+The steward threw his apron over his left shoulder and entered from the
+steerage.
+
+"Can you give us a ripping good feed to-night, and have it all on the
+table smart at half-past six?"
+
+"Let me see, sir," said the steward, placing a forefinger on the corner
+of his mouth and looking profoundly wise.  "What I would propose, sir,
+would be diss ting."
+
+"Well?--out with it."
+
+"Der is French Charlie on shore here."
+
+The ship, by the bye, was lying off the Sultan's Palace, in the
+roadstead at Zanzibar.
+
+"Yes--French Charlie?"
+
+"Well, sir, he cook one excellent dinner, and wait too; and myself, sir,
+vill make de curry."
+
+"Very well, steward, but mind this, if there be one-sixth of a grain of
+garlic in the whole boiling of it, you shall swing at the yard's arm."
+
+"Ver goot, sir."
+
+"Now, off with you on shore, and give your orders.  Don't forget to be
+off in time.  Take the dingy and bring off quickly a boat-load of
+flowers and green stuff."
+
+Mr Dewar was just as quick at work as he was with his tongue and sword,
+and both of the latter, it was universally allowed, he could make the
+best of.
+
+He was ably supported on this occasion by the whole strength of the
+mess, including Simmonds, the clerk--they were but five in all--and the
+engineer himself.
+
+The captain cheerfully accepted the invitation, and proposed to the
+surgeon that forward in the course of the evening they should splice the
+main-brace.
+
+The doctor assented with alacrity, and the ship's stores thus expended
+were afterwards put down as sick-bay comforts.
+
+The steward was off in good time, with foliage and flowers.  Then a huge
+awning was rigged on deck, and lined with flags and candles stuck amidst
+the flowers, and branching bayonets and cutlasses.
+
+The steward did his duty nobly; so did French Charlie.
+
+For once there smoked on the tables of the _Bunting_ a banquet that the
+Sultan himself would have enjoyed.
+
+The toast of the evening, after the loyal ones, was of course Captain
+Wayland; and that gentleman replied in the neatest little speech that
+had ever been heard on the deck of a man-o'-war.
+
+The dessert on the table deserves especial notice.  No place in the
+world can vie with Zanzibar for its fruit, and here were samples of
+probably a score of different sorts, almost unknown in England.  The
+pine-apples were especially delightful, appealing to eye, to scent, and
+taste all at once.  But probably the king of fruits was the mango.  If
+this is indeed Eve's apple, one can hardly wonder our first parent fell.
+The trees these grow on in the forest of this beautiful isle of the sea
+are a picture.  Fancy an enormous chestnut with its branches weighted to
+the ground with fragrant fruit somewhat like peaches, but each as big as
+a cocoanut!
+
+The sides of the deck-tent were decorated with flowers, but on the table
+itself stood the choicest of all.  Shall I describe them?  I cannot,
+for--
+
+  Here my muse her wings must cower,
+  'Twere far indeed beyond her power
+  To praise enough e'en one sweet flower.
+
+When dessert had been done moderate justice to, then the end of the
+curtain was drawn aside, the steward brought up the "sick-bay comforts,"
+and in due form the main-brace was spliced; and every man as he raised
+the cup to his lips wished long life and prosperity to their jolly
+captain.
+
+After this there was a wild hurrah! and in the very midst of it the
+doctor started playing.
+
+Well, some of my readers may have seen sham sailors dancing on the
+stage.  But never on any stage is such wild footing witnessed as that
+which graces the deck of a man-of-war on a night like the present.
+
+But everything has an end.  The men retired at last to the bows and
+fo'c's'le to talk of home and spin yarns till long past midnight.
+
+Meanwhile the officers once more surrounded the festive board, and after
+a few songs story-telling commenced.
+
+As one at least of the yarns spun was not devoid of humour, I do not
+think I need apologise for repeating it.
+
+It was the doctor's yarn.
+
+He helped himself to an orange and a mango and a handful of nuts and
+raisins, to pare, to eat, to crack, and to pick, because the truth is
+the doctor was a Scotchman, and Scotchmen never talk half so well as
+when they are doing something, if it be only whittling a stick.
+
+"Ahem!" began the doctor, clearing his throat.
+
+"Attention, gentlemen," said Mr Dewar, the president.
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE SURGEON'S YARN.
+
+"You must know, then," said Dr Scott, "that though I do not vouch for
+the absolute truth of this story, the reason is that I was not myself
+one of the actors therein.  But I have it on what I call indisputable
+authority, for old Brackenbury, who is the principal hero, told it to me
+one evening in his little place down in sunny Devonshire.  And I do not
+believe that Brackenbury ever told an untrue tale in his life.
+
+"A funny old fellow was Brackenbury, and it seemed to me that he must
+always have been old--must have been _born_ old.  He wasn't a handsome
+man, nor had he a pretty face; his nearest and dearest wouldn't have
+said he had.  Yet, gentlemen, it is truly wonderful what a change for
+the better the play of a good-natured smile throws over even the
+plainest countenance.  And Brackenbury used to smile from his very
+heart.  Then he had such honest, truthful eyes that you couldn't have
+helped liking the man.
+
+"But to my tale, as Burns says.
+
+"Goodness knows how long ago it is, but Brackenbury was then about in
+his prime, and commanded a fine vessel, that, after discharging a mixed
+cargo at Sydney, was ordered on a kind of a mixed cruise round to San
+Francisco, which was only a small village then, but had the gold fever
+rampant.  Here he had to take on board specie, with a gentleman as
+supercargo.  They were then to slip southwards along the western shores
+of South America, calling at Callao for goods from Lima, and so onwards
+round the Horn and home.
+
+"I don't think that Brackenbury and the supercargo, Mr O'Brady, liked
+each other over much.  There was a natural jealousy between them.
+Brackenbury looked upon O'Brady as a kind of spy on his actions, and
+O'Brady didn't like Brackenbury's airs, as he was pleased to call them.
+
+"Never mind, they were shipmates and messmates, and they settled down
+together as well as they could.
+
+"Lima was in those days a hot place, socially speaking, but Brackenbury
+and his supercargo found themselves most hospitably treated.  There was
+one tall, dark, handsome gentleman, called Pedro Dolosa, whom they
+frequently met at dinner-parties, who used to smoke much with them and
+hob-nob in the cool verandahs after dessert.  He took to them very much
+apparently, and they were both flattered by his attention, for was he
+not a count, Le Comte Pedro de Dolosa?  That was his tally complete.
+
+"Brackenbury opened his heart to him; O'Brady was jealous, and opened
+his heart still more wide to Le Comte Pedro de Dolosa; and these two old
+fools did what they had no right to do--they told this strange count
+what their cargo was.
+
+"However, the _Adelaide_ left Callao at last, and after encountering a
+gale that blew them a long way out of their course, they lost their
+reckoning; but one day they found themselves pretty close to the shore
+again, and, the weather being now fine, they managed to find out their
+whereabouts.
+
+"They were south the line, and on a lovely coast.
+
+"`I move,' said Brackenbury, `that we enjoy ourselves a bit; I'm fond of
+shooting and botany.'
+
+"`So am I,' replied O'Brady.
+
+"Now more than once they had seen a very pretty little yacht careering
+about, as if watching them, but they had no suspicion of anything like
+foul play.
+
+"It was seen again and again after this, but when one day it stood away
+in through an island-bound creek--
+
+"`I'll bet a penny,' said Brackenbury, `that that is some English lord
+out on the sport; what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,
+let's follow him.'
+
+"`Agreed,' said O'Brady.
+
+"And so they did.
+
+"They soon found themselves in an unusually romantic spot.  A little bay
+it was, with a native village at the head of it, which looked imposing
+as seen from the sea.  Then there was a beautiful river meandering down
+through a well-wooded, rolling valley, and far inland were hills and
+mountains.
+
+"The yacht lay there at anchor, but she had hoisted Spanish colours.
+Next morning at breakfast--
+
+"`I feel unusually young this morning,' said Brackenbury.
+
+"`So do I,' replied O'Brady.  `It's the air, I suppose, but I do feel as
+gay as a lark.'
+
+"`Suppose we have a little lark, then, all by ourselves up in this
+valley--eh?  What say?  A kind of private picnic?'
+
+"`Is it safe?'
+
+"`Yes, safe as anything.  We'll take a few blue-jackets with us and a
+big hamper.'
+
+"`Well, I'm with you,' said O'Brady, briskly.
+
+"The spot looked so sweetly peaceful.  Who could ever have dreamed that
+danger lurked in those lovely woods?  The whole scene was more like one
+in our own delightful Devonshire than in the wilds of South America.
+
+"Nor had the usual crowd of boats surrounded the vessel, and when the
+gig from the _Adelaide_ landed the supercargo and captain, so well clad
+were the natives, and so peaceful did they seem, that Brackenbury felt
+half inclined to apologise to them for his armed escort.
+
+"Two padres met them and saluted, and when told the errand that had
+brought them on shore, at once agreed to escort them to the head of the
+valley, where, the padres assured their illustrious visitors, there was
+the finest scenery in the world.  This interpreter was a tall Chilian, a
+by-no-means prepossessing fellow either.  He was enveloped in a kind of
+blanket cloak, carried a pole in his hand, and wore a broad,
+peak-crowned sombrero of very greasy straw.  His pointed beard and long
+black locks were greasy also.  In fact he was altogether grim and
+greasy, and his speech was too oily to be pleasant.
+
+"The coach that the padres had provided was apparently about a hundred
+years old, but the four horses attached to it seemed fit for anything.
+
+"They took their seats at last, the padres crowded in beside them, and
+the great hamper was put up on top, the Chilian interpreter sat down
+beside the driver, and away they rumbled and rattled.
+
+"Rumbled?  Yes, rumbled; that is the exact word.  Brackenbury and
+O'Brady had never got such a shaking and jolting before.  But the higher
+up the valley the coach went, the grander grew the scenery.  Every now
+and then at a turn of the road, away beneath them they caught glimpses
+of the green glen basking in the summer sunshine, the river gliding
+through it like a silver thread, falling at last into the bright blue
+bay, where lay the ship with its little white boats floating peacefully
+astern.
+
+"But the scene grew wilder still, and oh! what a wealth of woodland
+beauty was all around them, covering the tops of the round hills,
+climbing halfway up the sides of precipitous mountains, clinging over
+cliffs and waterfalls, and fringing lovely lakes, the water of which was
+so pellucid that the sandy bottom was seen yards and yards from the
+shore.
+
+"Anon the coach would plunge into a wood of pines and mimosa, draped in
+the most gorgeous of creeping flowers, while down beneath lovely
+snow-white heather showed in charming contrast to the mantle of scarlet
+and green, that half hid the sun from them.
+
+"It was well into the afternoon before the coach drew up at the ruins of
+an ancient monastery, and our pleasure-seekers descended.  Close by was
+a splendid waterfall; it came foaming down from a precipice in a gorge,
+and descended past them into a gloomy pool that looked dark as midnight,
+so far beneath was it.
+
+"But the thunders of the falling cataract shook the ground on which the
+two sailors stood gazing almost awestruck.  Far beneath was a forest
+glen that bore terrible evidence to the fury of a recent storm.
+
+"And now the lunch was spread on the green grass, and the padres waxed
+quite merry over it.  O'Brady had never seen priests drink wine before,
+as these fellows did, and he now began to entertain a suspicion that
+they were not quite what they pretended to be.  He could not now help
+wondering at their own folly in trusting themselves so far inland
+without having brought the blue-jackets to protect them.
+
+"`Why,' said Brackenbury, starting up at last, `the sun is almost
+setting.  We must be going.  Where are the horses?'
+
+"`The horses,' cried the Chilian, suddenly showing a pistol, `are round
+the corner, and our way now lies up the valley.'
+
+"Both Brackenbury and O'Brady attempted to draw revolvers, but were
+immediately surrounded and disarmed by a crowd of cut-throat Chilians,
+who sprang from a neighbouring thicket.
+
+"`What means this indignity?' shouted Brackenbury, purple with rage.
+
+"`It means, gentlemen,' said the Chilian, `dat you are now de preesoners
+of Le Comte Pedro de Dolosa.'
+
+"`Pedro de Dolosa!' cried O'Brady, aghast.  `Curses on our folly! we are
+ruined men!  This count is a bandit.'
+
+"`Your master shall live to rue this outrage!' cried Brackenbury, as he
+and his companion, with cords around their wrists, were dragged away and
+thrust into the carriage.
+
+"Their companions, the two sham padres, had now quite altered in their
+bearing towards their prisoners.  They talked and laughed with each
+other, and although neither Brackenbury nor O'Brady knew the exact
+meaning of the words, their looks and smiles of derision were easily
+enough translated.
+
+"At sunset the carriage stopped, and the villainous-looking interpreter
+informed the two officers that they were already in bed, and must remain
+there all night.
+
+"So they made the best of a bad job and slumbered away in their
+respective corners till daylight.  If ever during the night any thought
+of escape rose in their minds, one glance out at the carriage windows,
+where the vigilant and fierce-looking armed sentries stood statue-like
+in the starlight, was enough to banish it.
+
+"The journey was resumed at daybreak, and continued without intermission
+until they arrived at this very place.  Here the carriage was stopped,
+and they were ordered to descend.
+
+"Standing like an equestrian statue at the edge of the forest was a
+tall, dark, armed man on horseback.  As soon as the officers alighted he
+rode forward, and, taking off his sombrero, bowed until his face almost
+touched his splendid horse's mane.
+
+"The face was Dolosa's.
+
+"`Is it really yourself, then, you robber chief?' cried the bold captain
+of the _Adelaide_.
+
+"`It is I,' was the answer--`Le Comte Pedro de Dolosa.  But let me
+advise you to study civility while in my power.  We know not the meaning
+of the term robber chief.  Beware how you provoke me!'
+
+"All the horses were now taken out of the carriage, except one.  This
+was blindfolded and led to the very brink of the terrible precipice.
+Then a shout was raised, the whip descended with force across the poor
+doomed animals' flanks, they made a plunge forward, and next moment
+carriage and all had disappeared.
+
+"Dolosa turned laughingly round to his prisoners.
+
+"`Now, gentlemen,' he said, `you see what has happened; I'm sorry to
+inform you, you will have to walk all the rest of the way to my little
+cottage among the mountains.  Good-bye, my men will see you safe.'
+
+"And away rode the robber chief.
+
+"`What does the destruction of the carriage mean, I wonder?' said
+O'Brady.
+
+"`Without doubt,' replied Brackenbury, `it is to put our fellows off the
+scent.'
+
+"Brackenbury was right for once in his lifetime.
+
+"The march inland was soon resumed by the officers and their captors.  A
+little distance farther on and the road ended in a series of narrow
+footpaths, like the tracks of deer or other wild animals.  These led in
+different directions into the forest, and one was chosen by the leader
+of the band.  They walked in single file, and care was apparently taken
+to destroy all trail.
+
+"All that day the journey was continued, through jungle and forest,
+across streams, and up through dreary glens, till, as night fell, they
+found themselves at the gate of an ancient wall.  It was opened to admit
+them, and immediately re-closed with a ponderous bang.
+
+"In a quarter of an hour afterwards they were issued into a kind of
+armoury, and thence into a lofty and well-lighted supper-room.
+
+"Tired and weary from wandering in forest wilds, here had they arrived,
+and suddenly found themselves plunged into the very midst of luxury of
+_every_ imaginable kind.  A room with gilded cornices and hand-painted
+roof, carpets soft as cushions, furniture as chaste and refined as
+modern art could produce, servants in livery to wait on them, and a
+supper-table laid out with viands the most tempting, and wines from
+every part of the world.
+
+"They fell to like wise and hungry men, and did justice to the good
+things set before them.
+
+"They supped alone, the count never appeared.
+
+"After a few hours a servant came to conduct them to their bed-chamber,
+and they followed him in silence.
+
+"The servant was as silent as they were.
+
+"He showed them the room, pointed to the beds, and left them in the
+dark.
+
+"This wasn't pleasant, nor was it pleasant to hear the key turned in the
+door.
+
+"But there was no help for it."
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE SURGEON'S YARN CONTINUED--THE PLEASANT HOME OF A ROBBER CHIEF--FACE
+TO FACE WITH DEATH.
+
+"The poet Daniel calls sleep `son of the sable night,' and brother to
+Death.
+
+  "`Care charmer sleep, son of the sable night,
+  Brother to Death, in silent darkness born.'
+
+"I might add that sleep is also the brother to sorrow and care, and a
+kind and gentle brother he is.
+
+"No sooner had Captain Brackenbury and his supercargo, O'Brady, been
+shown to their apartment on that memorable night, and left in the dark,
+than--
+
+"`Well, Brackenbury,' said O'Brady, `here's a nice wind-up to a windy
+day.  But I vote we make the best of a bad job.  I'm dog-tired and as
+sleepy as an old owl.  I'm going to turn in, even if I have to turn out
+in the morning to get my head taken off.'
+
+"`So shall I,' replied Brackenbury.  `But what an uncivil brute of a
+black servant that is!  Why, he might as well have left the light!'
+
+"`No doubt he's acting according to orders, my friend,' said O'Brady.
+`And duty is duty, of course, on board a ship or out of it.'
+
+"`Oh yes,' Brackenbury acquiesced, `duty is duty, as you say.  But can
+you find the head of your bed?'
+
+"`Yes, mine is towards the fireplace, and yours is towards the door.'
+
+"`Good-night,' said Brackenbury.
+
+"`Umph!' grunted O'Brady, for he was all but asleep already.
+
+"`Hark!' cried Brackenbury, a few minutes after.  `Are you asleep,
+O'Brady?'
+
+"`No, I'm listening.  Hush!'
+
+"Had anyone come into the apartment with a light just then, they would
+have seen both men sitting bolt upright in bed, with not only their
+eyes, but even their mouths open.
+
+"`I heard footsteps in the passage,' hissed Brackenbury; `they surely
+can't be going to hang us to-night!'
+
+"His voice was somewhat shaky.
+
+"`Hang us! no!  Nonsense, Brackenbury!  Dolosa knows much better than to
+hang us.  You're not afraid, are you?'
+
+"`Hark!' was the reply; `but now I heard a whisper.  It seems in the
+room.  Sure you locked the door?  You see, O'Brady, that with a sword in
+my hand, in daylight, and with my foot on my own quarter-deck, I'm fit
+for anything.  But I'm not a rat, jigger me if I am.  I believe Dolosa
+would do anything.  Now those monster niggers of his, what would hinder
+half a dozen of them from smothering us, time about, with a feather-bed?
+Ugh! fancy a feather-bed on top of you, and half a dozen hulking black
+murderers on top o' that.  Ugh, I say!'
+
+"The sound of whispering and of footsteps had ceased, but both officers
+still sat up, straining their ears.
+
+"O'Brady laughed low.  `Bedad, Brackenbury, it wouldn't take half a
+dozen hulking niggers to cook your goose.  I guess two would do it,
+bedad, I do; _Honolulu_!'  The last word was almost shrieked.
+
+"`Goodness be near us!' cried Brackenbury, now fairly chattering with
+fear.  `What _is_ the matter, my friend?'
+
+"`My hand,' replied O'Brady, `was lying over the edge of the bed, and a
+cold nose touched it.  Egad!  Brackenbury, it did give me the shivers!'
+
+"`Hullo!' cried Brackenbury next.  `What's this?  Murder!  Police!
+Guard!  Fire!' he roared.
+
+"Then Captain Brackenbury became suddenly quiet.
+
+"`What is it at all, at all?  Speak, friend, speak!  Are the niggers
+killing you?  Have they smothered you alive?  Are you dead entirely?
+Speak, then!'
+
+"But his friend did not answer immediately; when he did reply, O'Brady
+was more puzzled than ever, and would have given a whole month's pay for
+a farthing box of matches, or half a second's light from a purser's dip,
+just to see what his companion in darkness and misery was about.
+
+"`My pretty darling, then,' Brackenbury was saying, in a fond and
+wheedling voice.  `Come into my arms, then, you cosy-mosy little pet.
+Now, now then, now then, now!'
+
+"`Brackenbury,' cried O'Brady, `what _are_ you saying?  Is it leave of
+your seven senses you're taking?  Have the trials of the day been too
+much for you?  Or is it asleep and dreaming you are?'
+
+"`Ha! ha! ha!' laughed the captain.  `'Pon my soul, O'Brady, I'm
+astonished at _you_, being afraid of a mongoose.  Ha! ha! ha!'
+
+"`A mongoose! eh?  What?  Who's afraid?' spluttered O'Brady.
+
+"`Yes, a mongoose!  That was the cold nose you felt.  It jumped on top
+of my bed, it is now nestling round my neck.  Darling, then, pretty
+pet!'
+
+"`Very well explained,' said the old captain, `very well indeed.  Quite
+accounts for the milk in the cocoanut.  Good-night--good-night!'
+
+"Both awoke at the same moment next morning, sat up in their beds--
+facing each other--and rubbed their eyes.  They gave one glance up at
+the tall window, through which the sunlight was streaming in
+many-coloured rays, then rubbed their eyes, then looked at each other
+again.
+
+"`I couldn't make out where I was for a moment,' said O'Brady.
+
+"`Nor I,' replied Brackenbury.
+
+"There was a knock at the door.
+
+"`Can I come in, geentlemans?' said a voice with a strong foreign
+accent.
+
+"`Pull the latch,' said O'Brady, seeing that his companion hesitated.
+
+"Brackenbury did as told, and a servant glided into the room, a dark
+little pale-faced Portuguese.
+
+"`I bring you de water for shave,' he said, mildly.  `Also de _navaja_,
+what you call it, de knife for rasp.  Shall I rasp you?'
+
+"`Thanks, no,' said both; `we will prefer to rasp ourselves.'
+
+"`Vell den, geentlemans, I have also for you de complimentes of de great
+Count de Dolosa, and he will be mooch please to see you at breekwust.
+In one leetle half-hour de gong veel soun', den I come again and conduct
+you to de breekwust-room.'
+
+"`By the way,' cried Brackenbury, as the polite little man was about to
+leave, `what is your name?'
+
+"`Name, senor? si senor, my name ees Marco.'
+
+"`Here's an odd half-sovereign I've got no use for, Marco.'
+
+"`Gracias!' muttered Marco, slipping the coin into his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"`Now, Marco,' continued Brackenbury, `you're a kind-hearted sort of a
+chap, I know.'
+
+"`_Si, senor, hombre de chapa_.'  [man of sense.]
+
+"`Yes; well, have you heard anything about us?  No preparations to hang
+us, or anything of that sort, is there, Marco?'
+
+"Marco came in again, and quietly closed the door.  Then he listened a
+moment.
+
+"`See, geentlemans,' he said, `I veel not tell a false-dad.  You veel
+_die_--perhaps.  Perhaps you veel not.'
+
+"`Well,' grunted O'Brady, `we could have guessed as much.  Thank you for
+nothing.  Give him another yellow boy, Brackenbury, I'll pay you some
+day--perhaps.'
+
+"The additional coin made Marco smile.
+
+"`Now,' he said, `I tell you _all_ de trut'.  De trut' is dis: you veel
+not die for two tree week.  Suppose your people pay plenty _libertad_
+monies for you, den you not die at all.  Suppose dey not veel pay de
+plenty mooch _libertad_ monies, and suppose, instead, de coome and fight
+here, den you die ver' quick indeed.'
+
+"`Thank you, thank you!' cried O'Brady.  `Give him one more yellow boy,
+Brackenbury.'
+
+"`Dash my buttons, sir,' said Brackenbury, `how free you can make with
+other people's cash, O'Brady!'
+
+"Marco retired, smiling sweetly on his third yellow boy, and the two
+officers began to think of getting up.
+
+"`Ahem!' said Brackenbury.
+
+"`What?' said O'Brady.
+
+"`I'm a little shy,' said Brackenbury, `in dressing in the same
+apartment with any one else.  Ahem! did you ever know, O'Brady, that I
+wore a wig?'
+
+"`No,' grunted O'Brady.  `'Pon my soul, you're as shy as a girl,
+Brackenbury.  I ain't shy.  Now look here, did it ever strike you that I
+had a glass eye?'
+
+"`Well, no--ahem!--I've noticed, though, that you squinted a bit.  Fact
+is, to put it straight, I've observed you looking very steadily at the
+main-truck with one eye, and apparently looking at the compass with the
+other.  Ha! ha! ha!'
+
+"`Well, what does it matter?' said O'Brady.  `I'm going on for sixty
+years of age, man.'
+
+"`And I,' said Brackenbury, `am precious near fifty--'
+
+"`Just on the other side o' the hedge, eh?  Ha! ha!  You gay young dog.
+Look here!' he continued, `perhaps you wouldn't believe it, but I have a
+cork leg!'
+
+"`Well,' cried Brackenbury, springing out of bed and preparing to shave,
+`I'm glad we've both made a clean breast of it.'
+
+"They both laughed hearty now; fact is, they felt lighter in spirits
+since Marco told them there was no immediate cause for apprehension.
+
+"And Brackenbury pulled out his false teeth, and O'Brady pulled out his,
+and Brackenbury threw his wig on the top of his bed, and appeared in all
+the beauty of his baldness, while O'Brady laid his glass eye on the
+table, and brandished his cork leg by way of showing the captain what he
+could do with it.
+
+"Silly old fogies, weren't they?  But by the time the gong went roaring
+and clanging through the halls they were both dressed and waiting for
+Marco.
+
+"This individual glided silently on in front of them; for the carpets in
+the corridors were as soft as moss itself.
+
+"`Splendid mansion it looks in daylight, don't it?' whispered O'Brady.
+`What a noble corridor!  Just look at those chandeliers, look at the
+stained windows, and those frescoes!  Must have cost a power o' money,
+eh?'
+
+"`Didn't cost _him_ much, I expect,' muttered his friend.  `You forget
+you're not in a hotel, but in the house of a robber chief.'
+
+"`Hush, hush, hush! not so loud, please; every whisper is heard in this
+strange place.'
+
+"Black servants or slaves, with white garments, squatted here and there
+in the hall, pulling punkah strings, and rolling chalk-white eyes at the
+two officers as they passed.  They came at length to an immensely tall
+door.  At each side of it stood a sentry, dressed in blue and scarlet--
+niggers both, savage-looking, armed to the teeth, and over six feet
+high.
+
+"They each pulled back a curtain, and our friends found themselves in
+the breakfast-room.
+
+"Three great windows looked out upon a noble park, in which were strange
+and beautiful trees, marble figures, miniature lakes, gushing fountains,
+and many a lovely bird and curious quadruped.
+
+"Dressed in a crimson gown, the folds of which he grasped in one hand
+across his chest, the count himself advanced to meet them.  He stopped
+halfway and bowed low.
+
+"`I hope my guests slept well?' he said.
+
+"The breakfast was eaten in silence almost.  Afterwards--
+
+"`Gentlemen,' said the count, `let us understand each other.  You are my
+prisoners--'
+
+"`_Our_ time may come,' interrupted Brackenbury.
+
+"`You are a bold man to talk thus.  I have but to hold up a finger and
+you would be dragged hence and strangled.  But you are my guests as well
+as prisoners.  If ransomed you will leave this house unharmed.  If
+not--'
+
+"`You will kill us, eh?'
+
+"Dolosa shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"`'Tis the fortune of war,' he said.
+
+"An hour or two after dinner on the same night Dolosa was lounging on
+the broad terrace along with his prisoner guests.  A round moon was
+mirrored in a lake some distance beneath them, where antlered deer could
+be seen drinking; stars were shining in the sky, and on earth as well,
+for fireflies flitted refulgent from bush to bush.
+
+"Hidden somewhere behind the foliage of an upper balcony was a string
+band that had been discoursing music of a strange, half-wild, but dreamy
+nature that accorded well with scene and time.  The music had just died
+away, and there was nothing to be heard but an occasional plash in the
+lake, the hum of insects, and the steady hiss of the gushing fountains.
+
+"`'Pon my word,' said Brackenbury, who had dined well, `you have a very
+nice little place here.  Pity you're such a rase--'
+
+"`A what--eh?' said Dolosa, quietly, interrupting him.
+
+"`A recluse, I mean.'
+
+"Dolosa smiled, and resumed his cigar.
+
+"`I feel sure,' continued Brackenbury, `that we will be ransomed, but if
+not you wouldn't hang us, would you?  Eh, Count?  No, no; I'm sure you
+wouldn't.  You're much too good a fellow for that.'
+
+"Dolosa laughed.
+
+"`Oh, no!' he replied, `of course not.  _You_ wouldn't hang _me_ at the
+yard-arm if you had me on the _Adelaide_, eh, captain?  No, no; I'm sure
+you wouldn't.  You're _much_ too good a fellow for that.'
+
+"`Ah, my friends,' he added, `business is business.  Now if my fellows
+return from your ship to-morrow with an unsatisfactory answer, I shall
+cut off both your ears, captain, and send them; then your nose.  That's
+business.  Have another cigar?'
+
+"But poor Brackenbury was far too sick at heart to smoke any more.
+
+"At bedtime that night two immensely tall negroes entered the room
+silently and stood waiting for orders.
+
+"`Why don't you speak, eh?' said Brackenbury.
+
+"Both suddenly knelt in front of Brackenbury and opened great, red,
+cavernous mouths.
+
+"`Why,' cried O'Brady, aghast, `never a tongue have they between the
+pair of them!  Horrible!  Shut your mouths, ye sturgeons!  Here, put us
+to bed.  We come all in pieces, you know.  You'll see.'
+
+"And now Brackenbury pulled out his teeth.  O'Brady did the same.
+
+"The blackamoors looked scared.
+
+"Then Brackenbury took off his wig and threw it on the bed.
+
+"Both negroes glared at him.
+
+"O'Brady quietly removed a glass eye and placed it on the table.
+
+"The negroes edged towards the door.
+
+"But it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.  The last straw
+in this case was O'Brady's cork leg.  When he sat down and whipped that
+off, the blackamoors rushed headlong to the door and fled howling along
+the corridor.
+
+"Then Marco came in, all smiles and politeness.
+
+"`They will neever, neever come again,' said Marco, laughing, when
+Dolosa's guests explained what had happened.
+
+"Two mornings after this the crisis came, for Marco politely informed
+them that the first officer of the _Adelaide_ had refused to hand over
+the specie to ransom his captain.
+
+"`So,' said Marco, `one of you veel have de ears cut off dis morning.
+But neever mind, geentlemans, neever mind,' he added, consolingly.
+
+"Dolosa was as polite as if nothing were about to happen.  It was a
+breakfast fit for a king, but, singular to say, neither Brackenbury nor
+O'Brady had the least bit of appetite.  They felt sick at heart with the
+shadow of some coming evil.
+
+"They retired soon after to their room, but hardly had they entered ere
+the urbane Marco glided in and tapped each on the shoulder.
+
+"He pointed smilingly to his own ears with his two thumbs.
+
+"`De time is coome, geentlemans,' he said; `but it is nodings,
+geentlemans.  Neever mind, neever mind.'
+
+"`But I do mind,' spluttered Brackenbury.  `Confound it all, even if we
+don't bleed to death right away, what will our wives say to us when we
+return to them with no more ears than an adder?  I tell you, Marco, your
+master is a diabolical scoundrel.'
+
+"`Hush! hush! capitan,' cried Marco.  `Do not speak so.  De walls have
+ears.'
+
+"`Yes, and I want to keep mine.'
+
+"`See, see,' continued Marco, as two stalwart blacks opened the door and
+beckoned to the unfortunate prisoners.
+
+"The courtyard into which they were led was a gloomy one indeed,
+surrounded by high bare walls on three sides, with a cliff on the other
+going sheer down to the river's side black and dismal.
+
+"Le Comte Pedro de Dolosa lifted his hat.
+
+"`So sorry to trouble you, gentlemen,' he said, `but the case is urgent.
+Who comes first?'
+
+"He pointed to the executioners as he spoke.  They were the same negroes
+who had led them to the yard.
+
+"Brackenbury confessed afterwards that he now felt as pale as death.  It
+did not tend to restore his equanimity to observe one hulking negro
+heating an iron to redness in a charcoal stove.  This he knew was to
+cauterise the awful wound after the ear had been severed.
+
+"`Who comes first?' repeated the count, sharply.
+
+"`Captain Brackenbury, of course,' said O'Brady.  `He has the honour to
+be captain of the ship.'
+
+"`No, no, no!' cried Brackenbury; `you first, O'Brady; honour be hanged,
+you're ten years older than I.  Age before honour any day.'
+
+"`Gentlemen,' said Dolosa, `as _you_ cannot agree, _I_ will solve the
+difficulty.  Captain Brackenbury, stand forw--'
+
+"He never finished the sentence.
+
+"Such a yell suddenly rang through and around his mansion, accompanied
+by the clashing of swords and cracking of pistols.  It was--
+
+  "`As if men fought upon the earth,
+  And fiends in upper air.'
+
+"`Hurrah!' cried Brackenbury.  `Our ears are saved.'
+
+"`Off with them--quick,' cried Dolosa, `to the dungeon, and garrote them
+both.'
+
+"He pulled a pistol from his belt as he spoke and rushed away to join
+the _melee_.
+
+"Meanwhile the black giants--not the two whom they had so frightened in
+their bedroom--hurried Brackenbury and O'Brady along a corridor.
+
+"But little did they know the mettle that O'Brady was made of.
+
+"All at once he stopped short.  He quickly bent down, and, to the utter
+astonishment of his would-be executioners, he undid a leg.
+
+"That leg, Brackenbury said, was a good old-fashioned one, and of
+considerable weight.
+
+"Before the hulking negroes recovered their fright, one was felled to
+the ground.
+
+"`Poor old O'Brady,' said Brackenbury, while telling the story, `tumbled
+on top of him, but I got the leg, and with it I quickly smashed the
+other.  In less than a minute both were senseless, and we bound them
+hand and foot with the very cords they would have strangled us with.'
+
+"Dolosa was shot, his house was fired, for the _Adelaide's_ men had come
+in time.
+
+"In two weeks more Brackenbury told me the _Adelaide_ had rounded the
+Horn, and was bearing merrily up for home, with a spanking breeze and
+stunsails set.  For ships could sail in those days."
+
+Everybody thanked the doctor for his story, and now, as it was wearing
+late, as they had passed--
+
+  "The wee short hour ayout the twal."
+
+Good-nights were said, and hands were shaken, and in half an hour all
+but those on watch were sound asleep or dreaming of their far-off homes.
+
+The southern stars were very bright; there was not a sound to be heard
+save the lapping of the waves at the ship's side, the far-off beating of
+the eternal tom-toms, or the occasional shrill shriek of an Arab
+sentinel walking his rounds within the palace walls.
+
+Book 2--CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+CAUGHT ABACK IN A WHITE SQUALL--ON A REEF IN MID OCEAN--THE LOST DHOW.
+
+The _Bunting_ had orders to take dispatches for the East India station
+before bearing up for England by way of the Cape, for the Suez Canal was
+not yet open.
+
+To be sure they would much have preferred to turn southwards at once.
+
+But after all a month or so more could make but little difference after
+so long a commission--they had been away from England now nearly five
+long years.
+
+On the very next day, however, after the dinner-party, steam was got up,
+and the _Bunting_ departed from Zanzibar.
+
+How merrily the men worked now!  How cheerfully they sang!  Everybody
+seemed in better temper than his neighbour.  For were they not,
+virtually speaking, homeward bound.
+
+"If we do happen to come across another prize you know," said Captain
+Wayland to Mr Dewar, "we won't say no to her, will we?"
+
+"That we won't, sir," was the laughing reply; "the more the merrier, and
+it won't be my fault if a good outlook isn't kept both by night and
+day."
+
+Sailors love the sea, and quite delight, as the old song tells us, in--
+
+  "A wet sheet and a flowing sail."
+
+But there are times when even a sailor may feel weary on the ocean.  My
+experience leads me to believe that so long as a ship is positively
+doing something, and going somewhere in particular, Jack-a-tar is
+perfectly contented and happy.  In such a case--a sailing ship on a long
+voyage, for example--if the wind blows dead ahead, dead in the good
+chip's eye, Jack may feel thrown back a bit in his reckoning, but he
+eats and sleeps and doesn't say much, he has got to work to windward,
+and this brings out all the craft's good sailing capacity.  If it blows
+a gale in a wrong direction--well, she is laid to, and however rough the
+weather be, Jack comforts himself and his mates with the assurance that
+it can't go on blowing in the same direction for ever.  Neither it does;
+and no sooner is the vessel lying her course again, with her stem
+cleaving through the blue water, than Jack begins to sing, like a
+blackbird just let loose from a pie.
+
+If the ship gets caught in a tornado, then there is so much to do that
+there is really no time for grumbling.
+
+But what Jack can _not_ stand, with anything like equanimity, is
+inaction.  Being in the doldrums, for instance, on or about the line.
+
+  "As idle as a painted ship
+  Upon a painted ocean."
+
+In such a case Jack does growl, and, in my humble opinion, no one has a
+better right to do so.
+
+The day after that joyful evening described in last chapter, when, by
+this time, the men had not only read their letters o'er and o'er, but
+had almost got them by heart, as the long row of white palatial-looking
+buildings that forms the frontage of that strange city, Zanzibar, was
+left behind, and the greenery of trees was presently lost to view, the
+men's spirits grew buoyant indeed.  For fires were now ordered to be
+banked, as a breeze sprang up--quickly, too, as breezes are wont to in
+these latitudes.
+
+Sail was set, pretty close hauled she had to be, but away went the
+_Bunting_ nevertheless, cutting through the bright sparkling water like
+a knife.  It was a wind to make the heart of a true sailor jump for joy.
+It cut the pyramidal heads of the waves off, and the spray so formed
+glittered in the sunshine like showers of molten silver; it sang rather
+than roared through the rigging, it kept the vane extended like a
+railway signal arm, it kept the pennant in a constant state of flutter,
+it kept the sails all full and free from wrinkle, and every sheet as
+taut as a fiddle-string.  It was a "ripping" breeze, a happy bracing
+breeze, a breeze that gave one strength of nerve and muscle, and light
+and joy of mind.
+
+The officers were all on deck, from the captain to the clerk, walking
+rapidly up and down as if doing a record or winning a bet.
+
+The breeze continued for days till, indeed, the ship was degrees north
+of the line.
+
+But one lovely night, with a clear sky and the moon shimmering on the
+wave crests, and dyeing the water with streaks like molten gold, it fell
+calm.  The wind went away as suddenly almost as it had sprung up.
+
+There were men in the chains.  Every now and then their voices rang up
+from near the bows in that mournful kind of chant that none can forget
+who have ever heard it "And a half fi--ive."
+
+"And a quarter less six."  And so on.  They had just come over an ugly
+bit of shoal water, and from the mast-head, where Harry himself--it was
+his watch--had gone to view the situation, he could notice that there
+were patches of the same kind of coral shoals almost everywhere around.
+
+It was an ugly situation.  He could not help wishing that the wind had
+continued but a little longer, or that it would again spring up from the
+same quarter.  But there were the sails flapping sometimes in one
+direction, sometimes in another, and taking desperate pulls and jerks at
+the sheets, causing the _Bunting_ to kick about in a manner that was far
+from agreeable.
+
+Harry was just about to order sail to be taken in, for he knew not in
+what direction the wind would come from.
+
+He had already taken the liberty of rousing the sleeping engineer, and
+telling him to get up steam with all possible speed.
+
+"Hands, shorten sail!"
+
+"Ready about."
+
+For the wind seemed now commencing to blow from off the land.
+
+He ran up to the maintop once more to take a view of the situation.
+
+Heavens! what was coming yonder?  Away on the horizon a long bank of
+snow-white fog or foam, high as poplar trees it seemed; and as he
+listened for a moment spellbound, he could hear a distant roar like that
+which breakers make on a sandy beach on a windless, frosty night in
+winter, only more continuous.  It was the scourge of the Indian Ocean.
+It was the dreaded white squall.
+
+It came on in foam and fury, lightning even playing athwart and behind
+it.
+
+"All hands on deck!" roared Harry.  In his excitement he hardly knew
+what he was saying.  "Stand by to let go everything!  Hard a port!"
+
+Everything indeed!  Hardly had he spoken ere the squall was on them, the
+wind roaring like a den of wild beasts, the sea around them like a
+maelstrom, ropes snapped like worsted threads, sails in ribbons, and
+rattling like platoon fire, blocks adrift, sheets streaming like
+pennants, and the canvas that held out-bellying to the dreadful blast
+and carrying the vessel astern at the rate of knots.
+
+Caught aback in a white squall! no situation can be more dangerous or
+appalling!  Well for them was it that the _Bunting_ was long and low and
+rakish; a brig would have gone down stern first, giving those on board
+hardly time to utter a prayer.
+
+For five long minutes astern she sped.  Two men were knocked down
+dangerously wounded, and washed into the lee scuppers, where they would
+have been drowned, but for the almost superhuman exertions of the
+surgeon and steward.
+
+Five long minutes, but see, good seamanship has triumphed!  She is round
+at last, all sail off that could be got off.  She is scudding almost
+under bare poles--scudding whither?
+
+Scudding straight apparently to destruction.  Through the mist and the
+rain that swallows the moonlight, they cannot make out a reef that lies
+right ahead of them, till she is on it, till she rasps and bumps, till
+every man is thrown flat on deck, and the man pitched over the wheel.
+
+It is all up with the _Bunting_!
+
+Ah! many a half-despairing prayer went heavenward then, many a
+half-smothered cry for mercy from Him to whom all things are possible,
+and who holds the sea in the hollow of His hand.
+
+Bending over his bleeding patients down below in the steerage, the
+doctor never ceases his work, albeit the ship has struck, and the seas
+are making a clear breach over, albeit he is up to the ankles in the
+water that is pouring down green through the hatchway.
+
+The steward is frantic.
+
+Little Raggy in the captain's cabin, to whom Harry himself had taken
+pains to teach the things of a better life and a better world, is on his
+knees.
+
+"O! big Fader in heaven," he is saying, "don't let de ship sinkee for
+true.  Dis chile no want to die to-night.  De waves make plenty much
+bobbery, de masts dey break and fall.  Take us out ob de gulp (gulph).
+Lor, take us out ob de gulp, and save us for true."
+
+It is all up with the _Bunting_, is it?
+
+No, for even now from away to windward yonder, unseen by those on board,
+comes the bore, the hurricane wave.  High as houses is it, fleet almost
+as the wind itself, onward it rolls, downward it comes; and now it is on
+the reef, it lifts the ship aloft as gently, as easily as a mother lifts
+her baby and bears her away to safety.
+
+Almost immediately afterwards the fury of the squall is completely
+spent, the waves no longer break on board, nor the foam and the froth,
+and the spume.  Men can see each other now, and hear each other talk,
+and orders are given by the captain himself to cut away the wreck, for
+the foremast has gone five feet above the board.
+
+Half an hour afterwards steam was up, and all was still around the ship,
+while in the sky calmly shone the moon and stars.  But a narrow escape
+indeed it had been for the good little vessel and the gallant crew that
+were in her.  Though not scathless, the ship had escaped destruction on
+the reef in that terrible hurricane-squall.
+
+"If ever," said Captain Wayland, solemnly, "we have had cause for
+thankfulness to that great Being who rules on earth and sea, it is this
+night."
+
+The captain was standing near the wheel with uncovered head and upturned
+gaze, the soft light of the moon falling on his face.
+
+There was something very beautiful in this simple, silent, thankful
+adoration; both the doctor and Dewar, who were standing not far off,
+felt its influence.  Ay, and rough old sailors, who had weathered many a
+storm and braved many a danger, bared their heads even as the captain
+did, and breathed that little word that means so much--"Amen?"
+
+The loss of her foremast did not improve the appearance of the
+_Bunting_, but as they would now complete the voyage under steam, and
+repair damages at Calcutta, it did not matter very much.
+
+She was kept more in towards the low sandy coast, for north here never a
+tree or shrub may be seen, while away down south of the line the ocean
+is edged with a cloudland of green, the leafy mangroves growing on the
+beach--yes, and in the water itself.
+
+Low sandy hills, and mountains and rocks beyond.  Sometimes they come in
+sight of a squalid Somali-Arab village, but there was no inducement to
+land.
+
+But see, what is that stealing out round the point?  A dhow, and a very
+large one; a two-masted vessel.
+
+She notices the _Bunting_ as soon as they notice her, and immediately
+puts about and stands away northward before the breeze.
+
+This is suspicious, and the _Bunting_ gives chase.  The dhow has a four
+miles' start and goes swinging along at a wonderful rate.
+
+"Go ahead at full speed," is the order.
+
+The _Bunting_ is gaining on the dhow, but in another hour it will be
+dark.
+
+Mr Dewar slips slyly down below.  He goes to the store-room, and a few
+minutes afterwards he appears at the engine-room door, bearing in his
+arms half a side of fat bacon.
+
+He winks to the engineer.  The latter cuts off a huge junk and sticks it
+in the fire.
+
+"If you'd like Raggy to come and sit on the safety valve," says Mr
+Dewar, "I'll send him."
+
+The engineer laughs heartily at the idea, and answers--
+
+"The fat'll do the job," Mr Dewar, "without poor Raggy."
+
+So it does, and just as the sun is dropping like a red-hot cannon-ball
+into the sea, and turning the waves to blood, the first shot goes
+roaring through the rigging of that doomed dhow.
+
+Another and another follow, still she cracks on.  Then a shell or two
+are fired and burst right over her.
+
+The Arabs cannot stand that.  They lower sails at once.
+
+But behold! almost at the same moment a boat leaves the dhow, and
+impelled by sturdy arms goes bounding away shoreward.
+
+"Ah!" says Captain Wayland, "the Arabs won't stop to reckon with us, and
+they will soon be where we can't follow them."
+
+"Never mind," replies Mr Dewar, laughing, "we'll have the prize."
+
+"And, sir," he adds, "it is all owing to a bit of fat."
+
+"All through what, Mr Dewar?"
+
+"A bit of fat, sir.  I'll tell you again, and beg forgiveness in due
+form."
+
+The saloon of this huge dhow was furnished with truly oriental
+magnificence.
+
+Lamps, mirrors, carpets, curtains, ottomans, and bijouterie, all in
+taste, all luxurious in the extreme.
+
+The hold was filled to the hatches with moaning, pining slaves.
+
+Hardly was there enough rice on board her to keep them alive for even a
+three weeks' voyage, and scarcely water enough to keep them out of agony
+for a week.
+
+But all this was changed now.  The poor creatures were had up in
+batches, their irons were knocked off, they were washed and fed.
+Finally, everything was made clean and comfortable for them below, and
+when all was done that could be done, a prize crew was put on board,
+under the command of Harry Milvaine, and the dhow and the _Bunting_
+parted company with three ringing cheers three times repeated.
+
+The gunboat steamed away north and by east, while the dhow spread her
+great wings to the breeze and went tacking away for Zanzibar.
+
+Just two months after this, the _Bunting_ was nearing Symon's Town, all
+having gone as merrily with her, since leaving Calcutta, as marriage
+bells.  Dr Scott and Dewar were chaffing each other, as they very
+frequently did.
+
+The doctor had a long string floating overboard from the stern, and
+every now and then he caught and hauled on board a Cape pigeon, which he
+had managed by skilful manoeuvring to entangle with his tackle.
+
+He had them running about the deck to the number of twenty or more.
+
+"What are you going to do with all these birds?" asked Dewar.  "You
+silly old Sawbones!"
+
+"I'm merely catching them for sport, you mouldy old logarithm," replied
+Scott.  "I'll let them off again presently, that will be more sport."
+
+"Strange, isn't it, my dear Dr Fungus," said Dewar, "that they can't
+fly away after they once alight on deck?"
+
+"Not at all," returned the surgeon, "not at all strange, Mr
+Five-knots-an-hour; the explanation is simple.  They are attacked by
+_mal de mer_--seasickness, you know--"
+
+"Yes, yes, I know that much French, Mr Sawbones."
+
+"Well, old Binnacle-lamp, I'm glad you do know something.  The birds get
+seasick and can't fly, and don't care much what becomes of themselves."
+
+"Humph!" said Mr Dewar, walking away laughing.  "Very little is fun to
+fools--beg pardon, doctor, I mean to foolosophers."
+
+In another twenty-four hours the saucy little _Bunting_ was lying safely
+at anchor in Symon's Bay.  And what a lovely place is this same bay with
+its surrounding scenery!  Oh! the beauty, the summer beauty, the spring
+and autumn beauty of those grand old hills that mirror their purple
+heath-clad heads in the placid waters of that enchanting bay!  How
+gorgeous the flowers that blaze on its trees, how golden the sands on
+which the waves break in streaks of snowy foam!  Its very rocks are
+tinted, and bronzed with the sunshine of ages, even its most barren
+spots, where, high up among the mountains, the soil peeps through, are
+rich in brooms and lichen-grey, for Time himself has been the artist
+here.
+
+Captain Wayland had half, or nearly wholly expected to find Midshipman
+Milvaine here waiting for him.  He was quite uneasy when a steamer
+straight from Zanzibar and Seychelles came in, and reported that no
+slave dhow with a prize crew had been seen at the former town.
+
+The _Bunting_ lay at Symon's Bay a fortnight, and during that time,
+first a French man-o'-war, and next an English trading steamer arrived
+from Zanzibar straight away.  But still no tidings of the missing dhow.
+
+The _Bunting_ then bore up for home, arriving in good time in Plymouth
+Sound, duly reported herself, and in less than a week was paid off.
+
+Captain Wayland took the pains to go all the way to the Highlands of
+Scotland to report correctly the story of the dhow.
+
+He was most hospitably received, and did not get away for nearly three
+weeks.
+
+Both Harry's parents were plunged into grief at the captain's tidings,
+but his reason for coming north was to make the best of matters that he
+could, and he left them at last resigned and hopeful, Harry's mother
+especially assuring him that she felt certain her son would turn up
+again safely and soon.
+
+But alas! and alas! weeks flew by, and months passed into a year, and a
+year into long years, but no tidings ever were received of that lost
+dhow and her unhappy crew.
+
+Then hope died out of even the mother's heart, and she even began to
+look old, and grow grey under the pressure of her woeful grief.
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER ONE.
+
+ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS.
+
+'TIS JUSTICE, NOT REVENGE.
+
+"Call it not revenge, my brother; say it is but an act of justice, stern
+justice, and I am with you."
+
+"Allah is great, Allah is good," replied the Arab whom his companion had
+addressed as brother.
+
+They were both talking in their own language, a language at once so
+forcible and flowery, that all attempts to render it into English ends
+but in a poverty-stricken paraphrase.
+
+"Yes, Allah is good."
+
+The difference between the two speakers was very remarkable.  They were
+brothers only by courtesy.
+
+One sat on the edge of a kind of wooden sofa or dais; in front of him
+was a small table of Hindoo manufacture, on which there stood a brown
+earthenware water chatty, some glasses, and a bottle of sherbet [Note
+1].  He was fair in skin, delicate in complexion, with a mild and almost
+benevolent aspect.  He was unarmed, and though he wore the usual dress
+of an Arab gentleman, over all he wore a cloak of green camel's hair,
+probably denoting him to be a scion of the great prophet.
+
+The other Arab was tall, stately, swarthy, nay, but almost black.  He
+was armed _cap-a-pie_, and ever as he spoke he strode rapidly up and
+down the floor of the room.  A large apartment it was, in an upper room
+of a great square flat-roofed house in Brava, a village or town close by
+the sea, and some distance north of the line.
+
+The room had no signs of luxury or even comfort about it, and no more
+furniture than a gaol.  The walls were of clay, and unadorned except by
+creeping lizards; the one little window looked out towards the ocean,
+and a long reef of rocks that lay like a gigantic breakwater--from north
+to south--about a mile out.
+
+There were a few clouds in the sky that looked like gigantic ostrich
+feathers; now and then these would flit across the sun, casting patches
+of green shade on the otherwise blue sea.
+
+That a breeze was blowing, or had been blowing far away out, and far
+away eastwards, was evident enough, even on the beach at Brava, for here
+the breakers were as tall as trees, they came curling onwards with the
+fleetness of desert horses, with the strength of a thousand cataracts,
+then broke on the sands with a noise like thunder, retreating again in a
+chaos of brown froth, with a hurtling, sucking sound, as if they would
+fain draw the very town itself into their grasp.
+
+On the beach itself "the boys" were at play.
+
+What was their play?  What was their game?  Was it football, tip-cat, or
+modest marbles?  Not quite.
+
+Just behold them in imagination, as I have done in reality.  There
+cannot be fewer than a hundred of those boys scattered in groups all
+along the shore.  Tall, lank, sharp-featured lads of all ages, from
+twelve to twenty.  Naked they are except for the smallest of
+cummerbunds, and the sun is glittering on their well-greased skins.
+
+Black?  No, not quite black, rather of the colour of tarnished copper,
+their mouths are small and cruel-like, their features sharp and
+well-defined, their eyes twinkling with ill-concealed cunning and
+malice, and their heads surmounted by great hassocks of hair, in which
+clay has been mixed to make it stand well out.  They use clay for the
+same purpose as ladies of civilisation used the perfumed bandoline.
+
+They are Somali Indians, of the lowest caste, if, indeed, there be any
+caste among them.
+
+Here are two engaged in what seems a mortal combat, a deadly duel.  They
+are standing confronting each other at a distance of some twenty or
+thirty paces.  Each is armed with a little round shield, made from the
+hardened skin of a water buffalo's hump, and studded with big brass
+nails.  Each holds in his hand a long and deadly-looking spear--not a
+broad-bladed one, this latter being only used for hand-to-hand fighting.
+The game is that each may hurl his spear at the other when and how he
+pleases.  The other has either to dodge it or receive its point on the
+small strong shield.  The quick, rapid, snake-like movements of the
+body, and the strange but graceful attitudes assumed, are truly
+wonderful to behold.  The agility of these Indians, their skill in
+parrying and strength in hurling these deadly spears if once witnessed
+can never be forgotten.
+
+But wounds are not unfrequent, and on rare occasions a spear may pierce
+the body of a friendly antagonist.  Blood is staunched by styptics,
+which Arab merchants vend them, and if a lad is slain, he does not
+obtain the comfort of a coroner's inquest, he is simply buried in the
+sand, or even exposed on the beach itself.  Then at night wild dogs come
+and quarrel and fight over his remains, crabs creep up out of the sea to
+the awful feast, and what the dogs and crabs leave is speedily disposed
+of by colonies of ants.  So the bones are picked clean enough; for a
+time they lie bleaching in the sun, till the tide comes up and gradually
+buries them in the soft sand.
+
+Look again.  Here are some half a dozen younger boys--guiltless of
+clothing of any sort; they have been playing in the sea, dashing in
+under the breakers with the speed of eels, and coming up far beyond in
+smooth but rolling water, disappearing under the surface, and remaining
+under for long minutes, bobbing up again, riding in upon the very
+curling sharp crests of the breakers themselves, and being floated and
+rolled up upon the beach in the smother of surf and spume, laughing,
+yelling, and turning head over heels with delight.  And now they are
+fighting with bones, or pelting each other with them, laughing and
+yelling as loudly as ever.
+
+Just one other _tableau_.  Two tall youths engaged in a frenzied combat
+with Somali swords, terrible-looking long knives, as broad almost as a
+spade.  The swiftness of stroke and parry or shield is truly marvellous;
+but at last, as if by a single accord, the awful knives and eke the
+shields are cast aside, and they clutch each other with deadly grip and
+fierce: they fight for the throats.  See, they are both rolling on the
+sand, but one at last is victorious, his talonlike, long bony fingers
+have closed upon his adversary's neck.  He beats his head against the
+sand, till eyeballs and tongue protrude, then he slowly rises, and
+retreats a pace or two, still with his eyes on his supposed foe.  He
+feels backwards with his hand till he touches a sword, he seizes it, and
+with a yell springs forward again and stands triumphant over his fallen
+fellow, the deadly knife just grazing his neck.  Will he strike?  No,
+for here the combat ends.  By and by the vanquished Indian lad will gasp
+and sigh, and presently rise, slowly and feebly, and creeping seawards,
+refresh himself with a dip beneath the waves.
+
+But to return to the room where the Arabs are.
+
+"They do tell me at Zanzibar," said the dark and soldier Arab, "that in
+Europe they place machines beneath the waves, which, if a ship do but
+strike, she is blown to death and destruction.  Could we not import
+these?  Money would not be wanting, and you, Mahmoud, have the key to
+good foreign society.  Oh I fancy the glory of blowing up a British
+cruiser--!"
+
+"Talk not thus," was the reply, "nor let us even dream of forsaking the
+form in which our fathers fought.  With sword and spear, and Allah's
+help, they conquered the North, they overran the West, and laid even the
+might of Spain in the dust.  Let us bide our time.  Long has it been
+dark, but the dawn will come.  A prophet will arise.  He will conquer
+the world in Allah's name, and every man, woman, or child who adopts not
+the true faith will be put to the knife."
+
+"Oh! these will be glorious times, Mahmoud."
+
+"Gloat not over them, Suliemon.  It is still with the spirit of revenge
+you speak.  Think of future wars and executions as but necessities, the
+darkness of the inevitable clouds, that will be dispelled by the
+glorious rising sun of peace and joy."
+
+"Revenge," muttered Suliemon, through his set teeth.  "Curb not my
+feelings, Mahmoud.  They are just.  Think what I have suffered from
+British cruisers.  Thrice have they run me on shore, twice have they
+burned my dhows.  To-day I would be wealthy but for them.  Curses on
+them, I say!" he thundered, half drawing his sword, and sending it
+ringing back into the sheath again.
+
+"Stay, brother, stay; I will not sit and hear such exclamations.  Allah
+is good, but tempt him not, or he may leave you to a fate worse than
+that which befel your own brother in Zanzibar."
+
+"Yes, my brother was hanged, hanged at the hands of those infidel dogs.
+Oh!  Mahmoud, Mahmoud, can you wonder if I sometimes forget myself,
+forget your teaching, and loose grip of our religion?  My wife, too,
+Mahmoud, chased on shore--death by jungle fever.  Would you have me
+forget that also, Mahmoud?"
+
+"Yes," said Mahmoud, solemnly; "I'd have you forget even that."
+
+Suliemon was standing by the little window, gazing seawards, and as
+Mahmoud spoke the last word--
+
+"Look, look!" he shouted, or almost yelled.  "It is she--it is my dhow--
+deep, deep, in the water--scudding northwards before the breeze; they
+are going to beach her ere she sinks--Allah!  Allah be praised!  I'll
+have my wish!"
+
+He girded his sword-belt more tightly as he spoke, and, without even a
+word of farewell to Mahmoud, rushed out, and down the Stone stairs.
+They ended in a little narrow lane which conducted him to the sands.
+
+At once, on his appearance, all games were stopped.  The boys dropped
+their bones, the young men sheathed their swords and shouldered their
+spears, and next minute he was surrounded.  They knew by the face of
+their warlike chief he had something of much importance to communicate.
+
+His words were brief and to the point.  "Fifty of you I want," he said.
+"You, Saleedin," he continued, "will be captain.  Be well-armed, bring
+irons and surf-boats, and carry with you water, boiled rice, and dates.
+Bid your friends farewell, the journey may be a long one.
+
+"Saleedin, keep along on the brow of the hill, but keep the boys out of
+sight behind, keep abreast of yonder dhow, and when she is beached come
+quickly to me: I shall be on the shore."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Right well had the captain of the double-masted slave dhow--captured by
+the _Bunting_--played his game.  Right well and right cleverly.
+
+As speedily as possible the dhow had been put in charge of Harry
+Milvaine; probably three hours had scarcely elapsed ere she and the
+gunboat parted company.
+
+Knowing well that he could rely on his men, Harry retired about eleven
+o'clock to the beautiful saloon, and having caused Doomah, the Arab
+interpreter and spy who was acting steward, to light the lamps, he threw
+himself on a couch and gave way to thought.  He did not feel at all
+inclined to sleep, and somehow or other, he, to-night, felt under the
+shadow of a cloud of melancholy.  He could not account for it, he was
+seldom otherwise than light and bright and happy.
+
+Being a Highlander, he was naturally somewhat superstitious.
+
+"I would give worlds," he said to himself, "to know what is doing at
+home to-night, and to be sure that my dear mother and father are well.
+Dear old father, sitting even now, perhaps, smoking his everlasting
+meerschaum behind his _Scotsman_.  And mother--reading.  Oh! would I
+could sit beside her for a moment, and tell her how often her boy thinks
+of her!"
+
+Then all the events of his young days rose up before his mind--his
+governess and Towsie Jock; he laughed, melancholy though he was, when he
+thought of that night in the tree--his garden, his summer-house, and
+pets, and his dear friend Andrew.
+
+He touched a gong and Doomah appeared.
+
+"Are you sleepy?"
+
+"No, sir, I not sleepy."
+
+"Then come and tell me a story--the story of your life."
+
+"Ah! dat is not mooch, sir.  Plenty time I be in action.  I have many
+wounds from Arab guns."
+
+"Because you're a spy, you know."
+
+"A spy, sir!  Not I, sir.  No, I am interpreter; I fight in de interests
+of de Breetish Queen of England."
+
+"Well, well, have it so."
+
+"Pah!  I no care dat mooch for de Arabs.  Pah!  When dey catch me den
+dey kill me.  What matter?  Some day all die.  I am happy, I have one,
+two, tree wife, and dey all love Doomah, ebery one mooch more dan de
+oder.  And when I go home I shall marry Number 4.  Ha! ha!"
+
+Doomah kept talking to Harry till all his melancholy had almost if not
+quite gone.
+
+It was now about four bells in the middle watch, and Harry was thinking
+of sleep, when the curtain was drawn aside and Nicholls the bo's'n
+entered.  He was Harry's lieutenant.
+
+"Sorry to say, sir, the ship is leaking like a sieve, sir."
+
+"That is bad news, Nicholls," said Harry, starting up.
+
+"It be, sir; but what makes matters worse is that I believe she is
+scuttled."
+
+"But there were no signs of leakage before we parted with the
+_Bunting_."
+
+"No, indeed, sir, these rascally slaver Arabs know what they are about.
+The scuttling was filled up with paper, sure to come out after she had a
+few hours of way on her."
+
+"This is serious indeed.  Think you--can we keep her afloat till we
+reach Zanzibar?"
+
+"If we could pump, yes."
+
+"Well, rig the pump."
+
+"_It is gone, sir.  Doubtless_ thrown overboard."
+
+"That is indeed serious, Mr Nicholls."
+
+By daybreak the breeze had freshened considerably, but veered a bit, and
+was now dead ahead.  The water had gained so much that the slaves had
+all to be taken on deck.  Bailing was kept up, but seemed to do
+comparatively little good.
+
+Harry walked up and down the deck for some time in deep thought.  At
+last he called Mr Nicholls.
+
+"Put her about," he said, "she'll make less water, then we will try to
+run for Magadoxa.  We know the Parsee merchant there.  And the Somalis
+are civil."
+
+"As civil," said Nicholls, "as Somalis can be, when you are not standing
+under the lee of British bayonets.  Trust a Somali and make friends with
+a fiend."
+
+The dhow went round with terrible flapping of her enormous sails, and
+much creaking of blocks, her great wings almost dragging the vessel on
+her beam ends.
+
+But she went fast enough now.  Dhows do fly before the wind, and,
+water-logged though this vessel was, her speed was marvellous.
+
+She was far out at sea, however, and soon had to be hauled closer to the
+wind in order to gain the shore.
+
+By midday they were about fifteen miles south of Brava, but the wind was
+falling, and the dhow now fast filling.  They staggered past the ancient
+little town, but all hopes of reaching Magadoxa soon fled, and it became
+evident to every one that they must soon beach her or sink.
+
+The coast here is most dangerous, owing to the number of sunken rocks,
+and to the long stretches of shallow water--water on which the breakers
+sometimes run mountains high, as the saying is, but where between the
+waves the bottom was everywhere close to the surface.  Only the native
+surf-boats could get over shoals like these.
+
+Looking for a place on a lee-shore on which to beach a vessel is sad
+work, and trying to the nerves; you may pass a fairly good spot,
+thinking to come to a better; you may go farther and fare worse.
+
+Harry's, however, was a decided character, and when he came, some ten
+miles to the north of Brava, to a spot where the breakers did not seem
+to run extremely high--
+
+"Here it must be, Nicholls.  Stand by to lower both our boats."
+
+"Starboard, as hard as she'll go."
+
+Up went the tiller, round came her head, and a minute afterwards she
+struck with such fearful violence on a coral rock, that her masts, none
+of the strongest, went thundering over the side.
+
+"We must try to save the slaves first, Nicholls."
+
+"That will we, sir.  Never a white man should cease to work until these
+poor abject creatures are safely on shore."
+
+"Bravo!  Nicholls.  Well spoken, my brave man!  I will not forget you
+when opportunity offers."
+
+Harry cast his eyes shorewards, the breakers were thundering on the
+beach, but no one was visible except a solitary armed Arab.
+
+"Lower away the boats.  Gently."
+
+The dhow was already bumping fearfully on the reef and rapidly going to
+pieces.
+
+To stand on deck without clinging to bulwarks or rigging was impossible.
+The condition of the slaves was now pitiable in the extreme.  They were
+huddled together, buried together, one might say, in one long cluster,
+dying, smothering each other, and drowning in the lee scuppers, for the
+sea was breaking clean over the wrecked and dismasted dhow.
+
+Our fellows--bold blue-jackets--took them one by one as they came; they
+had almost to lift them down into the boats, so utterly prostrated with
+fear were they.
+
+At last a boat got clear away.
+
+Hardly had they left the dhow's side, when high over the moaning and
+cries of the poor negroes, high over the sound of roaring tumbling waves
+and broken hissing water, arose a shout of triumph, and looking in the
+direction from which it proceeded, Harry could see the previously all
+but deserted beach swarming with armed and naked Indians.
+
+The boat rode in on the top of a breaker, and was speedily seized and
+hauled up high and dry.  The men were roped and thrown on their backs,
+and the slaves placed in a corner among rocks and guarded by spear-armed
+Somalis.
+
+Then surf-boats were launched, and speedily got alongside the dhow.
+
+Thinking nothing about his own safety, Harry was nevertheless glad to
+see that the slaves were being taken off, and saved from a watery grave,
+whatever their ultimate fate might be.
+
+His men and himself were rowed on shore in the last boat that left that
+doomed slave dhow.
+
+In this boat sat that grim dark Arab I have introduced to the reader at
+the commencement of this chapter.
+
+For some time he sat sternly regarding Harry.  The young Highlander
+returned the gaze with interest.
+
+"Would you not like," he said at last, "to know your fate?"
+
+"No.  And if it be death, I know how to face it."
+
+"It _is_ death.  It _is_ justice, not revenge.  I am Suliemon.  I was
+captain of that dhow.  Now you know all and can prepare."
+
+Like his poor men, Harry was bound hands and feet and placed by their
+side, fully exposed to the fierce glare of the tropical sun.
+
+How very long the day seemed!  But the evening came at last.  Then great
+fires were lighted on the beach, the flare falling far athwart the
+waves, and giving the breaking waters the appearance of newly drawn
+blood.
+
+The scene was wild in the extreme; only the pen of a Dickens and the
+pencil of a Rembrandt could have done justice to it.  The trembling
+group of slaves--the waves had sadly thinned their ranks--lying,
+squatting, or standing on the sands, the poor white men, with pained,
+sad faces, the rude cords cutting into ankles and wrists, the wild
+gesticulating armed Indians, and the tall figure in white gliding,
+ghostlike, here, there, and everywhere.
+
+One of the boats belonging to the _Bunting_ was now carried to the rear,
+and on his back across the thwarts, still bound, Harry was placed.  Dry
+wood was piled beneath him.  Dry wood was piled all round the boat.
+
+He shut his eyes and commended himself to Heaven.  Even then he thought
+of his poor father and mother far away in their bonnie Highland home,
+and he prayed that they might never know the fate that had befallen him.
+
+The Indians formed themselves into a fiendish circle, and danced,
+yelling, around him, brandishing sword and spear.
+
+But the dark Arab commanded silence.
+
+"Your hour has come," he said, solemnly.
+
+"This," he added, "_is_ justice, not revenge."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  What is called sherbet on the Eastern shore of Africa is a
+fruit syrup of most delicious flavour and odour.  It is mixed with water
+and drunk as a beverage.  Certainly a great improvement on the _eau
+sucre_ of our ancestors.
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER TWO.
+
+HARRY IS MADE A SLAVE--THE JOURNEY INLAND--ESCAPE.
+
+As he spoke these dread words the dark-skinned Arab seized a lighted
+torch from an Indian, and was about to apply it to the pyre, when his
+arm was struck upwards, and the torch alighted harmlessly on the soft
+sand.
+
+It was Mahmoud who had struck the blow.
+
+For a moment the two men stood confronting each other.  Even Mahmoud now
+had a drawn sword in his hand.
+
+"For his worthless life," cried the latter, "I care not, but for your
+eternal welfare, brother, I do.  I have saved you from a deadly sin.
+Take not thus rashly away the life you cannot give."
+
+"Back!" he shouted to the Somali Indians, and they shrank cowering and
+silent before the wrath of this strange being whom they called a
+prophet.
+
+With a sharp knife he now severed Harry's cords, and bade him stand up.
+
+"You are my prisoner," said Mahmoud in good English; "you are _my
+slave_.  If you make no attempt to escape, you shall be comparatively
+free; attempt to fly, and--"
+
+He tapped the hilt of his sword as he spoke, and Harry knew only too
+well what was meant.
+
+He passed a sleepless night until within an hour or two of morning, when
+he dozed off into a pained and dreamful slumber, from which he was
+roused at daybreak by Mahmoud himself.  To his great surprise and grief,
+the beach was almost deserted.  Some armed Indians still lay near the
+white ashes of the dead fires, but his men, the other Arab, and all the
+rest of the Somalis were gone.
+
+"Eat," said Mahmoud, "you have far to go."  He placed a dish of fragrant
+curry before him as he spoke, and Harry partook of it mechanically.
+
+"Where am I to be taken to?" he inquired of this warlike priest.
+
+"Ask nothing," was the reply.  "I have saved your life, be thankful to
+Allah.  Prepare to march."
+
+Surrounded by armed, grinning Somalis, many bearing parcels on their
+heads, with Mahmoud trudging on in front, the journey was commenced,
+straight away across the sandy hills, where only here and there some
+little tuft of grass or some pale green weed was growing.
+
+At the top of the ridge Harry, in spite of his guard, paused for a
+moment to look back.  Never, he thought, had the sea looked more lovely.
+Save where in whitish yellow patches the coral shoals were showing, the
+whole surface, unrippled by a wavelet, was of a deep cerulean blue.
+Here and there a shark's fin made the water tremble, and here and there
+a white bird floated.
+
+"Oh," he thought, "could he only be as free as one of those happy
+sea-birds!  But never again," he sighed; "no, never again!"
+
+Even in the morning the sun was fiercely hot, but towards noon it became
+almost insupportable, and Harry was glad indeed when green things
+appeared at last, and the halt was made in the shade of a little forest
+land--a kind of oasis in a barren desert.  Here was a cool spring and a
+few cocoanut trees.
+
+Some of the Somalis climbed these as one climbs a ladder, holding on
+like monkeys to little stirrup-like steps that ran all up one side of
+the trees.  They then cut and threw down some of the greenest, and
+Harry, in grief though he was, was glad enough to regale himself on the
+proffered fruit.  They were filled principally with "milk," for the nut
+itself was hardly yet formed, otherwise than as a transparent jelly.
+
+It may interest some of my young readers to know how the water or milk
+of the cocoanut is got at, after the great nut has been thrown to the
+ground by the monkey-like boy in the tree.
+
+Cocoanut trees grow all over the tropical world, and their appearance
+must be familiar to every one--immensely tall stems with feathery-like
+tops formed of great palmate leaves.  The stems are hardly as thick as
+an ordinary larch, and they are seldom altogether straight.  Close to
+the tree-top, and in under the leaves, as if to hide from the blazing
+sun, grow the nuts.  When large enough for use one or two are culled.
+The nut itself is covered by the thick, green husk--that which Sally
+scrubs the kitchen floor with at home here in England; it is young now,
+however, but tough enough.  The "nigger" at the tree-foot, who has been
+very careful to look after his own nut while the fruit came tumbling
+down, now thrusts a stake pointed at both ends into the ground; against
+the protruding point he strikes the top of the cocoanut with all his
+force again and again till he has forced open a portion of husk.  Then
+his knife comes into play, and presently he has quite cut away the top
+of the husk and nut as well, for the shell is still soft.  Then he hands
+you the cool green cup, and before drinking you look inside and see only
+water with just a little clear jelly adhering to the inside of the
+shell.  You drink and drink and drink again--there is probably about a
+pint and a quarter of it.  Oh, how sweet, how cold--yes, _cold_--how
+delicious it is!  Probably after you have drunk all the water, you may
+care to eat some of the jelly, which you scoop out with your knife the
+best way you can.  Well, you will confess when you try it that you never
+really tasted cocoanut before.  Neither Christmas pudding, nor custard,
+nor anything ever you ate in life is anything to be compared to it.
+
+Yes, the cocoanut tree is well suited to the climate in which it grows;
+it is a God-gift to the native and to travellers from foreign lands.  I
+may add that it is chiefly near the sea you find the cocoanut tree, for
+it is a thirsty soul.  And no wonder.  Look at those broad, green leaves
+expanded to the sun, from which the sap must be constantly evaporating.
+
+When cruising on the shores of Africa in open boats, towards evening we
+used to look out for a part of the coast, where we saw cocoanut trees
+rearing their nodding heads high in air.  There we used to land, certain
+that we would find native huts and human beings at the foot of them,
+from whom we could buy fowls to make our cock-a-leekie soup and stew,
+previously to pulling off from the shore and lying at anchor to wait the
+coming morn.
+
+All this is a digression, still I have no doubt it will be found
+interesting to some, and the others are welcome to skip it.
+
+After a few hours of grateful rest, on went the caravan, Mahmoud himself
+at its head, trudging steadily, sturdily along, his eyes for the most
+part cast on the ground, and leaning on his spear.  He never deigned to
+address a word to Harry--not that Harry cared much for that, for his
+back was turned to the sea, he was leaving all he cared for in the
+world, and going into exile, going he knew not whither.  His prospects
+were as dreary as the scenery around him, and what is more heartless to
+behold than a barren plain stretching away apparently to the
+illimitable, without hill and with hardly rising ground, stunted bushes
+here and there, and beneath one's feet the everlasting scrubby, "benty,"
+half-scorched grass?  He thought this day would never end, that the sun
+would never decline towards the hazy horizon.  But it did at last.  It
+went round and stared them in the face; then it seemed to sink more
+rapidly, and finally--all a blaze of purple red--it went down.
+
+The short twilight was occupied by Mahmoud and his yellow-skinned
+minions in preparing for the night's bivouac.
+
+Wood was collected, a clearing was found on which to build a fire, and
+by and by supper was cooked.
+
+Then Mahmoud retired to prayers!
+
+He took a little carpet, and, going to a distance away, knelt down, then
+threw himself on his face in a devotion which I doubt not was sincere
+enough.  We ought not to despise the Mahometan religion, nor any
+religion, for _any_ religion is better than none.  Oh! woe is me for the
+boy or girl who retires to bed without having first felt grateful for
+the past, and commended his or her soul to Him for the night!
+
+Harry Milvaine did not forget to pray.
+
+No, he did not; and, like a Scotch boy, he always concluded his
+devotions with our Lord's Prayer; but ah! how hard he thought it
+to-night to breathe those words, "Thy will be done"!  It seemed that
+Heaven itself had deserted him.
+
+For Harry was very low in spirits.
+
+Whither did his thoughts revert?  Home, of course.  It was a pleasure to
+think of the dear ones far away, even although something seemed to
+whisper to him that he would never see them more.
+
+Presently he fell into a kind of stupor.  He had collected the withered
+grass in his immediate neighbourhood and formed it into a sort of
+pillow, and on this his head lay.
+
+When he awoke--if he really had been asleep--the moon was shining very
+bright and clearly, the camp-fire had died to red shining embers, around
+it in various positions lay the Somali Indians, not far off was Mahmoud
+himself, while beside Harry's grass pillow, leaning on his rifle, stood
+the sentinel.  This rifle had belonged to one of Harry's own men, so had
+the belt and well-filled pouch.
+
+Harry raised himself on his elbow.
+
+The sentinel never moved.  There was a deep, death-like stillness over
+all the place, broken only now and then by the eldritch laugh of some
+prowling hyaena.
+
+For a moment thoughts of escape came into Harry's mind.  He was
+unfettered; he was, indeed, on a kind of parole.  In so far only as
+this: the Arab Mahmoud had told him he should be free from fetters
+unless he attempted to escape; if he did so, he would either be shot
+down at once, or, if captured alive, manacled as a slave.  Harry's
+answer had been bold enough.
+
+"I accept parole," he had said, "on those conditions, and if I attempt
+to escape you may shoot me."
+
+He sat up now and looked about him.  The sentinel moved a few paces off
+and stood ready.  But hearing his prisoner cough, and observing his
+perfect nonchalance, he stood at ease once more.  Harry threw himself
+back.  He shuddered a little, for dew was falling, and the night air was
+chill.  Instead of sleeping it was his purpose now to think, but his
+thoughts soon resolved themselves into confused and ugly dreams, in
+which scenes on board ship were strangely mixed up and jumbled with
+those of his life at home and at school.
+
+When he awoke again it was broad daylight, and all the camp was astir.
+
+He ate his breakfast of boiled rice and dates in silence, and shortly
+after this a start was made.
+
+Another long weary day.
+
+Another weary night.
+
+What the caravan suffered most from was the want of water.  It was small
+in quantity and of such wretched quality, being thick, dark, and
+smelling, that Harry turned from his short allowance in loathing and
+disgust.
+
+The route was ever inland, day after day.  Knowing what he did of the
+country, Harry thought it strange they were following no direct road or
+caravan path.  Sometimes they bore a little south, at other times almost
+directly north.
+
+It was evident enough, however, that Mahmoud, their bold and stern
+leader, knew what he was about, and knew the country he was traversing,
+for he never failed to find water, without which a journey in this
+strange land is an impossibility.
+
+The thought of escaping--the wish to escape--grew and grew in Harry's
+mind till it formed itself into a fixed resolve.
+
+He would have carried it out at the earliest moment had he deemed it
+prudent, but there was the want of water to be considered.  What good
+escaping, only to perish miserably in the wilderness?  He would wait
+till the country became less barren.
+
+The caravan in its route inland forded more than one broad stream.  By
+the banks of these they sometimes journeyed for many miles, rested by
+day or camped at night.
+
+Where, Harry often wondered, were his poor men?  What fate was theirs,
+and what would his own fate be?
+
+That he was to be sold into slavery, he had little, if any, doubt; and
+the truth was rendered more patent to him one evening by overhearing a
+conversation in Swahili between two of the Somalis.  It referred to him,
+and mention was repeatedly made of the name of a great chief called
+'Ngaloo, a name he had never heard before.
+
+"Perhaps," thought Harry, "my men, too, are being driven to this king's
+country, though by a different route."
+
+But this was improbable.  Had he believed it at all likely he would have
+gone on patiently with his captors, and have shared the fortune of the
+poor fellows, whether that might be death or slavery.
+
+No, he determined to escape.
+
+His chance came sooner than he had anticipated.
+
+The caravan was encamped one night by the banks of a stream--a deep and
+ugly stream it was, its banks bordered by gigantic euphorbia trees or
+shrubs, so shapeless and ugly, that betwixt Harry and the moonlight they
+looked living uncanny things, and it needed but little imagination on
+his part to make them wave their arms and make motions that were both
+fantastic and fiend-like.
+
+Harry was lying with his eyes half-shut looking at them when suddenly
+the sentinel bent down and gazed for a moment earnestly into his face.
+Suspecting something, but not knowing what, he pretended to sleep,
+breathing heavily, with an occasional sob or sigh, but ready to spring
+in a moment if foul play were meant.
+
+The sentinel now left his side and strode away on tiptoe--though with
+many a stealthy backward glance--around the sleeping caravan.  He went
+so far as to touch several of the Somali Indians with his foot.  But
+when a Somali does sleep it takes a deal to rouse him.  Seemingly
+satisfied, he came back and had one other look at Harry, then walked
+straight away to the river's brink.
+
+He was only going to quench his thirst after all, but well he knew that
+to have been found but five yards from his post would have cost him his
+life.  No wonder he was careful.  Harry's mind was made up in a moment,
+and more quickly than lightning's flash.  How fast one must think on
+occasions like the present!  He sprang lightly but silently to his feet
+the very moment he saw the Somali deposit his rifle and shot-belt on the
+bank and bend down towards a pool.
+
+Next minute Harry, exerting all his young strength, had seized and flung
+him far into the stream.
+
+A plash by night in an African river is but little likely to awake any
+one encamped by its banks.  So far Harry was safe, but would the Indian
+give the alarm?
+
+He did not wait to think, he only snatched up the weapons and the
+shot-belt and darted away like a red deer swiftly along the riverside.
+He wondered to hear no shout.
+
+The truth is, the Somali sentinel feared to give it; to him it would
+have meant death, whatever it might be to Harry.
+
+But looking round shortly, he was hardly surprised to find he was hotly
+pursued by the sentinel.  He ran on for about two hundred yards farther,
+and, on looking round again, he noticed that the Somali was fast gaining
+on him.  So Harry stopped.
+
+His Highland blood was up.
+
+"I won't run from one man," he said, "neither will I kill him; I'll give
+him a throw, though, if he likes, after the manner of Donald Dinnie."
+
+So he stood and waited.
+
+He had not long to wait.  The Indian had divested himself of the linen
+jacket he wore, and next moment confronted him, panting, but with
+gleaming eyes and on murder intent.  That is, murder if he could manage
+it quietly.
+
+"Halt!" cried Harry, in Swahili, as he came to the charge.  "No farther,
+or you die!"
+
+The rest of his speech to the Somali he continued, partly in Swahili,
+partly in English, the former language being rather meagre in
+phraseology.  But this is the gist of what he did say:
+
+"I could kill you if I liked.  It would be mean, however.  Now take your
+time and get your breath, then if you like I'll give it to you English
+fashion."
+
+He paused, and the Somali stood there glaring and foaming with fury.
+
+After a minute--
+
+"Time's up," said Harry, and, taking two or three paces to the rear, he
+threw rifle and shot-belt on the ground; then, pointing to them--
+
+"Touch these, my friend, if you dare," he said.
+
+No two biddings did the Somali require.  He sprang towards the rifle as
+springs the jungle cat on its prey.  Harry's blow was finely planted,
+and I am sure that Indian must have imagined, for the time being, that
+there were considerably more stars in the sky than ever he had seen
+before.
+
+He rose and flew at Harry.  He flew but to fall, and he rose and rose
+again, only to fall and fall again!
+
+Harry could not help admiring his pluck.
+
+He was conquered at last, though.
+
+Then, getting up, half stunned, from the grass, he extended his arms
+towards Harry.
+
+"Kill me," he said, "kill me, but not thus.  Kill me with the English
+sword, for if I go back to my people without my prisoner, they will kill
+me with fire."
+
+"Come to think of it, my good fellow," said Harry, "there need be no
+killing in the matter.  You can't go back.  Come with me.  The tables
+are turned: _you_ shall now be the slave, _I_ the master.  I will be
+good and kind to you if you are faithful; if not, I will let the
+daylight into you."
+
+The reply of the savage was affecting enough.  He bowed himself to the
+earth first; then, still on his knees, took Harry's right hand and bent
+his head until his brow touched it.
+
+"That will do, my good fellow.  I don't care for palaver, you know.  But
+let us have action.  Now you shall prove how far you are willing to
+serve me.  Go back to your fellows, a rascally crew they are, and fetch
+another rifle and more ammunition, and just a little provisions if you
+can."
+
+The Somali knew what he meant, even if he did not understand precisely
+all that was said.
+
+He was up and away in a moment.
+
+Harry Milvaine waited and listened.  He thought the time would never
+pass.  Would the Somali be true or be treacherous?  He might rouse his
+sleeping companions, and, while he was still standing here in the broad
+staring light of the moon, stealthily surround and re-capture him.
+
+The very thought made him change his ground.  He drew himself away under
+the shade of some mimosa trees and waited there.
+
+At last a single figure, armed with a rifle and carrying a bag, drew up
+in the clearing that Harry had left, and looked about him in some
+surprise.  It was Harry's ex-foe.
+
+Harry soon joined him.
+
+"You have stayed long," he said.
+
+"I have plenty of ammunition, something to eat, and the rifle, and--"
+
+"Well, and what else?"
+
+"Nothing else," said the Indian, showing a row of teeth like alabaster;
+"I have floated all the rest of the ammunition down stream."
+
+"You are clever, but hark! did you not hear some sound?  I believe they
+are stirring."
+
+"No, no, that was a lion miles away."
+
+"Come, then, lead on."
+
+"Which way?"
+
+"West.  They are sure to think I have gone in the direction of the
+coast."
+
+"Come, then."
+
+And away went Nanungamanoo.  And by daybreak they were many, many miles
+from the camp of Mahmoud.
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES--A MYSTERIOUS PACK, AND A MYSTERIOUS APPEARANCE.
+
+Danger sharpens one's wits.  It makes the old young again, and the young
+old--in judgment.
+
+Harry was no fool from the commencement, and he now reasoned rightly
+enough, that Mahmoud with his savage caravan, as soon as he missed the
+runaways, would naturally conclude that they had gone back towards the
+coast.
+
+This, however, was precisely the thing that Harry had no present
+intention of doing.  And why? it may be asked.  Ought he not to be glad
+of the freedom he had once more obtained, and make the best of his way
+to some friendly village or town by the sea-shore?  Perhaps; but then
+Harry was a wayward youth.  He was wayward and headstrong, but on this
+occasion I think he had right on his side.
+
+"I cannot and will not return," he said to himself, "without making some
+effort to find my poor fellows--if, indeed, they be still alive.
+Besides, this is a strange and a lovely land, and there are strange
+adventures to be met with.  I must see a little of it while I am here."
+
+You will notice, reader, that hope was already throwing its glamour over
+the poor lad's mind.  He dearly loved nature, but while being dragged
+away as a prisoner, although some parts of the country through which he
+passed had been charming enough, he could not bear to gaze on their
+beauty while _he_ was a slave.
+
+Flowers grew in abundance on many parts of the plains; they grew in
+patches, in beds of gorgeous colour, here, there, and everywhere--pale
+blue, dark blue, yellow, crimson, and modest brown; they carpetted the
+ground, and even trailed up over and beautified the stunted scrub
+bushes.  As Burns hath it, these flowers--
+
+  "Sprang wanton to be pressed."
+
+At another time their sunlit glory would have dazzled him, now they had
+seemed to mock him in his misery, and he had crushed them under foot.
+
+Great birds sailed majestically and slowly overhead, or flew with that
+lazy indifference peculiar to some of the African species, ascending
+some distance, then letting themselves fall again, putting no more
+exertion into the action of flight than was absolutely necessary, but
+sauntering along through the air, as it were.  Never mind, they were
+happy, and Harry had hated them because they were so happy--and free.
+Long after the caravan had left the coast, sea-birds even came floating
+round them.
+
+"Come away, Harry!" they seemed to scream.  "Come away--away--away!"
+
+They were happy too.  Oh, he had thought, if he could only be as free,
+and had their lithesome, lissom wings!
+
+Monster butterflies like painted fans, browns, vermilions, and
+ultramarines hovered indolently over the flowers.  How _they_ appeared
+to enjoy the sunshine!
+
+Even the bronzy green or black beetles that moved about among the grass
+or over the bare patches of ground had something to do, something to
+engross their minds, thoroughly to the exclusion of every other
+consideration in life.
+
+As for the lovely sea-green lizards with broad arrows of crimson on
+their shoulders, they simply squatted, panting, on stones, or lay along
+reed-stalks, making the very most of life and sunshine; while as for the
+giant cicadas, their happiness considerably interfered with the business
+of their little lives, because they were so very, very, _very_ happy
+that they had to stop about every two minutes to sing.
+
+But now, why Harry was free and as happy as any of them--at present, at
+all events.
+
+As he trudged along in the moonlight he could not help making a little
+joke to himself.
+
+"Go back!" he said, half aloud.  "No, Scotchmen never go back."
+
+Well, then, Mahmoud, after retreating for some distance towards the
+coast, would no doubt resume his journey.  Of this Harry felt sure
+enough, because Nanungamanoo told his new master, before they had gone
+very far that night, that the Arab priest was on his way to a far
+distant country, quite unknown to any other trader, there to purchase a
+gang of slaves from a king, who would sell his people for fire-water.
+
+"The scoundrels!" said Harry.
+
+"Yes, sahib."
+
+"Both I mean; both king and priest.  I'd tie them neck to neck and drown
+them as one drowns kittens."
+
+"Yes, sahib."
+
+"And no one else knows of this territory?"
+
+"No white man, sahib."
+
+"The villain!  A little nest of his own that he robs periodically.  A
+happy hunting-ground all to himself.  So you think Mahmoud will shortly
+come on this way?"
+
+"Sure to, sahib."
+
+Harry considered a short time, then--
+
+"Well, Nanungamanoo, my good fellow, it won't do to get in front of him.
+He would soon find our trail."
+
+"Yes, sahib, and kill us with fire."
+
+"Would he now?  That would not be pleasant, Nanungamanoo.  By the way,
+Nanungamanoo, what an awful name you have!  Excuse me, Nanungamanoo, but
+we must really try to find you a shorter.  Do you understand, Mr
+Nanungamanoo?  We'll boil that name of yours down, or extract the
+essence of it and let you have that.  But touching this pretty priest,
+this amiable individual, who hesitates not to buy poor slaves for rum,
+although he is far too good to fight for them.  He'll be along this way
+in a day or two.  Now I greatly object to be hurried, especially when I
+am out upon a little pleasure trip like the present--ha! ha!  I don't
+think for a moment that either an Arab or any of you Somali fellows are
+half so clever at picking up a trail as your genuine North American
+backwoods Indian; but then, you know, even an Arab or a Somali couldn't
+go past the mark of an old camp-fire without smelling a rat.  Do you
+understand, Mr Nanungamanoo?--bother your name, it's a regular
+twice-round the clock business!"
+
+"I understand," replied Nanungamanoo, "much that you say even in
+English."
+
+"Well, Mr Nanungamanoo, if you behave yourself and are long with me,
+I'll put you to school and teach you myself--good English.  But,"
+continued Harry, "we must have this angelic Mahmoud on ahead of us.  So
+if you can find a place to hide, we will let him pass and give him a
+fair start.  For, as you say that you know this route well, and no
+other, we must be content to keep it for some time to come at all
+events."
+
+"Yes, sahib; and I know the place to hide.  Come."
+
+"I'll follow as fast as you like, Mr Nanungamanoo.  But, first and
+foremost, just let us see what you have in that bundle of yours--to eat,
+I mean.  I haven't really felt so genuinely hungry since I was taken
+prisoner.  My eyes!  Nanungamanoo, what a size your bundle is!  You seem
+to have looted the whole camp."
+
+The Somali laid down the burden and prepared to open it.  It was wrapped
+in a kind of coarse blue-striped cloth, much admired by certain tribes
+of savages.
+
+They had reached a patch of high clearing in the jungle, the moon was
+shining very brightly, so, although there were lions about, there was
+very little fear of an attack, these gentry much preferring to catch
+their foes unawares and by daylight.
+
+The Somali undid his bundle precisely like a packman of olden times,
+showing off the wares he had for sale.
+
+"This is the food," he said.
+
+"What! dry rice?  Why, my good fellow, I'm not a fowl."
+
+"Fowl--yes, yes," cried Nanungamanoo, the first words he had spoken in
+English.  "Here is fowl and rice curry."
+
+"Ha! glorious!" cried Harry.  "Capitally cooked too, done to a turn,
+tastes delicious.  Have a bit yourself, old man.  No doubt Mahmoud had
+intended this for his own little breakfast.  I feel double the
+individual now, Nanungamanoo," said Harry, after he had done ample
+justice to the viands of his late lord and master, "double the
+individual.  Now suppose we proceed to investigate still further the
+contents of your mysterious pack?  That's the ammunition, is it?  A
+goodly lot too!  But what is in that other pack?  There are wheels
+within wheels, and packs within packs, my clever Nanungamanoo.  You are
+afraid to touch it--to open it.  Give it to me, I will."
+
+So saying he quickly undid the lashing.
+
+"Why," he continued in astonishment, as he lifted the things up one by
+one, "my own best uniform jacket--two pairs of white duck pants--my
+Sunday-go-meeting pairs--one--two--three--four flannel shirts, my best
+ones too--a pair of canvas shoes--a packet of new uniform buttons, and a
+yard of gold lace--three cakes of eating chocolate, and a box of cough
+drops that old Yonitch gave me as a parting gift.  Why, Nanungamanoo, as
+sure as we're squatting here, and the moon shining down over us both,
+that old thief has been and gone and robbed my sea-chest!  I see his
+little game, Nanungamanoo: he was taking these things of mine away into
+the interior to that happy hunting-ground of his, to swop them away
+along with myself to the drunken old king for slaves.  Yes, and they
+would have stripped me of the uniform I now wear, and given me an old
+cow's hide instead with the horns stuck over my brow and the tail
+hanging down behind.  Oh!  Mr Mahmoud, but I have spoiled your fun.
+But there they are, goodness be praised, and I must not be too hard on
+old Mahmie after all, for he did save my life."
+
+Nanungamanoo laughed a sneering laugh.
+
+"You were too valuable to burn," he said.
+
+"Do you really suppose then, my worthy Nanungamanoo, that Mahmoud looked
+upon the matter as a commercial transaction?"
+
+"Now you speak Hindustanee.  I do not know."
+
+"Never mind, make up the bundle again, and let us trudge.  From the
+position of the moon it must be getting on towards morning."
+
+Nanungamanoo held up three fingers and proceeded with his work.
+
+"Three o'clock, is it?  Well, heave round, let us up anchor and be off."
+
+After re-establishing his valuable pack, Nanungamanoo carefully
+collected the bones of the feast and threw them under a bush, and was
+proceeding to obliterate the marks they had made on the withered grass
+by raising it again with his foot, when a twig cracked in a neighbouring
+thicket.  Both Harry and Nanungamanoo speedily clutched their rifles.
+
+Almost immediately after a black and nearly naked figure emerged slowly
+into the moonlight, and stood at some little distance, holding up one
+arm across his face as if to protect it from the blow of the bullet
+Nanungamanoo would have fired, but Harry thrust his arm up.
+
+Then Raggy Muffin advanced.
+
+"Golla-mussy, massa!  What for you want to shoot poor Raggy?"
+
+"But, Raggy," cried Harry, "in the name of mystery how came you here?"
+
+"I came, massa, to cut your cords ob bondage, all same as de little
+mouse cut de cords ob de great big lion."
+
+"But where did you come from, Raggy?  Sit down, poor boy, your cheeks
+are thin, sit down and pick a bone."
+
+"No, no, massa, not here, not here.  Dey am all alive in Mahmoud's camp,
+I can 'ssure you ob dat."
+
+"You came through there?"
+
+"I came to cut your cords ob bondage, massa."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, den I see dat de bird hab flown."
+
+"Yes, Raggy."
+
+"Den I pick up ebery ting I see lying about handy, massa.  Den I follow
+your trail."
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!  So you've been looting too, have you?  Well, Raggy, get
+your parcel and let us be off.  Lead on, Nanungamanoo."
+
+"La! massa," said Raggy, grinning all over, "suppose I hab one long name
+like dat nigger, I cut it all up into leetle pieces, and hab one for
+ebery day in de week."
+
+The march was now recommenced.
+
+The Somali trode gingerly on ahead, picking his way through the flowery
+sward, as if afraid to leave the slightest trail.
+
+Harry and Raggy came up behind.
+
+It was evident the Somali was now making a _detour_; at all events they
+shortly found themselves at the river, which was here broad and shallow.
+This they forded, taking care to keep their packs and rifles dry.
+
+Into a weird-looking bit of forest they now plunged.
+
+A weird-looking forest indeed.  Every tree seemed an ogre in the
+moonlight.  Yet the air was heavily odorous with the sweet breath of
+some species of mimosa bloom, and the ground was for the most part free
+from undergrowth.
+
+The forest grew darker and darker as they proceeded, and they could hear
+a lion growl in the distance.  He was far away, yet Harry clutched his
+rifle and drew little Raggy close up to his side.
+
+He was not sorry when the moonlight shone down on them once more through
+the branches of a baobab tree.  Here they stopped to breathe.
+
+On again, and now the way began to ascend, still in the forest, and
+still comparatively in the gloom.
+
+Up and up and up they went.  It was quite a mountain for this district.
+At last the trees and then the bushes deserted them; then they were on
+the bluff, and Harry turned round to look.
+
+Why, away down yonder--close under them it appeared--they could see the
+blazing camp-fire of Mahmoud's caravan.
+
+"Are we not too near, Nanungamanoo?"
+
+"No.  They will not stir till daylight Arabs are not brave at night.
+When they do start they will go towards the sun.  We will wait and watch
+and see."
+
+And so it fell out, for no sooner had the clouds begun to turn bright
+yellow and crimson than the stir commenced in the camp.
+
+Somalis ran hither and thither, it is true.
+
+The babel of voices was terrible.
+
+Mahmoud himself was here, there, and everywhere, and the whacks he
+freely dealt his soldiers with a bamboo cane were audible even to our
+friends on the hill-top.  But when all was said and done, the caravan
+started back towards the coast, and in a few minutes there was silence
+all over the beautiful landscape.
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+IN AFRICAN WILDS--ADVENTURE WITH A LION.
+
+A little way down the hill, and looking towards the north, was a cave in
+the rocks, and a cool delightful corner our friends found it, soon as
+the sun "got some weigh" on him, and his beams no longer slanted over
+the plain.
+
+While Raggy was eating his modest breakfast Harry went some distance
+apart, and, taking out a little Book--it was a gift from his mother--he
+read a portion where a leaf was turned down.
+
+Seems funny that a boy should carry a Bible with him, does it not?
+Well, reader, I can tell you this much: I have known many and many a
+sailor boy do so, and I never found that they were a bit the worse for
+it.
+
+Mind you this, I have no patience with superstition, and I do hate cant;
+nor do I for a moment mean to say that our Book acts as a kind of
+amulet: but putting the matter in a plain, practical, common sense kind
+of a way, you and I have both immortal souls, you know, and we want to
+be guided how to save them.  Well, the Book tells us the way.  But that
+is not all.  In times of danger--and a sailor comes across these pretty
+often--a blink into the Bible often gives a fellow heartening.  You open
+it probably at the very passage that does so, and, even if you do not,
+you know where to find such passage.
+
+And this _does_ do good.  Oh!  I have proved it over and over again.  I
+have a little old Book there that I have carried about the world for
+years and years.  It has many a dog's-ear, but they are intentional, for
+each one marks a passage, and to every dog's-ear a story is attached.
+All point to little crumbs of comfort I have had in scenes of danger or
+even pestilence--here and there in many lands.  Some day, if spared, I
+mean to write the story of this particular old Book of mine, and I do
+not think it will be devoid of interest to those who may care to peruse
+it.
+
+But there!  I am digressing, and I humbly beg my readers pardon; it was
+all owing to Harry's getting away, in behind that bit of tangled scrub,
+in order to perform his morning devotions.  Well, the truth is he did
+feel very, very grateful to be free.
+
+But stay, will he be able to retain that freedom?  And this brings me
+back to my tale.
+
+He went back to the place where he had left Raggy enjoying the leg of a
+fowl.
+
+The boy was sitting near the mouth of the cave.
+
+"Enjoyed it, Raggy?"
+
+"Ah!" and Raggy smacked his lips and rolled his eyes, "he am plenty much
+sweet, massa."
+
+"There's a wing there too, Raggy.  There you are, have that."
+
+"Tank you, massa.  You am bery good, massa."
+
+I dare say Raggy would have eaten a whole fowl had it been offered to
+him.  After all African fowls are not very big, nor very fat; but very
+matter-of-fact and self-possessed--that is their moral character.
+
+I have gone into an African village in the evening, just as the fowls
+were all going to roost in the trees, my object being to buy half a
+dozen for the pot.  As soon as the natives were convinced that the white
+man had not come to eat a baby, but that he really wanted to buy
+"tuck-tuck-chow-chow," and had copper money in his hand to pay for the
+dainty, then all hands would turn out, and such a hunt you never saw,
+and such fluttering of wings and skraiching.  I have felt sorry for the
+fowls.
+
+When I got what I wanted, the rest of the "tuck-tucks" would go quietly
+to roost again as if nothing had happened.  I envy such equanimity.
+
+I remember that two fowls got loose in the boat once.  It was blowing
+stiff, and the white spray was dashing over us.  Well, any other birds
+would have jumped overboard.  Not so these African fowls.  They simply
+got on the gun'ale, and, as soon as the squall was over, coolly
+commenced to arrange their feathers.  This regard for personal
+appearance in a scene of such danger--for they must have known they were
+going to pot--is something that one does not know whether most to admire
+or wonder at.
+
+Having fully satisfied the needs of nature, Raggy was prepared to give
+some little account of his adventures.  Briefly they were as follows,
+and in Raggy's own language.
+
+"You see, massa, befoh de sun rise on dat drefful night on de shore, de
+Somali Indians, all plenty well-armed, plenty big knife, plenty spear
+and gun, dey come and wake all our poor blue-jackets.  `Come quiet,' dey
+say; `suppose you make bobbery, den we kill you quick.'  Dey tak us all
+away behind de sandhills, and I tink first and fohmost dey am goin' to
+obfuscate us."
+
+"Suffocate us you mean, Raggy."
+
+"All de same meaning, massa.  But dey tie our arms till de blood tingle
+all down de fingers, and dey tie us roun' de neck till we all feel
+chickey-chokey, and our eyes want to bust and relieve demselves.  Den
+away we all go.  I look back, and see dat poor massa not follow, and my
+heart am bery sad.  Ober de hills and de plains we walk.  Poor white
+man's feet soon get tire and blister all, and in two tree day dey walk
+all de same's one chicken on de stove-top.  Dey Somalis and de big
+Arab--he one bad, _bad_ man--dey talk.  Dey not tink I understand what
+dey say.  Dey speak ob where dey am going to de country ob King
+Kara-Kara, to sell all de men for slabes and get a tousand niggers foh
+'em.  Den dey speak ob you.  You, dey say, am wo'th de lot Raggy heah
+all, and listen, and tink, and I want to set you free.  One day one man
+he fall sick--one ohdinary seaman, massa, name is Davis--he fall bery,
+bery sick.  Den de Arab soldier look at him and look at him.  You nebah
+get well, he say.  Den he take him by de two leg and pull him along de
+grass to a bush; and oh! it was drefful, massa, to heah poor Davis
+crying for mussy 'cause he hab a wife and piccaninnies at home, he tole
+'em.  No mussy in dat Arab's eye.  No mussy in his heart, he take de
+ugly spear and stab--stab--stab--Poor Davis jes say `Oh!' once or twice,
+den he die.  Plenty oder men sick after dis, but dey not lie down.  Dey
+jes walk on weary, weary.  Byemby we come to wells.  Den de men get
+better.  But Raggy hab eno' ob dis.  He steal away at night.  How de
+lion roah in de jungle, and how de tiger [the leopard is frequently so
+called in Africa] jump about, and de wild hyaenas come out in de
+moonlight and laugh at poor Raggy.  Raggy's heart bery full ob feah.
+But he no say much.  Suppose dey only laugh, dat not hurt much.  Suppose
+dey bite, den Raggy die.  I walk and walk foh days.  I not hab much
+food.  But I catch de mole and de mouse, I eatee he plenty quick.  Den
+byemby I come to Mahmoud's trail, and I follow on and up till one day I
+see de caravan on de hill, den I lie and sleep till night Massa knows
+all de rest."
+
+"Yes, Raggy, I know all the rest, and very grateful I am for your pluck,
+and all that, and if ever we get back again, I'll report your good and
+brave conduct, and you'll be well rewarded.  Perhaps they'll make you a
+captain, Raggy."
+
+"Massa is joking."
+
+"You go home now at once?" the boy asked, after a pause.
+
+"Oh! no, Raggy.  That would not be doing my duty.  I'm going inland, and
+I'm going to try to find and redeem, or rescue our poor fellows.  It
+would not be plucky nor brave to go back without them--at all events
+without trying to find them.  Now, Raggy, as we are sure, if spared, to
+be some considerable time together, I wish you to do me the favour to
+teach Nanungamanoo to speak English."
+
+"De yeller nigger wi' de long name, massa?"
+
+"That is he, Raggy--Nanungamanoo."
+
+"Oh! lah! massa, I teachee he plenty propah, and suppose he no speak
+good, I give him five, six, ten stick all same as de schoolmastah ob de
+_Bunting_ switchee me."
+
+"You better not try," said Harry, laughing, "or you may find yourself in
+the wrong box.  But here," he cried aloud, "Nanungamanoo, where are
+you?"
+
+Next moment Nanungamanoo stood silently before him awaiting his
+commands.
+
+"You've got too long a name, Nanungamanoo."
+
+"Yes, sahib."
+
+"Well, we'll shorten it.  We'll call you Jack.  It's free and easy."
+
+Jack expressed his pleasure to have an English name, so Jack he became.
+
+"On all `occasions of ceremony or state,' as the Navy List says, Jack,
+we will resort to your original designation, and you will be
+Nanungamanoo again."
+
+For three days and nights Harry and his merry men occupied the cave on
+the hillside.
+
+At the end of this time they had the satisfaction one evening of seeing
+a red light gleaming on the western horizon.  It was the reflection of
+the camp-fire of the returning caravan.
+
+Early next morning, almost as soon as sunrise, Mahmoud and his followers
+passed through the forest at the foot of the hill.  Harry could even
+hear them talking, so close were they.
+
+He had the rifles loaded and everything ready to give them a warm
+reception should they dare to ascend.  But they did not.  They went
+through the forest and on their way across a broad sandy plain.
+
+When they had quite disappeared beyond the horizon, Harry gave a sigh of
+relief.  The danger was, comparatively speaking, over for a time.  He
+would now give them a few days' start, then go on behind, for Jack
+assured him this caravan route was the only practical way into the
+interior.
+
+Every night the lions could be heard growling and roaring with that
+awe-inspiring cough, which they emit, in the woods around the hill.  It
+was well they had a cave to sleep in, for to have lit fires on the
+hill-top would have ensured the return of Mahmoud and his savage
+Somalis, and they would have been captured.  But a sentinel was set--and
+Harry took the post time about with Raggy and Somali Jack.
+
+Was Jack really to be trusted?  The answer to this is, that the
+faithfulness of a Somali Indian will be sold to the highest bidder, just
+like a picture at an auction mart, but it may in time be cemented to the
+purchaser if he is worthy of it.  I have always found that there is a
+great deal of similarity betwixt the human nature as displayed by
+Indians and white men, which only proves that the world is much the same
+all over.
+
+I must add, however, that white men as a rule treat savages with less
+ceremony and far less justice than they would mete out to one of their
+own dogs at home.  Take an example.  Some scoundrelly white trader has
+been murdered (it is called "murdered," but I should say "killed") by
+some islanders of the Pacific.  This trading fellow had been on shore--
+probably not sober--abusing the hospitality held out to him, bullying
+and swaggering, and doing deeds that, if committed in this country,
+would secure for him a lengthened period of penal servitude.  The worm
+turns at last and resents.  The trader calls his men and a fight ensues;
+the savages are victorious, the white men slain.  By and by in comes a
+British man-o'-war and demands the surrender of the murderers by the
+chief or king.  Perhaps he does not even know them, refuses to give them
+up, and therein ensues a wholesale butchery of men, women, and children,
+and the burning of towns and villages.
+
+I have known this happen over and over again, and I have asked myself,
+Who is to blame?  Certainly not the so-called savages.
+
+Well, boy-readers, if ever any of you happen to be away abroad, in
+Africa or the Pacific, and have a native as a servant, take my advice:
+treat him as a human being and a fellow-creature, and you will have no
+cause to complain, but quite the reverse.
+
+Harry had a good long talk with Jack; he told him he should let him go
+away any time he wished, but that if he did stay he would have no cause
+to repent it.
+
+Once more Jack took Harry's hand in both his and bent himself down until
+his brow touched it, and our hero was satisfied.
+
+On leaving the hill--which, by the way, Harry took possession of in the
+Queen's name, and called it Mount Andrew, to show he had not forgotten
+his old friend in the Highlands--they journeyed on through the forest
+and followed in the very footsteps of Mahmoud's caravan, across plains,
+through woods, through rivers and mountain glens, camping every night
+where Mahmoud had camped, and lighting a fire in the very same spot.
+The fire was very necessary now, and it had to be kept up all night, for
+they were in a country inhabited by and given up to, one might say, wild
+beasts.
+
+Here were lions in scores, hyaenas and jungle-cats.
+
+So all night long these animals made the bush resound with their cries.
+
+Sometimes Harry found it almost impossible to sleep, so terrible was the
+quarrelling and din.  He fell upon a plan at last that in some measure
+remedied the infliction--that of leaving the bullock or two, or the deer
+or hartebeest slain for food, a good two or three miles behind.  Where
+the carrion is, there cometh the kite; and so it was in this case--to
+some extent at all events.
+
+The store of rice that Jack had looted from Mahmoud's camp very soon was
+done, but they did not want for provisions for all that.
+
+There were fruits of so many kinds, and roots that they dug up, or
+rather that Jack dug up and roasted in the camp-fire.  Then there were
+plantains, which are excellent cooked in the same primitive style.  Some
+of the forest trees were laden with fruit; the danger lay in eating too
+much of it.  Many of these fruits were quite unknown to Harry, but he
+was guided by his best man, Jack.  With so much fruit, salt was hardly
+missed, though at first Harry thought it strange to eat meat without it.
+
+Slices from the most tender portions of the animals killed were cut and
+carried along with them, and towards evening, when the bivouac ground
+was chosen, and the fire of wood gathered and kindled by Jack and Raggy,
+the former set to work to prepare the supper.
+
+The roots, yams principally, were simply buried among the fiery ashes,
+but a far more artistic method was adopted in grilling the steak: a
+triangle of green wood was built over the fire as soon as it had died
+down to red embers, across the triangle bars were fastened, and on this
+were hung the pieces of juicy flesh.  When the bars were nearly burned
+through, and the wooden triangle itself falling to pieces, then the
+steak was cooked.
+
+They had fresh air and exercise, and consequently the appetite of mighty
+hunters.  It is hardly necessary, therefore, to add that they really
+enjoyed their dinners.  Fruit followed, then water, which was not always
+good.
+
+The country they traversed now, though a hilly and fertile one, was,
+strange to say, deserted.
+
+Still, this is not so strange when we remember that in all probability
+it has been depopulated by the Arab slaver.  Indeed, many parts of the
+forest gave evidence of having been ravished by fire.
+
+Bravery, I take it, is not a very uncommon quality in the human breast
+of any inhabitant of our British islands, yet he is the bravest man who
+_knows_ his danger and still does not fear to face it.  In the matter of
+danger, where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise.  Your
+first-voyage sailor will retain his presence of mind and coolness, at
+times when old seafarers are pale with the coldness of a coming evil.
+Why?  Because he does not know the worst.  This is not bravery.  It is--
+nothing.
+
+If, however, one is so positioned as to know there is danger, but
+remains in ignorance as to its amount or extent, then he has a bold
+heart who can quietly meet or court it.  I have hinted before in this
+tale of mine that I claim for my wayward boy, Harry, no _extraordinary_
+qualities of mind, and that he had his faults just as you have, reader;
+so now I need not apologise for him when I confess to you that in the
+wild African jungle there were many times that his heart beat high with
+fear.  Especially was this so at first.  All bold, brave natures are
+finely strung and sensitive.  Harry's was.  He did not like the dangers
+of the darkness, and he dreaded snakes.  At the commencement, then, of
+his wanderings on the dark continent he expected to see one whenever a
+bunch of grass quivered or moved, though only a mole might have been at
+the bottom of it.  And I believe at night he heard sounds and saw sights
+in the bush and on the plains, that had no existence except in his own
+fervid imagination.
+
+However, a month or two of nomad life hardened him.  He noticed that
+even serpents do not go out of their way to bite people, and that you
+have only to observe a certain amount of caution, then you may put your
+hands in your pockets and whistle.
+
+As far as that goes, I believe you might put your hands in your pockets
+and go whistling up to a lion "on the roam."  My illustrious countryman,
+the great General Gordon, did this or something very like it once.  _I_
+would not, nor would I advise you to do so, reader; but I have to say,
+as regards my hero, Harry, that familiarity bred in him a contempt for
+danger that led him to grief.
+
+I will tell you the story after making just one remark.  It is this--and
+happy I would be this minute if I thought you would lay it to heart and
+remember it.  We are apt to pray to our Father to keep us from evil, and
+then, when something occurs to us, some accident, perhaps, turn round
+and murmur and say--
+
+"Oh! my prayers have not been heard.  God loves me not."
+
+How know you, I ask, that He in His mercy has not allowed this _little_
+misfortune to befall us in order to save us from a _greater_?
+
+Harry was carelessly walking one evening--he was waiting for dinner--in
+a grove of rugged euphorbias.  The evening was very beautiful, the sun
+declining in the west towards a range of high hills which they had that
+day passed.  There was a great bank of purple-grey clouds loftier than
+the hills; these were fringed with pale gold, else you could not have
+told which was mountain and which was cloud.  There was also a breeze
+blowing, just enough to make a rustling sound among the cactuses and
+scrub.  This it was probably that prevented Harry from hearing the
+stealthy footsteps of an enormous lion, until startled by a roar that
+made the blood tingle in his very shoes.
+
+There he was--the African king of beasts--not twenty yards away--
+crouched, swishing his tail on the grass, and preparing for a spring.
+
+Harry stood spellbound.
+
+Then he tried to raise his rifle.
+
+"No, you don't," the lion must have thought.  For at that very moment he
+sprang, and next Harry was down under him.
+
+He remembered a confused shout, and the sharp ring of a rifle.  Then all
+was a mist of oblivion till he found himself lying near the camp-fire,
+with Jack kneeling by his side holding his arm.
+
+"I'm not hurt, am I?" said Harry.
+
+"Oh, massa, you am dun killed completely," sobbed little Raggy.  "All de
+blood in you body hab run out.  You quite killed.  You not lib.  What
+den will poor Raggy do?"
+
+It was not so bad as Raggy made out, however.  But Harry's wounds were
+dreadful enough, back and shoulder lacerated and arm bitten through.
+
+Harry had made it a point all the journey since leaving the hill he
+called Mount Andrew to camp each night on the same place Mahmoud had
+left days before, and to build the fire in the self-same spot, and on
+departing in the morning to leave nothing behind that could tell the
+Arab's sharp-eyed Somalis the ground had been used.
+
+It was well he had taken this precaution, for now he was wounded and
+ill, and must remain near this place for weeks at least.
+
+Jack, the Somali, was equal to the occasion.
+
+He went away to the forest, and was not long in finding a site for the
+invalid's camp.
+
+Like that upon Mount Andrew, it was on a hill or eminence, from which
+the country eastwards could be seen for many, many miles.  And here also
+was a shelter under a rock from the direct rays of the sun.
+
+Next day, and for several days, poor Harry tossed about on his couch in
+a raging fever.
+
+But Jack proved an excellent surgeon, and Raggy the best of nurses.  The
+former applied cooling and healing antiseptic leaves to Harry's wounds,
+and bound them tenderly up with bundles of grass, while the latter
+hardly ever left his master's couch, except to seek for and bring him
+the most luscious fruit the forest could afford.
+
+Long, long weary weeks passed away, but still Harry lay there in his
+cave on the hillside too weak to stand, too ill to move.
+
+Between them his two faithful servants had built him a hut of branches
+and grass, which not only defended him against the sun, but against the
+rain as well--for the wet season had now set in.  Thunders rolled over
+the plains and reverberated from the mountain sides, and at times the
+rain came down in terrible "spatters" that in volume far exceeded
+anything Harry could ever have dreamt of.
+
+But the rain cooled and purified the atmosphere, and seemed to so revive
+Harry, that his wounds took on what surgeons call the healing intention.
+
+Raggy was a joyful boy then, and honest Jack, the Somali--for he had
+proved himself honest by this time--was doubly assiduous in his
+endeavours to perfect a cure.
+
+One afternoon, while Jack was talking to his master, Raggy, who had been
+in the forest, ran in breathless and scared.
+
+"Golly-mussy!" he cried, "dey come, dey come.  Where shall we hide poor
+massa?  Dey come, dey come."
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE RETURN OF THE CARAVANS--NIGHT IN THE FOREST--THE DYING SLAVE BOY.
+
+Mahmoud had not found the slave-dealing king in quite so good a temper
+on this journey.  The reason was not far to seek.  A brother potentate,
+who dwelt just beyond a range of mountains to the east of him, had by
+some means or other possessed himself of two white slaves--Greeks they
+were, and had been brought from very far north.  This king was his
+greatest enemy--near neighbours though they were--and many and deadly
+were the combats that used to rage among the hills.  In fact, their two
+imperial highnesses lived in a state of continual warfare.  Sentinels of
+both parties were placed day and night on the highest mountains, to spy
+out the actions of the opposite kingdoms.  It was no unusual thing for
+these sentinels to get to lighting on their own account, and when they
+did they never failed to chew each other up, though not quite so much so
+as the Kilkenny cats, of which, as you know, nothing was left but two
+little morsels of fluff, one tooth and one toe-nail--but very nearly as
+bad as that.  The rival kings did not care a bit; they looked upon the
+affair as a natural _denouement_, and set more sentinels, while the
+vultures gobbled up whatsoever remained of the last.
+
+But this rival king beyond the hills owned those white slaves, and the
+king, who loved rum, was very jealous and greatly incensed in
+consequence.  Thrice he had made war upon him with a view of possessing
+himself of the coveted Greeks, and thrice had he been hurled back with
+infinite slaughter.
+
+Then Mahmoud had come to him, and the king stated his case while he
+drank some rum, and Mahmoud promised that next time he returned he would
+bring him one or more white slaves, that would far outshine those
+possessed by the king beyond the hills, whose name, by the way, was King
+Kara-Kara.
+
+But behold Mahmoud had returned, and no white slave with him!  Harry, as
+we know, having escaped.
+
+No wonder, then, that King 'Ngaloo had raged and stormed.  This he did
+despite the fact that the Somalis were called to witness that it was no
+fault of Mahmoud's, and that their prisoner had really and truly
+escaped.  King 'Ngaloo had serious thoughts of ordering the priest
+Mahmoud to instant execution, but was so mollified at the sight of the
+other gifts brought him that he forgave him.
+
+These gifts were many and varied.  Rum came first, then beads, blue,
+crimson, white and black, and of various sizes, then jack-knives and
+daggers, white-iron whistles, a drum of large dimensions, a concertina,
+and a pair of brass lacquered tongs.  These last two gifts were the best
+fun of all, for King 'Ngaloo, squatting in the middle of his tent floor
+with his wives all round him or near him, would sip rum and play the
+concertina time about.  His playing was peculiar.  After he had finished
+about half a bottle of the fire-water he began to feel his heart warm
+enough to have some fun, on which he would jump up and with his brass
+tongs seize one of his wives by the nose, drawing her round and round
+the tent, she screaming with pain, he with laughter, till one would have
+thought all bedlam was let loose.
+
+Yes, the king was pacified, and Mahmoud was allowed to depart, with an
+addition to his caravan of one hundred poor victims who were to be
+dragged away into slavery.
+
+He went away much sooner than he had intended had he been successful in
+getting more slaves.  And besides, the truth is, Mahmoud was a little
+afraid that the king might take it into his head to pull him round the
+tent with the tongs, and Mahmoud had a profound respect for his nose.
+
+I really think it was a pity the king did not do so.
+
+Only it was evident the king had other thoughts in his head, for one day
+he jumped up, and after practising the tongs exercise on his prime
+minister for five minutes, he held the instrument of torture aloft and
+snapped it wildly in the air.
+
+"Teiah roota Kara-Kara yalla golla," he shouted, or some such words,
+"I'll never be content till I seize Kara-Kara by the nose, and the tongs
+shall be made red-hot for the purpose."
+
+"I'd send and tell him so," that is what Mahmoud had suggested.
+
+"Dee a beeseeta--I'll do so," said the king.
+
+And away the messenger was sent to King Kara-Kara.
+
+The messenger obeyed his instructions, and King Kara-Kara took much
+pleasure in cutting off his head, but as this was no more than the
+messenger had expected there was not much harm done.
+
+But, and it is a big "but," had King 'Ngaloo only known that at the very
+time Mahmoud was in _his_ camp or village, his "brother" Suliemon was in
+that of the rival potentate, and that he had sold him the unfortunate
+men of the _Bunting_, Mahmoud would not have been allowed to depart,
+unless he could have done so without his head.  For both Mahmoud and his
+"brother" were excellent business men, and were not at all averse to
+playing into each other's hands.
+
+Before Mahmoud had left the town of this African potentate he was
+allowed to choose his slaves.  He chose, to begin with, a day on which
+King Kara-Kara had imbibed even more rum than usual.  Indeed, he was so
+absurdly tipsy that he could not hold the tongs.
+
+He was determined to see that he was not cheated for all that, and so,
+supported on one side by his prime minister, and on the other by one of
+his priests, the chief executioner, sword in hand, coming up behind, he
+waddled out to the great square in which the poor unhappy souls, men and
+women, from whom Mahmoud was to make his choice were drawn up.
+
+The first thing the king did after getting outside was to give vent to
+an uncontrollable fit of laughing.  Nobody knew what he was laughing at,
+nor, I dare say, did he himself.  But he suddenly grew serious, hit his
+prime minister on the face with his open palm, and asked why he dared
+laugh in his august presence.
+
+Though his nose bled a little, the minister said nothing; he was used to
+all the king's little eccentricities, and this was one of them.
+
+After he had got into the square, the king desired to be informed what
+the meeting was all about.
+
+"Execution, isn't it?"  That is what he said in his own language.
+
+"That fellow Mahmoud's white head is coming off, isn't it?  Turban and
+all?  Turban and all, ha! ha! ha!  I told him I would do it.  And I
+will."
+
+No wonder Mahmoud had trembled in his sandals.
+
+But King 'Ngaloo was soon put right.
+
+Then Mahmoud made his choice.
+
+He hesitated not to tear asunder mother and child, husband and wife,
+sister and brother.  It was merely a case of youth and strength with
+him.
+
+When he had finished, the slaves were at once chained together, and soon
+after, having bidden farewell to this pretty king, the march was
+commenced.
+
+There was weeping and wailing among the new-made slaves, and there was
+weeping and wailing among those left behind.
+
+But what cared Mahmoud?
+
+As they marched away, while 'Ngaloo's warlike tom-toms were beating, and
+his chanters sounding, a music that was almost demoniacal, the poor
+captives as with one accord cast a glance around them at the village--
+which, savage though it was, had been their home--but which they would
+never, never see again.  Just one wild despairing glance, nothing more.
+Then heavily fell the lash on the naked shoulders of the last pairs, and
+on they went.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"Dey come, dey come!" cried Raggy, in despair.
+
+Yes, they were coming--Mahmoud's caravan and his wretched slaves.  They
+were soon in sight, looking just the same as when last seen, only with
+that dark and mournful chained line between the swarthy spear-armed
+Somalis.
+
+Harry prayed inwardly that they might pass on.  They did not, but
+stopped to bivouac on the old camping ground.
+
+And yet our hero could not help admitting to himself that his adventure
+with the lion that had delayed his journey had really been meant for his
+good.  It had saved his life to all appearance, for Mahmoud had returned
+far sooner than even Jack--who knew the road and the work before his old
+master--could have dreamed of.
+
+This only proves, I think, reader, that we are shortsighted mortals, and
+that our prayers may truly be answered, although things may not turn out
+just as we would have desired them.
+
+In the morning Mahmoud seemed in no hurry to leave, and the day wore on
+without very much stir in his camp.  It was an anxious day for Harry and
+his companions, just as it had been a long and anxious night.  They
+never knew the moment the sharp-sighted Somalis might find their trail
+and track them to their cave on the hill.
+
+The recent rains alone probably prevented so great a catastrophe, else
+beside that camp-fire a scene of blood would have been enacted that
+makes one shudder even to think about.
+
+In the afternoon there rushed into Mahmoud's camp, wildly waving his
+spear aloft, one of the Somali spies.  Then the commotion in the camp
+grew intense.  Mahmoud shortly after left the place all alone, and in
+less than twenty minutes returned with his so-called brother Suliemon.
+
+This very spot there was the rendezvous for these slave-dealers on their
+return from their expedition.  Behind Suliemon came a vast crowd of
+chained slaves.  There could not have been less than a thousand.  How
+tired they appeared!  No sooner was the order to halt given, than they
+threw themselves on the grass, just as weary sheep would have done
+returning from a fair.
+
+There was no movement that night, so Harry and his merry men had to lie
+close like foxes in their lair.
+
+Next morning, however, as early as daybreak, the whole camp was astir,
+and for nearly two hours the shouting and howling, the firing of guns
+and cracking of whips were hideous to hear.  The scene near the
+camp-fire was like some awful pandemonium.
+
+But by ten o'clock, as nearly as Harry could judge, every one had gone,
+and silence once more reigned over forest and plain.
+
+Our hero breathed more freely now, yet it would have been madness for
+any of them to have ventured forth even yet.  Some loitering Somali
+might have seen him and given instant alarm.
+
+Strange to say, the excitement appeared to have almost restored Harry to
+health.  He no longer felt weak, and he longed to be away on the road
+again.
+
+He knew enough of the climate, however, not to venture for a week or two
+longer, for a man needs all the nerve and strength that the human frame
+can possess to battle against the odds presented to him on such a
+journey as that which he was now making.
+
+The day wore away, the sun set in a cloudscape of indescribable glory,
+the short twilight succeeded, then the stars peeped out through the blue
+rifts in the sky.
+
+After a supper of fruit and roasted yams, Harry lay down on his couch of
+grass and fell into a dreamless sleep.
+
+When he awoke, the stars were still shining and the sky was far more
+clear.  A brightly burning scimitar of a moon was declining towards the
+horizon, and not far from it, to the west and north, the well-known
+constellation of Orion.  Yonder also, blinking red and green, was the
+great Mars himself.
+
+But it was not to study the stars that Harry had crept out of the tent,
+but to breathe fresher air, for there was no wind to-night.  Not a
+branch stirred in the forest, not a leaf moved.  The wild beasts had
+been scared far away, only now and then a lion roared, and the screams
+of the wild birds filled up the intervals.  Dreadfully eerie they are to
+listen to on a night like this, and in such a lonely scene.
+
+"Eeah--eee--ah--eeah--eeah--ah!" screamed one bird.
+
+"Tak--tak--tak--tak!"--cried another.
+
+"Willikin, willikin, willikin, willikin?" shrieked a third.
+
+Then there are mournful unearthly yells and groans that would make the
+heart of a novice stand still with dread.  He would feel convinced foul
+murder was being done in the gloomy depths of the forest.  [It is
+possible the monkeys take their part in producing the cries one hears by
+night in forests of the tropics.]
+
+But Harry could sleep no more.
+
+The sentries were being relieved.  Raggy had just turned up, and Somali
+Jack was about to turn in.
+
+"Let us take a stroll down by the camp-fire," said Harry.  "I feel I
+must stretch my legs, night though it be."
+
+Together they went as far as the old camping ground, and were about to
+leave when a pained and weary groan fell on Harry's ear.
+
+He soon discovered whence it issued.  From the lips of a poor half-naked
+dark figure, lying stabbed and dying on the grass.
+
+All this he could see by the light of moon and stars.  He sat down
+beside the poor creature and took his head on his lap.  The white eyes
+rolled up towards him, the lips were parted in a grateful smile.
+
+One word was all he said or could say.
+
+"What is it, Jack?" asked Harry.  "Interpret, please."
+
+"It only says thanks, sahib."
+
+"Run for water, Raggy."
+
+The dying slave boy drinks just one gulp of the water.  Again the white
+eyes are turned towards Harry, again the lips are parted in a smile--and
+then he is still.
+
+For ever still.
+
+Perhaps it is because Harry was nervous and ill; but he cannot prevent a
+gush of tears to his eyes as he bends over this murdered boy.
+
+"What a demon's heart the man must have to commit a sin like this!"
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE LAND OF DEPOPULATION--IN A BEAST-HAUNTED WILDERNESS--A MYSTERY--A
+STRANGE KING.
+
+Three months have elapsed since the night Harry found the dying slave
+lad on the grass, near the old camp-fire Harry is as strong now as ever.
+Nay, he is even stronger.  He has had a birthday since then, and now in
+his own mind calls himself a man.
+
+He is a man in heart at all events, a man in pluck and a man in
+manliness.
+
+The trio--Somali Jack, Raggy, and Harry--are very friendly now.
+
+Only once did Jack allude to that night when they fled from Mahmoud's
+camp.  It is in terms of admiration and in broken English.
+
+"You give me proper trashing that night.  I think I feel your shut hand
+on my nose now.  Wah-ee! he do make him smart, and my eyes all fill with
+water hat hat ha!"
+
+Yes, Jack could afford to laugh now, for Harry was not a bad master to
+him.
+
+Somali Jack is happier, and, to use his own words--
+
+"I have one stake in de world now.  I all same as one Arab, I have a
+soul.  You, master, have said so.  I believe what my master says.  Of
+course I believe what he tell me.  I not all same as one koodoo--die on
+de hill and rot.  No, I float away, away, away, past de clouds, and past
+de stars to de bright land of love, where Jesu reigns.  Oh yes, Somali
+Jack is happy and proud."
+
+The trio are now in an unknown land.
+
+It might be called the Land of Depopulation, for long ago the few
+natives that slavery left have died or fled away.  There is hardly a
+vestige of the remains of their villages, only here and there a kind of
+clearing with what appears to be a hedge around it.  But if you pulled
+away the creepers on top of this you would find old rotten palisades--
+indication enough that those poor creatures had made some vain attempts
+at defending themselves against the inroads of the Arab invader.
+
+Harry had not long continued in the caravan route that led to the land
+of the drunken king.  The sights he came upon every now and then while
+following it were sickening.  It was quite evident that of the hundred
+slaves whom Mahmoud had chosen, at least twenty had fallen by the way,
+in rather less than three weeks, and been left to perish in the bush or
+on the grass beneath a blazing sun.
+
+He would have followed the more southern route, and endeavour to find
+out the whereabouts of his fellows, but such a proceeding would have
+been absurdly impracticable.  A white slave is thought worth a thousand
+black at some of the courts of African kings.  He could not have
+redeemed his men, and to have attempted to rescue them in any other way
+would have only ended in failure, and in slavery to himself and
+companions.  No, there was at present no hope.  But he had more than one
+plan which he meant to try when a chance should occur.
+
+For the three months past they had had plenty of sport, and a world of
+adventures far too numerous to mention.  Harry, however, had only a very
+scant supply of ammunition, and but little likelihood of obtaining any
+further supply.  Every cartridge was therefore carefully hoarded, and
+only used either for the purpose of protection against wild beasts or to
+secure themselves food.
+
+As to this latter they managed in a great measure without firing a shot.
+For, first and foremost, Somali Jack had a most nimble way of catching
+fish.  He did it by getting into shallow streams, sometimes diving in
+under the water and dragging a fish out from under bank or rock where it
+had sought shelter.
+
+Then he could twine grass ropes; these were stretched along in certain
+likely places, near which Jack concealed himself, spear in hand, all
+alert and ready.  The other part of this peculiar hunt was performed by
+Harry and the boy Raggy.  They managed, and that very successfully, as a
+rule, to chase wild deer, of which there were so many different sorts
+and sizes, down towards the clever Somali.  In their headlong hurry one
+at least was almost sure to trip over the rope and fall.  In a moment
+Jack was up and on him, and next minute--there was something good for
+dinner.
+
+I wish I could describe to you one-thousandth part of all the curious
+things Harry noticed in natural history, not only among the larger
+animals, but among the smaller, namely, the birds, and among the
+smallest--the creeping creatures of the earth.
+
+I wish I could describe to you a few of the lovely scenes he witnessed
+in this beast-haunted wilderness: the landscapes, the cloudscapes, the
+lovely sunsets, the wilderies of fruit and flower, and the scenes among
+the mountains, some of which, high, high up in the air, were even
+snow-capped, and ever at sunrise assumed that pearl-pink hue with purple
+shadow which once witnessed can never be forgotten in life.  The scenes
+by river and lake were also most enchanting at times.
+
+But do not think these wanderers had it all their own way.  No, they
+went with their lives in their hands, and these lives were very often in
+jeopardy.
+
+Poor little Raggy was once tossed by a herd of buffaloes.  I say a herd
+of buffaloes advisedly, for really they seemed nearly all to have a
+fling at him.  The last one pitched him up into a tree, where, for a
+time, he was an object of the most profound interest to a band of
+chattering apes.  They could not conceive who or what the new arrival
+was, nor where he had come from.
+
+Well, then, Somali Jack had to climb up and shake the branch to dislodge
+Raggy's apparently dead body, while Harry stood under to catch it and
+break the fall.
+
+But Raggy was not dead.  Not a bit of him; and presently he got up and
+scratched his poll and gazed about him like a somnambulist.
+
+"Am de buffaloes all gone, massa?" he inquired.
+
+"The buffaloes, Rag?  Yes, and it seems to me you are made of
+indiarubber; why, they played lawn tennis with you."
+
+"Well, massa," said Raggy, "it was some fun to de buffaloes anyhow, and
+it not hurt Raggy much."
+
+Another day Harry had narrowly escaped being killed by a rhinoceros.
+Quiet enough these animals are at times, but whatever other travellers
+may say, I advise you to keep out of their track when they lose temper.
+
+Somali Jack was one day posted behind his rope when down thundered a
+small herd of giraffes.  Over went number three.  Out came Jack and
+attacked him, but, like the witch in Tam o' Shanter--
+
+  "Little wist he that beast's mettle."
+
+One kick sent Jack flying yards and yards away; the blow alighted on his
+chest, and, strange to say, the blood sprang from his nose and mouth.
+
+Jack said nobody could hit so hard as a giraffe unless his master, and
+he never tried again to spear a--
+
+  "Roebuck run to seed."
+
+They had now many rivers to cross and miles on miles to walk sometimes
+before they could find a ford.  But the current seldom ran very strong.
+The worst of it was that often, even after they found the ford and got
+over, there was a marsh to cross, worse than any bog in old Ireland.
+
+Many of these marshes were infested with crocodiles.  Oh, how innocent
+these brutes can appear, basking in the sunshine on the banks, or lying
+in shallow streams with nothing out and up except their hideous heads!
+
+Yonder, for example, is one immense skull, not far from the bank.  He is
+asleep, is he not?  Go a little closer.  He never moves.  You feel sure
+he is good-natured, and that the crocodile is a much-libelled reptile.
+Go closer still and look at him.  Ugly enough he is, but so
+innocent-looking!  You would like to smoothe him, wouldn't you, little
+boy?
+
+Snap!  Where are you now?  It is sincerely to be hoped that your mamma
+has another good little boy like you to supply your place, for _you_
+will never be seen again.
+
+And your great "good-natured" crocodile is very playful now, and goes
+away swishing through the water to tell all the other crocodiles how
+very happy he feels, because he has a little boy in his stomach.
+
+They came, at length, to a range of rugged hills which it took them a
+whole day to get across.  They encamped at night in a dreary glen, and
+had to keep a great fire burning until the sun rose over the mountains,
+for this glen seemed to be the home _par excellence_ of the lions.
+These monsters, many of which they saw, were the largest they had yet
+fallen in with.
+
+They were evidently filled with resentment at the daring invasion of
+their territory, and made not only night hideous with their threatening
+and growling, but sleep quite impossible.
+
+Harry was glad enough to continue the journey next day as early as
+possible, but they had not got far before a terrible thunderstorm made
+all pedal progression quite impossible for the time being.  It was well
+they were pretty high up among the hills, for with the thunder and
+lightning came a wind of hurricane force; they could hear the great
+trees smashing in the forest beneath them, and noticed scores of wild
+beasts seeking sheltered corners in which to hide till the violence of
+the storm should abate.
+
+Another night in this mountain forest; another night among the wild
+beasts.
+
+Next day was bright and fine, but not for hours after did the sun
+appear, owing to the mists that were rising all over the land.
+
+On the evening of that same day they came to the margin of what appeared
+at first to be a broad rolling river.  There were a few native canoes on
+it.
+
+One immensely large dug-out was soon observed coming towards them, so it
+was evident they were already seen.  In the stern sheets, when it came
+near enough, Harry could descry a single figure sitting under the broad
+canopy of an umbrella.
+
+No one else in the boat, and the figure astern not moving a muscle!
+
+"How is it done?" said Harry to himself.  "It is a mystery.  Can these
+savages have invented electricity as a motor power?"
+
+Nearer and nearer came the boat, but the mystery was as far from being
+explained as ever.
+
+The individual who sat in the boat was a portly negro, very black, very
+comely and jolly-looking.  He was dressed from the shoulders to the
+knees in a loose blue robe of cotton cloth.  This appeared to be simply
+rolled round the loins and then carried over the shoulder.  On his head
+he wore a skin hat with the hairy side out and a long tail hanging down
+behind it.  Round his neck was a string of lions' tusks, in his ears
+immense copper rings, in one hand a broad-bladed spear, and in the other
+a long shield of hide studded with copper nails.
+
+The umbrella was a fixture behind him.
+
+While Harry and his companions were still gazing at this singular being
+with a good deal of curiosity, not unmixed with apprehension, the prow
+of the boat touched land, and immediately the motor power was explained.
+This was, after all, only a big hulking negro who had been wading
+behind and pushing with his head.  He had not come here unguarded,
+however.  For dozens of armed canoes now made an appearance, and took up
+a position in two rows, one at each side of what was undoubtedly the
+royal barge.
+
+The king stepped boldly on shore, and nodded and smiled to Harry in the
+most friendly way.
+
+"Good morning," said Harry, nodding and smiling in turn; "fine day,
+isn't it?"
+
+Of course the king could not reply, but leaning on his spear he walked
+three times round Harry and his companions, then three times round Harry
+alone.  It was pretty evident he had never seen a white man before.
+
+Then he touched Harry's clothes, and felt all along them as one smoothes
+a dog.  Then he said:
+
+"Lobo!  Lobo!"  [Strange, or wonderful.]
+
+He next proceeded to an examination of Harry's face.  He wetted the end
+of his blue robe in the lake and tried to rub the bloom off Harry's
+cheeks.
+
+"I don't paint," Harry said, quietly.
+
+"Lobo!" said the king again.
+
+Harry's buttons now fixed the king's attention.
+
+He pulled the jacket towards him and tried to cut one off with the end
+of his spear.
+
+Then Harry smacked his fingers for him, and the king started back with a
+fierce look in his eye.
+
+"Lobo!  Lobo!" he cried, excitedly.
+
+"Keep your fingers to yourself, then," said Harry.
+
+But thinking he had gone too far, he immediately cut two buttons off and
+presented them to this queer king.
+
+His majesty was all smiles again in a moment.  He intimated his pleasure
+and gratitude in a neat little speech that Harry could make neither head
+nor tail of, but was glad to find that little Raggy could translate it
+even more freely than Somali Jack.
+
+For from somewhere near these regions Raggy had originally come.  So he
+told Harry; he also said, "I 'spect I has a mudder livin' hereabouts
+some-wheres."
+
+"Would you know her, Raggy, if you saw her?"
+
+"I not know her from any oder black lady," replied Raggy, grandly;
+"'sides," he added, "dis chile Raggy hab no wish to renew de
+'quaintance."
+
+The warriors in the king's canoes sat as motionless as if they had been
+made out of wood, and then tarred over and glued to their seats.  They
+looked friendly, but it was quite evident they would take their cue from
+his majesty, and were just as ready to drown Harry in the lake as to
+give him a welcome.
+
+"Peace at any price is the best policy in this case," said Harry.  "Eh,
+Raggy, what say you?"
+
+"Suppose massa want to fight, den Raggy fight; suppose we fight, dey
+gobble us all up plenty quick; suppose we not fight, den dey make much
+of us and give us curry and chicken."
+
+"All right, Raggy, we'll go in for the curried chicken.  Tell this sable
+king that we have come a long long way to see him, and to give him some
+presents, and that we then want to pass through his country and go on
+our way in peace."
+
+All this Raggy duly translated, and Harry strongly suspected that he
+added a little bit of his own to it.  But this is a liberty that
+interpreters very often take.
+
+The king was laughing.  The king was pleased.  He pointed to the boat
+and led the way towards it and without a moment's hesitation Harry
+stepped on board, and in another minute they were all away out in the
+open lake.
+
+Book 3--CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+AMAZONS--THE LAKE OF THE HUNDRED ISLES--THE FEAST OF FLOWERS.
+
+When the king's barge left the shore, shoved slowly along by the head of
+the big hulking negro, Harry, of course, had not the faintest notion
+whence he was being taken.
+
+Perhaps he was just a trifle reckless.  He was so at most times, but in
+this case I imagine he was in the right.  For the worst thing one can do
+on meeting strange savages is to show mistrust or fear of them.  If you
+mistrust them, they at once suspect you, and the consequences may
+sometimes be anything but pleasant.
+
+It was not long before our hero found out that it was indeed a lake, and
+not a broad river, on which he was embarked, and that it was studded
+with about a hundred islands, over all of which this black host of
+theirs was evidently the potentate.
+
+He landed on one of the largest of them, and on a kind of rude pier
+where nearly a hundred armed amazons were drawn up to receive their lord
+and his guests.
+
+Harry afterwards found out that he kept ten amazons for every island,
+but they all lived near the royal residence, and were his especial
+body-guard.  Fierce-looking, stalwart hussies they were, with knives in
+their girdles, spears in their hands, and leather-covered shields, that
+were nearly as big and wide as barn doors.
+
+Over these shields they grinned and glared in a way that was really
+hideous.  They rolled their eyes round and round incessantly, as if they
+had been moved like clock-work.  Perhaps, thought Harry, they go in for
+eye-drill in this queer country.  The reason of this optical movement,
+he was afterwards told, was to prove to the king that danger could come
+to him from no direction without their seeing it.
+
+These amazons were dressed in sacks of cocoa-cloth, and wore tippets of
+skins not unlike those of your dandy coachmen in Hyde Park.  From their
+legs and arms, behind and below, feathers stuck out, and as head-dresses
+their own hair was done up into an immense dome, which stood straight up
+and was adorned with the feathers of the red ibis.
+
+All this Harry took in at a glance as he walked on behind the king,
+through an avenue of most splendid trees, towards his palace.
+
+I must dismiss the palace with a single sentence.  It was not unlike a
+haycock of immense size, with a door in the side, or like the half of a
+cocoanut turned upside down.  It was in an enclosure, in the very middle
+of the island, and near it were the huts of the king's amazons, the
+whole being defended by a strong palisade of roughly hewn wood.
+
+The huts of his other warriors--and every one appeared to be a warrior
+in this island--were outside the fort and different in shape and
+appearance.  They were, if anything, more elaborately built, and had
+verandahs supporting their roofs, which only proved that his majesty was
+a man of simple tastes, and preferred looking after the well-being of
+his subjects rather than his own.
+
+One of the largest tents in the enclosure was set aside for Harry and
+his companions.  It contained a dais-bed, covered with grass matting, an
+immense grass-stuffed pillow, and mats on the floor besides.
+
+He had not been long in this tent ere an unarmed amazon entered, bearing
+a huge leafen basket, laden with the most delicious fruit, the perfume
+of which filled the whole room.  She also brought and placed near it a
+huge pitcher of water.
+
+This was all very gratifying, and Harry began to wonder where this
+strange king learned all his civility and hospitality, and he really
+felt a little sorry now that he had taken the liberty of smacking his
+majesty on the fingers when he was attempting to cut off a button.
+
+"How, on the other hand," he asked himself, "have this curious people
+escaped the raids and ravages of the plundering slaver Arabs?"
+
+Perhaps the Arabs had not yet found them out, or, having found them out,
+deemed it impossible to attack them, so well protected were they by
+water.
+
+Nothing was done to-day by Harry except to wander about all over this
+lovely island.
+
+Indeed, the adjective "lovely" but poorly expresses the wealth and
+beauty of flower and foliage that met his gaze at every turn.
+
+It seemed a veritable garden of Eden.  It must have been miles in
+extent, yet the king assured him he might wander everywhere, and he
+would find neither wild beast nor loathsome dangerous reptile.
+
+His majesty went to his tent and did not appear again that day, nor was
+he visible until late into the next.
+
+Harry was walking about making friends with the cocks and hens, the
+goats and the pigs, and with several charmingly plumaged birds of the
+guinea-hen species, when he was summoned into the king's presence.
+
+The dusky monarch was seated in the middle of his tent on a mat.  So
+black was he, and so dark was the hut, that, coming right in from the
+glare of the noonday sun, it was some time before Harry could see him or
+anything else.  He heard the king's hearty laugh, however, and went
+towards it.
+
+He was beckoned to a mat on the floor, and fruit was handed to him.
+
+Then the royal host began to show all the inquisitiveness of a child,
+and evinced so much curiosity that Harry could not answer his questions
+fast enough.  But he delighted him greatly by saying that at home he too
+lived on an island.
+
+The king was exceedingly tickled, though, when told through Raggy that
+we were subjects to a queen.
+
+He laughed so immoderately that he was obliged to lie back and roll on
+his mat, and for quite three minutes could say nothing but "Lobo!  Lobo!
+Lobo!"
+
+In the midst of all this pleasant discourse two amazons entered, and
+helped the king to rise.
+
+He said something which Raggy translated, "Come on for true."
+
+They went on "for true," and soon found themselves in a grove and under
+a canopy of grass-cloth.  On the green-sward they all squatted down to a
+banquet, the like of which Harry had not seen for many days.
+
+It was not served on china, you may be sure, and there were no forks,
+only knives.  The plates were of yellow-brown clay, and as soft as a
+brick.  In the centre was a huge dish of curried rice; before each of
+his guests was placed a curried fowl.  Then there were floury and
+well-cooked yams, sweet potatoes and plantains, and a large chattee of
+water.
+
+Raggy ate up his fowl every bit, so did Somali Jack.  Harry failed on
+his last drumstick, and the king laughed again, and cried, "Lobo!
+Lobo!"
+
+Then there was more wandering about the island, and another banquet or
+fried fish and fruit on their return.
+
+All the time Harry and Jack stuck to their rifles.  One never knows what
+savages may turn out to be, and had anything occurred they were
+determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible.
+
+Next day, and next, and next, were simply repetitions of the first, with
+this difference--that the king took his guests round his islands in his
+barge, rowed now by five dark-skinned boatmen on each side, and this
+will give you some idea of the size of it.
+
+Every evening after supper, sitting out under the stars, the king being
+only dimly visible as a kind of shape, Harry had to tell stories of all
+the kings and potentates and countries in the world.
+
+He got a little tired at last, and found it better and easier to invent
+tales of imagination, based upon the stories he had read, such as the
+novels of Cooper and Walter Scott, than to stick to plain geography and
+pure history.  This pleased this strange king even better, and he was
+constantly saying, "Lobo!" during Harry's recitals.
+
+I dare say, however, that Raggy, through whom, as a medium, the stories
+had to pass, embellished them somewhat on his own account.
+
+Among the gifts from Somali Jack's packet that Harry presented to his
+majesty was a shirt and a pair of pyjamas.  These he wore until they
+were black, albeit Harry had several times suggested that they should be
+washed.
+
+A whole month flew by.  Very quickly indeed the days went too, for the
+air made Harry lazy, and he felt as if he had eaten the lotus leaf.  He
+roused himself at last, and, fearful that he might be outstaying his
+welcome, he told the king he must go.
+
+"Go! did you not come here to stay and talk to me for ever and ever?
+Go!  No, no!  Lobo!  Lobo!"
+
+It began gradually to dawn upon Harry that he really and virtually was a
+prisoner in these friendly islands.  He certainly could not leave them
+without his majesty's permission.  To steal a boat and try to escape was
+out of the question, the amazons with the rolling eyes would effectually
+prevent this.
+
+So he stayed on quietly another month.  Then, firm in the belief that a
+constant drop will wear away a stone, he began persistently to tease the
+king into letting him go on his journey.
+
+The king would promise one day, and retract the next.
+
+Three months passed away, then four.  Harry was getting desperate.  At
+the risk of giving mortal offence he refused to tell any more stories.
+And his majesty got so sad and morose that he felt grieved to see him.
+
+"I will let you go," he said at length, "if you will promise to return
+and bring me more gifts."
+
+Harry gladly promised that he would do everything in his power to come
+back that way.
+
+The king had most minutely examined the rifles, but hitherto not a shot
+had been fired.  Ammunition was far too valuable.
+
+But one day Harry determined to give the king a treat.  He took his
+rifle, and pointing to a great vulture that was slowly floating around
+the village, fired, and to his own surprise brought it down.
+
+But the consternation among the natives was intense.  It was a strange,
+superstitious dread, and if they could have turned pale with fear I feel
+sure they would have done so.  Harry had made thunder and lightning,
+smoke and flame, and killed an evil bird.  No wonder the king capsized
+on his back on the mat, and said "Lobo!" more than a dozen times!
+
+But Harry explained everything to him, and his majesty was satisfied.
+
+The day before Harry's departure from the Lake of the Hundred Isles was
+devoted to feasting and dancing.  The king even proposed killing one or
+two of his subjects in honour of the occasion.
+
+Harry would not hear of this.
+
+"Well," the king said, "he would put them up at a distance, and his
+guest should bring them down, with his rifle."
+
+"No, no, no," laughed Harry; "kill hens and we can eat them, but not
+human beings."
+
+It was such a drowsy island this that Harry never thought of turning out
+of bed till about eight o'clock.
+
+When he got up next day, and went forth to breathe the balmy morning
+air, the sight that was presented to him made him open his eyes wide
+with astonishment.  It was like a scene of enchantment.
+
+The king's hut, and every other hut, and even the palisade around this
+camp, was completely covered with flowers of the most gorgeous hues and
+sweetest perfume, while all the ground was deeply bedded with green
+leaves and boughs.  Even the shields and spears of the amazons were
+decorated with flowers, and they wore garlands around their necks and
+heads.  Near the king's tent sat a few musicians, beating low on
+tom-toms, and singing a dreamy kind of a chant.
+
+It was late before the king put in an appearance; he did so at last,
+however, and very pleased he seemed when he gazed about him.  Then his
+eye sought Harry's; he was anxious to know if he was also pleased with--
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE FEAST OF FLOWERS.
+
+Harry hastened to assure him that he was more than pleased, he was
+delighted.
+
+Would the queen of his country be pleased if she were here?  That was
+his next question, and he laughed as he put it till his sides shook
+again.  The answer was, "Undoubtedly."
+
+I do not intend to give a complete description of all the performances
+of the day--they were far too numerous.  Suffice it to say that there
+was a grand procession of warriors, headed by the flower-bedecked
+amazons; after the soldiers came the king's butchers or executioners;
+and next a crew of naked natives, bearing a pig, a goat, and several
+cocks and hens for the slaughter.  The goat looked rather astonished and
+kicked a little at times; the cocks looked boldly unconcerned; but the
+pig was a lusty one, he was not content with kicking and biting, but he
+screamed so loudly that the sound, or bleating one might call it, of the
+chanters was hardly heard.  All this, accompanied by the beating of
+tom-toms and the occasional unearthly yells of the amazons, made up a
+concert that it is far beyond my powers of description to give the
+reader any correct notion of.
+
+The animals were slain.  The amazons danced around the hole into which
+the creatures' blood had been poured, frequently dipping their fingers
+therein and besmearing their faces, which certainly did not improve
+their grim beauty.
+
+Then the procession returned to the king's enclosure, and more wild
+dancing was carried on, much to the delectation of his majesty.
+
+Suddenly he wheeled round to the mat where Harry and Raggy were
+squatted.
+
+"Can you dance?" said the king.  "Yes, you must dance."
+
+When Raggy translated his majesty's words Harry could not keep from
+laughing aloud.
+
+The idea, he thought, of his leading one of those bloody-faced amazons
+through a mazy dance, or of his dancing in her majesty's uniform to
+please a savage king!
+
+"No," he said, "he could not dance; but Raggy would."
+
+Raggy whispered something to his master, and the reply was--
+
+"So you have, Raggy; I had quite forgotten.  Go and fetch it."
+
+Raggy was back in less than a minute with a German concertina, which he
+had looted from Mahmoud, and which had been intended for King 'Ngaloo.
+
+The effect of Harry's playing on this instrument was magical.  There was
+a half-frightened silence at first, succeeded by murmurs of delight.
+
+"Lobo!  Lobo!!  Lobo!!!" cried the king, emphatically, and when Harry
+finished he smoothed the back of his hand with one finger, as if he had
+been a pet rat, and Harry could have sworn he saw tears in the poor
+man's eyes.
+
+"Now, Raggy," cried Harry, striking into a hornpipe, "now for your
+breakdown."
+
+Raggy required no second bidding, and I am sure no stage nigger ever
+could have gone through one half the capers Raggy did, in that wonderful
+breakdown of his.
+
+During the dance the king's face was something to behold and wonder at,
+his excitement was intense, and when Raggy finished he had simply to
+begin again.  So it was "encore" and "encore" till the poor boy fairly
+sank on the ground panting from exertion, and the king shouted "Lobo!
+Lobo!  Lobo!  Lobo!"
+
+To change the programme, Harry commenced to sing "Rule Britannia," and
+somewhat to his surprise, while the king beat time with his hand on his
+knee, several of the amazons joined the chorus and actually followed the
+tune.
+
+The amazons after this took chains of flowers and threw over Harry's
+head till he was nearly choked.
+
+The concert ended at last and feasting began, and after this the king
+was led away and deposited on a couch of leaves and flowers, and at once
+went off to sleep.
+
+"And no wonder," said Harry to himself, "for he has picked the bones of
+a couple of fowls, and eaten nearly half a goat."
+
+Next morning his majesty was up betimes, and as bright as a lark.
+
+He was full of business.  There was Harry's boat to get ready, and also
+his own, for he meant to send his guest away in state.
+
+"Ask or me anything," he said to Harry, "and I will give it if you
+promise to return."
+
+"I will assuredly return," replied Harry, "if the Great Father spares
+me."
+
+"And now, when I think of it, I shall be for ever grateful to you for
+your hospitality.  Will you add to it by lending me two of your people
+to help me as carriers on my march?"
+
+The answer was made in the following way.  The king ran rapidly along
+the ranks of his amazons, and dragged out two of the sturdiest, whom he
+almost flung into Harry's arms.
+
+Harry stepped back laughing.
+
+"Oh, no, your majesty," he said, "not the ladies, please."
+
+"Lobo!  Lobo!" said his majesty.
+
+The boat in which Harry and his companions embarked for the distant
+eastern shore, was bedded with beautiful flowers, and when he bade the
+king goodbye on the shore he took away with him three sturdy islanders
+to act as guides, and to help to carry his guns and packages.
+
+These last contained a supply of rice sufficient to last the little
+expedition for many months.
+
+When he reached the hill-top and looked back, lo! there on the beach
+still stood the honest king.  Once more adieus were waved; then Harry
+and his people went down over the mountain side, and bore away to the
+West.
+
+It was when in bivouac that night, halfway up a hill, with the moon and
+stars shining in a clear blue sky and brilliantly reflected in a little
+lake down beneath, that Harry remembered that all the time he had been a
+guest of the island king, he had never spoken to either him or his
+people of the good tidings of the Gospel.
+
+He felt his face burn red as he thought of his neglect.  But he vowed to
+himself that if spared to return he would try to make amends for such
+thoughtlessness.
+
+"You should sow good seed when you can," something seemed to whisper to
+Harry; "the ground may be rough, the soil may be hard, but _good seed
+often makes good soil for itself_."
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER ONE.
+
+ON THE WAR PATH.
+
+ADVENTURE WITH A PYTHON--THE UNWHOLESOME FEN--THE VILLAGE OF THE DISMAL
+SWAMP--THE MAN-EATER.
+
+Not only as guides and carriers, but in a variety of other ways did
+Harry find his new men useful.  They were undoubtedly honest, they were
+just as undoubtedly brave, and last, but not least, they were willing.
+
+Well, they were servants and subjects of the island king, and depend
+upon it a good master always makes a good servant.
+
+It was but two men that Harry desired to have lent to him, but his
+majesty insisted on sending three, wisely observing that while the two
+could carry the packages, the other could act as guide and scout.
+
+At the time, then, that the last "act" in this tale of ours opens, Harry
+had already been three months on the road.
+
+Three months only?  Why it seemed like three years, so filled had the
+days been with toil and adventure.  No wonder that Harry felt a man when
+he looked back to all he had come through.  He had seen many strange
+sights, and been among many strange tribes and peoples, and yet he could
+have told you truthfully that he had not as yet made an enemy.  To do so
+needs that wonderful skill and judgment, tact and calmness of mind,
+which only men like Stanley and Cameron possess.
+
+My own impression is that one is more safe among the really
+unsophisticated tribes of the far interior, than among those that lie
+more near the coast, and who have been leavened with a modicum of
+civilisation--and mayhap a modicum of rum.  I would rather trust myself
+among savages who had never seen a white man before, than among the
+Somali Indians to the north of the line--whose tricks and manners, by
+the way, I have good cause to remember.
+
+Harry inquired the names of his islanders, but found they were so
+difficult to pronounce, unless he tried to swallow his tongue, and
+screwed his mouth out of all shape, that he determined to give them
+English ones, so he called them Walter--the scout--and Bob and Bill--the
+carriers.  But in the mouths of these Indians Walter became "Walda," Bob
+became "Popa," and Bill became "Peela;" so let them stand: Walda, Popa,
+and Peela.
+
+They were so much alike that it was quite a long time before Harry could
+tell the one from the other--tell Popa from Peela, I mean.
+
+As for Walda, though he was quite as tall, quite as straight, and every
+bit as jetty black as his companions, his teeth had been filed into
+triangles, and stained crimson by some mysterious means or other, and as
+he was always on the grin there was no mistaking him.
+
+Walda had a wondrous way of his own of making his peace with native
+tribes.  He seemed to know the whole country well, and used to run on
+miles in front of the company, and by the time Harry got up it was no
+uncommon thing to find everything prepared and ready, and even a rude
+tent made for the white man's reception.
+
+So that life became now a deal easier for our hero.
+
+Poor Walda, though, had one day a narrow escape from a most terrible
+death.
+
+It was well for him that Harry and the rest of his people were near to
+save him.
+
+I cannot tell you whether or not the python or marsh boa of Central
+Africa is a spiteful reptile, for I have never seen but one, and he made
+no attempt to attack me, although I stood not twenty yards away.  I
+cannot believe all the fearful tales I have read and been told about the
+creature, of its enormous length--sometimes sixty feet--of its power to
+swallow a small bullock, and of its chasing travellers till they heard
+its panting behind them, and felt its fulsome breath beating warm
+between their shoulders.  This would surely be more fearsome than any
+nightmare.  It puts one in mind of the words of the immortal Coleridge--
+
+  "Like one that on a lonesome road
+  Doth walk in fear and dread,
+  And having once turned round, walks on,
+  And turns no more his head;
+  Because he knows a frightful fiend
+  Doth close behind him tread."
+
+Walda was only a little way ahead of the rest on the day he was attacked
+by the python.  Nor was it of very large size, else would I not have
+Walda's adventures to write.
+
+The guide was near a tree when suddenly, with a loud hiss, the monster
+sprang upon him.  It seized the unfortunate man by the naked shoulder
+with its fangs, and, twisting its tail round a tree, commenced to roll
+Walda up in its coils.
+
+His companions dropped their burdens and rushed to his rescue.
+
+None too soon.  Yet the attack and relief both together could hardly
+have occupied more than twenty seconds.  It was evident from the
+quickness with which Peela and Popa commenced untwisting the coils from
+the tree, that they had been actors in a scene like this before.  They
+at the same time hacked at the tail with their knives.
+
+Meanwhile Harry had run his sword-bayonet, which luckily was fixed to
+the end of the rifle, through the boa constrictor's body.  Its folds
+were instantly released, and Walda fell forward insensible, only to be
+speedily dragged away by Somali Jack.
+
+It was time for all to run now, to escape the lashings and writhings of
+the monster.  It coiled round the tree, and uncoiled again.  It lay for
+moments dormant, then sprang high in air.
+
+Harry now took steady aim with his rifle and shot it through the neck,
+close to the head, and soon after it expired.
+
+In journeying on and on, ever towards the west, Harry and his people had
+met with many a wild beast; sometimes, indeed, they were far too close
+to lions to feel quite at home with their position.  Very few, however,
+fell to the guns, for the simplest of all reasons, they only fired when
+really obliged to.
+
+They found themselves one day on a hill-top, overlooking a vast stretch
+of level country that extended towards the then setting sun as far as
+the eye could reach.
+
+In some places it seemed bare and sandy, while in others there were
+clumps of forest trees, but for the most part it was treeless.  Here and
+there little lakes of water glittered in the sun's parting rays, and
+looked like pools of blood.
+
+It was an eerisome and ugly-looking district to cross, and Harry looked
+north and south in the hope of seeing hills which he might reach, and
+thus make a detour and avoid it.  He consulted Walda on the subject.
+
+But Walda shook his head.
+
+"No, no," he said; "no way round.  Must cross."
+
+They entered on this dismal swamp early next morning.
+
+It appeared like going down into a black and dreary ocean, and Harry
+could not help a feeling of hopelessness and melancholy stealing over
+him before he had walked for an hour, and the farther on he went the
+more gloomy and depressed in spirits did he become.
+
+Perhaps this was the effects of breathing the tainted and unwholesome
+air.
+
+"Why am I toiling and moiling here," he asked himself peevishly, again
+and again, "when I might be far away and happy?  This is no pleasure,"
+he said, half aloud; "better by far I were dead."
+
+Then he remembered he had a duty to perform--that of endeavouring to
+find out and rescue his poor men.
+
+But was he doing it?  No, he was only bent on his own pleasure and
+enjoyment.  Enjoyment indeed!  He was a fool for his pains, and a great
+sinner besides.  What were his parents doing all this weary time?  The
+_Bunting_ must be home long ago.  And he would have been given up for
+lost.  They must have thought the dhow foundered at sea, or been lost
+among the breakers and every one drowned.  Well, then, if he was given
+up for lost, the bitterness of his mother's grief must already be nearly
+assuaged.  What mattered a year or two more of wandering?  He _would_
+wander.  He _would_ find his men or perish in the attempt.  So ran his
+thoughts.
+
+And thus moodily, and half angrily, did Harry muse as he marched over
+the dismal waste at the heels of his faithful guide Walda.
+
+It was not easy walking here either; there were darksome murky pools to
+go round, and brown unwholesome streams to wade through.
+
+Nothing could have been more depressing than the view around him, look
+where he would.
+
+As far as wild beasts were concerned, the dismal swamp was untenanted.
+Here were no lordly elephants, no sturdy rhinoceroses, no giraffes
+towering in their strength, nor deer, nor gnu, nor hartbeeste, nor the
+herds of swift-footed ambling zebras they had been so used to behold.
+
+But in the great pools, and in the sluggish mud-stained streams,
+wallowed crocodiles more large and loathsome than Harry could have
+imagined even in his dreams, while often several of these at one time
+could be seen on the banks huddled together asleep or basking in the
+sunshine.
+
+They walked onwards as fast as they could, hardly pausing to eat, but
+there seemed no end to the horrible fen.  It seemed to Harry as if he
+was bound to go on, and still go on, but never come to anything.
+
+The sun began to set at last, glaring purple through a watery-looking
+sky.
+
+There was nothing for it but sleep in the swamp till another day dawned.
+Harry and his men now sought the shelter of a clump of stunted trees
+which they reached after some difficulty.
+
+While daylight lasted they were careful to beat the bush well before
+they thought of lighting the camp-fire, for close under the trees in
+places like this the giant anaconda or python often lies coiled up till
+roused to fury by the presence of man or other animals.
+
+The sun went down, and gloaming and gloom settled down over the marsh.
+The very stars seemed to give a feebler light than was their wont, for
+their rays were shorn by a rising haze.
+
+It took quite a long time to-night to light the camp-fire, for the
+materials had got damp.
+
+The process of making fire is very simple to appearance, but requires no
+little skill; it is, however, common among nearly all savage nations,
+and my readers may, if they please, try their hands at it.  Suppose
+yourself a savage and have another savage to assist you.  Well, you are
+possessed of a round piece of hard dry wood about the length but not
+nearly so thick as an ebony ruler, it is tapered to a point at one end.
+Your companion savage sits in front of you holding firmly a bit of
+softer wood, flat at the bottom for steadiness' sake, and with a little
+hole in the top.  Into this hole you insert the point of your hard wood
+drill, then you have only to roll it rapidly back and fore between your
+two palms, till sparks are emitted and smoke, then fanning or blowing
+with your breath, and partially surrounding the hole with dried meadow
+grass, or anything that will catch easily, will do the rest.  If you try
+it, I hope you will be successful; I myself lack two important
+essentials to success--patience and dexterity.
+
+But Jack and the guide "made fire" at last, and supper was cooked and
+eaten.
+
+During the time it was being got ready Harry had taken a little walk in
+the dim starlight.  He did not go far, for he soon got into a miry
+place.  Here he almost trampled upon a gigantic eel creature--it could
+hardly have been a snake--it was slowly dragging its body through the
+slime.
+
+While he was looking at it there was the sound of wings in the sky right
+above him.  It was a great vulture of some kind: birds of this kind are
+scarcely ever a mile distant from a party of African travellers, and
+have the lion's share of all that is killed.  The flapping of wings was
+very loud and accompanied by a rustling noise; so close overhead was it
+that he could hear it breathe hoarsely--so at least he thought.  But
+hardly had he turned away ere the great bird swooped down, and next
+moment it had re-ascended carrying the great eel with it.  Seeing the
+latter, though but for a moment, wriggling in the talons of the unclean
+bird was quite enough for Harry.  He walked no farther that way, but
+speedily returned to the camp.
+
+The fire and his supper rendered him a shade more comfortable; his
+people went into the wood to collect dry material to make their master a
+bed.  They beat the grass first with their spears before they ventured
+to put their hands down, for several deadly-looking, triangular-headed
+snakes had been seen before sunset, rustling through the undergrowth or
+hanging to the branches of the trees.
+
+Harry lay down at last, but he slept but little.  How could he in such a
+place, with the horrid bellowing of crocodiles ever and anon rising on
+the night air, the intervals being filled up with the continuous hoarse
+snoring of some creatures in the marsh, probably gigantic frogs!
+[Dactylathrae.]
+
+Next morning there was no chance of proceeding so early as they had
+wished, for all the swamp was enveloped in a dark grey fog or mist, and
+it was nearly noon before the sun had succeeded in dispelling it.
+
+On they journeyed now, happy to be able to start at last, for Harry
+shuddered to think what the consequences would be if the mist did not
+lift for days.
+
+They had not gone above five miles ere a village came into view.
+
+Harry made Raggy ask the guide why he had not mentioned the existence of
+this town.
+
+The guide only shook his head and said--
+
+"No good--no good."
+
+The place was built among trees, palms there were of many strange kinds,
+and an undergrowth of broad-leaved plantains and gigantic feathery
+ferns, but some of the trees were so weirdly fantastic in shape that in
+his present depressed state of mind they pained Harry to look at.
+
+The ground here was somewhat higher, but it certainly was no oasis in a
+desert.
+
+If Harry expected his spirits to rise on entering this village he was
+soon undeceived.  It was the abode _par excellence_ of gloom and misery.
+
+The leaf-built huts were mere kennels, the people themselves were black,
+naked, decrepit, and puny, and the very children were paunchy and
+old-looking.
+
+Not a sign of welcome did they make, not the slightest show of
+resistance; they but gazed on the expedition as it passed along with the
+lack-lustre eyes of chronic apathy.
+
+It was evident that here was a tribe or people slowly but surely dying
+off the face of the earth.  Harry soon found that they were cannibals,
+and that they actually ate their dead.  They had no king, no law, no
+order; they were socialists, nihilists, and soon, doubtless, to be
+annihilated.
+
+Harry sought out an open space under the shelter of a splendid spreading
+tree.
+
+This tree was really a thing of beauty.  It was larger than any oak, and
+its branches were literally bathed in the beauty of trailing flowers,
+while colonies of bees and birds made sweet soft music in its foliage.
+Harry thought if he was a bird, it would not be anywhere near this
+village he would build his nest and make his home.
+
+Presently a native or two came round and stood up to stare, and after a
+time one with more alacrity than the rest brought some squash-apples and
+a chattee of beautiful honey.
+
+There was something human after all even in this degraded race.  Harry
+did not care to eat honey from the hands of a cannibal, so he gave it to
+his people.
+
+The intelligent native soon squatted down beside Raggy, and from his
+rolling eyes and woebegone face it was evident he was telling the boy a
+dismal story.
+
+"What is it, Raggy?" said Harry.
+
+"Ebery night, sah, it is de same," replied Raggy.  "He come now foh
+more'n tree week, and ebery night he take somebody."
+
+"What are you driving at, boy?"
+
+"De lion, sa!  De lion what come here ebery night, gobble up some poor
+soul, den smack his lips and go away back to de jungle."
+
+Now though much against his inclination, Harry had not the heart to go
+away and leave this wretched tribe to the mercy of a relentless
+man-eater.
+
+This lion was evidently some very old and wily king of the forest, too
+old to stalk bigger game.  In this village he had "struck oil," as the
+Yankees say, and was making the very best of it.
+
+Harry determined to "spoil his game."
+
+All day he wandered about this swamp-island, wondering at the beauty of
+the flowers and the richness of their perfume, and admiring the many
+strange birds and their nests.
+
+When night began to fall he prepared to watch for the foe.
+
+The lion invariably walked on to the stage at the same spot.  When shown
+this, to his horror he found a poor boy there tied to a stake, agony
+depicted in his staring eyes, and the sweat standing in beads on his
+brow and draggling his curly hair.
+
+The poor lad was a sop for Cerberus, and every night it seemed to be the
+custom thus to sacrifice one poor victim to save others in the village.
+Whether they drew lots for it, or how it was arranged, Harry could not
+find out.
+
+There was little fog here to-night, but it lay low down all over the
+marsh, which thus looked like one vast sheet of water glimmering in the
+starlight.  Harry lay in concealment behind a tree, the two rifles
+loaded and ready, with Jack, Raggy, and the guide spear-armed and not
+far off.
+
+He had released the boy, who looked quite bewildered on first gaining
+his freedom, but soon regained his presence of mind, and went off
+scampering and shouting into the village.
+
+Hours and hours passed by.
+
+Harry was often startled by noises above him, and looking up saw
+gigantic bats flitting from tree to tree.
+
+Would the lion never come?
+
+Hark! a footstep deep down in the marsh; soft though it was, it could be
+heard distinctly enough creeping nearer and nearer, pausing often as if
+to listen, then coming on and on again through the rustling grass.
+
+At last he is in sight.
+
+A monster white-muzzled he-lion.
+
+For a moment he stands 'twixt Harry and the starlight.
+
+Our hero's hand is shaking.  All his nerves are a-quiver, for truth is
+he is far from well, and the night air is damp and chilly.
+
+Will he miss?  The starlight is confusing.
+
+He takes steady aim and fires.
+
+The lion stands erect roaring, maddened with pain.
+
+Quick as a thought Harry seizes the other rifle, and while the lion is
+still half erect fires again, and the man-eater staggers forward,
+falling first on his knees, then on his nose, and there remaining--dead.
+
+Harry was a god now in the eyes of these poor people.
+
+In the midst of a large clearing in this swamp-island stood a strange
+forked, withered tree.  Up in this tree a fire was built and lit.  Into
+the open space the dead lion was dragged, and with many an eldritch
+shout and scream, for hours and hours these savages danced round the
+dead lion, and the fire that burned in the tree-top.
+
+But Harry was glad when morning came, and happy indeed when next evening
+he found himself once more among the tree-clad mountains with the marsh
+far in the rear.
+
+When he lay down to sleep that night he tried to think of the lake with
+its hundred isles, and of the feast of flowers, but even in his dreams
+he was haunted by the scenes he had recently passed through, and--
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+THE VILLAGE IN THE DISMAL SWAMP.
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER TWO.
+
+WEARY WANDERINGS--PRISONER IN A SAVAGE LAND--THE ESCAPE BY NIGHT--DOWN
+WITH FEVER IN THE MARSH.
+
+Nearly a whole year has passed away since the events described in last
+chapter, and the wayward, wandering Harry has seen many strange sights,
+had many a wild adventure, and been among many strange tribes and
+peoples.
+
+He would hardly have travelled so far, he would have returned much
+sooner towards the east had he not been following up a will-o'-the-wisp.
+For again and again he was told by natives with whom he came in contact
+of white men who were held captive by kings of tribes, sometimes it
+would be to the north, at other times to the south or to the west.
+
+He hoped against hope, and never failed to hunt up these tribes, but
+disappointment had always been his lot.
+
+So, tired and disheartened at last, he had determined to return, and to
+strike once more for the lake of the hundred isles.
+
+This returning, however, was not such an easy matter as he had
+anticipated.  For in journeying westwards he found the chiefs with whom
+he came in contact not unwilling to let him go onwards because he
+assured them he was coming back.  This, and gifts of buttons, etc,
+procured him liberty to advance, though several times he had to fall
+back on his rifle, and usually succeeded in scaring warlike chieftains
+out of their wits.
+
+But on his way back every effort was made to detain him as a slave till
+he should die, or, as the kings phrased it, "for ever and for ever."
+
+All this resulted in very slow progress indeed in his backward journey,
+and constituted a far greater danger than even that from wild beasts.
+
+As an instance of how quickly an African chief can change his tactics, I
+may tell you of a really warlike tribe whom Harry encountered, who dwelt
+among the hills in the middle of a vast forest land.
+
+At first the chief of this clan hardly knew how kind to be to Harry and
+his people.  He feted them and feasted them, brought presents of roasted
+goat-flesh, of honey, fruit, and of cocoanut beer.  Harry much preferred
+the feasts to the fetes, for these hardly ever passed without a human
+sacrifice.  He could not tell whether the victims were political
+offenders or not.
+
+However that may be, had the doomed wretches been simply beheaded it
+would not have been so awful, but they were first tortured.
+
+In one instance a living chain was made by tying seven unhappy beings
+head to heels.  The tallest branch of a kind of lithe poplar tree was
+then by great force bent to the ground.  To this the living, writhing
+chain was attached; the branch was then let suddenly free, and up the
+victims swung.
+
+It is to be hoped they did not suffer long, but they appeared to.
+
+I would not horrify my young readers by describing the orgies that took
+place at some of those dreadful fetes.  The little I have said will
+surely suffice to make them thank God they are born in a favoured land,
+and to pray the Father to hasten the time when the dark continent shall
+be opened up to commerce, and all such dreadful scenes become things of
+the gloomy past.
+
+But this chief, when he found that Harry was determined to go, turned
+his back upon him, and went and shut himself up for a whole day in his
+tent.
+
+The wanderer well knew what this meant.  He knew the chief would send
+for him next day and give him an ultimatum, and on his refusing
+compliance therewith would at once slay his followers and put Harry in
+chains.
+
+But Harry determined to take time by the forelock, and to escape that
+very evening.
+
+He communicated his intentions to his people, and all were ready.  No
+one slept, though all pretended to.
+
+The night was very dark; a storm was brewing; the sky was covered with a
+deep, solid canopy of slowly moving clouds, but never a star was
+visible.
+
+About midnight, when all was still in the camp, Harry arose and touched
+his men.  They knew the signal.  He then crawled to the back of the tent
+and with his knife cut a hole in it and crept out.  On their hands and
+their knees they glided along till they came to the palisade, which they
+proceeded to mount one by one.
+
+Here lay the greatest danger, and this was soon apparent enough, for the
+last man stumbled, and slight though the sound he made was, it was quite
+sufficient to awake the whole camp.
+
+As the fugitives bounded away to the forest Harry thanked Heaven for the
+darkness of that dismal night.
+
+They could soon hear the yells of the foe as they pressed onwards in
+pursuit.
+
+They would reach the shelter of the trees in another minute, but one
+dark form was before all the rest, and was nearing on the guide when
+Harry fired.
+
+It was a random shot, but the savage fell: the first man that Harry had
+killed in Africa, and he felt grieved, but still it was in self-defence.
+
+They found themselves in a ravine, and crossed the stream at a place
+where, from the noise it made among the stones, they could tell it was
+not deep.
+
+Now the road lay along this glen--such road as it was--but the fugitives
+went straight on up the mountain side.  The hills here were fully three
+thousand feet high, but they reached the top at last, and felt safe, for
+far down beneath them, but well up the glen, they heard the shouts of
+the chief's people and knew they were off the scent.  Then the storm
+came on, and such a storm!  From hill to hill and from rock to rock the
+thunder rattled and reverberated, while as for the lightning the whole
+world seemed to be on fire.
+
+Down below them in the forest the scene was singularly grand, for by the
+light of the flashes they could see each moment the giant tree-tops
+stand out as clear and distinctly as at midday.  Anon they would find
+themselves blinded or dazzled for a moment, everything about them being
+either a dark bright blue, dotted with sparks, or a blood-red or
+crimson.
+
+The very hills on which they stood appeared to shake beneath their feet.
+
+Then came the rain; it descended in streams, and made every one shiver,
+so ice-cold was it.
+
+But in less than an hour this strange but fearful storm had passed away
+on the wings of a moaning wind, and the stars shone forth.
+
+They found a cave in which to rest that night, and next day continued
+the journey through the forest.
+
+To his change of raiment, despite the modest demands of many a savage
+chief or king, Harry had resolutely stuck, so he did not suffer from the
+drenching.
+
+Yes, he had a change of raiment, but not one single button or inch of
+gold lace on his uniform jackets.
+
+Both buttons and lace had long since been gifted away.
+
+About this stage of his wanderings Harry was as tough in muscle as if he
+had been made of guttapercha, while his hands and face were of a colour
+somewhat between brick-dust and bronze.
+
+Another month found the little band back once more in the village of the
+dismal swamp.
+
+The poor creatures there seemed, if anything, glad to see them.  On
+making inquiry, it was found that no more lions had sought to molest
+them since the man-eater had been shot.
+
+Harry rested here a night, resolving to push on next day, and by a
+forced march get quite clear of the marsh.
+
+But lo! next day not only the swamp but the village itself was enveloped
+in a dark, wet mist, and the day wore away without the sun once
+appearing.
+
+"No good, no good," was the answer of the guide to Harry's repeated
+queries whether it was not possible to make straight headway in spite of
+the fog.
+
+"No good, no good."
+
+And the next day showed no improvement nor the next week even.
+
+The outlook was now very dreary indeed.
+
+To make matters worse, the hopelessness of his situation brought a
+prostration of mind and body, and the hardships and privations he had
+undergone in his wanderings began to tell upon Harry.
+
+Besides, there was the dread marsh miasma to be breathed day after day,
+while the very appearance and dejectedness of the people he found
+himself among was not calculated to mend matters.  He found himself
+growing ill, he struggled against it with all the force of his mind.
+But alas! a struggle of this kind is like that of floundering in a miry
+bog--the more you struggle the deeper you sink.
+
+One morning, after a restless night of pained and dreamful slumber,
+Harry found himself unable to rise from his couch of grass under the
+flower-clad, creeper-hung baobab tree.
+
+He was sick at heart, racked with pain in every limb, and oh, _so_ cold.
+
+The cold was worse to bear than anything, yet his pulse was bounding
+along, his skin was hot, and his brow was burning.
+
+Before night he was delirious--dreaming of home, raving in his waking
+moments about his father, his mother, about Andrew, and Eily, the forest
+of Balbuie, and the far-off Highland hills.
+
+No nurse could have been kinder to Harry than Somali Jack, no one more
+attentive than he and Raggy.
+
+Even in this strange swamp-island Jack managed to find herbs, and
+exercised all his native skill to bring his patient round.
+
+But nights went by, and days that were like nights to Harry, and he grew
+worse and worse.
+
+At last even Somali Jack gave up all hope.
+
+"Master will never speak again.  Master will never shoot and never fight
+again," he said, mournfully, "till he shoots and fights in the land
+beyond the clouds."
+
+Jack sat down and gazed long and intently at Harry, whose jaw had
+dropped, and whose breath came in long-drawn sighs or sobs.
+
+He lay on his back, his knees half drawn up, and his hands extended on
+the grass.
+
+For a long, long time Somali Jack sat looking mournfully at his master;
+then he seemed to lose all control of himself: he threw out his arms,
+fell down on his face on the ground, and sobbed as though his heart were
+breaking.
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER THREE.
+
+BACK AGAIN AT THE HUNDRED ISLES--THE KING AS A NURSE--HARRY TELLS THE
+
+STORY OF THE WORLD--NEWS OF THE "BUNTING'S" MEN--PREPARING FOR THE
+WAR-PATH.
+
+But the worst was past, and the fever had spent itself before the dawn
+of another day; even the terrible marsh miasmata had been repelled by
+the strength and resiliency of Harry's constitution.
+
+He was weak now, very.  But he was sensible and able to swallow a little
+honey and milk, that Jack had culled and drawn with his own hands.
+
+And that day, lo! the sun again shone out, the birds that had been mute
+for weeks once more remembered their low but beautiful songs, and surely
+in this swamp-island never did the wealth of flowers that grew
+everywhere put forth a more dazzling show.  Twisted and pinched they had
+been while the dank fog hung over them, but now they opened in all their
+wild wanton glory, and vied with each other in the brightness of their
+colours, their vivid blues, whites, pinks, and crimsons, and velvety
+sulphurs, and chocolate browns.
+
+They grew up over the trees, borne aloft on climbing stems, they
+canopied the bushes, they carpeted the ground, and hung their charming
+festoons round the fruit itself.
+
+But yet in spite of all this wealth of beauty Harry longed to be off,
+and almost the first words he spoke, though in a voice but little louder
+than a whisper, were--
+
+"Take me away.  Take me away out of here."
+
+Those words made Somali Jack and Raggy very happy, and even the other
+boys were rejoiced, for truth to tell, they all dearly loved their brave
+young master.
+
+All that day Jack and his comrades were very busy indeed.  They were
+making an ambulance hammock.  When complete it was simplicity itself.
+
+Only a couple of strong bamboos of great length, and between them a
+sheet of grass-cloth, add to this a rude pillow stuffed with withered
+moss, and the whole is complete.
+
+It was a long and a slow journey which they started on next morning,
+before even the stars had paled before the advancing beams of the sun.
+But ere ever he had set behind the western hills it had been safely
+accomplished.
+
+And so by degrees, as Harry's strength could bear it, stage after stage
+of the return march was got over and at length, to the invalid's
+inexpressible joy, they arrived once more at the banks of the lake of
+the hundred isles.  Walda quickly gathered together an immense heap of
+withered grass, and quickly had it on flame; then he put on top of it
+green branches, so that a dense volume of white-blue smoke rose up on
+the evening air.
+
+They saw it from the king's island.
+
+King Googagoo--they have strange names, these chiefs of the interior,
+the repetition of syllables and even words in names is very common--King
+Googagoo himself came to meet Harry in his barge, but he brought no
+retinue.  He was a very simple king.
+
+As soon as he landed Walda, Peela, and Popa went and threw themselves on
+their faces in front of his majesty, burying their knives in the earth
+as they did so.  Nor did they rise until he had thrice touched each one
+with the flat of his spear.
+
+He now went speedily towards Harry, and scanned him very anxiously.
+
+Harry smiled feebly, and held out a hand which the king took and
+pressed.
+
+"My son has been ill," he said, "my son has been at the door of the cave
+of death.  No matter, he lives; my son will soon be well.  The king will
+make him well; he shall eat honey and milk, and drink of the blood of
+she-goats until he is once more strong."
+
+When landed at the island, the king led the way to his own tent, and
+Harry was brought here and laid on a bed or dais covered with lions'
+skins.
+
+As he shivered with cold, a fire was lit in the middle of the floor.
+The smoke found its way up almost spirally, and out through a hole in
+the roof, over which was placed a triple fan kept in constant motion by
+slaves without.
+
+Another warm lion's skin was spread over Harry, Somali Jack prepared him
+a decoction of boiled milk mixed with honey and some pleasant bitter
+herb.  After swallowing this Harry remembered seeing the king squatting
+on a mat by the fire, and his own boys in a corner; he noticed that
+whenever any one entered the tent his majesty lifted a beckoning finger,
+warning them to keep silence.  He remembered little more that day, for
+he fell into a soothing perspiration, and soon after into a deep and
+dreamless sleep.
+
+It was broad daylight when he wakened, and he felt so much better that
+he even attempted to rise.  It was then he noticed how feeble and weak
+he was.
+
+Whether or not the bitter medicine mingled with the warm and honeyed
+milk partook of the nature of an opiate or not, Harry had no means of
+ascertaining, but for nearly three days he did little else but sleep--
+and perspire during the intervals of taking nourishment.
+
+He was aware, however, that the great kind-hearted king was almost
+constantly in the tent, and that he moved about on tiptoe, and talked in
+whispers, never failing to lift his finger and shake it at any one who
+entered.
+
+Sometimes an amazon came in and looked at Harry, then smiled a grim
+smile and retired, and once a terrible-looking old man with triangular
+teeth like Walda's put in an appearance.  He had a fowl in his arm,
+which after many strange antics--that showed he was working a fetish--he
+slew.  He then dipped his finger in the blood and smeared Harry's
+forehead.
+
+After this another fowl was brought to him, and he then made motions
+with his hand and arm over the patient, of a semi-mesmeric kind, or as
+if he were drawing something invisible towards the fowl in his arms.
+The latter was immediately after chased out of the tent, and from the
+noise out of doors it was evidently being hunted out of the enclosure
+entirely.
+
+Next morning a cocoanut shell full of pure warm blood was handed to him;
+this was not unpleasant to drink, and was repeated three times a day,
+and day after day for a week.  [The blood-cure is not unknown in Europe,
+but I believe some of the African tribes used it ages and ages ago.--
+G.S.]
+
+Every hour now, almost, Harry felt himself getting stronger.  He was
+soon able to sit up for hours, then the king exhibited all the exuberant
+joy of a child of six.  With his own hands he brought his patient a
+small dish of delightfully curried chicken and rice, and as Harry ate it
+King Googagoo laughed till his black, fat sides shook again.
+
+With returning health came returning hope and happiness, and when,
+leaning on the king's arm, Harry made his first venture out of doors it
+seemed for all the world like going into a new world.  Everything was so
+inexpressibly bright and lovely, the drooping palm trees, the banana
+groves the greenest of the green, the splendid flowers that grew
+everywhere, the bright-plumaged birds, the cloudless sky, the blue and
+placid lake, and the purple hills on the far horizon.  It was all like a
+beautiful dream, it was all a scene of enchantment, and to breathe the
+balmy air was verily life itself.
+
+How grateful he felt to this simple-minded king; ah! yes, and how
+grateful to the Great Father above, who had spared his life, and brought
+him safely through countless dangers.
+
+Harry soon found the air was almost too strong for him, it flushed his
+cheeks and quickened his breathing, so he retired again, and was almost
+immediately after asleep on his lion-skin couch.
+
+Next evening a hammock was slung for him near the fire, and lying there
+he found himself strong enough to entertain the king with a little music
+on the concertina, which "through thick and thin" Raggy had kept
+possession of.
+
+Only some sweet old-fashioned Scottish lilts he played, but they pleased
+his majesty immensely, and after each he rubbed his hands and said,
+"Lobo!  Lobo!  Lobo!"
+
+Could Harry now tell him more of the story of the world?
+
+Yes, Harry could and would.  He laid the concertina gently down by his
+side, and, turning half round to where the king was squatting, began to
+tell him through Raggy the simple Bible story of the creation.
+
+Raggy had heard it all before, and was quite capable of translating it.
+
+Next night Harry was even stronger; King Googagoo brought into the tent
+quite a crowd of his favourite amazons, and the young historian had to
+begin at the beginning again.
+
+To have seen the boy preacher leaning half up in his hammock as he told
+in earnest language his wondrous tale, and the innocent looks of the
+simple king with the firelight playing over his face, and the background
+of terrible-looking but listening amazons, would have suggested a
+picture to many an artist which might have made him famous.
+
+The story of Joseph seemed, next to that of Eden's garden, particularly
+to interest his hearers, and many an interjection, many a marvelling
+"Lobo?" did the king utter while Harry spoke through Raggy.
+
+His remarks, too, were innocent, not to say childish, but very much to
+the point.
+
+Almost every night for weeks Harry had to tell the Bible and New
+Testament tale.  And one day, when now nearly strong again, he was
+gratified to find the king himself repeating the story to his people.
+
+And they seemed spellbound.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Harry determined to make the islands his home for many months to come.
+
+Meanwhile scouts were employed to scour the country in many different
+directions, and endeavour if possible to find out the whereabouts or
+news at least of the white men.
+
+For a very long time they were unsuccessful.  At last, however, much to
+Harry's joy, one man returned, bringing with him a vague rumour that he
+had heard of five men belonging to a foreign country, who lived at the
+court of a chief not very far from the lakes, but in the fastnesses of a
+mountain-studded wilderness.  So fierce and terrible was this chief
+reported to be that no one would dare to enter his territory.  If any
+one did--so it was said--he would assuredly be crucified, or hoisted by
+the heels into a sapling tree, there to hang in the sun until the great
+grey kites ate the flesh from off his bones.
+
+News of an equally important nature was soon after brought by another
+and probably braver scout.  He _had_ entered the chief's wild country,
+he had even seen and conversed with one of the white men, and found out
+that there were six more in captivity, and that until now they had given
+up all hopes of ever being able to regain their freedom.
+
+King Googagoo was as much delighted with the news as was Harry.
+
+And the king, moreover, now showed all the fierce impetuosity of his
+nature.
+
+He smote the ground with the staff of his spear.
+
+"I will go," he cried, "with all the strength of my amazons and fight
+this king, and deliver your friends from bondage."
+
+But Harry saw that whatever was to be done must be done with care and
+caution.  For failure would mean the death--probably by torture--of the
+unfortunate white captives.
+
+To please King Googagoo he at once accepted his assistance, but said
+they must prepare.
+
+"All the men of war and all the amazons," replied the king, "are at your
+disposal.  You have brought everlasting joy to my heart, do with us what
+you will."
+
+Harry at once set about operations.  He held a great review in one of
+the largest islands.  Every man, he found, was a soldier, but they were
+sadly deficient in armour of an effective kind.  Spears there were,
+though, in abundance--nothing else save these and knives.
+
+Then it occurred to Harry to regularly drill them as sailors are drilled
+on shore, in companies, in squares of various kinds, and in battalions
+or--impis.
+
+He guessed, rightly too, that the fine old Highland triangle-formation
+would do well with these people.  [Note 1.]  So he taught them that.
+
+But his teaching did not end here.  He must furnish his little army with
+some weapon far more effective than either dagger or spear; so he set
+himself to think.
+
+How he wished he had but a hundred rifles and ammunition!  But wishes in
+this case were vain enough.
+
+Why not bows and arrows?
+
+Why not, indeed.  The idea struck him as he lay in bed one night, and so
+excited him that he did not steep a wink till nearly sunrise.
+
+He was up betimes all the same, and made haste to communicate his notion
+to the king.
+
+His majesty was delighted, as, indeed, he was with all Harry's
+proposals.  So that very day a branch was cut from a species of
+yew-tree, and with the aid of a string composed of hide the first rude
+bow was made.
+
+This was improved upon day after day.  The king's forgemen and
+artificers were summoned, and after many trials of different kinds of
+wood for the bows and for the arrows, a very useful and very deadly kind
+of Cross-bow was eventually fashioned and duly approved of by the king.
+
+The arrow-heads presented the greatest difficulty, but this was finally
+got over, and they fell upon a plan of not only forging good
+serviceable, ones, but of fastening them on so that the arrow itself
+would break before the head could come off.
+
+King Googagoo's, people now went in for the study of war in downright
+earnest, and gradually the army was supplied with finely-made
+cross-bows.
+
+Many months went on in these preparations.  Meanwhile the arts of peace
+were not forgotten.  Googagoo's men were very far ahead of any other
+tribe that ever Harry in his wanderings had met, in the pursuits of
+agriculture.  There grew on many of the islands immense fields of paddy,
+or rice, and fields of sugarcane, all of which were duly hoed with hard
+wood instruments, and duly watered by hand in season.
+
+They were so close to the water, and there were so many field hands,
+that any complicated system of irrigation was not required.
+
+Harry taught this simple, innocent and frugal people many useful hints.
+
+His youthful education, and the lessons honest Andrew had taught him
+when quite a boy, now came in very handy indeed, which only shows that
+no lad, whatever his position in life, should hesitate to learn a trade.
+
+Harry, assisted by Raggy and Jack, made chairs for the king's tent, and
+an extra couch.  He also made rude but useful candlesticks, and with the
+fat of goats and pigs rude and useful candles to place in them; so that
+when the rainy season returned, it was quite a treat to sit in the
+palace tent with lights burning, and read, tell stories, and sing songs
+till it was time to go to bed.
+
+The king was so easily pleased, so good-tempered, and so generally
+jolly, that Harry really could not help liking him.
+
+He also proved a very apt pupil, and before his guest had been fully
+four months in his island, could speak fairly good English.
+
+So all went well, but the trouble was on ahead.  Harry often thought of
+that, and it gave him many and many an anxious moment.
+
+One day a scout returned from the mainland with news of so startling a
+nature that--that I cannot do better than defer it for another chapter.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  The Scottish Highlanders of old used almost invariably to
+charge in this fashion; as the triangular phalanx neared the foe,
+pistols were fired, then dashed among them, claymores were then drawn,
+and while wild slogans rent the air, the charge was delivered, with a
+vigour and aim that made success all but certain.
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+KING KARA-KARA'S ARMADA--THE BATTLE ON THE LAKE--TERRIBLE FIGHTING.
+
+Briefly stated, the news which the scout had brought from the mainland
+was to the effect that King Kara-Kara, who held the white men at his
+court as slaves, having heard of the prosperity and wealth of the king
+of the hundred isles, and that he also owned a white slave, had
+determined to invade the island territory.
+
+From the hill-top, at a safe distance, this scout had beheld Kara-Kara's
+camp with his own eyes, and he assured King Googagoo that the army was a
+well-armed and a vast one, and that they were already busily engaged in
+cutting down trees and making dug-outs.  [Note 1.]
+
+"So," said Harry, "the tables are turned.  Instead of our making war on
+Kara-Kara, Kara-Kara is going to make war upon us."
+
+"Let them come," replied Googagoo, "I care not; you have taught me to
+put my trust in Heaven.  I do so, and feel sure that the Great Eye which
+looks upon us from beyond the clouds, will keep us safe and give us the
+victory."
+
+Although there were now thunderstorms and rain almost every day, Harry
+made himself busier with his little army than ever.
+
+He picked out the best, quickest, and boldest men for officers--and I
+need hardly say that both Walda and Somali Jack had high appointments--
+and he kept drilling the men and amazons from morning till night.
+
+Nor did he forget the commissariat This was to be very simple--little
+else, in fact, save dates and rice and water.
+
+Often now of a night great fires could be seen gleaming among the wooded
+hills on the distant horizon, showing plainly enough that King
+Kara-Kara's men were far from idle.
+
+So the time wore on, and the wet season passed; the lake was no longer
+lashed into foam by driving squalls, but slept as peacefully under the
+blue sky as if waves had never yet been invented.
+
+Harry was now wholly ready for action, and he had almost made up his
+mind to carry the war into the enemy's country before he had time to
+attack the islands.
+
+The king and he had a long palaver over the particulars of this plan.
+His majesty had very great faith in his navy.
+
+"My boys," he said, "can fight as well on the water as they and my brave
+amazons can do on shore.  Let them come.  We will cripple them, sink
+them, then the work of utterly destroying them on their own shore will
+be easy indeed."
+
+Harry, on second thoughts, would have preferred surprising Kara-Kara by
+night, but he acquiesced in the king's wishes.
+
+They would be ready, therefore, and wait.  How or when would the enemy
+come?  By night or by day? and in what formation?
+
+Tall signal-posts were built on every island, to give warning of the
+approach of the foe, and round every isle sentinels were stationed day
+and night, with great fires built and ready to light.
+
+For there was no saying from what direction the attack might be made.
+In all probability they would steal round the lake under the shadow of
+the land, and under the cover of the darkness, and attack Googagoo at
+the place where he was most vulnerable.
+
+More than once, in the starlight, small canoes had been detected gliding
+about at night, but were speedily chased and put to flight.  They were
+spies without a doubt.
+
+The island fleet had been by no means a first-class one, consisting for
+the most part of large dug-outs with outriggers, like great gates at
+each side This last certainly gave them extra stability and prevented
+their turning over, but it greatly lessened their speed.
+
+Even the flagship, which the king's barge might well be called, was
+rather an unwieldy craft.  She was the only one that had sailing power,
+and that was merely a clumsy square sail, on one centre mast.
+
+But Harry had gone in for naval reform--as far as practicable, and with
+all the enthusiasm of a British sailor.
+
+He had the men--for every one of these islanders was amphibious in a
+manner of speaking--what he wanted was the ships.
+
+Some new boats were accordingly made of a light wood that had been cut
+down years ago.  He made these broader in the beam, so that he managed
+to dispense with the abominable way-stopping outriggers.  Seven in all
+of these were constructed, the bottoms being made shapely and smooth,
+the sides light and thin, and the whole arrangement capable of double
+the speed.
+
+These new boats were to contain a crew of picked archers, the very best
+shots in his little army, which consisted of eight thousand men all
+told.  There were also one thousand amazons.
+
+Harry, in the forthcoming expedition to the mainland, wanted to leave
+these women folks--"leave the ladies"--that is how he politely worded
+it--at home.  But the king, who was to command in person, would not hear
+of such a thing.  They were his body-guard, and so go they must.
+
+Attention was now turned to the royal barge, and she lay bottom upwards
+for a week to be strengthened by skin and pieces of thin iron, so that
+when she was again launched, she looked a sturdy, useful craft indeed.
+
+Extra oars or paddles were placed in every war-boat, and spears and
+daggers innumerable.
+
+Between a few of the islands, and quite out of view of the enemy, a
+great naval review was held, and everything passed off in a most
+satisfactory way.
+
+Still, by taking away the outriggers Harry had considerably increased
+the risk of capsizing in his boats.  So he took the matter into still
+more serious consideration, the result of which was that he constructed
+a small fleet of special war-boats, each one consisting of two of the
+ordinary dug-outs lashed together side by side, and he found to his
+great joy that even these had as much speed in them as the clumsy
+outrigger canoes.
+
+The islanders were now ready for battle either by land or water.
+
+Scouts were sent to the hills to spy out the doings of the enemy.
+
+They returned with tidings to the effect that they had over two hundred
+large dug-outs afloat, and that each of these had outriggers.  That
+their army consisted of nearly 20,000 warriors, armed with spears, and
+clubs, and broad knives.
+
+It was only a question now of time, so Harry waited.  He himself was to
+command in the naval engagement, the king would be otherwise engaged as
+we shall presently see.
+
+Whether it was that King Kara-Kara did not possess much ingenuity, or
+was a staunch Conservative of the old school, or trusted entirely to his
+great numbers and power, I know not; certain it is, however, that he
+chose to make the attack upon the islanders in the simplest fashion
+possible.
+
+He put to sea one morning early with all his fleet of over one hundred
+and fifty large boats, each containing about twenty oarsmen and
+warriors, and in three extended lines began slowly pulling towards
+Googagoo's private island.
+
+Harry saw through his tactics at once, for after all war is very much
+like a game of draughts, and skill goes a long way, while the more you
+can guess your opponent's thoughts the surer you are of victory: so
+Harry rightly guessed that Kara-Kara's plan of action was first to
+capture the island king's palace and stronghold, king and all, then take
+the other islands one by one.
+
+"It is a very pretty arrangement," said Harry to his host, "if it can be
+successfully carried out."
+
+"Let them try," cried the king, who was dressed in his war clothes, with
+spear, and sword, and short stout battle-axe, and really looked
+imposing.
+
+"Let them come on; I am now burning for the fight."
+
+"So am I," cried Harry, laughing and spitting in his hand--the hand that
+held a drawn ship's cutlass.
+
+"I go away into my tent now to pray," continued the king.  "Then I make
+my army kneel and pray.  Oh, I do not fear.  See, the clouds are rolling
+up and hiding the sun.  The sun fears to look on the battle: but the
+Eye, the Eye that will guide us to victory, is far beyond the sun.  Your
+Book tells me so."
+
+"It is," said Harry, solemnly.  "Good-bye."
+
+Then he shook hands with the king and hurried away to action.
+
+He had had a skiff of great speed built expressly for this great day.
+His oarsmen were two, with a child to steer, and Somali Jack with the
+rifles in the stern sheets.
+
+There were only fifty cartridges left!
+
+On came Kara's great fleet.
+
+They had three miles and over to row, and they were allowed to do more
+than two-thirds of the distance before ever Harry ordered his boats to
+shove off to meet them.
+
+Greatly to his surprise and joy he noticed that the enemy's boats were
+far too much crowded to permit anything like freedom of action among the
+men.
+
+"That scores one for us," he said to himself.
+
+The swift boats were now ordered off.  These--as already stated--were
+manned with archers, and were now told to meet and harass the foe with
+clouds of arrows, but on no condition to close with them.
+
+They were to hang on both flanks of the approaching fleet, and fire low,
+well, and steadily.  These were in command of Walda.
+
+The king's barge was next ordered out.  She was manned by thirty of the
+bravest and biggest of the islanders, and each had, in addition to a
+spear, a ponderous battle-axe.
+
+Her duty was to capsize the enemy's boats by seizing the outriggers, or
+at least to try to do so.
+
+Away sped the archery boats with just one wild hurrah! and to see the
+swiftness with which they bounded along to meet Kara-Kara's fleet
+considerably astonished its sailors.  They were still more astonished
+however, when, while still about two hundred yards distant, the archery
+boats divided into two lines, one skimming along each flank and pouring
+in a murderous fire of arrows.
+
+It was evident the foe was taken aback.  Men were being pierced through
+body and head, and falling dead in all quarters.
+
+A side movement was made by the enemy with the view of crushing the
+venomous little archery boats.  But Walda's voice was now heard
+shouting, "Boro!  Boro!"  (back! back!) high over the din of the battle.
+
+The enemy now saw the inutility of any flank movement, and once more
+advanced in lines, redoubling their efforts to reach the island.
+
+King Googagoo's barge got round and advanced in the rear, and then out
+came Harry with his fleet.
+
+He took his time.
+
+There was no need for hurry, it was to be a hand-to-hand engagement, and
+the longer that cloud of arrows fell on the foe the better.  The more
+fatigued the enemy the more chance would Googagoo's fleet have of coming
+off triumphant.
+
+At last the hostile canoes met with a terrible rush.
+
+By Harry's orders the outriggers were to be cut away from Kara-Kara's
+boats as soon as possible, and every effort made to capsize them.  But
+above all were they to beware of getting their own double boats boarded
+and carried by storm.
+
+The battle now raged with terrible fury.  Boat after boat of the enemy
+had her outriggers hacked away and got capsized.
+
+Harry was here, there, and everywhere, shouting orders, guiding and
+encouraging his fleet.
+
+He was a fleet in himself--the very genius of the battle.
+
+The commander of the hostile canoes was a huge savage, who stood in the
+bows of a large canoe and shouted his orders in a voice so sonorous that
+it was heard everywhere.  He seemed to bear a charmed life, for again
+and again Somali Jack fired at him, but no bullet found a billet in that
+fierce giant's body.
+
+But canoe after canoe--by this captain's orders--was detached to attack
+Harry's boat, for well the fellow knew that could he but silence our
+hero the battle would soon be won.
+
+Each and all of the boats sent on this detached duty came to grief.  In
+vain spears were hurled towards the skiff, for Jack's rifle instantly
+came into deadly play, and at close quarters he liberally drilled them
+by twos.
+
+On the other hand, the archers were not idle, and any boat that got out
+of line was their particular prey.
+
+The fiercest fighting of all raged around the king's bark with its giant
+seamen.  Its captain was a man of herculean strength and all a savage's
+wild ferocity.  Wielding aloft a mighty battle-axe he dealt death and
+destruction around him wherever he went.  Many a canoe the barge
+capsized.  Many were the attempts made to board her, not only from the
+warlike canoes, but by the drowning wretches in the lake; the latter
+were ruthlessly hacked down, the former hurled back bleeding into the
+water or into their dug-outs.
+
+At last the barge found itself inside the enemy's line, and alongside
+the stalwart commander's big canoe.
+
+In a moment the outriggers at one side were broken into splinters, then
+the giants found themselves face to face, Kara-Kara's naval commander
+having leaped, panther-fashion, on board the barge and closed with its
+captain.
+
+It was a fearful tussle while it lasted, but soon the giant rose
+bleeding but triumphant, and Kara-Kara's chief lay dead with his head
+hanging over the gunnel of the boat.
+
+Then the barge fought its way back into the open water, and the battle
+was continued boat to boat and breast to breast.
+
+But it was soon evident to Harry that, deprived of their captain, the
+enemy were getting the worst of it and giving way.
+
+Presently oars were seized by the foe, their dead and even their wounded
+were pitched into the lake, and the retreat began.
+
+Harry at once called off his men.  He meant to cripple, if not destroy,
+the foe in a way that would save the lives of his own fellows.  The
+double boats fell back at once, and the enemy, or what remained of
+them--for at least five hundred must have fallen in this terrible
+_melee_--commenced pulling away with might and main towards their own
+camp on the distant shore.
+
+"Follow and harass them halfway to their own shore."
+
+This was the order given to the archers.
+
+I draw a veil over the terrible scene that followed.
+
+The blood of the archers was up.  All their savage nature was on flame.
+
+They saw red, so to speak, and red enough they made it for those unhappy
+boats.
+
+Not only halfway towards their own shore, but nearly all the way did
+they chase them, until their arrows were completely expended.
+
+Then back came the archer-fleet, having hardly lost a single man.
+
+Back they came, bending merrily to their paddles and singing some wild
+chant that mingled strangely with the scream of the carrion birds that
+now nearly darkened the air, or, perching upon the floating bodies, had
+already begun their fearful feast.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  Dug-out--a kind of large canoe made from a single tree hollowed
+by hatchet and fire.
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE BATTLE ON THE MAINLAND--DEATH OR VICTORY.
+
+From an elevated plateau on his private island, King Googagoo had
+witnessed all the battle.  His whole army stood around him, ready, if
+need should be, to repel the enemy.
+
+But the enemy were beaten, routed, and almost annihilated.
+
+Harry had always been a hero with this kindly-hearted king, now he was
+almost a god.
+
+"You are a great man!" the king shouted, rushing to meet and shake him
+by the hand.  "Oh, brother, what should I have done but for you!  Our
+warriors would have been tortured, burned, slain, and our wives and
+little ones dragged away into a captivity worse than death."
+
+Harry pointed skywards.
+
+"Yes, yes, I know," cried the king.  "It was the Eye; I knew He would
+give us the victory."
+
+"Stay," said Harry, seriously, "I fear the worst fighting is still
+before us.  On shore I mean, for hardly will the enemy care to or dare
+to attack you by water again.  We must land this very evening.  The foe
+is now beaten and demoralised, let us follow up our success without a
+moment's delay."
+
+And so it was arranged.
+
+The wounded were seen to, and as soon as the sun went down, which he did
+in a flood of calm beauty that night, just as if no bloodshed, grief,
+and murder was on the earth, the expedition started.
+
+It started not in boats altogether, but along the strange sunken natural
+roadway, where from the shore Harry had first seen the king's barge
+moving apparently of its own accord.  Had the enemy known of this
+expedition from the hundred islands, things might have turned out
+differently from what they had done.
+
+Enough men and amazons were left to defend the island in case of a
+repulse, the boats took the arms of all sorts and the provisions, the
+men themselves walked through the water or swam.
+
+By midnight the whole army to the number of nearly seven thousand, all
+included, stood on the shore, and the boats were hauled up and hidden
+among the trees.
+
+Raggy had been left at home in charge of the island, and a very proud
+Raggy he was in consequence.
+
+"I nebber was a king befoh," he said to himself, as he strutted about
+and gave orders to the Amazons, any one of which might have laid him
+cross-knees and flogged him.  "I nebber was a king befoh, and now I
+means to be one king all over."
+
+If being a king all over meant occupying Googagoo's tent, being led out
+to dinner precisely as his majesty had been, and eating as much curry as
+he could get down, then undoubtedly Raggy was a king all over.
+
+Long before the dawn appeared in the east, Googagoo's army had commenced
+the march towards the enemy's camp, guided by Walda.
+
+At the king's right hand was Harry, who was generalissimo in all but
+name.  His majesty might fight well, but he could hardly be expected to
+direct the manoeuvres of a great battle so well as a British officer.
+
+By daybreak Harry had drawn up his men in battle array on the brow of a
+hill, almost within stone's throw of the enemy's big camp beneath.
+
+In numbers Kara-Kara's men were as three to one of Harry's army, but,
+having vantage ground, the latter hoped to provoke the foe to attack.
+
+In this they were disappointed, for although there was skirmishing, as
+the day went on, between the outposts, nothing serious occurred; King
+Kara-Kara made no attempt to storm and capture the hill.  His motto
+seemed to be "Wait."
+
+By twelve o'clock Googagoo's patience was exhausted.
+
+"I love to fight," he said to Harry, "but to lie idle with the spear in
+my hand is not good for Googagoo.  Let it be now."
+
+Then Harry, after visiting all his lines, speaking words of
+encouragement and issuing commands, gave the order to advance, he
+himself leading in person, sword in hand.
+
+Kara's army lay at arms, in vast squares or impis, along a wide and
+sparsely wooded valley, Harry's hill being on the east of him, the lake
+to the north, and a dense forest land behind and to the west.  It was a
+difficult position to attack, but they had come here to fight and must
+face every odds.
+
+It must also be to a great extent a hand-to-hand engagement.
+
+Now unlike a battle with guns and rifles, a fight of the nature Googagoo
+was now to engage in could not be of long duration.  Harry knew that,
+and resolved to make his onset as telling as possible.  He had two
+advantages over Kara: his men were well drilled, and they possessed a
+most deadly weapon in the cross-bow.
+
+At the very moment the signal of advance was given by Harry, wild
+shouting arose from the ranks of the enemy, accompanied by the rattle of
+tom-toms and the blaring of innumerable chanters.  But the foe showed no
+intention of coming on, so the Googagoo men and amazons marched steadily
+to meet them.
+
+There was no racing or shouting.  To have run would have meant to lose
+wind, and Harry knew well the value of breath in a hand-to-hand fight.
+A movement was first made towards the south with the view of
+out-flanking the enemy.  This had the desired effect, and Kara's swarms
+now came on in that direction.
+
+Harry threw his archery-men out in skirmishing order now, in two lines,
+and the orders were to advance steadily to within a hundred yards of the
+enemy, then commence firing, one line supporting the other, but the
+whole army falling back towards the hills as the foe advanced.
+
+This was to prevent the latter closing, when of course the cross-bows
+would be of no more use.
+
+The battle began, and for a time raged on two sides, the amazons having
+partially out-flanked the foe.  The army as at present might be
+represented by the capital letter L, the short limb being the side
+facing southwards and fronting the terrible amazons, the long limb the
+main body of Kara's army driving back--as they thought--Googagoo's
+archers towards the hills.
+
+But while this driving back process was taking place, Harry's side was
+not losing a man, while the field was soon strewn with the dead and
+wounded of the enemy.
+
+The latter began to stop short and waver, the arrows poured in upon them
+in clouds, and for a time victory appeared to be inclining towards the
+side of the island king.
+
+Soon, however, Kara-Kara himself was seen running along behind his lines
+and shouting wild words of command to his men.
+
+Their charge was now redoubled in fury as well as in speed, and it
+became at once evident to Harry that the cross-bows would in a few
+minutes more become useless in line, and his ranks be broken by the
+enemy through force of numbers.
+
+He quickly, therefore, formed up into two English squares with the
+Scottish triangle in the centre, both he and the king being inside the
+latter.
+
+Hardly had he done so, ere the impis of the savage foe closed on them,
+those on the outsides of each phalanx receiving the shock at spear's
+point, while archers from the interior poured in a steady fire from
+their murderous cross-bows.
+
+The Karaites fell back after a time, defeated and foiled, and Harry's
+triangle then charged into their very midst, delivering by far and away
+the most furious and successful charge of the day.
+
+For a time now it seemed to be a drawn battle.
+
+It might have been well, now for Harry had he retreated farther, and
+probably gained the eastern hills, for, excited by fighting, Kara's army
+would undoubtedly have followed them.
+
+He did not, however, and in less than an hour he lost all opportunity of
+fever being able to do so.
+
+On came the enemy once again, and this time they managed completely to
+surround Googagoo's army.
+
+Not his amazons, though; these fought with spear and axe in the rear of
+the enemy, and it is quite impossible to describe the terrible fury of
+each of their onsets.
+
+For three long hours the battle raged.
+
+The sun was now beginning to decline.  The enemy seemed as determined as
+ferocious, and as numerous as before, while Googagoo's ranks were sadly
+thinned.
+
+They still kept their stand, however, against all the odds that Kara
+could fling in front of them.
+
+Fight they must.
+
+It was victory or death with them.
+
+For defeat meant annihilation, it meant that not one man or amazon would
+ever return to the islands to tell the terrible tale, and that the
+islands themselves would soon have to capitulate, and come under the
+sway of the cruel King Kara-Kara.
+
+The sun began to decline towards the western woods, but still the battle
+raged on.  The words of Scott came into Harry's head even now as he saw
+his brave fellows falling on all sides.
+
+  "What 'vails the vain knight-errand's brand?
+  Oh!  Douglas, for thy leading wand!
+      Fierce Randolph for thy speed!
+  Oh! for one hour of Wallace wight,
+  Or well-skilled Bruce to rule the fight,
+  And cry Saint Andrew and our right."
+
+The battle raged on.
+
+One of Harry's squares had already been broken, and it being impossible
+to re-form again, the men had fought their way through the cloud of
+savages around them and joined the ranks of the amazons.
+
+Hope was beginning to fade even from Harry's heart.
+
+He could not bear to hear the plaint of poor King Googagoo.
+
+"Where is He who fights for the right?" he was saying.
+
+"Where is the Eye who beholds all things?"
+
+Where is the Eye?  Look.  Whither shall we look?  Look far away towards
+the western horizon yonder.  Are those the crimson clouds that herald
+the sunset?  No, they are too low down on the plain, and a rolling
+canopy of blue is rising up and meeting the sun.
+
+The southern woods are all on fire.  The battlefield itself is soon--
+
+  "Wreathed in sable smoke."
+
+And out from the fire, it would seem, there now rushes an enemy that
+King Kara-Kara has but little reckoned on meeting.
+
+No wonder he withdraws his men from the sadly weakened phalanxes of the
+island king, and tries to make his way southwards.
+
+Here he is opposed by the stern fierce amazons, and their ranks are soon
+strengthened by a cloud of savages, spear-armed, who rush up behind them
+and fall upon the enemy in their front.
+
+  "Scarcely can they see their foes,
+  Until at weapon's point they close,
+  They close in clouds of dust and smoke,
+  With sword-sway and with lance's thrust;
+      And such a yell is there
+  Of sudden and portentous birth,
+  As if men fought upon the earth,
+      And fiends in upper air;
+  Oh! life and death are in the shout,
+  Recoil and rally, charge and rout,
+      And triumph and despair."
+
+Neither King Googagoo nor Harry could tell what the meaning of this
+sudden attack on the ranks of Kara-Kara meant.  It seemed like an
+interposition of Providence.  So, indeed, they both considered it, and
+doubtless they were right.
+
+Meanwhile Kara's army, now sadly thinned, fought like veritable fiends.
+
+Escape there seemed none.
+
+The hills to the east were guarded by the island men, there was the lake
+behind them, the new foe in front, and the woods in the west were all
+ablaze.
+
+The route was soon complete and the carnage dreadful to contemplate.
+
+So terrible are these fights between African kings that it is no
+exaggeration to say, that out of all the thousands that Kara-Kara had
+brought into the field hardly one thousand escaped alive, and they had
+to force their way through the burning forest, many falling by fire who
+had come scathless from the field.
+
+King Kara-Kara was among the killed.
+
+He was found, next day, in the midst of a heap of the bodies of those
+who had rallied round him to the last--
+
+  "His back to the field, and his feet to the foe."
+
+In his hand he still clasped the spear he would never use again.
+
+  "Reckless of life, he'd desperate fought,
+      And fallen on the plain;
+  And well in death his trusty brand,
+  Firm clenched within his manly hand,
+      Beseemed the monarch slain."
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED--AFTER THE BATTLE--DEATH OF SOMALI JACK.
+
+Before we can understand the seeming mystery that clings to the end of
+the last chapter of this tale, we must go a little way back, both as
+regards time and space.
+
+All the men Harry had with him in the unfortunate scuttled dhow at the
+time she was beached were taken, along with little Raggy, by the
+so-called brother of Mahmoud into the far interior of Africa, and there
+sold or bartered away as slaves, and, as we already know, Suliemon made
+what dealers term "a pretty penny" out of the nefarious transaction.
+
+Escape for the poor fellows so banished seemed impossible, for, although
+they had had an idea, from the appearance of the sun and stars, that
+they had been all the time journeying steadily west, with either a
+little angle of south or of north in it, so cruelly long had the route
+been, so terrible had been their hardships, and so great their dangers,
+that the idea of returning was considered by them as entirely out of the
+question.  Hope did not quite forsake them, however, but they had no
+means of communicating with the outer world--that is, the world beyond
+this dark continent.  Occasionally they cut letters in the hides of the
+wild beasts that had been slain, as these skins often found their way to
+the markets of Zanzibar and Lamoo.
+
+Who knows, they told each other, but some one may see these letters, and
+come to our assistance!
+
+But alas! though the letters were seen, and marvelled at and talked
+about, no government, either English or French, deemed it worth while to
+send a search and relief expedition.
+
+Yet those ten poor fellows had wives and little ones, had sisters and
+brothers, and fathers and mothers at home, who were, like Harry's
+parents, mourning for them as dead.
+
+The lives of cruelty and indignity which they had led, during all these
+long dark dreary months and years, it is not my intention to describe.
+Suffice it to say that these men were the abject slaves of a brutal
+king, compelled to eat of the most loathsome garbage and to live in a
+state of almost nudity.  No wonder that already four of their number had
+passed away.  Their bodies, shocking to relate, were not even buried,
+but thrown into the jungle for the wild dogs to gnaw and the ants to
+eat.
+
+The others lived, including Nicholls the bo's'n.
+
+Ah! often and often had they wished to die.
+
+The only pleasure of their lives, if pleasure it could be called, was
+that at night they were not separated, but kept in one common prison,
+strictly guarded by armed sentinels.
+
+Then in the dark they used to talk of the dear old days at sea, and of
+their homes far away in peaceful England.
+
+More than once during the time of their captivity King Kara-Kara had
+been on the war-path against the drunken old 'Ngaloo, and the former had
+been the victor, although he had not followed up his triumph, as he used
+to threaten he would do, and annihilate 'Ngaloo and his people.
+
+The two kings hated each other with a true and everlasting hatred, and
+the same may be said of their followers or people.
+
+A day of rejoicing came at last, though, to the poor white slaves, and
+that was when the island scout had bravely forced his way into camp, and
+given them news of their officer Harry.
+
+Then the king their master got word, somehow or other, of all the
+prosperity of honest Googagoo, and determined at once that he would make
+war upon him and utterly spoil and harry him.
+
+So he called his men of war together, and made all preparations for the
+campaign which we have seen to end so disastrously for this ambitious
+monarch.  He reckoned without his host in a manner of speaking--at all
+events he did not take King 'Ngaloo into account.  He kept the sentinels
+on the hills and slipped away northwards at the dead of night.
+
+Now 'Ngaloo had recently had a visit from a band of Somalis under the
+guidance of an Arab, who had brought him gifts of rum and beads.
+'Ngaloo gave the beads to his wives to hang around their fat necks,
+their wrists, arms, and ankles, and his wives were happy in consequence,
+and even submitted with patience and smiles to be pulled around the
+palace tent by the king's horrid tongs.  But 'Ngaloo stuck to the rum.
+
+He never knew quite clearly what he was about as long as his him lasted,
+but he was not a fool for all that; and when one day a sentinel reported
+that the towns and camp of Kara-Kara were very still and almost
+deserted--
+
+"Oh!" said the king, "old Kara's away after something.  Ha! ha! ha! now
+is the chance for me!  But I wonder where he has gone to."
+
+These rival kings had one thing in common, a certain superstition not
+unusual among some African potentates; they thought it unlucky to make
+war the one upon the other without some cause.  These causes, however,
+were easily found; if they could not be found, then they could be
+manufactured for the occasion.
+
+'Ngaloo determined to manufacture one now.  So he went to bed, not to
+sleep, for he ordered his prime minister to squat on the floor close to
+his dais and hand him rum as he wanted it.
+
+'Ngaloo preferred drinking like this, it saved him the trouble of
+tumbling about.
+
+He lay awake nearly all night thinking and laughing and giggling to
+himself.  Once he caught his prime minister napping, and gave him a
+back-hander with his tongs, which effectually kept him awake for some
+time to come.
+
+In the morning 'Ngaloo called three of his people to him, and sent them
+away across the hills with a message for King Kara-Kara.  It was to the
+following effect, though I cannot give the exact words:
+
+"Will King Kara-Kara be good enough to cross the mountains with his
+army, and visit his dear brother King 'Ngaloo, the mighty monarch of the
+whole universal earth, who will have the greatest pleasure in pulling
+King Kara-Kara's nose with his gilded tongs, and the nose of every man
+in his army."
+
+Off went the three men, and delivered their message, and off went their
+heads just three minutes afterwards.  For though King Kara-Kara was far
+away, he had left a lord-lieutenant behind him.
+
+It did not matter about the messengers having their heads off, they were
+first on the list, at all events, for the next human sacrifice, and a
+day or two back or fore could not hurt.  But as they did not return, the
+fact formed a _casus belli_, and gave 'Ngaloo just the opportunity he
+wished for.
+
+So he put on his war clothes, hung his tongs in his girdle beside his
+dagger, took his spear in his hand, summoned all his army, and marched
+over the borders, five thousand strong, with tom-toms beating and
+chanters braying, and in two days' time had entered the Kara-Kara
+territory.
+
+He captured every one he could, only those that were not worth capturing
+he made short work of.  Then he burned all his enemy's towns and
+villages, and having left a thousand men to lay siege to an inaccessible
+mountain, on the top of which, with the white prisoners, the
+lord-lieutenant had made his camp, 'Ngaloo with the rest of his savage
+army followed his foe up to the lake side, and it was fortunate he had
+arrived in time, as we have seen in the last chapter.
+
+The remnant of Kara-Kara's beaten army hied them back to their own
+country, only to find it laid waste by fire and sword; so they fled away
+into the wilderness, and joined other tribes with whom they had been
+friendly before this.
+
+Having both fought on one side, and both assisted each other in
+annihilating the unfortunate Kara-Kara, 'Ngaloo and Googagoo naturally
+became very friendly.
+
+Both armies bivouacked that night on the battlefield, and the wounded
+were attended to.  These, however, owing to the brutal customs of
+African warfare, were very few, for 'Ngaloo's men in the moonlight ran
+a-muck all across the blood-stained field, and ruthlessly slew all those
+who showed the slightest signs of life.
+
+Next morning was a sad one for Harry, for his faithful Somali Jack, who
+had served him so long and so faithfully, who had nursed him in
+sickness, and more than once saved his life, breathed his last in his
+arms shortly after sunrise.
+
+He had been terribly wounded in the battle, and nothing could save the
+poor fellow.
+
+Quite conscious he was to the last, and conscious, too, that his end was
+drawing near, though neither he nor Harry knew it was so _very_ nigh.
+
+Some duty or other demanded Harry's presence in another part of the
+field, but Jack said--
+
+"Do not go and leave me now, dear master; stay with me a little time."
+
+"I will stay; I will not go--poor Jack," replied Harry.  And he sat down
+beside the dying Indian, and took his head in his lap.
+
+Harry often thought of this last interview with his Somali servant
+afterwards, and how thankful he always felt, when he did so, that he had
+not gone away and left Jack.  Had he done that he would not have seen
+the last of him, or heard his dying words.
+
+These, however, were few, for Jack was weak and his voice feeble, and
+his breath coming in gasps.  He lay some time quiet, then--
+
+"I have so much to say," he almost whispered; "but I forget, and I am
+cold--_so_ cold."
+
+"I have a brother in Brava."
+
+Harry thought he said mother.
+
+"You have a mother, Jack?"
+
+"No; no mother--a brother.  See him; tell him how I died, how I lived.
+Tell him about heaven and all things good, as you have told me."
+
+"Raggy--he will miss poor Jack."
+
+There was a long interval of silence.  Jack's eyes were closed now, and
+Harry thought he slept.  But he opened them presently.
+
+Then he put his cold damp hand in Harry's.  "Master," he said, "you have
+given me life."
+
+"Oh, Jack!" said Harry, "I fear it is far beyond my skill to give you
+life."
+
+"But you have given me life--light and life.  I was but a savage.  You
+have told me of Him who can love even a savage."
+
+"Yes, yes, Jack; He loves you.  He will receive you."
+
+"Say `The Vale,'" Jack murmured.
+
+Harry knew what he meant, and repeated a verse or two, in metre, of that
+beautiful psalm that has given comfort to many a soul in sorrow.
+
+The last verse that Jack could have heard was the fourth:
+
+  "Yea, though I walk thro' death's dark vale,
+  Yet will I fear none ill,
+  For Thou art with me; and Thy rod
+  And staff me comfort still."
+
+There were just a few long-drawn sobs at intervals, then Harry sat
+watching to see if he would sigh again.
+
+But a minute passed, and Jack sighed no more.  Harry gently closed the
+eyes.
+
+Then he sat for a time, biting his lip till it almost bled; but all to
+no purpose, his sorrow _would_ find vent.
+
+And knowing all we do, can we wonder at Harry's grief?
+
+Can we wonder that he bent over that faithful Jack, and that the
+scalding tears fell from his eyes upon the poor dead face?
+
+Book 4--CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE FIGHT ON THE HILL--REUNION--"THE GREATEST KING IN ALL THE WORLD"--
+HOME AGAIN.
+
+This is a busy, work-a-day world, events will not tarry, nor will duty
+wait even upon grief, and no sooner had Harry and his party dug a grave
+and laid poor Somali Jack to his long rest in a cotton-tree grove, than
+he had to hurry off to camp again.
+
+It was the morning of another day, a bright and beautiful day, birds
+sang in the bush, or went flitting from branch to branch, displaying
+their rainbow colours, as happy and careless as if there were no sorrow
+in the world.
+
+But other birds there were--kites and fierce-looking _corvidae_, with
+horrid-looking vultures, that went sailing lazily round in the sky,
+alighting every moment on some dead body--to gorge.  And gorge they
+would, until unable either to walk, or fly.
+
+And what they leave of the corpses on the battlefield the ants, whose
+great hills and homes can be counted by the score, will speedily devour.
+
+At night, too, when the vultures have gone to roost on the scorched and
+blackened branches of the burned forest, wild dogs and hyaenas will come
+in crowds to the awful feast.
+
+Then rains and dews will fall and wash the bones, and the sun's bright
+beams will bleach them, till in time nought will be left in the field of
+that fearful fight except blanched skulls and snow-white skeletons.
+
+Ah, boys! where is the glory of war when the fight is fought, when the
+battle is over, and the victory won?  Look upon that silent, bone-strewn
+plain and tell me where.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+As naturally as if he had been voted into it, did Harry now quietly and
+coolly assume command of the whole army, both Googagoo's and 'Ngaloo's.
+The latter king he could not respect, albeit it was through his
+instrumentality that they had all escaped utter annihilation.  He tried
+to feel grateful to 'Ngaloo, but it was impossible, he really could not
+help observing that the great chief had a selfish, grasping, and
+grovelling mind.  There were times, indeed, that he could scarcely feel
+civil to the savage.
+
+And no wonder.  'Ngaloo, after looking for a long time at Harry's
+actions, and admiring his bustling but well-trained activity, came, and
+with cool audacity made a proposition to him.  It was couched in the
+following terms:
+
+"We soon go back now to my beautiful land among the mountains.  I am a
+great king now.  I have been a great king all my life.  I am now twice a
+great king, because I shall reign over all the rich land and woods of my
+dear brother King Kara-Kara, whose confounded dead nose I pulled on the
+battlefield.  So there is no king in the world so great now as 'Ngaloo.
+Come, then, and live with me.  I will make of you a big chief.  I will
+cut the head of my prime minister off, and you shall reign in his stead,
+and have all his wives as slaves--"
+
+It was precisely at this point that Harry interrupted the king's
+poetical harangue.
+
+Harry simply said--
+
+"Bosh!"
+
+Very emphatically he said it, too.  Then he wheeled right round and
+proceeded with his duty.
+
+'Ngaloo went away then, somewhat crestfallen; but he had a private
+commissariat of his own, and he found some rum there, so he consoled
+himself with that.
+
+A few hours afterwards, 'Ngaloo might have been seen marching about
+among Harry's troops, with a sottish kind of a smile on his face.
+
+'Ngaloo was taking lessons in modern warfare.  He told Harry, when he
+met him, that he meant to remodel his own army upon the principles of
+Googagoo's.
+
+The cross-bows greatly took his fancy.  So did the amazons.
+
+He could not tire looking at them, and as soon as he got home, he said,
+he would arm and drill every one of his wives, and make amazons of them.
+
+"And if they do not be good soldiers," he added, "why, there is the
+tongs."
+
+He snapped that weapon as he spoke, and cackled and laughed as if he had
+said something very clever and witty.
+
+The next stupid thing that 'Ngaloo did was to take Harry by the arm, and
+tell him with a burst of confidence, which was no doubt meant to be very
+friendly, that when they returned to King Kara-Kara's, and captured the
+white slaves, Harry should have no less than two of them, and that he,
+'Ngaloo, would only keep four to himself.
+
+Harry burst out laughing in the great king's face; but instead of being
+offended, 'Ngaloo was delighted, for he thought that Generalissimo Harry
+Milvaine was pleasedly acquiescing in his pretty little arrangement.
+
+'Ngaloo was so delighted that he must needs go and help himself to
+another dose of his brain-devouring rum or fire-water.
+
+Then he turned his attentions towards Googagoo.  He made this honest
+king a very long speech indeed, laudatory of his own exceeding
+greatness, and of the comparative insignificance of every other king and
+chief in creation.
+
+To all of this Googagoo listened with the politeness and urbanity
+inseparable from his nature.
+
+But the king of the hundred islands, in a return speech, reminded
+'Ngaloo that however great and glorious we were in this world, we must
+all die one day and go to another, where the Great Spirit would judge us
+according to the deeds done in the flesh, or forgive us if we trusted
+the Son that He had long, long ago sent to save us.
+
+Alas!  'Ngaloo was not much impressed by the earnest words of Googagoo.
+He was silent for a short time, as if in deep thought; then he spoke to
+the following effect:
+
+"Very likely all you say is true; but I suppose in the next world I will
+be just as big a chief, and have more territory than I have in this.
+For," he added, "there is no getting over the greatness of 'Ngaloo."
+
+It took the united armies a whole week to reach King Kara-Kara's
+country.
+
+Harry had taken the precaution to keep his people quite separate and
+well in advance of 'Ngaloo's, and gave strict orders to Walda and his
+other officers to watch for the slightest signs of, treachery on the
+part of 'Ngaloo.
+
+Our hero mistrusted him, and perhaps he had reason; but, on the other
+hand, he need not have done so either, for "the greatest king in all the
+world" was so frequently overcome by frequent applications to his
+fire-water commissariat, that he had to be carried in a grass-cloth
+hammock nearly all the way.
+
+It was forest land mostly which they traversed, woods filled with
+chattering monkeys and bright-winged silent birds, woods in which lions
+roared and hyaenas laughed all night long, woods often dripping with
+dank dews, and at times so dark by day that it was difficult to find a
+way through them.
+
+But anon they would come to open glades and glens among the hills and
+mountains, with clear streams rippling through them, in which many a
+lusty trout gambolled and fed, with sweet bird-voices and the murmur of
+insect life, making music in the air, every creature happy and busy,
+because of the sunshine that gladdened all.
+
+They came at last to the foot of the mountain or conical hill, where
+Harry's unhappy shipmates were imprisoned.
+
+Some slight show of resistance was made by those beneath, while those at
+the top and on guard rolled down great stones and rocks upon them.
+
+But Harry's brave fellows, he himself at the head of them--he well knew
+how to climb a hill--took the place with one wild determined rush.
+
+Many of the assaulters were wounded and some were killed with the
+descending stones, so that their savage instincts got the better of
+their judgment, and in spite of all that Harry could do, an ugly scene
+of carnage took place as soon as the fort was captured.  Harry had found
+his men at last.  And not a whit too soon, for at the very moment when,
+waving his victorious sword on high, he scaled the last parapet, they
+were being ordered out for instant execution.
+
+Ordered out?  From what?  Out, dear reader, from one of the most
+loathsome dungeons it is possible to imagine, dark, slimy, dismal, and
+filled with noisome vapours, a dungeon that for months they had shared
+with centipedes and slimy, slow-creeping lizards.
+
+And all this time their food had been only raw cassava root and a
+modicum of half-putrid water.
+
+And now Harry Milvaine, their beloved officer, stood in their midst.
+
+They had not forgotten their discipline, for each and all touched their
+brows by way of salute.
+
+"My poor fellows?" said Harry, his voice half-choked with emotion.
+
+It was the first kind words they had heard for years.  No wonder they
+broke down, and that those once sturdy British sailors--babies now in
+their very weakness--sobbed over Harry's hands or hugged him in their
+feeble arms.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Harry had been telling Walda that, in all probability, there would be a
+quarrel with 'Ngaloo about his shipmates, the survivors of the
+_Bunting's_ men, and that there would possibly be some fighting.
+
+"But," said Walda, "I know the people of King 'Ngaloo well; they do not
+love fighting, they would rather cross the hills to their own homes."
+
+"Yes, true, Walda; but the king--the king.  Remember that he rules over
+them, and if he bids them fight, then fight they must, and will."
+
+"Ah! the king!" replied the wily Walda.  "Yes, to be sure, only they
+will not fight if he does not order them to do so."
+
+"No, Walda.  But why do you smile?  Now you are laughing outright.  What
+amuses you, Walda?"
+
+"Not anything much," said Walda, "but--leave the king to me."
+
+Harry with his men and Googagoo's army were to start the very next
+morning, against all odds, however fearful these might be; so, to be
+ready for any emergency, he drew his people well to the north, at some
+distance from those of 'Ngaloo's.  And then they camped all night ready
+armed.
+
+But Walda had managed matters very prettily.  He had sat up with King
+'Ngaloo nearly all night, telling him wonderful stories of his own
+invention, and every now and again helping his majesty to another dose
+of his beloved fire-water.
+
+The consequence of all this was, that when Googagoo and Harry went to
+bid him goodbye next morning in the hammock where he still lay, they
+found him rather forgetful of all recent events, but otherwise in a most
+amiable mood indeed.
+
+The king said farewell at least a dozen times.
+
+He shook hands with each of his visitors _more_ than a dozen times.
+
+And his last words were these:
+
+"'Ngaloo is the greatest king in all the world.  Don't forget 'Ngaloo.
+Come again and see the greatest king in all the world.  Don't forget
+Ngaloo."
+
+"I'm not likely to," said Harry, shaking hands again.
+
+Then away he went, laughing.
+
+And the march northwards was commenced at once.
+
+Two of the men of the _Bunting_ had to be carried a great part of the
+way, but they got stronger and stronger as the time went on, and could
+soon both stand and walk.
+
+They found the boats precisely where they had left them, and in a few
+hours all were back once more--though sadly thinned in ranks--at their
+homes in the hundred islands.
+
+Raggy, rejoiced beyond measure, met them at the beach.  He was not
+content with shaking hands with his old messmates; shaking hands was
+slow work.
+
+Raggy must dance.  And dance he did, a regular sailor's hornpipe.
+
+"As sure as I'm alive, by Heaven's mercy," said Nicholls, the bo's'n, "I
+think I could dance a bit myself."
+
+"And so do I," cried another sailor.
+
+And they both joined Raggy.
+
+It was as merry a hornpipe as ever was seen.
+
+No wonder the king cried "Lobo!  Lobo!" and laughed till the tears
+gushed out of his eyes, or that the welkin rang with the admiring shouts
+of the sturdy amazons.
+
+Then Raggy, who had reigned here so long and so well, resigned his
+regency, and in a day or two more all the old, quiet life had settled
+down upon the islands.
+
+For a whole month longer Harry and his men lived with this innocent
+king; then, the strength of his men being now thoroughly recruited, they
+all said farewell to the good King Googagoo, with many regrets, and
+commenced the long and tedious march to the eastern coast, which they
+reached at last safe and sound, having met only the usual exciting
+adventures, and come through all the hardships incidental to African
+travel.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Dear young readers, I have little more to do now, except to say
+"Goodbye."  I sincerely trust that, while I do my best in my tales to
+interest and instruct you, no one can accuse me of painting the life of
+the sailor wanderer in too rosy colours.  I speak and write from my own
+experience of sea-life and of other lands.  And--yes, I will confess it,
+I love the sea, and ever did.
+
+Here are some lines I wrote in a journal of mine many years ago:--
+
+"While I write all is peace within and around our barque.  I am sitting
+in my little cabin.  It is a summer's evening.  Yonder is my bed; the
+port-hole close by my snowy pillow is open, and playfully through it
+steals the soft cool breeze of evening, and wantonly lifts and flutters
+the blue silken curtains.  Not far off I can catch glimpses of the
+wooded hills and flowery vales of a sunny land.  It is the rosy shores
+of Persia, and every night the light wind that blows over it is laden
+with the sweet breath of its flowers; while between there lies the
+ocean, asleep, and quiet, and still, and beautiful with the tints of
+reflected clouds.  Often in the cool night that succeeds a day of heat
+have I lain awake for hours, fanned by the breath of the sea, gazing on
+the watery world beneath and beyond me, and the silvery moon and
+glittering stars that waft my thoughts homewards, till sleep stole
+gently down on a moonbeam and wafted me away to dreamland."
+
+Thus I wrote when a young man.  Thus I still do feel.
+
+The first glimpse that one catches of the chalky shores of old England
+after a long cruise thrills every nerve in his heart with hope and joy.
+To experience even this it is worth while going to sea.
+
+Probably some such thoughts as these stole through the mind of Harry
+Milvaine as his homeward bound vessel came in sight of land.
+
+His passage had been a good one all the way from Zanzibar to the Cape,
+and from the Cape to Southampton.
+
+If the thought of presenting himself at Beaufort Hall without first
+writing ever came into his head at all, it was speedily banished.
+Pleasant surprises are very well under certain circumstances, but they
+may be so painfully pleasant as to be positively dangerous, for joy can
+kill as well as cure.
+
+So Harry telegraphed and wrote, and waited anxiously for the return
+letter.
+
+It came in good time.
+
+With a beating heart he tore it open.
+
+All were well.  Even his old dog Eily was mentioned by his mother--for
+of course the letter was from her--in terms of affection.
+
+"She knows you are coming," she wrote, "and whenever I mention your name
+rushes to the gate to look, and barks in a kind of half-joyful,
+half-hysterical way that is most peculiar."
+
+Harry is back in the Highlands at last.  He has come a good two hours
+earlier than he expected.  But he does not mind that He likes to walk
+slowly on towards the home of his boyhood.  Every little cottage, every
+hill--the hills are all heather-clad, for the summer's bloom bedecks
+them--every wood, ay, every tree recalls some sweet memory of the
+bygone.
+
+He is still within half a mile of Beaufort when he sees a dog.
+
+It is his own.
+
+It is Eily.
+
+She has been out hunting for stoats at the hedge-foot.
+
+He calls her by name.  She stops and stares, bewildered for a moment,
+then with a few joyful bounds she is at him.  She is _at_ him, and _on_
+him, and _round_ him, and _round_ him all at once apparently.
+
+Her dear old master risen from the dead!!  She can hardly believe her
+eyes, and is fain to stand a little way off and bark at him for very
+joy.  Then off she flies homewards, to tell that she has found her
+master.
+
+So that Harry's father, bareheaded and with his newspaper in his hand,
+but hale and hearty as of yore, and Harry's mother, more fragile and
+older-looking, are both at the gate to welcome him.
+
+And behind them comes old Yonitch to shake her dear boy by the hand.
+
+Harry has a companion, whom he now introduces, and he is no less a
+personage than Raggy himself.
+
+I think everybody is half afraid of Raggy at first, but Raggy smiles so
+pleasantly, and laughs with such ringing joy, that he is soon at home,
+and even Yonitch and Eily forgive him for being so dreadfully black.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+That last line is meant to be left to the reader's own translation.  It
+represents exclamations of wonder and joy at Harry's long story, and
+questions asked and answered, and a deal more I have no space to
+mention.
+
+Eily and Harry went that same evening for a ramble in the forest.  They
+found it just the same.  The birds were there, and the bees were there,
+and the rabbits and weasels and squirrels were there--but poor Towsie
+the bull was gone.
+
+They walked home round by Andrew's cottage.
+
+Andrew came rushing to his little gate and held Harry's hand as if in a
+vice, while he pulled him in and seated him in a chair.
+
+Then Harry had all his story to tell over again.
+
+And honest Andrew listened and listened; frequently his eyes would
+become moist with tears, when he immediately took a large pinch of
+snuff, for shy, sly Andrew wanted to make believe that it was the snuff
+that made his eyes swim, and not downright emotion.
+
+"Man! man!" was Andrew's frequent exclamation, "only to think o' seein'
+you back again among us!"
+
+"Look!" he said, when Harry finished speaking for the time being.
+"Look!"
+
+Harry looked.  Andrew had a tall hat in his hand.  It was gloomily
+bedecked with weepers of crape, as big almost as those worn by
+hearse-drivers.
+
+"That's my Sunday's hat," said Andrew; "and I've worn it, as you see it,
+every sabbath since the terrible day when Captain Wayland came here and
+told us we would never see you more."
+
+"But I'll take them off now," he added, joyfully.
+
+Honest Andrew did so, folded them up, and put them carefully away in a
+drawer.  Then he heaved a big sigh and took another pinch of snuff.
+
+It was very gratifying to Harry's feelings to find that his little
+garden and boy's bungalow, where the swallow that Eily brought him told
+the story of Africa, had been carefully tended and kept up inside and
+out.
+
+This was Andrew's doings.
+
+Harry has had many wanderings since then, both by sea and land, but
+adventures such as those he came through on the dark continent come but
+once in a lifetime.
+
+He has been a gallant and good officer.
+
+He has done his duty.
+
+Ah! there is a halo around the head of every one who does his duty, be
+that duty high or be it humble.
+
+Harry Milvaine now holds a good appointment in a dockyard, and his leave
+is always spent in the Highlands, and honest Andrew and he are as good
+friends as ever.
+
+Though no longer a boy, Raggy is still his faithful servant.
+
+But Harry has promised his mother that ere long he will take leave of
+the service and settle down at home.  He will have a flagstaff, however,
+he says, towering high and mast-like up from the green garden lawn, and
+proudly on that staff will flutter--
+
+  "The flag that braved a thousand years
+  The battle and the breeze."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Harry Milvaine, by Gordon Stables
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