Under an Afric Sun.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1003, 13 October 1893, Page 7

Under an Afric Sun.

By George Maeyilke Fektn.

' xit "-■-'''' CHAPTER t; *• 'tWell, 'pon my Word; Fraser !' * What's theYmatter now V *Vm staggered ; I am really.' -: ' « Whfet abbot, boy f 7 ITo think I • could; beisuch an absolute noodle as :tp letYyou 'morally bind me hand and foot and bear me off into a desolatelsland iri the Atlantic, to-carryyypurY confounded specimens ; be dragged put of bed at unholy hours to walk /hundreds of miles -in the broiling sun ; fo steep in, beds full of the active; and -nameless jWsects. abhorred by the British housewife ; and generally becomeY^your white nigger, , cad, carthorse, and ' — — A'Have , you nearlj done V said "HoracPYY^ 1 * 8 ??*? v^ith ■ a; grim smile upon his dry quaint countenance. * Noj ihat was only the preface.' 'Then letfs have the: rest when we get home in the. shape, of a neatly printed book, .a < copy: of/ which you can present to me :\nth a paper-knife of white ivory ; and I promise you I will nwrer cut a leaf or read a line.' t / Thatiksj./Diogenes.' 'Diogenes; indeeid I' : cried Fraser with a snort, as bis crisp hair seemed to stand on end. 'New, look, Tom Digby; you are about the most illconditioned, ungrateful, dissatisfied English cub that ever breathed.' 'Go it !' said the good-looking young fellow addressed, as he flung himself down among the ferns and began to untie his shoes, after wiping his steaming brow and taking oft his straw hat, to let the hot dry breeze blow through his crisp wavy brown hair. ' I mean to ' go it,' as you so coarsely term it, sir,' continued Fraser, crossing his arms on a roughly made alpenstock. ' I came to you in your black and grimy chambers, where you were suffering from a soot-engendered cold. 1 said : " I am off to the Canaries for a three months' trip. Leave this miserable London March weather, and I'll take you where you can see the sun shine."' * See it shine* Yes ; but you didn't say a word about feeling it,' cried the younger man,. 'Do you know the skin is peeling off my nose, and that th 9 back of my neck is burnt V 'Don't be a donkey, Tom !. I ask, did you ever see.- anything so lovely before in your life V ' Humph ! 'Tis rather pretty,' grumbled the younger man. ' Pretty !' echoed Fraser contemptuously, as he took off his hat, as if out of respect to Nature, and gazed around him at sea, sky, mountain, and hill, whose hues were dazzling in their rich colors. He then threw down his alpenstock, drew a large geological hammer from his belt, and seated himself upon the grass, while his companion brought out a cold chicken, some dark bread, and a number of hard-boiled eggs, finishing off with a bottle and silver cup. ' Look at that wonderful film of cloud floating toward the volcano, Tom ! Look at the sun gleaming upon it! Just like a silver veil which fche queen of mountains is about to throw over her head.' •Poetry, by jingo!' cried Digby. ' Brayvo old stones and bones, I say ! Look at the golden yellow of the hard yolk lying within the ivory walls of this hard-boiled egg ; and at the There ; I'll be hanged if I didn't forget to bring some salt !' Tom Digby made a sound with his tongue as he tasted some of the wine he had poured into the cup ; then he made a grimace. ' I say, Horace, eld chap, it was all very well for the old people to make a fuss about their sack and canary ; but for my part a tankard of honest English beer is worth an ocean of this miserable juice.' * Don't drink it, then,' said Fraser, eating mechanically, as he gazed about him at the glorious pines around, and then down at the tropical foliage of banana, palm, orange, and lime, two thousand feet below, where it glorified the lovely valleys and gorges which ran from the black volcanic sandy shore right up into the mountains. Then a silence fell upon the scene, which continued till the alfresco repast was at an ; end, and Tom Digby deliberately lit up and began to smoke. ' ' What an enthusiastic young gusher you are, Horace !' cried Digby; banteringly. 'For a man of 41, you do rather go it.' * y ' And for one of 25, you assume the airs of a boy,' said Fraser grimly. ' Well/'lff eel like oney old chap, out here. Why, it's glorious to breathe this delicious -: mountain . air, to gaze upon the clouds abpve^ and below at that wonderful blue sea, and at the yellow pines which look: like gold.. Yes,' h&t added, as "he sprang up and gazed about him, ' it is a perfect Eden ! What a jolly shame" that it should belong to the Spaniards instead of us.' * I daresay they appreciate it.' . 'Must hraye *dbne,yor^ else they wouldn't haye taken ifc from the—the — the— what did 7 you /- call- the aborigines % ; 7 7 ? What ,-[&_ chap you, are, 'Horace ! You sgfßa^p, km-dw %rbit^of every thing:' ' I only ,try to ; go about with my eyes op^n, and take 1 interest in some-

- .-'*■"- hing better othan: coloring a meerschaum pipe.' 'Severe!'; Well, you do annoy tne, Tom ; you do, indeed. . A man with, such cap-; abilities, and yori will not use them. Why, you haven't .even tried to learn Spanish yet. n * What's the good ? You know plenty for both. I'm well enough oft not lobpther riry brains about Spanish.' * Ah, Tom, Tom ! if you only had some aim in life.', j V ' Rather have some of those oranges.' j '" 'Eating again V 7 -y.\ No, ; for drinking. Thirsty land,! Horace, and I never knew what an orange really was before. And why should I worry myself about languages » I've a lively recollection of your nariiesake at school, and Virgil and Homer end all the other dead-language buffers. — I say, though, that's fine.' They had oome suddenly upon one of the gashes in the island known to the. Spanish as barrancos— a thorough crack or crevice in the rocky soil, with perpendicular sides clothed with mosses, ferns, and the various growths which found a home in the disintegrating lava of which the place was composed. Here the various patches of green were of* the most brilliant tints, and kept ever verdant by the moisture trickling down from above. ' Mind what you are doing !' said Fraser, after stooping to chip off a fragment bf perfectly black lava from a bare spot. ' Yes ; it would be an awkward tumble,' said Digby, as he leaned forwardand peered over the ledge. ' Five hundred feet, I daresay.' ' More likely a thousand,' said I Fraser. ' The distances are greater than you think.' * Ah, well, dori't make much differ- 1 ence to a man who falls whether he tumbles 500 or 1000ft.— Going along here? 'Yes; the track leads to a steep descent. Then we can get up the other side, and round over the mountain, and so back to the part where, after dinner, wo can go and call on Mr Redgrave. I did send on the letter straight frora London.' * All right, old chap. I'm ready. — How many miles round 1' ' Not more than 10. You will not mind the climb down T * Well, if it's like this— yes. Hillo, what's he doing V Digby pointed across the barranco to where, a couple of hundred yards away, upon the opposito rock-face, a man seemed to be slowly descending the giddy wall. ' After birds or rabbits, perhaps/ said Fraser. ' Take care of yourself, old chap !' shouted Digby ; and then, as his voice was lost in the vastness of the place, he followed his companion seaward for a few hundred yards till the track led them to a zigzag descent cut in the wall of rock, down which they went cautiously, and not without hesitation till they reached the little stream at the bottom, crossed it, and ascended the other side, a similar dangerous path taking them to the top. 4 By George, this is a place !' cried Digby as they paused for a few moments. ' Listen !' whispered Fraser, stopping short ; and there beneath them was a panting and rustling, followed directly after by the appearance of a dark face with a band across the brow, a man with a basket supported on his back by. the band, to leave his hands free, climbing up from a hidden path among the ferns, and pausing before them to set down his load. ' What have yon there V asked Fraser in Spanish. ' Dust of the old people, senor Inglese,' said the man, smiling. ' That is one of the caves below there where they used to bury them ; and he pointed to an opening just visible amongst the growth where the side of the barranco sloped. ' Buried ? There V said Frazer. * Yes, senor ; there are plenty of such places as this in the sides of the mountain.' ' Curious,' said Fraser, eagerly peering into the basket of brown dust, stirring it with the end of his alpenstock, and uncovering something gleaming and white. ' Why, it's;, a tooth !' said Digby, stooping to pick it out of the basket, but dropping it suddenly. ' Ugh !' he ejaculated; 'why, they're bits of bone.' * Yes ; very interesting,' said Fraser. 'Dust cf the Guanche mummies. I knew there were remains to be fonnd.' 'Disgusting !' ejaculated Digby, recoiling. •Why do you get this dust? asked Fraser of the man. ;. 'For my garden, seiior. The potatoes, and onions like it, and it is superb.' ' What does he say V * They use it for manure for their gardens.' ,- . Digby seized his friend's, arm, '•Come away,' he said. 'No more vegetables while I stay in Isola. Hang it all; Fraser,;l hope they don't put it among tha; orange tree 3.' ' Possibly "! Why not ? This is the debris'bf -mummies, the/remains of the old dwellers here, niade of the dust of the earth, returned, to the dust of the earth ; and tho salts here are taken up by plant-life by nature's wonderful chemistry.' V . y , ' I say, dcn't preach science,' cried Digby, . « Oome along.'

•Yes, we must gojon now,' said Fraser thoughtfully ; * but we shall have toicome" and explore these caves. I should .like to take back ; a/- few perfect skulls.' ..- "''y-y' . For the next two hdrirs they/wandered on through scenes of surpassing loveliness, .//following the faint track which led 1 hem over the mountains till they could see the sea dn the other side of tho littlo island, as they began to descend. Fraser was alwaysbnsy .chipping fragments of pumice and lava, picking rare plants, and making a goodly ./cpllec tion for study at the little tienta or hostel where they had taken up their quarters, when a rabbit suddenly darted out across the verdant path they pursued. •*% * Rather disappointing, place as : to game,' said Digby, 'Few birds, too. 1 say, 1 ekpected to see the. pi ace with canaries as yellow as V gtfld singing on every bough. — Pst !' He caught his companion's arm, and they both stopped short to listen to a sweet pure voice singing the words pf some Spanish ditty, the notes ringing out melodipus and clear, though the singer was hidden among the tfees through which the path led. ''There's one of your Canary birds,' said Fraser in a whisper, an.d directly after there was a . rustle among the bushes, which were ;th rust aside, and Digby stood enthralled by ;the picture before him, as a beautiful girl; pf; about 19 bounded down, from a rocky ledge above the path, her straw hat hanging by its string from her creamy throat, and her sun-browned face turning crimson at the; sight, of the strangers^ who made way for her to pass, laden with flowers, which she had evidently been gathering in the openings among the trees. ; ! 'Horace, old fellow, did you see? whispered Digby, his eyes sparkling with excitement. , ' Yes,' was the quiet reply, ' Why, you old ascetic f cried Digby. 'An angel. Violet eyes —^brown hair —a coriiplexion of which Belgravia might boast. I did not think the Spaniards had it in them.' ' Yes,' said Fraser slowly. « Some of the old race possessed that fair hair. Mary's Philip was fair.' . ' But did you notice her mouth I—.1 — . Fraser, don't talk of such a vision of beauty as if she were a natural history specimen.' ' Well, don't go on like that about the first pretty woman you see. Only yesterday you were grumbling about their plainness, and saying that though the women here had lovely eyes, they, had men's moustaches — they ought to shave. — This way — to the right, I think,' he added, for the road had suddenly forked. ' And Well, she is beautiful,' cried Digby. { I wonder who she is.' ' A Spanish settler's descendant, whom, in all probability, you wili never see again,' said Fraser quietly; and they both went on for half-an-hour in a silence which was broken by Fraser. ' Going wrong, evidently,' he said ; ' this can't be the way to the town.' ' Well, I thought we were going up hill again.' ' Ought to have taken the other turning.' This was so evident, that they turned back, retracing their steps till, close upon the spot where they had diverged, they came suddenly upon a tall, handsome, well-dress«d man, who started and looked at them curiously. 'Will the senor direct us to the town V said Fraser, in Spanish. The haughty searching look gave place to a winning smile, and the ! stranger volubly indicated the right road, and then said laughingly in English : ' But do you understand me ? ' Yes, perfectly,' replied Fraser ; * and I wish my Spanish were as good as your English.' Then punctilious words were exchanged, and the stranger passed on.' ' Do you believe in first impressions, Horace ? said Digby, glancing back, and then uttering an impatient exclamation. ' No.— What's the matter?/ 'That fellow was looking after us.' ' Well, you were looking after him, or you. would not have seen.— What do you mean by your first impressions ? •I don't like the look of that fellow.' ' Insular prejudice.' < • Don't care what it is ; I don't like him, and I'm sure I never should.-^-Why, Horace, look there !' Not twenty yards in front was the girl they had so lately met; and as -Digby- drew attention to her presence, he stopped and hastily picked up a twig of flowers such as he had seen her carrying, and which her despondent attitude suggested that she had dropped. For she was walking slowly on with her face buried in her handkerchief, evidently sobbing bitterly ; and es they followed, she let others' of the flowers she had gathered fall. 'Stop !' whispered Fraser hastilyi/as he caught his companion by the arm/ ; 'Going to see if 1 can? "'.'■--// -7; /-,/ Digby did not finish his sentence^ for the girl had evidently heard the; harsh whisper. She turned, gazing back at hira in an affrighted way; and as they caught sight of the tearful convulsed face, she darted down a side-track, and. was gone. _" ' What do you think of that? cried Digby excitedly. ;Y; <:: -;/ 'A Spanish woodland romance,7said Fraser dryly,r-t-« What do you : think about it, Tom ?

'That >l-'shotild-likeHd ? |6^fter thit haughty-looking Spanish; ; "customer and ask him what it all means.— Shall IV c No. Be sensible for once. — Ab, you can see the/ town from here.-~ Co me along/ * .7. .■• T-i (To.be Go?iUnued.) A