Alas! the lot of a "poor
devil," twenty degrees north of the tropic of Cancer, is indeed
pitiable.
At last, the. beach contracted to hardly a yard's width, and the dense
thicket almost dipped into the sea. In place of the smooth sand, too,
we had sharp fragments of broken coral, which made travelling
exceedingly unpleasant. "Lord! my foot!" roared the doctor, fetching
it up for inspection, with a galvanic fling of the limb. A sharp
splinter had thrust itself into the flesh through a hole in his boot.
My sandals were worse yet; their soles taking a sort of fossil
impression of everything trod upon.
Turning round a bold sweep of the beach, we came upon a piece of fine,
open ground, with a fisherman's dwelling in the distance, crowning a
knoll which rolled off into the water.
The hut proved to be a low, rude erection, very recently thrown up;
for the bamboos were still green as grass, and the thatching fresh
and fragrant as meadow hay. It was open upon three sides; so that,
upon drawing near, the domestic arrangements within were in plain
sight. No one was stirring; and nothing was to be seen but a clumsy
old chest of native workmanship, a few calabashes, and bundles of
tappa hanging against a post; and a heap of something, we knew not
what, in a dark corner. Upon close inspection, the doctor discovered
it to be a loving old couple, locked in each other's arms, and rolled
together in a tappa mantle.
"Halloa! Darby!" he cried, shaking the one with a beard. But Darby
heeded him not; though Joan, a wrinkled old body, started up in
affright, and yelled aloud. Neither of us attempting to gag her, she
presently became quiet; and, after staring hard and asking some
unintelligible questions, she proceeded to rouse her still slumbering
mate.
What ailed him we could not tell; but there was no waking him. Equally
in vain were all his dear spouse's cuffs, pinches, and other
endearments; he lay like a log, face up, snoring away like a cavalry
trumpeter.
"Here, my good woman," said Long Ghost, "just let me try"; and, taking
the patient right by his nose, he so lifted him bodily into a sitting
position, and held him there until his eyes opened. When this event
came to pass, Darby looked round like one stupefied; and then,
springing to his feet, backed away into a corner, from which place we
became the objects of his earnest and respectful attention.
"Permit me, my dear Darby, to introduce to you my esteemed friend and
comrade, Paul," said the doctor, gallanting me up with all the
grimace and flourish imaginable. Upon this, Darby began to recover
his faculties, and surprised us not a little by talking a few words
of English.
