LITMIR.BIZ

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boy, who answered to the name of Billy, led me by a winding path through the forest to the abode of the Instructor.

      On emerging from the comparatively cool cavern, I was struck by the oppressive heat of the outside air, and as our way lay right through the tangled depths of the thick wood, I had leisure to admire the beautiful foliage of the trees and shrubs, the gorgeous colours of the flowers, the luscious profusion of the fruit, the gay plumage of the countless birds, and to feel the annoyance of the myriads of insects that buzzed and swarmed around us as we walked along, and whose attacks I could not entirely ward off, though I used a flapper like my companion.

      On my remarking to Billy that I wondered to see how fresh and rosy he and all whom I had yet seen were, in spite of the terrible heat and the constant attacks of these venomous and irrepressible insects, he replied in what appeared to me at the time an enigmatical manner:—

      "Bless your soul, no one stays here longer than he can help. I shall be off as soon as I have brought you to Mr Hamlet's."

      "Off!" I said, "I suppose you mean you will go back to the cave."

      "Oh, dear, no! not if I know it," replied Billy; "my business there is over for the day."

      "Where on earth then will you go to avoid this stifling atmosphere?" I inquired.

      ​"Nowhere on earth—yonder," pertly replied Billy, intimating by a movement of his head the direction of the sea.

      I did not care to question him further, as he was so curt and saucy in his replies, but now walked on in silence, feeling assured that the mystery would soon be explained to me by the person to whom he was leading me. Besides, I felt too much overcome by the sultriness of the air and the annoyance of the flies to pursue my inquiries further at present.

      After having sweltered on for about a mile and a half as well as I could, with parched mouth and perspiration dripping from every pore in my body, the forest abruptly terminated, and I found myself on the edge of a beautiful little bay, fringed with fine white coral sand and commanding an extensive view of the inland sea and of several of the other islands enclosed in it. The water was as clear and blue as sapphire. It lay within its enclosing reef as still and motionless as glass, though I could see there was a considerable swell on the ocean outside the reef, for every now and then a column of white foam was thrown up into the air, at different points of the reef, showing where the wave had broken on the encircling barrier.

      Sea-birds of all kinds were wheeling in swift and mazy flight over the inland sea, but chiefly about the surrounding reef, where I could see clouds of them rising and falling, and swaying hither and thither, like midges on a summer evening at home.

      The circumference of the bay was skirted all round by the same dense tangle of forest as that I had passed through, and the contrast of the dark trees, the white line of sand, and the blue water, with the cloudless ​canopy of heaven above, all formed a very charming picture.

      About the centre of the curve of the bay stood the house of the Instructor, to which my guide now led me. It was entirely overgrown with creeping plants, so that it was unrecognisable as a human habitation from the outside.

      Separating the depending branches of a beautiful broad-leaved creeper covered with large bell-shaped mauve-coloured flowers, we entered the house or grotto of the Instructor.

      As there was no one within, I had time to look about me. The house consisted of a single room, built entirely of specimens of coral of the most beautiful shapes and delicate colours. The obscurity of the interior, when we entered from the dazzling glare outside, would have prevented me seeing anything, had not Billy touched a knob projecting from the wall, whereupon a light immediately appeared in the ceiling, which, from its brilliancy, I conjectured must be owing to electricity.

      The purity of the light and its excessive brightness showed off the colours of the coral-built grotto in the greatest perfection. There were no windows, and the door by which we had entered was closed by nothing but the thick curtain formed by the hanging creeper. The furniture of the room consisted of two tables and some particularly comfortable easy chairs. A large bookcase, containing many volumes, occupied the entire of the far end of the room. I had the curiosity to look what kind of books formed the library of the important official I was about to see. I was surprised and pleased to observe that they consisted of some of our most recent English works ​on philosophy and science, together with a fair sprinkling of French and German works on the same subjects. Natural history, natural philosophy, mechanics, chemistry, geography and history were the chief subjects. They were generally the last editions of these works, not reprints, and they seemed to be well used, for their pages bore signs of having been read and studied; and several volumes, taken from the shelves, lay with markers in them on one of the tables.

      Among the books on the table were a few of a different appearance from the others. I opened one of them, and saw that its pages were made, not of paper, but of some highly-glazed material, and that they were printed in a character I had never seen before, more resembling the dots and strokes made on the paper ribbons by the telegraphic machine than the letters of any civilised language.

      I was still engaged in examining this odd book, of which I could make neither head nor tail, when the leafy curtain opened, and there entered a youngish man, with a fine intellectual-looking head, the glow of health in his ruddy cheeks, and his limbs and body of extremely graceful proportions. Like the others I had seen, he seemed to have just come out of a bath, for he had nothing on but the invariable short trousers or bathing drawers, and he was dripping wet.

      He took up a soft towel, gave his face and hands a good wipe, and, not troubling himself about the water that trickled down his skin, he snatched up a dressing-gown of some soft silky material that lay on a couch, and wrapped it round his dripping body.

      Surveying me with some curiosity, he addressed me in a kindly voice:—

      ​"I see, sir, you are a stranger; shipwrecked, I presume, on our protecting reef?"

      I related, to him the particulars of my shipwreck, which interested him much, and he expressed his surprise that apparently I alone, of all the crew, was good enough swimmer to avail myself of the means of escape offered by the life-boat. He said that all who led a seafaring life or even went a sea voyage should be taught to be as much at home in the water as on dry land.

      On my expressing doubts as to the practicability of this, he said, "Well, I think you will alter your ideas on that point before you have lived long among us."

      He informed me that he was one of a staff appointed by Government to instruct strangers, who might come to their country, in all things that were requisite in order to enable them to become good and useful citizens.

      The number of strangers who came hither was not great. Formerly the annual amount was something considerable, but that was in the days of sailing vessels. Since the very general introduction of steam, wrecks had been much rarer; and as these islands were not on any of the great lines of traffic, it was sometimes years before a wreck occurred.

      "Do none visit you except the shipwrecked?" I inquired.

      "Rarely," he replied; "and it comes to the same thing as though they had been wrecked, for we take care that their ship shall never carry them away again. All that is useful we take possession of, and then blow up the ship."

      "Then do I understand," I asked in alarm, "that I am to be detained here a prisoner for life?"

      ​"Well, not exactly," he replied, "because, though, until quite recently, we have never allowed departures from our island, a more liberal policy now prevails. Last year our legislature passed an act permitting strangers to leave the country, if they so wished and an opportunity should offer. Most improbable contingencies," he added, "for, once used to our life here, all other modes of living seem intolerable; and, as for opportunities for leaving the country, they are very unlikely to occur, as vessels that get on our reef speedily become total wrecks, even without our assistance. Moreover, as I told you, we are out of the way of any direct packet-lines—you know it was only owing to the eccentric course pursued by your theoretical captain that you had the chance of being thrown ashore here—so you see you will have to make up your mind to

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