f cool black shadows, sheltering still water, till water and
shadow suddenly ended a quarter of a mile down in a patch of brilliant
colour. It was as peaceful as could be in the first morning light, and
to me over all there was the inexpressible attraction of the unknown.

As our boat slipped silently forward up this leafy lane, a thin white
"feather" in her mouth alone breaking the steely surface of the stream,
the men rested from their work and began, as sailors will, to put on
their shore-going clothes, the while they chatted in low tones over the
profits of the voyage. Overhead flying squirrels were flitting to and
fro like bats, or shelling fruit whereof the husks fell with a pleasant
splash about us, and on one bank a couple of early mothers were washing
their babies, whose smothered protests were almost the only sound in
this morning world.

Another silent dip or two of the oars and the colour ahead crystallised
into a town. If I said it was like an African village on a large
scale, I should probably give you the best description in the fewest
words. From the very water's edge up to the crown of a low hill inland,
extended a mass of huts and wooden buildings, embowered and partly
hidden in bright green foliage, with here and there patches of millet,
or some such food plant, and the flowers that grow everywhere so
abundantly in this country. It was all Arcadian and peaceful enough at
the moment, and as we drew near the men were just coming out to the
quays along the harbour front, the streets filling and the town waking
to busy life.

A turn to the left through a watergate defended by towers of wood and
mud, and we were in the city harbour itself; boats of many kinds moored
on every side; quaint craft from the gulfs and bays of Nowhere, full of
unheard-of merchandise, and manned by strange-faced crews, every vessel
a romance of nameless seas, an epitome of an undiscovered world, and
every moment the scene grew busier as the breakfast smoke arose, and
wharf and gangway set to work upon the day's labours.

Our boat--loaded, as it turned out, with spoil from Seth--was run to a
place of honour at the bottom of the town square, and was an object of
much curiosity to a small crowd which speedily collected and lent a
hand with the mooring ropes, the while chatting excitedly with the crew
about further tribute and the latest news from overseas. At the same
time a swarthy barbarian, whose trappings showed him to be