omposed chiefly
of a species of azorella and a rough spinated grass; while, the
strangest feature of all was, that not a single tree, or plant
approaching to the dimensions of a shrub, could be seen on any portion
of the island!

The most charming characteristic of the scenery noticed, was the
profusion of cataracts, cascades, and waterfalls, which leaped and
sparkled from terrace to terrace of the basaltic net-work of peaks and
ridges that ran here, there, and everywhere across the isthmus,
enclosing the valleys and scarping the sea--the splashing of these
natural fountains making soft music everywhere as the water gurgled down
into tiny rivulets and brooks below, which stole their way along banks
bordered by chickweed and liverwort into the lakes, and from the lakes
into the ocean, only to be sucked up again by the clouds and deposited
on the hills in the form of rain, forming the cascades and cataracts
anew; and so on, _da capo_.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

RESCUED.

"Snakes and alligators, mister!" exclaimed Mr Lathrope when the whole
party were gathered together on the shore of Hillsborough Bay, united
once more after the boat-carriage had been lugged over its final
portage, and the boat itself had accomplished its last separate short
trip before adventuring again on the open waters of the sea--"I guess
your fifteen miles has come to a considerable sight more'n fifty, you
bet."

"Oh! please be a little more moderate in your estimate," laughed Mr
Meldrum. "I confess I somewhat understated the probable distance; but
really, now, fifty miles is a little too much."

"Wa-al, then, let us call it five-and-twenty," said the American with a
genial grin over his sharp-cut features, which were almost as elongated
as his legs. "You can't grumble at that anyway, I reckon, boss!"

"That's pretty much like the story of the five hundred cats which came
down, I believe, to two, if I'm not mistaken," slily put in Miss Kate,
smiling.

"Now, don't you be too rough on a feller, missy," said Mr Lathrope,
pretending to be very serious over the matter, in his humorous way. "I
cave in to the fifty, that's a fact, as I kinder wanted to pile on the
agony; but when I took my stand to be euchred on twenty-five miles, I
meant the distance we've tramped over, and nary a bit of the water
passage, for my old boots hev got busted up, I guess, and the sooner I
git a noo pair the better for this child."

"Bedad, that's the same case w