the Battery and back again; and mind,
Jake, if the packet should be in, you can saddle my pony when you return
for me to ride into town."

"Berry well, Mass' Tom. I'se spec, railly for true, um go dere in brace
of shakes, an' back 'gain hyar 'fore dat lazy ole niggah Pomp fetch him
cutlash out o' stable an' go in bush to cut him guinea-grass for de
hosses. Golly, dat so, Mass' Tom--see if um don't for suah, yah, yah!"

Jake broke off into a huge guffaw, as he shouted out these hurried words
in high glee, laughing with all that hearty abandon which was such a
strong characteristic of his genuine African nature. Such was the
intensity of his merriment, indeed, that he opened his wide red-lipped
mouth almost from ear to ear, disclosing a brilliant set of shining
teeth, whose ivory whiteness contrasted conspicuously with the jetty
blackness of his sable skin. The willing fellow then went off on his
mission at a slinging jog-trot, evidently determined to make his promise
good of outstripping his more lethargic rival Pompey, whom he was
absurdly jealous of and ever eager to surpass in every way he could.

I watched him on his onward way from the raised terrace, laid out as an
ornamental garden, in front of our square, one-storied, shingle-roofed,
verandah-encircled West Indian home--which lay nestled in a gorgeous
wealth of tropical foliage and was perched half-way up the side of a
mountain peak that protected it from hurricane blasts in the rear; and,
I could see Jake spinning rapidly along the winding carriage drive,
bordered with cocoa-nut trees and grou-grou palms in lieu of the oaks
and elms of old England. In another second, ere the sound of his merry
chuckle had ceased to re-echo in the distance, he had passed through the
swing-gate that gave admittance to the grounds.

The lawn sloped downwards from the house, following the curve of the
hill, and was studded with orange-trees, whose golden fruit peeped
through their shining green leaves, shaddocks, and mangosteen, with many
a stately palmiste rearing its tall feathery head above the others;
while, in addition, the wild locust, or iron-wood tree, the mammee
apple, the pomme-rose and the guava bush flourished between huge blocks
of stone, with flat table surfaces and of probable volcanic origin, that
seemed to have been thrown at random upon the surface of the grassy
expanse, where they now rested, monoliths of the past.

As the gate swung back upon its hinges