ars--which he often does, to
listen--a degree of awe settles down on the little ones which it is
impossible to evoke by the most solemn appeals to their spiritual
natures.

Nigel and Winnie have a gardener, and that gardener is black--as black
as the Ace of Spades or the King of Ashantee. He dwells in a corner of
the Rakata Cottage, but is addicted to spending much of his spare time
in the Krakatoa one. He is as strong and powerful as ever, but limps
slightly on his right leg--his "game" leg, as he styles it. He is, of
course, an _immense_ favourite with the young people--not less than with
the old. He has been known to say, with a solemnity that might tickle
the humorous and horrify the timid, that he wouldn't "hab dat game leg
made straight agin! no, not for a hundred t'ousand pounds. 'Cause why?
--it was an eber-present visible reminder dat once upon a time he had de
libes ob massa and Nadgel in his arms ahangin' on to his game leg, an'
dat, t'rough Gracious Goodness, he sabe dem bof!"

Ha! You may smile at Moses if you will, but he can return the smile
with kindly interest, for he is actuated by that grand principle which
will sooner or later transform even the scoffers of earth, and which is
embodied in the words--"Love is the fulfilling of the law."

Even the lower animals testify to this fact when the dog licks the hand
that smites it and accords instant forgiveness on the slightest
encouragement. Does not Spinkie prove it also, when, issuing at call,
from its own pagoda in the sunniest corner of the Rakata garden, it
forsakes cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, fruits, and other delights, to lay its
little head in joyful consecration on the black bosom of its benignant
friend?

And what of Moses' opinion of the new home? It may be shortly expressed
in his own words-"It's heaben upon eart', an' de most happiest time as
eber occurred to me was dat time when Sunda Straits went into cumbusti'n
an' Krakatoa was Blown to Bits."

THE END

Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, _at the
Edinburgh University Press_.

* * * * *

+ADVERTISEMENTS+

BY MR. R.M. BALLANTYNE.

With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. each.

* * * * *

'The fathers, mothers, guardians, uncles, and aunts who wish to find an
acceptable birthday present for a healthy-minded boy of normal tastes,
cannot possibly go wrong if they buy a book with Mr. Ballant