might be worrying over him also. He worked
until midnight learning the principles of the typewriter and, in a poky
sort of way, trying to hammer out the guide sentences given him in the
Instruction Book. Next day found him again at sea.

In contrast with the riotous vegetation of the jungles of Haiti and the
tropical forests of Eastern Cuba, Stuart found the country around
Bridgetown, the sole harbor of Barbados, surprisingly unattractive. The
city itself was active and bustling, but dirty, dusty and mean. On the
other hand, the suburbs, with villas occupied by the white residents,
were remarkable for their marvelous gardens.

On the outskirts of the town, and all over the island, in rows or
straggling clumps which seemed to have been dropped down anywhere,
Stuart saw the closely clustered huts of the negroes. These were tiny
huts of pewter-gray wood, raised from the ground on a few rough stones
and covered by a roof of dark shingles. They were as simple as the
houses a child draws on his slate--things of two rooms, with two windows
and one door. The windows had sun shutters in place of glass and there
were no chimneys, for the negro housewives do their cooking out of doors
in the cool of the evening. The boy noticed that, by dark, all these
windows and doors were closed tightly, for the Barbadian negro sleeps in
an air-tight room. He does this, ostensibly, to keep out ten-inch-long
centipedes, and bats, but, in reality, to keep out "jumbies" and ghosts,
of which he is much more afraid.

[Illustration: HIS VISION DISTORTED BY THE VENOM-VAPOR OF THE POISON
TREES, THE LAND-CRABS SEEMED OF ENORMOUS SIZE AND THE NEGRO WHO CAME TO
RESCUE HIM APPEARED AS AN OGRE.]

The greater part of the island seemed, to the boy, utterly unlike any
place he had seen in the tropics. Around Bridgetown, and over two-thirds
of the island of Barbados, there is hardly a tree. The ground rises in
slow undulations, marked, like a checker-board, with sugar-cane fields.
No place could seem more lacking in opportunity for adventures, yet
Stuart was to learn to the contrary before long.

Acting upon the advice given him by his friend the reporter, in New
York, just before leaving, Stuart seized the first opportunity to make
himself known to the newspaper men of Bridgetown. He was warmly
received, even welcomed, and was amazed at the ready hospitality shown
him. Moreover, when he stated that he was there to do some article on
"Social Life and the C