CHAPTER I.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1994, 18 April 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHAPTER I.

MOIINING ON THE TXCIhIC. The Pacific, the mightiest of oceans ; the mb of the thouaand isles; the great water that leaves every continent, that rolls in every dime, from the frozen north and south to toe b weltering equator. How many pens have endeavoured to picture morning on the Pacific, lD all aspects? How many pencils ? a yV ri #u t0 llmn its gloriea? All have failed. The moonlight on the gently-swellinc flea whose dark purple is only broken here and there when a fish flashes its phosphorescence; the paling of the stars f the grey glow in the east, going through all the mysteroua harmonies of colour, of which Nature alone knows the secret, from grey to crimson and gold, ending i n the bursting of She glorious Bun 6 " Upon a Bilent sea ;" The long line of gold on the water narrowine atS l£t « M tbin thread ne " the "p ec tator ; the ineffable, unutterable calm as the Si Umina - ry nees into the la P iß Assail sky, •nd the sea 13 a mass of silver-gold, and the colour that Southey describes as "blue! darkly deeply, beautifully blue." It ia of al periods of the day the most poetic, the most delightful, on the tropic ocean. There is a coolness and a freshness that soon vanishes as the sun mounts to the zenith, and the manner's world becomes a sky of fire and a Bea of bra 33. The spectators of such a scene one glorious SSi 08 ?h? h S° Ilhmitabl « Pacific, well ac corded with the magic wonders that nature ll? rea , ted r/ or th T- A beaufiful y«*"y oecalmed off one of those myhterioua ißlanda that are marked on the charts as •• supS h f» ds g»* navigators map and have vanished when the next manner paaaes tbat S. A * rj m and taut little vessel was the 22 l b , MutlI l nl ™ her hnea, "riding the I.l^ MM thl ° q of hfe '" ber snowy saila S£ B ti YeV c wingß of a BWan < read y to °p eQ when the breeze arose, when they became a fleecy mass Clean and natty as water and Selt !° "} n m^°, hor waa the little veegel, work. iDg hands could d 0 thei ' Mm^ t ieC] f thia lovel y mornin 8 a Xte E? 7 ,y, y ? Un u q men ia caching costume, S»£ *LCL CO l ' faBhlonefl so as to display the uSSb fJ c^ 7 of ., BplendldI y d^ cl °p ed S'vflr i th M ailora wore neatly and beautiful thoy were in haaom form amd bright features; how differently might we think of them if we could penetrate into the secret of the soul and find what were the form and feature of the tenant I Most ot the group had musical instruments, and were playing softly, the sweet sounds re. echoing m only they re-echo at ie», »

dreamy waltz— one of the latest then, from Offenbach's Tambour Major. Three of the company only took no part in this romantic and really ravishing concert. One, who laant against a mast and was looking out dreamily upon the fairy scene, it was easy to see was the chief. A jouth classically moulded, with a form full of grace and strength, with an open, generous, loveable foce, crowned with curling chestnut hair, was this ; Herbert Gifford, the owner of the yacht and the inheritor of two millions from his father, an Australian squatter, who had toiled for many yt'ars to build up that mighty fortune, finding his reward in the work. Not far from him stood Harry Forbes, another youth, who had been left an even greater fortune. Very different were tbe two ; Dot that Harry was not as well-made and good-looking as Herbert. On the contrary many would have preferred him ; for he was slenderer than Herbert, and there was in his every movement a wonderful grace, like that of the elegant tiger. His face was very handsome, especially in repose. But when illumined by the soul the faces of the two men were vastly dissimilar. At the present moment Herbert's was a poem, full of warm, enthusiastic appieciation of the panorama ; the face of a man who concealed nothing. At times he lapsed into a reverie and then there was a depth, an indication of intelligence, that pleased the eye and attracted tbe heart. Harry's white face was breaking out in a sneer at the occupation of his companions and their romantic aspirations. If he were in heaven he would sneer at the dress and occupation of the angels, and find food for satire in the four-aud-twenty elders. The third disengaged youth was a contrast to yachtsmen and sailors : he was tall, thin and angular, with very long legs and arms and an irregular face. But when his eyes fell upon Herbert it wa3 lit up with a gleam of devotion and affeotion that made it a thousandfold handsomer than the dark mepbistophelian sneering visage of Harry Forbes. One could see that that face belonged to a true, hone3t and affectionate man : attributes that could hardly be credited to the young possessor of four millions — that was what Harry Forbes fortune was set down at by the gossips ; of course they must know. Looming up against tho flushed morning sky, dark and forbidding, roße an island, the offspring of some great convulsion of nature, in this ocean of earthquakes ana volcanoes. It appeared to be of moderate dimension. Its great feature, however, was its height, unusual in these seas. These cliffs seemed several thousand feet high, and were so steep that to climb them was impossible, and there was no harbor at their feet. The island was not to be seen the previous evening ; the vessel had drifted towards it in the night by the swell of the sea. Well it was for the voyagers that a tempest had not prevailed, otherwise the little barge might have been dashed to pieces, and itself and its living freight never heard of in the world again — undoubtedly the case with many a vessel that has been wrecked on such an island. What were the mysteries of that weird island ? Had it ever been trodden by the feet of man, of white man ? Did there live on it one of those races now almost extinct, that knew nothing of the oivilißed world, that still live in the primitive Btate ? Such were the questions that rose in the minds of the passengers and crew of the Yarra as they looked upon it this morning ; the only forbidding feature in the entrancing scene. Yet that scene would hardly have been perfect without it. The island completed the picture; it supplied the background, the relieving color. But though Herbert had his speculations about this enohanted island in the mighty Pacific, it did not altogether occupy his thoughts. As he gazed upon the wonderful scene, as he listened to Ihe sweet music of his comrades, there passed before him the panorama of his short but eventful life. His boyhood, its joys and troubles, his angel mother and her endeavors to save the victims of his father's rapacity, a rapacity incited and fed by that detestable ogre, the manager of the Bovine Bank, William Whinstun; her death ; his days in Europe ; hia return to see hia father die ; his fierce fight with Whinstun and tho Bovine Bank, in which he had been successful, and avenged the wrongs over which his heart had bled when he was a lad ; his acquaintance with Alice Morden, and the pure and sweet love that had grown from it : all these passed before him. And then came the dream of the future. In two years he would return home, to meet his Alice, after she had perfected her education in England. Then would come the crowning bliss of life, their union ; and of course there would follow fame, usefulness, happiness; children and honors ; and all that would make life worth living. Yet in the midst of this sweet day dream, surrounded by all that could please the eye and ear, there would arise, like this island in so fair a scene, dark and mysterious thoughts, fleeting visions ill-defined, beyond the grasp of the mental retina, that seemed to shadow forth storms and disasters.