d never possessed before. As
L'Isle was turning to ride off, the farmer said, with a courteous air:
"When you or any friend of yours come this way, pray remember, sir,
you have a poor house here, always at your command."

CHAPTER XIII.

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together;
Youth is full of pleasure, age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.
Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short;
Youth is nimble, age is lame;
Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold;
Youth is wild, and age is tame.

Shakspeare.

They had ridden but a short way, when Lady Mabel, reining in her
horse, placed herself along side of Moodie, to ask how he felt now.
She feared lest he might be too unwell to undergo the fatigues of the
day. But, thanks to L'Isle's prescription, Moodie was already another
man. He sat bolt upright in the saddle, with a martial air, and looked
around as if ready for any emergency. She no longer felt any fears for
him. His curiosity, too, seemed to be awakened, for he said: "You are
a great botanist, my lady, and know every kind of plant. Pray, what
were those two tall trees near the farmer's house, with bare trunks
and feathery tops?"

"They are date palms," said Lady Mabel. "You see more and more of them
the nearer you get to Africa."

"Indeed!" said Moodie, with more astonishment than the information
seemed to warrant.

"Yes," she continued; "and they bear a luscious and nourishing fruit,
which, in the deserts of Africa, is the chief food of the people. It
is to them what oatmeal is to the Scot."

"And how far are we from Africa?" said Moodie, dreading the answer,
but striving to put the question in an indifferent tone.

"Why some people say that Africa begins at the Pyrenees, but Colonel
L'Isle, who knows the country thoroughly, says that the Sierra de
Monchique is the true boundary. The kingdom of Algarve, lying beyond
those mountains, is, in climate, soil, and vegetation, truly African;
and it is only the strip of salt water that separates it from Morocco,
that prevents its forming part of that country."

"I never heard of the kingdom of Algarve before," said Moodie,
pondering the information he had received. "How far are we from it?"

"We will not find it a long day's journey to one of the chief towns,"
said Lady Mabel. "Its name--its name is Mauropol