n
miniature. The bare, white spots were revealed as white coral houses set
in masses of flowers, the foliage--sheltered from the north--gleamed
dark and luxuriant, while the shallowing crystal water glinted from the
white sand below as though the steamer were sailing through a
translucent gem. Before the vessel had passed the length of the Great
Sound and had warped into Hamilton, Colin had changed his mind, and was
willing to admit that, after all, Bermuda might be quite a pretty place.

But he could not have believed the transformation scene through which he
seemed to pass on landing. Freed from the glare of the waterfront of
Hamilton and on the road to Fairyland Bay, he seemed to have entered a
new world. It was a Paradise of Flowers, even the Golden State could not
outdo it. Hedges of scarlet hibiscus flamed ten feet high, clusters of
purple bougainvillea poured down from cottage-porches, while oleander in
radiant bloom formed a hedge twenty feet high for as much as half a mile
at a stretch. At one moment the road would pass a dense banana
plantation with the strange tall poles of the pawpaw trees standing
sentinel, the next it would pass the dark recesses of a mangrove bay,
where the sea ebbs and flows amid an impenetrable thicket of interlacing
roots. And at frequent intervals a slight rise of ground would show the
emerald sea beyond, gleaming as though lit with living light.

"'The land where it is always afternoon,'" quoted Mr. Collier softly, as
they drove up to the house where they were to stay, a small hotel
overlooking a narrow fiord of rock, into which the translucent water
rippled. Beyond, upon the gleaming bay rested three or four tiny
islands.

"It's almost the loveliest place I ever saw," said Colin; "but it isn't
as grand and wild as Santa Catalina."

"I never want to leave Bermuda," said the other; "every time I visit the
islands I decide that some day I must come and live here. And even when
I am away, its memories haunt me. Everything seems so much worth while
here."

"What's the programme, Mr. Collier?" asked Colin, after lunch, when they
were comfortably settled.

"You are at liberty this afternoon," was the reply, "as I have a number
of small things to look after, so that if you want to get a glimpse of
the islands, you had better make good use of your time. You ride a
wheel, of course?"

"Oh, yes."

"Then walk into Hamilton and rent one; bicycling is the only way to see
Bermuda proper