ght."

Noonday on the open sea within a few degrees of the Equator is apt to be
oppressively warm; and our two travellers were now airily clad in suits
of dazzling white linen, having laid aside the chain-armour which they
had found not only endurable in the cold mountain air they had lately
been breathing, but a necessary precaution against the daggers of the
banditti who infested the heights. Their holiday-trip was over, and they
were now on their way home, in the monthly packet which plied between
the two great ports of the island they had been exploring.

Along with their armour, the tourists had laid aside the antiquated
speech it had pleased them to affect while in knightly disguise, and
had returned to the ordinary style of two country gentlemen of the
Twentieth Century.

Stretched on a pile of cushions, under the shade of a huge umbrella,
they were lazily watching some native fishermen, who had come on board
at the last landing-place, each carrying over his shoulder a small but
heavy sack. A large weighing-machine, that had been used for cargo at
the last port, stood on the deck; and round this the fishermen had
gathered, and, with much unintelligible jabber, seemed to be weighing
their sacks.

"More like sparrows in a tree than human talk, isn't it?" the elder
tourist remarked to his son, who smiled feebly, but would not exert
himself so far as to speak. The old man tried another listener.

"What have they got in those sacks, Captain?" he inquired, as that great
being passed them in his never ending parade to and fro on the deck.

The Captain paused in his march, and towered over the travellers--tall,
grave, and serenely self-satisfied.

"Fishermen," he explained, "are often passengers in My ship. These five
are from Mhruxi--the place we last touched at--and that's the way they
carry their money. The money of this island is heavy, gentlemen, but it
costs little, as you may guess. We buy it from them by weight--about
five shillings a pound. I fancy a ten pound-note would buy all those
sacks."

By this time the old man had closed his eyes--in order, no doubt, to
concentrate his thoughts on these interesting facts; but the Captain
failed to realise his motive, and with a grunt resumed his monotonous
march.

Meanwhile the fishermen were getting so noisy over the weighing-machine
that one of the sailors took the precaution of carrying off all the
weights, leaving them to amuse themselves with such subst