eached the Cape, hunted her up, found her out and presented to
her, with Lieutenant Lindsay's compliments, the African chief Kambira,
his wife Azinte, and his son Obo!

Poor Maraquita, being of a passionately affectionate and romantic
disposition, went nearly mad with joy, and bestowed so many grateful
glances and smiles on Harold that Disco's suspicions were confirmed, and
that bold mariner wished her, Maraquita, "at the bottom of the sea!" for
Disco disliked foreigners, and could not bear the thought of his friend
being caught by one of them.

Maraquita introduced Harold to her aunt, a middle-aged, leather-skinned,
excessively dark-eyed daughter of Portugal. She also introduced him to
a bosom friend, at that time on a visit to her aunt. The bosom friend
was an auburn-haired, fair-skinned, cheerful-spirited English girl.
Before her, Harold Seadrift at once, without an instant's warning, fell
flat down, figuratively speaking of course, and remained so--stricken
through the heart!

The exigencies of our tale require, at this point, that we should draw
our outline with a bold and rapid pencil.

Disco Lillihammer was stunned, and so was Jumbo, when Harold, some weeks
after their arrival at the Cape, informed them that he was engaged to be
married to Alice Gray, only daughter of the late Sir Eustace Gray, who
had been M.P. for some county in England, which he had forgotten the
name of, Alice not having been able to recall it, as her father had died
when she was four years old, leaving her a fortune of next-to-nothing a
year, and a sweet temper.

Being incapable of further stunning, Disco was rather revived than
otherwise, and his dark shadow was resuscitated, when Harold added that
Kambira had become Maraquita's head-gardener, Azinte cook to the
establishment, and Obo page-in-waiting--more probably page-in-mischief--
to the young Senhorina. But both Disco and Jumbo had a relapse from
which they were long of recovering, when Harold went on to say that he
meant to sail for England by the next mail, take Jumbo with him as
valet, make proposals to his father to establish a branch of their house
at the Cape, come back to manage the branch, marry Alice, and reside in
the neighbourhood of the Senhorina Maraquita Letotti's dwelling.

"You means wot you say, I s'pose?" asked Disco.

"Of course I do," said Harold.

"An' yer goin' to take Jumbo as yer walley?"

"Yes."

"H'm; I'll go too as yer keeper."

"My what?"