of knowledge and conveying them to us with unaffected pleasure. He
was more like a master who had found new ground and new material for his
class. Natalie gave herself up like him to this enjoyment of the moment.
Edith Metford and I partly caught the glamour of their infectious
good-humour. But with both of us it was tempered by the knowledge of
what was in store.

When we arrived at our destination we dismounted, at Brande's request,
and tied our horses to convenient branches. He went forward, and,
pushing aside the underwood with both hands, motioned to us to follow
him till he stopped on a ledge of rock which overtopped a hollow in the
mountain. The gorge below was the most beautiful glade I ever looked
upon.

It was a paradise of foliage. Here and there a fallen tree had formed a
picturesque bridge over the mountain stream which meandered through it.
Far down below there was a waterfall, where gorgeous tree-ferns rose in
natural bowers, while others further still leant over the lotus-covered
stream, their giant leaves trailing in the slow-moving current. Tangled
masses of bracken rioted in wild abundance over a velvety green sod,
overshadowed by waving magnolias. Through the trees bright-plumaged
birds were flitting from branch to branch in songless flight, flashing
their brilliant colours through the sunny leaves. In places the water
splashed over moss-grown rocks into deep pools. Every drifting spray of
cloud threw over the dell a new light, deepening the shadows under the
great ferns.

It was here in this glorious fairyland; here upon this island, where
before us no white foot had ever trod; whose nameless people represented
the simplest types of human existence, that Herbert Brande was to put
his devilish experiment to the proof. I marvelled that he should have
selected so fair a spot for so terrible a purpose. But the papers which
I found later amongst the man's effects on the _Esmeralda_ explain much
that was then incomprehensible to me.

Our camp was quickly formed, and our life was outwardly as happy as if
we had been an ordinary company of tourists. I say outwardly, because,
while we walked and climbed and collected specimens of botanical or
geological interest, there remained that latent dread which always
followed us, and dominated the most frivolous of our people, on all of
whom a new solemnity had fallen. For myself, the fact that the hour of
trial for my own experiment was daily drawing closer and