felt--and the foregoing lines have failed of their purpose if this
acknowledgment has not been forestalled


"To be thus is nothing,
But to be safely thus";


and to draw again from the unplumbed depths of Shakespeare:

"What's sweet to do, to do will aptly find."




CHAPTER III



"MUCH RICHES IN A LITTLE ROOM"


"Go and argue with the flies of summer that there is a power divine yet
greater than the sun in the heavens, but never dare hope to convince the
people of the South that there is any other God than Gold."--KINGLAKE.

No "saint-seducing gold" has been permitted to ruffle this placidity.
Gold! Our ears were tickled by the tale that good folks had actually
thrilled when we slunk away to our Island. Rumour wagged her tongue,
abusing God's great gift of speech, until scared Truth fled. She