Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-10-29
IN THE LIONS DEN.

story Told on a Monntain Top,
From Cas- ellis Masazine.l
VNice pIace TO dine, isn't itYY said
F,ars Iirhtfoot as .se seated ourselves
around our well-fled pro"'s'on-oss on
the summit Of Ment Blanc, '~Itn tnf
panorama offorty eight mountain ranges
outspread beneath as, and the echo oil
the Chamouni cannon still in our ears.
wonder whether the march of civil,
zation will ever erect hotel up herel
There Just room for moderate sized
one. ~
And a Photographic. studio at the
head of the corridor, .andra telegraph
station at the Grand Mulets, aud post
office beside the Chalet de Ia Pierre Poin-
the, and anything else in a small way
ehT Master Frank?' chimed in Harry
Sinbad. who had gone through nearly as
many voyages and adventures as his
illustrious namesake, and had just ac-
companied us up Mont Blanc as slight
repose before crossing into Algeria via
Marseilles ME n 81.
= Nobody knows what may happen,p
replied Frank, sentertiously; you
wouldn't have expected, this time last
year to be dining three. miles above the
sea to-day.
Well, | had q funny kind of dinner
last autumn" said Lightfoot, when my
guide and got caught by mist on the
Grand Cumbin;, We piled stonesto keep
otf the wind, and behind them we shared
our rum and cold mutton, as if we had
beep in the trenches before Sebastopol.
"Well / can beat you both there,
said Harry with chHckle; for We had
q dinner worth any three OF those, though
I'd hardly care TO try it again. bat it's
long story"
nl'NeVer mind, 3 said I, I've have lots
of time" :,
"rm your man, sir, responded Sin.
bad; "but before begin, does either OF
you know where Fernando de Noronha
~'Never heard of him" said Frank,
who is not exactly qualified for geo
graphical professorship; is he any
relation of Fernando Wood, over in
America
"None of your nonsense, Frank, !
interposed sternly. Fernando de Nor
onha is q small island off the coast OF
Brazil, though in what latitude or longi-
tude / would rather not guess, If ! were
up for d civil service examination.
:" True, o kingi said Harry; more
power to your Atlas for that same. Well,
as | was going to tell you, it was toward
the end Of my third month in Rio de
Janeiro that ! began to think of shifting
my quarters. Had intended to make
scientific explorations a la Humboldt,
or going in search Of big trees, like that
fellow who went up the Rio Madeira the
other. day, three months would hare been
rather short measure, but as it was, |
had seen all / cared to see. bad
walked round the harbor lno. trifie of a
walk either, mark yel, and counted the
flags of fifty-six nations, / had eaten
oranges at four in the morning ia the
groves outside the town, and dived by
moonlight through rollers on the
shore; / had bought some very good local
views on the Plaza, and taken some
very bad sketches from the bay; l had
been bitten by tarantula lif that was
any good), and had lived at PeiFopolis
in a charming little villa, with a painted
yerandah and a projection root, hidden
like a humming-bird nest Ia a bouquet
Of broad-leaved tropical foliage-a per-
feet gem of quiet beauty altogether.
"Petropoiis is a place about four miles
from the town, wha-e the grandees aud
NEST Of the merchants Eve during the
heat of summer; much the same thing,
in fact. with regard to Rie, that fssrs-
koe Cello is to Saint Petersburg, or Tient-
sin 60 Pekin. Well, as ! was saying, L
began 10 plar my next move, and made
up my mind to do some voyage or othsg
in a new direction, where ] might see
something "A little Out of the osilnary
run. For just then, as it happened, !
was rather tired of perpetual coat, hat,
and umbrella--of smoking paper cigars,
chattering Portuguese, and dining on
monkey soup and roast armadillo-and
had got my head full Of fairy isles, light
periaguas whatever they may be, and
noble savages.
''One day, after much waiting, ! heard
of q batque that was going 10 sail TOR
Fayal, With a aPortuguese skipper, and ;
crew half Brazilians aud half Indians
for some Of the natives don't make such
bad sailors only Ithey re not strong
enough to stand much knocking about.
This was just what wanted-arehance
of visiting a place where Id never been,
and longish voyage in company with
beyy Of picturesqe ragamufins, who, II
they Eoren't particularly noble, we're
at least savage enough for SaiYataF
Rosa himself So / paid my passage
money, and sway vent
MY chief associate Vas the siGpper--
q queer hsh enough y iook 81, io- be
badss complexion Ike a halfdecayed
ieak. ana = squin: that made him leok
as If he were tying TO Sc down bis own
throat, and be carried Q scent o. garlic
and tobacco about him that Spuld have
choked a Hottentot; but he knew g
sorts Of stories, and could sing good
song or two, and seemed q mefry fellow
altogeihet: 50 that on lho Whole he was
not bad company, provided l kept we'll
70 wiudEard of him. As 70 the ereEs
they Eofked very wen when they couldn't
help il, Ike Brszilian,s in general but
there Was one thing they didn't do well,
aud that vas the storing. They had
slowed The provisions Ia such . bgnglng
fashion that halt Of them got spoiled
and & they hadn't more than half hlled The