The Meeker herald., 1892-11-19

ourselves, AS bllthe as two Young
bears, to look forth upon our theory
from the slopes OF the Andes. we
thought slOO a lot OF money in those
days. We expected it to last us an
indefinite Period. Still, for chespness'
sake, we cook passage in worn-out
and ramslacke old SLAYER, the Dom
Pedro by name, from Bristol to
Bahia, and in due time, as you know,
landed in South America.
"Without one days delay, as soon
as ever We Ian led we made our way
up country by beat and on foot to
the wild forests OF the Andes. There
we made friends with the Indians OF
the place. OtIr idea was to spend
what remained OF our sl0O slowly as
possible, to live to great extent on
the game we shot and to rely for the
future on the sale OF our collections,
which We knew would bring in a good
round sum in England
"Once settled in our hut, a poor
wattled shelter, we set to work at once
and collected with will and ut the
end OF twelve months we'd done so
finely that Fred went down to Bahia
to ship our goods to London, which
ING, We'd worked pretty hard, ] can
tell you, TO do so much in our time,
and we'd lived pretty sparingly on
yam and plantain; but our poor little
capital was fairly well eaten up by
then and we'd hardly anything left to
live meanwhile upon.
However, the negroes on the few
estates about We're tolerably friendly
and the Indians trusted us, so by
promising to repay them well when
our ships came in, ms we always said,
] managed to pull through till Fred S
ceturn from Bahia.
at took a long time in those days
to get up and down the country by
che flat-bottomel boats; and long
time too Tor n ship to sail from Brazil
30 England. So it was nearly six
months before heard again from
Fred; and all that time | was liv-
ing on what ! could get from
the negroes on credt-thc credit OF
my promises discounting orr expected
'emittance from England.
At last, one evening" he drew his
.land across his brow, as ii the recol-
ection was too much ior him, II can
remember it rs though it were yester-
day. | was sitting at the door OF my
nut, SHINING n new kind OF monkey
TO add to my collection, when sud
'lenly ! heard nois, OF slow foot
steps through the wood, as OF some
body coming up along the trail, very
Wired and wretched. looked around,
It was Fred. He stood before me
and gasped. lie was footsore and
-orn, and pale as n ghost with hor-
Tor.
"Why Fred | cried, 'hows this?
Eou don't mean to say that you're
alone. Where's the provisions? the
goods2 the ammunition, everything
He flung himself down on the
ground, ready to drop where he
gone; all lost, he gasped out, every
box, every can OF them
"'Not Indians | cried in horror.
No Indians, Fred surely
"'Not, not Indians he answered,
shaking his head very hard. Worse
than that. Far worse. The sea,
The seal Gone to the bottom my
dear fellow, every man Jack OF
them"
81 gazed at him horror struck.
at was some time before / could
get him composed enough to tell me
the whole terrible truth little more
calmly. For cheapness sake he had
shipped our entire collectIon-our
priceless beasts and birds, the labor
CT twelve months-in the crazy hull OF
that ramshackled old Dom Pedro, and
the Dom Pedro had gone down in an
Atlantic cyclone with our precious
orchids and butterflies and skins in
her hold, the finest tropical museum
eyer gathered together. 1t was pitt
n ole to think of all those wasted
months, all that reckless destruction
cf almost unique specimens.
Thank God, Fred, Icried fervent
IL, ms he finished his story, our man
nscripts are safe, The knowledge and
experience we've gained ut least is left
us No one can take that away from
us! We've got it in our hearts, It's
our own forever" For already the
materials for Life and It's Origins
were in embryo in the forest.
"Well, after this crushing blow, we
had to think of how we could begin
work again, and pile up a second col
lection as good as the first one. Star
vatlon fairly stared us in the face Just
then; it was question oil food. not
merely " science. Fred had struggled
in on foot, more dead than alive, and
half faint with hunger. Our ammu-
milton was gone; our credit broken.
What could we do for ourliving2 That
was now the question.
1--WE went to n neighboring planter,
in the nearest settlement-for we
were camping out in the wilds, fifty
miles from houss-and put the thing
plainly to him. He was kindheart-
ed man, in his way, as shareholders
go, and he pited our plight; though,
like most Portuguese Americans, he
hadn't the slightest idea what on
earth We could want to go hunting
beetles and weeds for. He didn't even
understand what science meant. lie
regarded us ms n couple of amlable
but peculiar lunatics. Still, we were
white men and he pitied our plight.
IN tell you what I'll do for you,
he said to us in Portuguese; 1'll take
you on upon my estates to work at
the cocoa plantations.
We elaborated together. 1t was a
hard offer, negro's work, wholly unfit
for Europeans in that deadly climate.
But it was all we could get, and we
managed it this way. Every second
day Fred took his alace on the estate
with the gang OF slaves and did his
days labor for slaves rations and
few pence as wages, while ! Went out