CHAPTER V 



THE BIRTH OF A VOLCANO 



If there had never been but one opal, one pea- 

 cock, one sunset and one butterfly what glory of 

 history and legend would accrue to each. Men 

 would have sworn great oaths of promise upon them 

 and made them into sagas, they would be the ultra 

 similes, a religion might have been founded upon 

 one. But opals are worn for unlovely reasons upon 

 unlovely hands, the man-given name is often 

 deemed more important than the god-given idea of 

 a butterfly, and a sunset, if not less than an inter- 

 ruption of dinner, is slighted because of the cer- 

 tainty of another on the following evening. 



When a very wonderful thing comes into our 

 lives for the first and perhaps last time, we betray 

 our very birthright if we do not meet it with all 

 the feeling and emotion and intellectual apprecia- 

 tion which is our human prerogative. 



The Arcturus was anchored close under the steep 

 cliffs of Darwin Bay — much too close for the Cap- 

 tain's ease of mind. In late afternoon I leaned 

 on the rail and watched the gigantic blocks of 

 basalt catch and reflect the salmon and coppery 



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