78 THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



holding on cautiously, Roebelin felt for the ladder. It was 

 gone — broken in the rush. 



Of the time that followed I do not speak. There were 

 no more shocks. Slowly the sky whitened. He turned 

 over the wreck — not a creature was there, dead or living. 

 Great gaps showed in the floor and in the roof. Through 

 one of these, against the rosy clouds, he saw a wreath of 

 giant flowers, lilac and cinnamon, clinging to the tree above. 

 It was Vanda Sanderiana ! 



But that plant and the others collected at the same time 

 never reached Europe. Upon returning to Surigao with his 

 treasures, Roebelin found little beyond heaps of rubbish on 

 the site. Earthquakes have a home in Mindanao. But that 

 of 1880 was the most awful on record as yet. Two years 

 later he returned and brought home the prize. 



