A PAGE OF ROMANCE. 295 



another of his faults was that he was exceedingly ir- 

 ritable, so much so, that he and the lady's father fell 

 into a serious dispute, in which he became so enraged 

 that he ordered his servant to saddle his horse forth- 

 with, while he pulled on his long-spuiTed riding- 

 boots, and stuck a large Colt's revolver (navy size) 

 into his belt. He now declared his intention to put 

 an end to all his ills with his own hand, and, disre- 

 garding the screams of his affianced, and the prayers 

 and entreaties of all, he sprang into the saddle, and, 

 dashing by the house where I was living, disappeared 

 uji the road into the forest. The gentleman with 

 whom I was residing saw him as he passed, and at 

 once sunnised his intent, but I assured my host that 

 it took a brave man to commit suicide, and in due 

 time we should certainly see oiu' friend safely return. 

 The sequel proved the correctness of my judgment, 

 for in a couple of hours he came back, his horse reek- 

 ing with perspiration, and he himself as crestfallen 

 as Don Quixote after his most heart-breaking misfor- 

 tunes. The only one who suffered from this event 

 was the young lady, who had so much confidence in 

 her gallant friend as to foolishly believe he would 

 carry out his desperate resolve to the bitter end. 



Instead of remaining only a few days as I had 

 planned, I had now lived more than three months in 

 exile here at Burn, when one morning it was an- 

 nounced that the governor's yacht, the Telegraph, 

 had arrived, to my great delight, for I had already 

 engaged a prau to call in for me while on her way 

 from Amljoina to Ternate. The Telegraph came 

 from Ceram to afford me an opportunity of going to 



