IV 



THE POMEROON TRAIL 



Ram Narine gave a party. It was already 

 a thing of three months past, and it had been 

 an extremely small party, and Ram Narine was 

 only a very unimportant coolie on the planta- 

 tion of the Golden Fleece. But, like many 

 things small in themselves, this party had far- 

 flung effects, and finally certain of these reached 

 out and touched me. So far as I was con- 

 cerned the party was a blessing. Because of it 

 I was to travel the Pomeroon Trail. But it 

 befell otherwise with Ram Narine. 



It was, as I have said, a small party. Only 

 two friends had been invited, and Ram and his 

 companions had made very merry over a cooked 

 cock-fowl and two bottles of rum. In the course 

 of the night there was a fracas, and the face 

 of one of Ram's friends had been somewhat dis- 

 figured, with a thick club and a bit of rock. 

 He spent two months in the hospital, and 



66 



