My Friends in their Gardens 
has swept away so many of the European workers on the 
Canal. He had a little money in hand too, but this did 
not last long, and I heard shortly afterwards he had 
enlisted in the West India Regiment quartered in the 
neighbourhood. Once a rover always a rover ; he could 
not settle to the quiet life led by his brethren, and even the 
prospect of going to the far-off West Coast of Africa did 
not deter him, as it does many West Indian negroes. The 
following year I happened to be staying in the neighbour- 
hood and missed old Jacob from beneath the Horse-eye- 
tree. The hut was deserted and the family gone. Not a 
negro would pass the spot, and report declared the place 
was haunted. The vines and bush had shot up high and 
luxuriant, and snakes glided to and fro among the leaves, 
Jacob was dead. 
