and a pair of ring-doves. Motioning me to one side, he whispered, the while
looking shyly at the mistress, “Ranee very beautiful! How much you pay?” I was
staggered for the moment, and made him repeat his question. This time I could
not mistake him. “How much you pay for wife?” He gave his thumb a jerk in the
direction of the mistress. I saw that he was really serious, so I collected my
senses, and with a practical, businesslike air answered, “Two hundred dollars.”
The old fellow sighed.
“The great Rajah very rich! I pay fifty for best wife.”
I have not tried to tell you all we did on our tropical island playing Robinson
Crusoe. I have only tried to convey some little impression of a happy ten days
that will ever be remembered as one more of those glorious, Oriental chapters in
our lives which are filled with the gorgeous colors of crimson and gold, the
delicate perfumes of spice-laden breezes, and with imperishable visions of a
strange, old-world life.
They are chapters that we can read over and over again with an ever increasing
interest as the years roll by.