disturbing the clustering stems and leafage of a beautiful Bougainvillea, which was in several places broken and torn away.

"There is no doubt here,' said Burns sharply. 'Some one has climbed up by this post.'

'Yes,' replied Greville, as he bent down to examine the creeper; and look here; some of this has been clumsily thrust back. Here is a piece tucked in that has been broken right off.'

There was a hard, set look in Greville's face as he turned from the veranda.

'What are you going to do?' said Burns, who was startled by the fierce look in his companion's eyes.

'Do, boy? What would you do to the reptile you have fostered-to the half-savage creature you have fed and tended for years, when it has turned and stung you to the heart? Hunt it out and crush it.-Ah!' he added after a pause, 'it is not the first. Such a creature is not fit to live.'

He hurried Burns on to the densely wooded part where the cottages of the blacks were clustered. As they approached one of the best of the cottages, superior to the rest, and with the garden better kept, Greville uttered an ejaculation. 'I might have known,' he said. 'I was mad not to have had it destroyed.'

'What-what is it?' cried Burns.

'There it is,' said Greville bitterly, as he pointed to a good-sized tree rising behind the cottage-'the manchineel."

Burns looked eagerly at the tree with its small apple-like fruit.

A deadly Euphorbia, teeming with virulent. poison.'

He was about to enter the garden, when a black woman came toward them from one of the cottages with a curious shrinking look.

'Where is Semiramis?' said Greville sternly. 'Don't know, massah. Tink she go to

house.'

de

'No: we have come from there. She is hiding.'

He went on, followed by Burns.

'I have been a father to these people,' said Greville angrily, and yet there is no one I can trust. That woman lies to me at once. They say anything to escape blame.'

He thrust open the door of the cabin and entered.

'Not here,' he said fiercely. But she shall be found. They will all try and hide her.'

'From love?'

'From hate. There is not a black in the island who will not help her, for fear that she should work some spell-in other words, drug food or the water, out of revenge.'

The man pointed to the sea. "Rutus go fishin' dis mawnin', sah; and 'Miramis come down and shout to man wiv a boat; and he come ashore and talk, talk; and den 'Miramis get in de boat, and de man lif' in um big bundle and set de sail and go right away.' Is this true?' cried Greville, catching man by the throat. 'Miramis gone

'Oh 'ss, massah, all de troof. right away.' Ah!-and why?'

"'Cause a buckra massalı very ill.'

the

'That will do. Go!' said Greville; and the man, who was trembling in every limb, hurried away.

'Her confession of her guilt,' said the captain slowly.

Then you will have her followed and punished for the crime?' said Burns.

'If he dies-yes. If I save him-no. The chances are that I should never have her found. The woman has the reputation of being a follower of Obeah; and, as I have told you, such as she are supposed to bring death to those who are their enemies, and the people fear them. No: we shall never see her more.'

Greville whispered to Burns to stay where he was while he went back to the room where Josephine was seated alone; and ten minutes passed before he returned, to sign to the young man to follow him to the bedroom, where, to all appearance, the minutes of Manton's life were drawing to a close.

CHAPTER XIV.

After a short stay, they left the room once more and went out into the garden.

'I cannot bear it, Burns,' cried Greville in agony. It will kill her too. I must do something.'

He stopped short, with his brow rugged and teeth set, thinking intently. Then, with a look of rage, he turned suddenly upon his companion.

'It was a lie,' he said-'I ought to have known-a beggarly, transparent invention; but it tricked me for the time.'

'I do not understand you, sir.'

That black scoundrel, Brutus she sent him with that tale to put me off the scent. She has not left the island, but is hiding in the woods.' 'But the man'

'I tell you they will all lie, and invent childish stories to save one another from punishment. I know them by heart. Come to the plantation again. I'll have the truth from them, or'

Burns followed him, and at the gate they were met by one of the black labourers.

'Yes what is it?' cried Greville.

'Down, Nep-down, Nep!' he cried; and the dog crouched at once while his chain was

gone.'

But surely you are not going to hunt the woman, sir, with that savage beast?'

I am not going to hunt a woman, sir, but a vile murderer. You need not be alarmed: a word from me is enough to restrain that dog.'

Burns was silent; and at a word, the dog bounded before them on their way back to the woman's cabin, about which several women were grouped as they approached; but all fled in horror at the sight of the dog.

Greville laughed bitterly. You see,' he said. 'One would think I hunted my people with this hound. Here, Nep! In with you, boy!'

He strode right into the cabin, and after a few moments' consideration, snatched up a gown lying on the bed.

Here, boy, here!' he cried, shaking the cotton dress; and the dog made a plunge, buried his head in it, snuffed about, and then barked.

Greville snatched up other articles of attire which lay about as if their owner had just made a change; and the dog tore at them, seized them in his powerful jaws, and shook and turned them over, growling and snuffling about.

That will do now-steady!' Greville took a leather thong from his pocket, fastened it to the dog's collar and led him to the door. 'Now,' he said, 'you will soon see.'

The dog tried to bound off, but settled down directly with its nose close to the ground, and led them in and out to one of the cottages, where a woman within set up a wild cry; but the dog came out again directly, and made for another, threading the narrow pathway quickly, and dashing through the low doorway at once.

Hah! cried Greville; 'that's good.' The dog ran round the room, came out, and, nose down, made straight for the plantation, where a group of labourers stood to watch them approach; and as the dog paid no heed to them, but went on along a narrow path by a patch of cane-ground, they one by one left their work and followed at a distance.

Another proof,' said Greville in a low voice; 'they tell me plainly that she has taken to the forest. They will follow us to see her taken.Look at Nep.'

Burns was already watching the sagacious beast, which was straining hard at the thong as, with nose down, he followed a narrow winding track right in among the trees beyond the captain's clearings; and, forgetting the heat in his excitement, Burns hurried on behind in the dark overgrown track, one which was rarely used.

'Where does this lead to?' said Burns at

last.

'To a kind of meeting-house in the forest. never interfere with them in this. It is of use. Tired?'

I

no

'No, I think not,' said Burns, who seemed to be endued with fresh strength. For the next hour neither spoke, but with the dog tugging silently at the thong, followed the path in and out among the trees, till, all at once a large roughly thatched hut blocked further progress, the path going in under the low doorway, and Burns's heart leapt to his mouth as the dog uttered a growl and bounded upon something dimly seen in the windowless shelter at the farther end.

'Hah!' ejaculated Greville as the dog seized what proved to be a gaily coloured handkerchief. 'We are on the right track.-Good dog!' he con

tinued, patting the animal and taking the kerchief from his jaws.-'Seek her, then.'

The dog made a plunge forward through a screened opening at the back out into the forest again; but the path had ceased. There were, though faintly visible, footsteps on the moist earth, and the scent was strong enough for the dog to go on as rapidly as he could, with the shade growing less deep, the trees more open, and it was evident now that they were ascending a steep slope, but diagonally.

'She has made for the mountain,' said Greville quietly.

Few words were spoken in their breathless ascent, but from time to time the scent seemed so fresh, and the dog tugged so that Greville grew excited.

'Keep a lookout forward,' he said. 'We must be near her now. I want to run her down before she can reach the woods again.'

Blue sky above them, the glistening rocks at their feet, and, beyond the glorious green trees below, there was the dazzling sea; but they had no eyes for the beauty of the scene, but toiled panting on behind the dog, which now led them into quite a chaos of piled-up masses of lava, for they had reached a gap in the edge of the crater, and Greville uttered a cry of satisfaction as he drew Burns's attention to a curl of smoke rising up some little distance ahead.

There she is,' he whispered.-Quiet, Nep!She has not heard us. Keep level with me now,' he continued; and as soon as we are close up, seize her. I'll hold the dog.'

It was a time of breathless interest as they drew nearer the softly rising vapour which betrayed the woman's halting-place, and, making every effort not to tread on the loose stones which promised to rattle beneath their feet, they gained the mouth of a hollow, out of which the smoke rose; but, to their surprise, the dog turned off to their left, and suddenly threw up its head, whined angrily, and snapped at a tiny curl of smoke which rose from between its feet.

'Sulphur!' cried Greville. 'Pah!'

Burns had already stepped aside, for he had inhaled the choking fumes which they could now see were escaping from cracks in the loose volcanic soil, upon which the vapour was being condensed in a pale yellow efflorescence.

"I thought we had run her down,' said Greville. 'Proofs that the old volcano is not quite dead.

Go on then, boy. We shall overtake her soon. She must have been here before, perhaps to fetch sulphur or to perform some mumbo-jumbo tricks to frighten the weak fools.'

For the dog was tugging to get on, and, after dragging them in and out amongst the huge vesiculated masses of pumice, bare of all vegetation and glistening in the sunshine, it suddenly made a dash downward for about a hundred feet, turned in at a broad cavernous rift in the mountain side, and then drew back, threw up its head, and uttered a deep-mouthed bay.

Run to earth!' cried Greville excitedly. "In with you, Burns, and bring her out. No she is my servant. Hold the dog. I'll go.'

Burns, with his heart beating heavily, thrust his hand beneath Nep's collar, and held him fast.

This rift led into quite a little cavern, whose

interior was lit up by the sun; and there, not twenty feet from them, lay the figure of the black woman, apparently sleeping after her toilsome climb.

Greville pressed forward into the cavern, and staggered back, choking violently.

Good heavens!' he ejaculated. 'I could not breathe. Burns !-that woman!'

He said no more, but turned his head to the sharply blowing breeze, took a deep inhalation, and then plunged into the cave, and staggered out dragging after him the body of the wretched woman, till he was a few yards from the opening, where he lowered her softly down.

'Dead?' gasped Burns.

'Yes. There must have been a fresh escape of fumes,' said Greville slowly. There has not been a cloud about the crater for months. Poor foolish wretch ! She must have staggered in there, worn out, to lie down and rest, and been overcome. Let us get back, and send the people

to fetch her down.-Look !'

Burns gazed in the direction pointed out, and saw that about a dozen of the blacks had followed them at a distance, and were standing waiting

for leave to come farther.

Ten minutes later Greville and Burns were toiling down the mountain, the latter beginning to feel an exhaustion against which he could hardly fight.

It was quite dark when they reached the plantation house; and upon Greville hurrying to the sick chamber, he found that there had been apparently but little change. Manton was gazing with a fixed stare in Renée's eyes, too much prostrated now to be able to struggle against the paroxysms. But as Greville approached, he read hopeful signs in his patient's face; and a couple of hours later, he drew a long deep breath, and whispered words in Renée's ear which made her start to her feet, fling her arms about her father's neck, and burst into an hysterical fit of weeping, just as a low wailing chorus came through the open window from the direction of the cabins of the blacks, which was answered by a mournful howl and the rattle of a chain. Semiramis had been borne down from the mountain, and was being carried to her hut.

Ten years had passed away before the young people met again, and it was in answer to a question that Josephine said: 'I was a foolish girl, and knew no better then Renée. Yes, I loved him dearly. Then in a minute my love was turned to hate, and I told that wretched woman, as I told her all my troubles then. Yes, I hated him; but I would sooner have died than caused him pain, and if he had― There, say no more, dear; we are sisters and the past is dead.'

THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS.

Another

IT will be remembered that at the beginning of last year an exploring party started on an expedition into Central Australia, one of the objects being an exhaustive scientific survey of those blank spaces on the map which lie between latitude fifteen and thirty degrees south, an area which hitherto has been unexplored. object in view was to search for traces of Ludwig Leichardt, whose party started on the same errand more than forty years ago, and has not since been heard of. The present expedition has now returned from their arduous journey, after having experienced many trials and privations. At one time they travelled for thirty-four days without finding water. The natives were friendly in most cases; but it was impossible to hold communication with them, because their language was not understood. Altogether, the expedition has not resulted in any great discovery; but it has certainly corroborated the previously known fact that Central Australia is a country so exceedingly arid that it must always remain sparsely inhabited. The party consisted of ten, and every credit is due to them for risking their lives in an expedition so full of peril. We are glad to know that the medical officer of the expedition was also a photographer, so that in time we may hope to see pictures of a region previously unknown to the white man.

The proposed Antarctic expedition, about which so much was heard a few months back, and which was to start this year at the joint expense of the Australian colonies and Baron Oscar-Dickson of Sweden, will, according to all accounts, not take place, owing to the want of interest shown by the Australians in the enterprise. Sir Thomas Elder promised five thousand pounds on certain conditions, Baron Oscar undertaking to give a similar sum, or to double that amount should it be necessary; but the Australian colonies have not contributed their far smaller share, so that, although Baron Dickson had actually selected the two ships suitable for the work, the scheme appears to have fallen through. There is certainly plenty of money in Australia which would have been devoted to the enterprise had it been brought before the people in a right manner; but it seems that the scientific men who advocated the expedition were not in touch with the people generally, and owing to this circum

that the gas was still being formed in the earth; but this theory has been given up, and the general opinion is, that certain subterranean reservoirs originally charged with the gas are now being rapidly emptied; and the reign of coal-fires must be recommenced. But the people have been so used to gas, that they are now turning their attention to its artificial production by the volatilisation of oil; and it is said that several large manufacturing establishments in certain western cities of the States are making use of the method with good results. That the system is feasible has long ago been proved in isolated districts in our own country, and it is quite possible that it will in the future be further developed.

Of all road-vehicles ever contrived by man, surely the London cab is at once the most ugly, the most uncomfortable, and the one which is worst adapted to its purpose. It is astonishing that a conveyance of this kind should not long ago have been improved upon, and it is difficult for the uninitiated to explain the reason why. We are glad to learn that the Coach and Coachharness Makers' Company are about to hold a competition for prizes among British subjects engaged in the trade and resident in the United Kingdom. Three prizes of thirty, twenty, and ten pounds are offered by the company for the best three models of an improved four-wheeled cab suited to the traffic of London. There are also other prizes offered for various vehicles, but the one that is quoted will be of most interest to the public generally. Detailed particulars of these competitions-the drawings and models pertaining to which must be delivered by the end of April next may be obtained of the clerk of the company at Noble Street, London.

A paper was recently read before the Shipmasters' Society by Captain Froud, the subject being the Heating of Ships and their Cargoes, and the Waste of Heat in Steamers. After detailing the different kinds of cargoes which generated heat, among which were certain minerals such as copper, antimony ores, and coal; animal matter such as wool; vegetable products like cotton, jute, flax, coffee, sugar, &c., which will all generate heat if not well dried, it was pointed out that the heat of ships depended also upon the materials of which they were constructed and on their colour. He considered that passenger ships would if painted in light tints be rendered cooler, and those carrying frozen meats and petroleum would also benefit largely. It was also pointed out that all parts of marine engines where the maintenance of heat was essential should be painted of the lightest colours, and that railway companies would effect economy by using lightcoloured paints for their locomotives. With regard to ships, damp cargoes should always be avoided, and full ventilation should be maintained, especially in dry weather.

It would seem that the rocket apparatus which has been so often used with grand results on our shores will fail when too much is expected of it. In the case of a recent wreck near Dover, the rockets failed to reach the distressed ship, although several were fired by experienced hands. A rocket has nominally a range of five hundred yards; but this is necessarily curtailed when the projectile has a head-wind to contend against.

It has a line to drag after it weighing fortythree pounds, and should that line be wet its weight is doubled. It is doubtful whether a more perfect rocket can be made, for the present pattern is the outcome of many experiments. Perhaps it might be replaced by some form of shot fired from a gun; but great care would be necessary in handling such an engine, in case life should be destroyed instead of preserved by it. The suggestion has been more than once made that ships should carry their own life-rockets, on the ground that in cases of shipwreck the wind is nearly always towards the shore, and the rocket would thereby have a much enlarged range.

An official Report states that the copper mines of the French Congo are likely to prove of extreme importance. At present, under native auspices they are worked in a very primitive fashion, the tools employed being of hard wood only. The ore is the beautiful green carbonate of copper known as malachite, which is procured from holes dug in the ground to a depth of about six feet. This ore is broken up, pulverised, and submitted to heat on a tray with charcoal, with the help of bellows, after which the metal is poured into sand-moulds. The entire district is said to be wonderfully rich in copper.

It is said that the use of the electric head-light for locomotives is becoming general on the railways of Indiana, and that many advantages are found in its employment. The arc-light is fed by a small dynamo worked by the engine itself at a very slight expenditure of steam. On a clear night the engine-driver can see for a mile ahead, so that if any obstruction were in his way he would have plenty of time to pull up even though he were travelling at a high speed. Collisions have already been prevented by the use of these head-lights.

was

A novel wonder of the deep' has recently been experienced by those who go down to the sea in ships. On the recent arrival of the British barque Hesper at San Francisco, the captain reported a strange occurrence which took place when the ship was at a distance of about seventyfive miles from the coast of Japan. A rumbling noise was suddenly heard, and the sea agitated to such an extent that the waves broke over the deck. But the most terrible and unusual feature of the disturbance was that the water was boiling hot, and the crew had to remain in the rigging for five hours to avoid it, where they were half suffocated by the heat as well as by blasts of hot sulphurous gas which continually escaped from the ocean. We believe that this is the first recorded instance of a ship being caught in the actual embrace of a submarine volcano, for such the awful phenomenon evidently was.

The recent earthquake in Japan will probably be found to be one of the most severe ever recorded. There is little doubt that much of the terrible loss of life is due to the houses being built on exactly the same principles of construction as those which are observed in countries not subject to visitations of the kind. Again and again it has been pointed out that earthquake countries should adopt special plans of house construction, and in Japan itself much attention has been given to this subject. In the recent