The Day After Encountering These Fellows, We Were Strolling Among The
Groves In The Neighbourhood, When We Came Across Several Parties Of
Natives Armed With Clumsy Muskets, Rusty Cutlasses, And Outlandish
Clubs.
They were beating the bushes, shouting aloud, and apparently
trying to scare somebody.
They were in pursuit of the strangers, who,
having in a single night set at nought all the laws of the place, had
thought best to decamp.
In the daytime, Po-Po's house was as pleasant a lounge as one could
wish. So, after strolling about, and seeing all there was to be seen,
we spent the greater part of our mornings there; breakfasting late,
and dining about two hours after noon. Sometimes we lounged on the
floor of ferns, smoking, and telling stories; of which the doctor had
as many as a half-pay captain in the army. Sometimes we chatted, as
well as we could, with the natives; and, one day - joy to us! - Po-Po
brought in three volumes of Smollett's novels, which had been found
in the chest of a sailor, who some time previous had died on the
island.
Amelia! - Peregrine! - you hero of rogues, Count Fathom! - what a debt do
we owe you!
I know not whether it was the reading of these romances, or the want
of some sentimental pastime, which led the doctor, about this period,
to lay siege to the heart of the little Loo.
Now, as I have said before, the daughter of Po-Po was most cruelly
reserved, and never deigned to notice us.
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