The golden pool

It must have been a matter of surprise to most of us who have arrived at, or passed, middle life, on looking back through a vista of years, to note what an astonishingly importa...

It was a soft sunny morning when, some ten days later, I stood on the white deck of the _Lady Jane_, taking, very earnestly, and indeed with unexpected emotion, my last look at...

Of the details of my life during the time that I remained in charge of the store it is not my intention to speak, for, although every day brought with it some new incident which...

I do not know whether in the preceding pages I have made the reader understand what manner of place Quittáh is. Probably I have not, and a few words of description may be useful...

A couple of days after our excursion to Anyáko I received a letter by the land post from Captain Bithery. It was dated from Axím on the Gold Coast, and in it, after giving me su...

My stay at Adena was somewhat of a holiday until the brig arrived, for, although the amount of produce to be examined was greater than I should have obtained at Quittáh in the s...

The day following that on which I met with the narrative of Almeida in the old log-book was one of more than usual activity, for a large consignment of produce had just been acq...

A couple of days more saw me back at Quittáh with all my plans practically complete, for in the interval I had seen Annan and had settled to meet him at Cape Coast in a month, b...

I remained at Quittáh some six weeks owing to various delays on the part of Annan, and so pleasantly the time sped that, as the period of my departure approached, my impatience...

Soon after daybreak on the second morning after my departure from Quittáh, the fishing canoe, which had been sent to fetch me ashore, swept round the bluff into the quieter wate...

I was aroused next morning by the bugles sounding _réveillé_ in the Hausa camp, and, as I came out of the house, I found Fatima waiting for me with a large calabash of agidi--a...

When I had pushed my way through the undergrowth to the path, I did not at once turn back towards the road, for I reflected that by this time the hue and cry was no doubt raised...

In the course of a long journey on foot through an uncultivated country one acquires the faculty of unconsciously observing and generalising from certain geographical facts. By...

“Come, rouse up, thou sluggard,” said he, giving me another gentle shake that was like to have dislocated my shoulder; “the sun is up and I have found a lovely stream of pure wa...

When I opened my eyes I appeared to be in absolute darkness, and for a moment I could not remember where I was, but on attempting to move my hands, their manacled condition at o...

The ground, as I have said, was not difficult to climb, since the surface was not quite perpendicular, and besides being rough and broken, was thickly covered with vegetation; s...

When we had emerged from the tunnel the sun was already glowing crimson through the tops of the trees. As we reached the track, the short tropical twilight was beginning to fade...

The next few days presented little to chronicle. Life under the new conditions was monotonously uncomfortable, but not distressing to me, whatever it may have been to the less r...

The sun was well up when I opened my eyes on the following morning and Aminé had evidently been awake some time, for she was standing with her chin on the edge of the rough para...

On the opposite side of the river we found a broad, well-worn track, along which we took our way at a brisk pace, in a very different frame of mind from that which we had experi...

We were up betimes on the following morning, and shaking off the abundant dust of Osumánu’s inhospitable abode, sallied forth with our companions. It was Ali’s plan to give an e...

In less than an hour we were on the road, stepping out briskly towards the south. A good store of provisions was in our scrip, and we had that comfortable feeling of being indep...

When I came to review my situation as I raked together the almost extinct embers of last night’s fire, and coaxed them into life with dry twigs and charred fragments, I could no...

As I took my way into the forest soon after daybreak I felt that sense of exhilaration that accompanies a settled purpose. The building of the house had been a necessary labour,...

The night dragged on wearily and miserably. Inside the house a chill discomfort reigned, for I had lit no fire this evening, and every article that I possessed, even to the slee...

As soon as the daylight appeared, I put my head out of the tilt-opening to take a look at the weather. But I very quickly drew it in again; for within a yard of my face was the...

To a small craft like mine, a passage by sea on a dark night is ordinarily an adventure full of peril and anxiety, and eye and ear must be constantly strained to catch the gleam...

The _Lady Jane_ glided up the bay, taking in sail as she went; and as square after square of creamy white canvas was gathered up into wrinkled festoons, the men began to crowd o...