My saddle-bags, which
were behind, contained besides our changes of clothes, a jar of
Liebig's essence of beef, some potted beef, a tin of butter, a tin
of biscuits, a tin of sardines, a small loaf, and some roast yams.
Deborah looked very piquante in a bloomer dress of dark blue, with
masses of shining hair in natural ringlets falling over the collar,
mixing with her lei of red rose-buds. She rode a powerful horse, of
which she has much need, as this is the most severe road on horses
on Hawaii, and it takes a really good animal to come to Waipio and
go back to Hilo.
We got away at seven in bright sunshine, and D.'s husband
accompanied us the first mile to see that our girths and gear were
all right. It was very slippery, but my mule deftly gathered her
feet under her, and slid when she could not walk. From Onomea to
the place where we expected to find the guide, we kept going up and
down the steep sides of ravines, and scrambling through torrents
till we reached a deep and most picturesque gulch, with a primitive
school-house at the bottom, and some grass-houses clustering under
palms and papayas, a valley scene of endless ease and perpetual
afternoon. Here we found that D.'s uncle, who was to have been our
guide, could not go, because his horse was not strong enough, but
her cousin volunteered his escort, and went away to catch his horse,
while we tethered ours and went into the school-house.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162