Watching, I saw him sink down as though
in a swoon. Stephen also appeared astonished, for he threw up his
hands.
I rushed to them, and this was what I saw. Beneath us was a steep
slope quite bare of forest, which ceased at its crest. This slope
stretched downwards for half a mile or more to the lip of a beautiful
lake, of which the area was perhaps two hundred acres. Set in the
centre of the deep blue water of this lake, which we discovered
afterwards to be unfathomable, was an island not more than five and
twenty or thirty acres in extent, that seemed to be cultivated, for on
it we could see fields, palms and other fruit-bearing trees. In the
middle of the island stood a small, near house thatched after the
fashion of the country, but civilized in its appearance, for it was
oblong, not round, and encircled by a verandah and a reed fence. At a
distance from this house were a number of native huts, and in front of
it a small enclosure surrounded by a high wall, on the top of which
mats were fixed on poles as though to screen something from wind or
sun.
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