Antigua and the Antiguans. Volume 1

Page 120

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THE FATE OF KLAAS :

person he was tall and robust; and although jollity was written upon every feature, he possessed at the same time that air of determination which would make few wish to thwart him in his views, or offer an insult that was sure to be resented. The animal he bestrode was of a coal-black, and, like his master, bore his years well. Logo, as he was called, had often followed the hounds in " merrie England ;" and, when his master came to take possession of a property in Antigua, his faithful steed, the sharer of many a long day's sport, was not to be left behind. The companion of this first-mentioned traveller was, in every respect, far different. Scarcely had seventeen summers passed over his head ; and his slight, but well-formed person, was in direct contrast to the large and heavy make of his friend. His rich brown locks clustered around his lofty brow unspoiled by powder; but in his large dark eye, consumption had lit its fire, and flushed, at times, his naturally pale cheek. " Come, Edward," said the elder traveller, addressing the youth; " we must mend our pace, lad : here's Logo champing his bit with every mark of anger at being kept with tightened reign : the old fellow has too much mettle still left to like this hippopotamus trot, when he has an hungry stomach, and the prospect of a well-stored stable before him." " Ay, uncle ; and one there is at home, who must be as anxiously looking for us, as Logo is for his stable." " What, Marien ? Well, I dare say the girl feels the loss of her cousin Edward from the side of her spinet, if she don't her old father from his settle in the gallery. Women love those little attentions you know so well to offer ; and Marien would miss you from tuning her lute, or turning the pages of her music book, as I should old Logo, were anything to happen to him. Dame Nature has made you, boy, to shine in lady's bower, more, I think, than in tented field." The deepest hectic sprang to the face of the youth, as his uncle uttered these words, and a half-smothered sigh broke


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