Fortunately the clouds did not follow us, and the triangulation of the Mars stars now advanced apace. A week of lovely evenings, and fresh strength to use them—what more could the heart of astronomer desire? Alas! this was Mars Bay, and not Arcadia! I cannot think why the poet says,

It seems to me that man, and woman too, wants a very great deal; and the beauty of the universe and the contemplation of the glory of far-off worlds, what consolation do they give, when the kitchen-chimney smokes, when a tooth aches or a new shoe pinches?

“Is life worth living?” asks one of our modern philosophers, and another answers, “That depends on the liver.” True, oh Punch. Then why should we sneer if a man fears indigestion as a mortal foe, and the heart of woman fails when a good cook falls sick in the desert where there is none to replace him?

Such piteous case was ours! Hill fell a victim to severe rheumatism at this time, and woe is me! I had never attended cooking classes at South Kensington.

Although we did not know it at the time, our cook had been originally invalided here for this very malady, caught, like every evil thing, on the Gold Coast; and the damp air of the Mountain had unfortunately brought on a relapse.