Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/281

Rh 'I am bewildered, stunned, electrified; am I in my senses? I came here, my dear boy, sooner and easier than you did. When those two black villains threw me out of their car in spite of my pretended resistance—for I was suffering from a dreadful attack of taxacorum puffinalis, to an enormous dose of which I had slily helped myself—I fell rapidly at first, but, when I came to a denser stratum of air, I floated down here just like a snowflake—and here I am; and here I would stay for ever, but I must go and look for Helen. I have risen to a kind of glory here, and the scene for me is glorious—most glorious beyond description; but I must rise higher still, I must find Helen—I will find my darling.'

'And behold, an omen of success, my dear friend! Do you see that pretty island out there? That is Helen Island.'

'I accept the omen? said he joyfully. 'Helen Island! I am in a world of wonders. I never saw such a ravishing, enchanting scene. What charming mountains! what lovely trees! what a splendid silvered mirror of water! It is a heavenly scene! What is the name of this grand lake?'

'It is the Great Lake of Tasmania, Doctor. It has no other name that I ever heard of; and it has borne it now for nearly one hundred years.'

'No name but the Great Lake! Why, you amaze me! Great lakes are common enough in the world. I will give it a more definite name—one that will stick to it until the mountain on which it reposes so majestically shall be dissolved into the boiling steam that makes the wheels of the world go round—and I christen it now, with all due solemnity. LAKE UBERTUS!'

'Oh no, no, sir!' said I, blushing like a schoolgirl. 'I am entirely unworthy of such an honour. A humble man, not troubled by worldly ambition; unknown to, and uncared for, by the world—unknown even to the small world of