Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/65

Rh wondered if we were going to do the whole week—and first to Moggs’ station, where, much to my relief, no one was at home; so we walked on to another, Muggins’! Can you believe such a thing, Moggs and Muggins living on an island side by side! Mr. Muggins, or whoever we saw there, had no drink to offer and was roundly abused, he returning it in kind, but all, of course, in good humour.

I must say this sailing about in the broiling sun, and tramping through these tropical islands, made me as keen as any one for something “cool and wet.”

Then we came to F’s station, where we were received by Mrs. F, young and good-looking, and Mrs. Moggs, whose place we had been at. The ladies were very nice, evidently used to this inundation of men, taking it in a very matter-of-fact way; but I cannot say I liked this sort of thing. My companions, however, were bent on taking me everywhere, thought I must be delighted, and, of course, I did not show I was not. Naturally, in this small community of white people living up here in these remote parts every one knew every one else. In the evening we returned to Thursday Island, Jack on the boat declaring it was “a very dry picnic this,” though that is not what I would have called it. Sharks, venomous water-snakes, and, I suppose, alligators infest these waters, and I did not forget them! Back in the hotel, any amount of cool drinks were procurable. Every one came to ask me how I had enjoyed “the picnic,” and, of course, I said it had been delightful, as it certainly had been in a way.

I dined with the collector of customs one night. A young man, S, lived with him and a Captain H; Captains H and C were