Page:Tex; a chapter in the life of Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (IA texchapterinlife00mcke).pdf/173



''like a bull, roar like a lion, howl like a jackal, laugh like a hyena. If you drive me to it, I shall copy all the shriller domestic animals The matter is now in your hands."''

Monday, 7 February.

Peace reigns at Ventnor

Wednesday, 16 February.

'' I start my sock-and-tie stunt, which consists in "copycatting" daily, Austin Read seconding, an absurd young man of half my age. Thus do the elderly amuse themselves for the further amusement of a limited circle''

Tuesday, 22 February.

''Stephen's letter of 20. 1. 21 to his mother arrives. [I again varied my itinerary and had decided to make my way to Valparaiso through the Straits of Magellan rather than across the Andes.] So he is travelling in the wake of H. M. S. Beagle and the late Charles Robert Darwin! He'll be perished with cold; but he's more likely to get a fish or two to eat''

Sunday, 27 February.

''Stephen's birthday. His health shall be drunk in brimming barley-water; and, though I believe''