A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 134: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A QUEER RACE, 131 situation when I got back. Ont of sight is out of mind; and if people began to think me dead, they would forget me altogether. Yet what could I do? It seemed that without the queen’s help I could do nothing. For aught I knew, the nearest port where it would be possible to obtain a passage for Europe or the West Indies might be hundreds of miles awiy. Another voyage inthe Diana was out of the ques- tion; but if Mab could be persuaded to give me an idea of the latitude and longitude of the island, and leid me the Sunflower and hercrew, the thing might be done. It would be asking a great deal, since, apart from her own wislies, she could not send her yacht on a distant voyage without running counter to the prejudices of her people and the injunctions of that remarkable ancestor of hers whose will, though he had been dead a century, seemed to be still their law. Yet it was my only chance, and if I went on as I had begun, and continued to please her, I might eventually win her consent to my project. On the other hand, I felt that it would be a mistake to hurry matters, to weary her by importunity, or appear over eager to get away. I must wait for a favorable op- portunity te proffer my request, and it would be well, if I could, to insure her help by placing her under an obliga- tion. My cue, in short, was patience and politeness. Should I say anything to her—or anybody else—about the anonvmous letter? Onthe whole, i thought not. If it were a hoax, Ishould only by sodoing expose myself to ridicule; while if an enemy were the writer, I should be putting him on his guard and making him think that I was afraid. Better keep my own couusel and watch and wait. As the note had come through the post (I did not know before that the island possessed a post), I had no clew to the identity of the sender. It was a mystery, and, for the present, must remain a mystery. — My next concern was as to how I should attire myself for the queen's ball. The evening-dress of HKurope was not the evening-dress of Fair Island. The latter was a modification of the costume in vogue in the time of George II. and Sir Robert Walpole; and as the islanders had a weakness for bright colors, 1 did not take kindly to the idea of appearing at a festive entertainment in a EOmMmIIG oyo\o) CS (E(0)