The Argosy — page 397: what you’re looking at

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

379 LETTERS FROM MAJORCA. By CuarLes W. Woop, F.R.G.S., AuTHoR oF “‘ THrouGH HOoLLanp,” ‘UNDER NORTHERN SKIES,” ETC., ETC. Palma, May, 1887. Y Dear E.— It is the unexpected which hap- pens. Once more I date to you from Palma de Mallorca. Had anyone said when I last left these shores that before many months were over I should see them again, I must have written False Prophet to his name. Yet it has come to pass. Once again I am in Palma de Mal- lorca ; reviving old influences (old with the age of months only), recalling old scenes. AN “INSTANTANEOUS" EFFECT. My last letter I concluded and posted in Barcelona, after they had barbarously kept us waiting three hours and a half on board our steamer (we christened it the Zanfal/us), whilst they landed the Mallorcan pigs, safely if not always soundly. And if pigs think as much of their tails as a Chinaman does of his, great must have been the affront offered to many of them. As we landed I have said that the last link with Palma fell away, little thinking how soon another link in the chain that bound me to its shores would be forged. Then I had shown you Mallorca in its winter dress: a winter that was warm, smiling, altogether lovely. Now I have to declare the island in the gorgeousness of summer, the blaze of sunshine; an atmosphere not yet tropical, but quite sure to become so. H. C. is not with me. I have missed him very much. On his part, when he heard that I was coming out a second time, he wrote me word that he had withdrawn into the innermost recesses of the severest monastic institution, and was preparing himself for speedy dissolution. I was to look upon,.him as dead to the world, literally, not figuratively ; and even his place of burial should be unknown and unrecorded. I appreciate this fidelity. It has already been said that hero worship sweetens life, and relieves it of much of its prosiness. It is a charm whose influence increases ; and once accus- tomed to this influence, it is difficult to live without it. Only a few months ago I wrote to you my last letter, and yet, my sister, what a change has come to our lives! It is as the ‘epee of comicbooks.com