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Soames hung his hat on a mahogany stag's-horn. "All right, Warmson, you can go to bed; I'll take him up myself." And he passed into the dining-room. James was sitting before the fire, in a big armchair, with a camel-hair shawl, very light and warm, over his frock-coated shoulders, on to which his long white whiskers drooped.

The white, finely grained wood is said to resemble English sycamore. Though harsh and flaky, the surface of the bark seems to retain moisture, making it attractive to several species of fungi and epiphytal ferns, the most conspicuous of the latter being the stag's-horn. Few of the trees near the beach are free from such encumbrances.

Soames hung his hat on a mahogany stag's-horn. "All right, Warmson, you can go to bed; I'll take him up myself." And he passed into the dining-room. James was sitting before the fire, in a big armchair, with a camel-hair shawl, very light and warm, over his frock-coated shoulders, on to which his long white whiskers drooped.

Above such hopeful sands lies a band formed of stag's-horn coral, bleached snow-white, each time lying at right angles to the sea, and higher up on the strand are blocks and lumps of weather-stained coral among which vegetation is springing. A few yards further back stands a group of Pandanus palms, the van of the dense and intricate jungle covering rock and ridge.

This was no less than a knife the first that Hans had ever possessed of his own. It had a pretty stag's-horn handle and a green leather sheath, so that, stuck in his girdle, it looked quite like that of a real woodsman or hunter, and made Hans not a little proud. Then what wonderful things had not his uncle to relate of the large and rich city of Frankfort.

The blade of a foreign-looking knife had been thrust through it deep into the wood, and the stag's-horn handle turned down in the shape of a reversed capital V the spring holding the paper firm. It was addressed to Miss Irma Maitland, and evidently had reference to something disastrous, for all day Miss Irma had gone about with a pale face, and a pitiful wringing action of her fingers.

One huge low tree covered the top with shining foliage, like that of a Portugal laurel; all around it upright Cerei reared their gray candelabra, and below them, hanging down the rock to the very surf, deep green night-blowing Cereus twined and waved, looking just like a curtain of gigantic stag's-horn moss.

Warmson, not without a sense of humour, opened the door beyond the stag's-horn coat stand, with the words: "Mr. Valerus, ma'am." "Confound him!" thought Val, entering. A warm embrace, a "Well, Val!" from Emily, and a rather quavery "So there you are at last!" from James, restored his sense of dignity. "Why didn't you let us know? There's only saddle of mutton. Champagne, Warmson," said Emily.

Warmson, not without a sense of humour, opened the door beyond the stag's-horn coat stand, with the words: "Mr. Valerus, ma'am." "Confound him!" thought Val, entering. A warm embrace, a "Well, Val!" from Emily, and a rather quavery "So there you are at last!" from James, restored his sense of dignity. "Why didn't you let us know? There's only saddle of mutton. Champagne, Warmson," said Emily.

Alert, I tracked the strange sound along an eccentric course to its haunt, finding nothing more than the empty shell of a huge sea urchin, which in accord with a whim of the sea had floated and was now held aloft slantwise to the lips of the wind, firm in the branching tines of stag's-horn coral.