"SHE STOOD REGARDING THEM WITH WONDERING LOOKS" " " 115 "OTHER BRANCHES SWOOPED DOWN, COILING ROUND HIM" " " 252 "HE WAS STANDING WITH ONE ARM EXTENDED" " " 286 ON THE DEVIL-TREE'S LADLE " " 297 THE DEVIL-TREE OF EL DORADO. CHAPTER I. "WILL NO ONE EXPLORE RORAIMA?"[3] [3] The Indians of British Guiana pronounce this word Roreema. Beneath the verandah of a handsome, comfortable-looking residence near Georgetown, the principal town of British Guiana, a young man sat one morning early in the year 1890, attentively studying a volume that lay open on a small table before him. It was easy to see that he was reading something that was, for him at least, of more than ordinary interest, something that seemed to carry his thoughts far away from the scene around him; for when, presently, he raised his eyes from the book, they looked out straight before him with a gaze that evidently saw nothing of that on which they rested. He was a handsome young fellow of, perhaps, twenty-two years of age, rather tall, and well-made, with light wavy hair, and blue-grey eyes that had in them an introspective, somewhat dreamy expression, but that nevertheless could light up on occasion with an animated glance. The house stood on a terrace that commanded a view of the sea, and, in the distance, white sails could be seen making their way across the blue water in the light breeze and the dazzling sunlight. Nearer at hand were waving palms, glowing flowers, humming insects and gaudily-coloured butterflies--all the beauties of a tropical garden. On one side of him was the open window of a sitting-room that, shaded, as it was, by the verandah, looked dark and cool compared with the glare of the scorching sun outside. From this room came the sounds of a grand piano and of the sweet voice of a girl singing a simple and pathetic ballad. At the moment the song ceased a brisk step was heard coming up the path through the garden, and a good-looking young fellow of tall figure and manly air made his way to where the other still sat with his eyes fixed on vacancy, as one who neither sees nor hears aught of what is going on about him. "Ha, Leonard!" the new-comer exclaimed, with a light laugh, "caught you dreaming again, eh? In another of your reveries?" The other roused himself with a start, and looked to see who was his visitor. "Good-morning, Jack," he then answered with a slight flush. "Well, yes--I suppose I must have been dreaming a little, for I did not hear you coming." "Bet I guess what you were dreaming about," said the one addressed as Jack. "Roraima, as usual, eh?" Leonard looked a little conscious.