Beneath us was a steep slope quite bare of forest, which ceased at its crest.

This slope stretched downwards for half a mile or more to the lip of a beautiful lake, of which the area was perhaps two hundred acres.

Set in the centre of the deep blue water of this lake, which we discovered afterwards to be unfathomable, was an island not more than five and twenty or thirty acres in extent, that seemed to be cultivated, for on it we could see fields, palms and other fruit-bearing trees.

In the middle of the island stood a small, near house thatched after the fashion of the country, but civilized in its appearance, for it was oblong, not round, and encircled by a verandah and a reed fence.

At a distance from this house were a number of native huts, and in front of it a small enclosure surrounded by a high wall, on the top of which mats were fixed on poles as though to screen something from wind or sun.
"The Holy Flower lives there, you bet," gasped Stephen excitedly--he could think of nothing but that confounded orchid.