With this end in view it was therefore very natural that he should spend
much of his time rambling over the island, particularly along the coasts,
where he declared the early monuments he was especially interested in
were mostly to be found, and should even at times be detained by his
enthusiasm till darkness had fallen. It was also very natural that he
should wish to consult all the most ancient inhabitants, and should in
consequence seek out and interview every native over sixty years of age.
In short this hobby not only gave this enthusiastic gentleman a sound
pretext for being in the most out of the way places at the most unlikely
hours, but also for inspecting narrowly with his own eyes each white
bearded patriarch who might, or might not, have worn six months ago a
pair of tinted spectacles; which--to descend slightly in the literary
scale--accounts for the milk in the cocoanut.
All this of course was not only perceived by his guardian medical
attendant, but blessed with his strong approval, for nothing counteracts
the taste for liquor so effectually as another hobby. But what Thomas
Sylvester devoutly prayed the doctor did not see was his patient slipping
out of his window in the small hours of the morning, and from the roof of
an out-house just below, examining the shore through a night glass.
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