A party to visit a spot of singular beauty was arranged for a later hour of the day. The distance was so short that in the evening even the ladies could walk.
“I have a double object in selecting Palm-tree Point,” observed Coldstream: “I have just received notice thata Karen is lying in a hut there with a broken leg. I have not seen him yet, for he is a recent arrival.”
“I could almost wish that it were our old friend Ko Thah Byu,” said Lawrence.
“One would hardly find him here,” rejoined Coldstream.
In the softened light of a rich sunset the Lawrences and Coldstreams made their way to the beautiful spot. They found the Karen, not in the hut, but stretched on a churpai under a tree. None of the visitors had ever seen the man before, but the fact of his being a Karen awakened additional interest.
After kindly salutation, and making inquiries after the injury which the convict had received, Coldstream, taking a seat on a mat, opened his Karen Bible. The ladies rested themselves luxuriously on a mossy bank garlanded with rare ferns.
“Ah, that is the book which Ko Thah Byu so loved!” observed the Karen.
“Did you know him?” asked Oscar.
“I knew him well,” said the sufferer. “Ko Thah Byu often came to our village to give the good tidings of great joy. If I had minded all that he said I should never have come to this place.”
“I must try to find out where he is,” observed Lawrence, “and give him news of you.”