Bad weather, in common with other untoward
circumstances, is frequently ascribed to the machinations of evilly
disposed boys. A boy may accept the credit or have the greatness thrust
upon him of the manufacture of a gale which has brought about general
discomfort, and to spite him, regardless of consequence to others,
another boy will promise a still more destructive breeze next year. And
so the game of wanton interference with the meteorological conditions of
the continent proceeds, each successive infliction being arranged to
serve out the author of the one preceding. It may be that the instigator
of a gale lives far away, at the Palm Islands, or on Hinchinbrook, or
at Mourilyan. Those who are terrified or inconvenienced agree to ascribe
it to him, and having done so there is nothing of the mysterious to
explain away. Usually the boy upon whom the responsibility is fixed is
not available for cross-examination; but that renders the fact all the
more conclusive. Here is the storm. Peter of the Palms must have made it.
An old gin known as Kitty, and who lived on Hinchinbrook Island, was
famed on account of her successful manipulation of the weather.
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