She was
a grim personage--held in respect, if not awe, because of the peculiar
distinctions ascribed to her. She could command not only the wind and
the rain, but the thunder and lightning also, and to offend her was to
run the risk of bringing about a terrifying storm. Years after her death
blacks had faith in her potency for ill. One of the few white men who
have attempted to climb the highest peaks of the island mountain,
informed me that when he reached a certain elevation, the boys who
accompanied him never spoke above an awe-struck whisper, and solemnly
reproved him whensoever he uttered an unguarded exclamation. They were
afraid that the debil-debil might be aroused; that Kitty would resent
the intrusion of her haunt. At last they refused to go higher, and the
ascent up in the dreaded regions was continued alone, while they
abandoned themselves to sinister prognostics. One lonely night was spent
high up on the mountain, and when the adventurer came back on his tracks
in the morning, the boys were surprised to find that no harm had
befallen him. To go into the very stronghold of mischievous and
vindictive spirits, and to come away again, was to them almost beyond
comprehension, and because no hurricane swooped down upon them, as they
hurried to the lower and safer levels, nothing short of the marvellous.
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