A DAUGHTER AND A SISTER.

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feeling of melancholy rather than alarm that we witnessed their arrival. Yet the sea, convulsed to its very depths, the wind, the thunder, the lightning, all combined to increase the horror of a crisis which might almost be taken for a revolution of Nature.

We had reserved for the winter sundry indoor occupations, to which our young companion brought the aid of her skill and patience. Miss Jenny excelled in those labours of the fingers which peculiarly belong to her sex, and showed us how to plait straw, and reed, and grass, of which she wrought a variety of carpets, screens, hangings, curtains, and similar objects.

Of these materials and in this manner we made some light hats for summer wear, and even game-bags, not less suitable for use than agreeable to the eye.

My wife was enchanted with her new daughter, whom a careful and comprehensive education enabled to converse scientifically with Ernest; while, as for the other three brothers, and Frederick especially, they found in Miss Jenny's acquirements a stimulus which prevented them from resting satisfied with mediocrity. Thus her presence infused a new spirit of activity into our hybernal labours, and a harmony and a gaiety in which they had previously been deficient. Jenny had become, for my wife and myself, a fifth child; she was also like a sister to our sons.

T is with a thousand different sensations I write this word-Conclusion; it recalls to my mind all the emotions that then disturbed it.

God is great! God is good!

Such is the sentiment which prevails in my grateful heart above every other! I have such infinite need to render

thanksgivings unto Providence! May the reader therefore pardon me the confused and broken manner in which I terminate my protracted narrative.

I resume the thread of our adventures.

It was now the end of the rainy season; at least, the storms had grown weaker and occurred at longer intervals; the wind had lost its violence, and the broad azure gleams which broke through the sky's pall of gloomy cloud announced to us that summer was at hand. Our pigeons quitted the pigeonry, and we ourselves were soon able to throw open the door of our grotto, and terminate the seclusion to which we had been condemned for upwards of three months.

Our first cares were devoted to our various estates, which the rains, as usual, had considerably damaged.

First, we put in order the kitchen-garden, and the environs of our grotto; after which we bethought ourselves of our more distant possessions. Frederick and Rudly proposed to make a descent

A SHIP OFF THE COAST.

677

upon Shark Island, and satisfy themselves that the winter hurricanes had not overthrown our military works. I consented, and they set out in the cajack.

The reader will remember that we had agreed upon various signals by whose means a communication could be maintained between Tent-Town and Shark Battery. A flag hoisted was a sign that all went well in the island; and two guns, fired at a brief interval, indicated that something had been discovered out

at sea.

My sons, after having inspected the interior of the fort, and satisfied themselves that no very serious damage had been caused by the hurricanes of winter, addressed themselves to the task of surveying the ocean, with a view of discovering whether anything was visible in the horizon; on the coast they saw more than one tree uprooted, but no sign of a stranded whale or other marine monster. Then they tested the good condition of the guns, by firing off several charges of powder, displaying, in this respect, none of the economy I had urged upon them in the use of our war munitions.

But what was their astonishment, what their emotion, when, at the end of two or three minutes, they heard three reports of a cannon, in the distance, replying to their signals! They knew they were not mistaken, for a faint gleam towards the west had preceded each discharge. At that moment the two brothers grasped each other's hands with mingled feelings of joy, hope, and doubt; and both, in a half-choked voice, exclaimed, "Men! men!" After a brief consultation on what they should do next, they resolved to quit the island immediately, and inform us of the surprising incident.

To leap into the cajack, and put to sea, was the work of a second. The frail skiff scarcely seemed to touch the water, she glided along with such inconceivable swiftness.

We had heard the cannons firing, and our excited curiosity had taken us down to the shore, where we were standing when the two brothers appeared.

"Ho, there! what is the matter?" I shouted as loudly as I was able; but they were so overpowered by the importance of the

678

HOPES AND FEARS.

news they brought, that at first they could only articulate, "O father! father!" Uttering these words, they threw themselves panting into my arms. Then they exclaimed, “Did you not hear anything?"

Nothing, except the signal-guns which you have been firing with an utter disregard of economy."

"Did you not hear three guns far away at sea?"

No, indeed."

Well, father, we heard them, and heard them as plainly as we now hear your voice."

"It was only echo," interrupted Ernest.

Rudly was piqued at the remark, and resumed, in a tone of sharpness,

"No, truly, doctor, it was not echo; we have fired guns frequently enough to be able to judge of the effect of the echo and reverberation you allude to. We clearly heard three guns, and are positive they were fired by some ship or ships now in the neighbourhood of our coasts."

In the voice of the young man there was a truthfulness and a tone of conviction which rendered it impossible for me to reject entirely the idea he had thrown out. The discovery of a ship was a sufficiently grave incident in the history of our lives, and if we longed with all our hearts for the moment that should re-unite between man and us the relations interrupted for so many years, it was necessary that we should meet with prudence and reserve an event whose consequences might be most important.

"If there is really a ship off our shores," said I, "who knows whether it is manned by Europeans or Malay pirates! Who knows as yet whether we should rejoice or mourn at its advent; or whether, instead of making preparations for a festival, we ought not rather to be on the watch, and gird ourselves to defend our possessions and our riches against a troop of brigands?"

These serious considerations checked the impetuous and unreflecting joy with which Frederick and his brother had brought the news that a vessel was cruising in our latitude. My first resolution

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN.

679

was to organize a system of defence, and set a watch that the strangers, whether friends or enemies, might not find us unprepared. We divided the night into watches, which my sons and myself took in turn,-keeping guard under the gallery of the grotto against any surprise, if one were attempted. But the night passed by without any disturbance. In the morning, a storm of wind and rain blew up with unwonted violence, and lasted two whole days and nights without our perceiving any sign of the discovery which had become the object of all our thoughts.

On the third day the sun reappeared. Frederick and Rudly, full of impatience, resolved on returning to Shark Island and signalling anew. I consented, but instead of the cajack we took the periagua, and I accompanied them. My wife, Jenny, Ernest, and Fritz remained in the grotto. On arriving at the fort, we hoisted the flag to satisfy our family that we had safely accomplished our journey; and Rudly, who would never endure any delay, immediately set himself to work to load the guns. He fired twice; then we waited; but the last vibrations of the reports had hardly died away along the rocks before we heard distinctly the discharge of a heavier gun than any of ours, in the direction of Cape Disappointment. This first gun was followed by six others.

Rudly could no longer restrain his joy.

"Men! Men!" cried he, dancing wildly round us, my father! Are you satisfied now?"

Men,

His enthusiasm proved infectious; it communicated itself even to me, and I hoisted immediately both our flags, as a signal more easily discernible in the distance.

We then returned to our family, who awaited us on the shore. They had heard nothing of the seven reports, but had seen our flags waving in the air, and eagerly longed for circumstantial information.

"Well, well," they all exclaimed at once, "are they Europeans? Englishmen? Is it a merchant vessel, or ship of war?"

We had not much to say in satisfaction of all this impatience; all that we could state as certain was the presence of a vessel upon our shores. It was with difficulty I could make my children