Hope points before, and shows the bright to-morrow
Let us forget the darkness of to-day."
And so one friend cheered the other, until they arrived at the ship, where they were welcomed by Mr. Beauman, and in a short time got up their anchor and steamed down the river towards Hong-Kong.
Past well-remembered spots, where they had formerly landed and obtained supplies—through the barrier stakes without bumping aground, and by Yin-sin island, then guarded by H. M. gun-boat Stifler, the crew of which turned out to a man to cheer them as they steamed by; away they rattle right merrily, and the next day came to anchor in Hong-Kong harbour, where they remained until the twenty-fifth of July. During the interval they re-fitted the ship and prepared her for her long voyage home.
Mr. Thompson called upon his friends to bid them farewell, and during the evening Mrs. Mackay presented him with a gold call and chain, begging he would accept it as a small proof of her appreciation of his kindness to her. Before he left, his kind friends took him up-stairs, and there, calmly sleeping in its cradle, he saw their first-born. Jerry bent over the infant, and gently kissing it, observed, with a tear in his eye, that he hadn't been so near an angel for a long time; then, for the twentieth time solemnly shaking hands with the parents, bade them adieu.
"Mind you write us, Mr. Thompson, and don't forget to visit Mary Ann as soon as you arrive."
"Never fear, Miss; I'll write you, and if Mary Ann becomes Mrs. Thompson, she shall add a postscript."