"Those aborigines were only my brother and myself," Jack answered, laughing. "We blackened our faces and arms in order to be taken for savages."
"Why disguise yourselves?"
"Because we did not know whom we had to deal with, commander, and your ship might have been a pirate ship!"
"Oh!" said Lieutenant Littlestone. "One of the ships of His Majesty King George III.!"
"I quite agree," Fritz replied, "but we thought it better to get back to our dwelling at Rock Castle so as to return all together."
"I must add," M. Zermatt put in, "that we should have done so at break of day. Fritz and Jack had observed that your corvette was undergoing repairs, and so we were sure of finding her in this bay."
Jenny's happiness was great when the commander told her that he knew Colonel Montrose by name. Further, before the Unicorn had sailed for the Indian Ocean the papers had reported the Colonel's arrival at Portsmouth, and later in London. But since, subsequently to this, the news had been published that the passengers and crew of the Dorcas had all perished, with the exception of the second mate and the three sailors landed at Sydney, one can imagine the despair that must have racked the unhappy father at the thought of his daughter's death. His grief could only be equalled by his joy when he should learn that Jenny had survived the wreck of the Dorcas.
Meanwhile the pinnace was getting ready to return to Deliverance Bay, where M. and Mme. Zermatt proposed to offer hospitality to Lieutenant Littlestone. The latter, however, wished to keep them until the end of the day. And then, as they agreed to spend the night in the bay, three tents were pitched at the foot of the rocks, one for the four sons, another for the father and mother, and the third for Jenny Montrose.
And then the history of the Zermatt family could be related in full detail, from the moment of their setting foot on this land of New Switzerland. It was only natural that the commander and his officers should express their keen desire to go and see the arrangements of the little colony and the comfortable accommodations they had made at Rock Castle and Falconhurst.
After an excellent repast served on board the Unicorn, M. and Mme. Zermatt with their four sons and Jenny took leave of Lieutenant Littlestone and sought the shelter of the tents within the bay.