“Tarnation!” exclaimed they; and they looked at each other with all the eloquence of mute despair.
“A little un ’ill do for me!” squeaked out a dumpy sort of fellow, with a red nose and a pepper-and-salt waistcoat.
“We’ve got neither little nor big!” responded the captain.
“Tarnation!” again exclaimed the bachelors; and, slowly and despondingly, they prepared to leave the ship.
“Now ar’nt you got nothing feminine of no kind?” earnestly asked a sharp-visaged, lanky-looking settler, who seemed very loth to leave the ship. “If she’s a nigger, I don’t care.”
“I tell you we’ve got no women at all!” said old Hearty, rather sharply.
“Tarnation!” muttered the disappointed colonists: and in a short time after they had reached the land, there was scarcely a creature, with the exception of the female already alluded to, to be seen on the beach. They had been expecting a ship laden with female emigrants, and as they were very much in want of wives, imagining the Albatross to be the much wished for vessel, they had been excessively eager to behold the cargo. The incident created considerable amusement among the voyagers. The sailors were particularly merry upon the occasion; and the rueful visages of the unfortunate colonists afforded many a hearty laugh.
Oriel had landed, and was walking along the beach, when he was startled by a short, quick scream, and turning round, beheld the female who had previously attracted his attention, rush into the arms of the captain’s clerk. He had noticed, on his approach to the shore, that this woman, who from her dress appeared to be a domestic servant, seemed to regard the persons in the boat with an anxious scrutiny; but imagining it to be the effect of curiosity, it did not excite in him any remark. Ardent, at this rencontre, seemed to be in a state of surprise and wonder that kept him speechless. He gazed upon the prepossessing features of the fair stranger as earnestly as if he had no other faculty than that of seeing. The kind and anxious look that met his own—the arms that clasped his neck so firmly, and the gentle voice that murmured his name, convinced him of a fact of which he was almost incredulous. It was Optima.
“By what fortunate chance did you escape the death I felt assured that you had met with?” inquired Ardent, after, at Oriel’s request, he had for the purpose of privacy retired to a chamber in one of the neighbouring habitations.