Having come safely to an anchor among several other vessels, we shouted out, “Dolphin, ahoy!” hoping that she was among them, though in the dark night we could not distinguish her. We had shouted out several times, and papa was on the point of putting off in
the boat to make inquiries on shore, when a hail came down from the other side of the harbour, “Is that the Lively?”
“Ay—ay!” we answered. “Is that the Dolphin?”
“Ay—ay!” was the reply. “I’ll be aboard you presently.”
In a short time we heard the splash of oars, and, much to our relief, Uncle Tom, followed by Oliver and Jack, sprang on deck.
Our first inquiries were as to how they had weathered the gale. “Famously,” answered Uncle Tom. “We kept hove-to till the morning, when, as the wind moderated, we stood in here, a pilot having boarded us and showed us the way.”
“Who have you got here?” exclaimed Oliver, as he looked into Nat’s little berth.
Great was the astonishment of all the party when we described the adventures we had met with. We talked over various plans for finding out Nat’s relatives, and what should be done with him, should we not succeed.
Next morning we went on shore to inspect the town and to make the tour of the island, which is easily done, as it is only two and a half miles long and one and a half broad. The town had a somewhat sombre look until we got on shore, when the neat gardens full of flowers, and the clean appearance of the streets, made us think better of the place. Most of the houses are low, few of them having more than two stories.