As we had no place to put him up in the house, he told me to get a lodging for him for the night, and to see that he had plenty of food. “I say, Ned,” he added, “just give him a hint to take a bath and get his hair cut before he puts on his clean clothes.”
Accordingly, telling Dick to come with me, I took him to the outfitter’s. We soon got the necessary clothing for him, and then left him at a lodging with a person who knew my brother.
That evening was to be the last on shore for many a long day. Mary and her sister were in high spirits at the thoughts of their trip, for which they had got everything ready.
The next morning Dick presented himself so changed for the better in appearance, that Harry scarcely knew him. He looked a fine, intelligent sailor lad, and at once began to make himself useful in carrying down our things to the boat: most of our heavier luggage had been sent on board the previous evening. Mr Humby came off in a shore boat.
While our own boat was being hoisted in, my brother gave his last directions.
“I’ll do my best, Mr Harry, and I pray that you may have a successful voyage, and when you return find all things going on well,” he said, as he shook hands with us all.
The anchor was then hove up, and sail being made, we stood out of the harbour, while Mr Humby returned on shore, waving his last adieus.
The first part of our voyage was uneventful. We had fine weather, a fair wind, and a smooth sea, and the ladies soon got accustomed to their life on board, declaring that it was even more pleasant than they had expected, though they should like occasionally to get sight of some of the beautiful islands of the Pacific, of which they had so often heard.
We left New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands on our port side, then steered to the north between the New Hebrides and the Fiji Islands, at neither of which my brother wished to touch.
Day after day we sailed on without sighting land, and at last Emily exclaimed, “What has become of the islands we have heard so much about? I thought we should not pass a day without seeing several of them. They appear on the chart to be very close together, like the constellations in the sky.”