two before
the main party sailed, in order to look after Dido, and to get his work
forward as fast as possible. When all was ready, and that was when ten
days had gone by after the retreat of Waally, without bringing any
further tidings from him, the governor sailed in the Neshamony, having
the Bridget and the lighter in company, leaving the Dido for the
convenience of Heaton and his set. Signals were agreed on, though the
distance was so great as to render them of little use, unless a boat
were mid-channel. A very simple and ingenious expedient, nevertheless,
was suggested by Mark, in connection with this matter. A single tree
grew so near the Peak as to be a conspicuous object from the ocean; it
was not large, though it could be seen at a great distance, more
particularly in the direction of the Reef. The governor intimated an
intention to send a boat daily far enough out into the strait to
ascertain whether this tree were, or were not standing; and Heaton was
instructed to have it felled as soon as he had thoroughly ascertained
that Waally was abroad again with hostile intentions. Other signals were
also agreed on, in order to regulate the movements of the boats, in the
event of their being called back to the Peak to repel an invasion.

With the foregoing arrangements completed and thoroughly understood, the
governor set sail for the Reef, accompanied by his little squadron. It
was an exquisitely beautiful day, one in which all the witchery of the
climate developed itself, soothing the nerves and animating the spirits.
Bridget had lost most of her apprehensions of the natives, and could
laugh with her husband and play with her child almost as freely as
before the late events. Everybody, indeed, was in high spirits, the
launching of the schooner being regarded as a thing that would give them
complete command of the adjacent seas.

The passage was short, a fresh breeze blowing, and four hours after
quitting the cliffs, the Neshamony was under the lee of Cape South, and
heading for the principal inlet. As the craft glided along, in perfectly
smooth water now, Mark noted the changes that time was making on those
rocks, which had so lately emerged from the depths of the ocean. The
prairie, in particular, was every way worthy of his attention. A mass of
sea-weed, which rested on a sort of stratum of mud immediately after the
eruption, had now been the favourite pasturage of the hogs for more than
a twelvemonth. These hogs