English letters of marque--the barque _Centurion_
of Bristol and the barque _Gratitude_ of London. They at once closed in
upon and engaged us, and although the Frenchmen made a good fight,
they had to strike after a quarter of an hour's engagement, for the
_Centurion_ was a very heavily armed ship.

"Her captain was a very old man named Richard Glass. He came on board
the _Britannia_ and spoke very good-humouredly to the French lieutenant,
for on neither side had any one been killed, and he saw that the
_Britannia_ was a fine ship. He told the Frenchmen to take the longboat,
and as much provisions and water as they liked, and make for the coast,
which was less than seventy miles distant. This was soon done, and
our former captors parted from us very good friends, every one of
them coming up and shaking hands with Robert Eury and calling him _bon
camarade_.

"Captain Glass put his own chief officer in charge of the _Britannia_
(with Robert as his mate) and ordered him to proceed to Port Jackson and
await the arrival there of the _Centurion_ and her consort. We arrived
at our destination safely, and as soon as my story was known many kind
people wanted to adopt me; but the agent of the _Britannia_ took me
to his own home, where I lived for many happy years as a member of his
family. Robert Eury was then appointed mate of a vessel in the China
trade, but I saw him every year. Then when I was seventeen years of age
he asked me to marry him, and I did so gladly, for he was always present
in my thoughts when he was away, and I knew he loved me."

III

"My husband invested his savings in a small schooner, which he named the
_Taunton_ and within a month of our marriage we were at sea, bound on
a trading voyage to Tahiti and the Paumotus. This first venture proved
very successful, so did the two following voyages; and then, as he
determined to found a business of his own in the South Seas, he bought a
large piece of land on this island from the natives, with whom he was
on very friendly terms. His reasons for choosing this particular island
were, firstly, because of its excellent situation--midway between Port
Jackson and the Spanish settlements on the South American coast, which
were good markets; secondly, because great numbers of the American
whaling ships would make it a place of call to refresh if there was
a reputable white man living on the island; and thirdly, because he
intended to go into sperm whaling himsel