ng the plunge. "Captain
Moore would not let us go ashore at Cape Town, because we were under his
care, and we are so afraid that he will not let us disembark until
Father comes to fetch us, and we are not at all sure that Father knows
we have come."

"You mean that he would not know the boat was in, or that he did not
know by which boat you were to travel?" asked Mr. Wallis in perplexity;
for to him the situation was certainly novel.

"We are not sure that he knows we are in New South Wales," said Nealie,
speaking very slowly and distinctly, under the impression that Mr.
Wallis must be either deaf or stupid, or perhaps a little of both. "Our
guardian, Mr. Runciman, wrote to tell Father that we were being sent out
here to him, and he gave us the letter to post; but by an accident it
got no farther than my second brother's pocket. He is very poetical, and
that of course makes him very absent-minded. We did not find the letter
until we were some days away from Cape Town, and then, after a
consultation, we decided that we would not cable from Perth and we would
not tell the captain, but we would give dear Father the surprise of his
life by walking in upon him one fine day."

"I should think that it would be a surprise, and it is possible that it
may be more than a little inconvenient to him; for you see houses here
are not so commodious and roomy as houses in England, and there are
six--no, seven of you," murmured Mr. Wallis, wondering what Dr.
Plumstead would feel like when this troop of jolly, hearty young people
walked in upon him. Still, confused as he had been by the onslaught of
their riotous greeting, Mr. Wallis could not help admitting to himself
that it had been very delightful to feel the clasp of Sylvia's arms
about his neck, and he could not help wishing that he had children of
his own to love him in that tempestuous but wholly delightful fashion.

"I expect that Father will be so charmed to see us that he will not
think anything about the inconvenience of our numbers," put in Sylvia
confidently; but a chill little wonder crept into the heart of Nealie as
to whether it might not have been better to have waited in England until
their father had said whether he really wished for them to come and join
him in this distant land. However, it was too late now for regrets of
this sort, and the only thing to be done was to go forward, and to be
happy while they could. It was this feeling which made her say to Mr.
Wal