itherto.

The temperament of Ernest and Frank was of another kind. Their natures
were much less excitable, and it did not appear that the recent
arrivals had altered their outward demeanor in the slightest degree;
they continued calm, staid, and reflective, as they had ever been.

All four were a singular mixture of the child and the man--knowing
many things that young people are ignorant of, they were yet almost
totally unacquainted with the ordinary attributes of social
life--unsophisticated and naive to an extreme degree, they would have
appeared in a fashionable drawing-room downright fools. On the other
hand, they possessed great clearness of perception, presence of mind
in danger, promptitude in action, and the utmost coolness in the face
of apparently insurmountable obstacles--qualities that would have
utterly confounded the young men who shine in the saloons of Europe,
whose chief merit often consists in their being familiar with the
unmeaning conventionalisms of fashionable life.

At Prospect Hill they found the outhouses and plantations in much the
same position as at Waldeck. Here the crimson flowers of the caper
plant, the white flowers of the tea plant, and the rich blossoms of
the clove tree, perfumed the air and promised a fragrant harvest. This
was a charming caravansary, all ready with its smiles to welcome the
illustrious colonists as soon as they presented themselves.

These points being settled to the satisfaction of the three pioneers,
a sheep was taken on board the pinnace at the request of Willis--who
seemed to have taken a violent fancy for mutton chops--and they set
sail towards the east.

In the first instance they made for a projecting head-land that seemed
to bar their progress in that direction, and, much to the astonishment
of the Pilot, they entered a cavern that formed the entrance to a
natural tunnel. This, besides being an interesting feature in the
coast scenery, was one of the treasures of the colony, for it
contained vast quantities of edible birds' nests, so much prized by
the Chinese. The voyagers did not, however, tarry here; these were not
the objects they were now in search of. Nautilus Bay and the Bay of
Pearls were likewise traversed unheeded, nor could the attractive
banks of the St. John, fringed with verdant foliage, divert them from
the project they had in contemplation.

Wise men, when they indulge in folly, are often more foolish than real
fools; so it was with Wi