letters of the elder portion of our party contained but a description of
Gibraltar, which is well known to most people. Sybil's letter was as
follows:--

"_Gibraltar, May 16, 18--_

"MY DEAREST MAMMA AND SISTERS,

"Here we are safe on dry land again, and who would have believed a
fortnight ago that we should have been so glad to get out of our dear La
Luna. But we don't make half such good sailors as we expected; and how
Em would have laughed could she have seen all the queer looks and sad
faces which possessed the merry party she had so lately seen. But here
we are really on dry land, and at Gibraltar, at the summit of all our
present hopes, and charmed enough to make us forget all the horrors of
the sea, and even think we could undergo them twenty times for such a
sight. We came into the harbour last night, and landed as soon as we
could collect our wits, and mother collect us; Madame has been at
Gibraltar before, and so ought to have had the use of hers, but knowing
her propensity to lose her way, we made Hargrave look after her, while
we three elder girls each took a little child. Both the mothers looked
after our things. The boys and Jenny were left behind. So we landed just
before gun fire, passing through the long rows of houses, which looked
so strange to our wondering eyes, piled one above the other, and as we
were passed and stared at by numbers of odd queer-looking people, we
quite fancied ourselves in a dream, or realizing the Arabian Nights. At
last we halted at our hotel. Our sailors deposited our boxes, and seemed
to wish us good night with sorrow. We had a famous tea, if I may so call
such an odd mixture of eatables, and went to bed, hardly believing we
could be in Gibraltar. This morning we were awoke by some little voices
round our beds--'Oh, auntie, dear auntie, do get up; this is such a
lovely place, and so odd. There are such rocks, and oh, auntie, such
queer people. I saw a man in a turban, and there is a black man in the
house, and----' 'Hush, little nieces, how are aunties to get up, if you
chatter so? rather help us to dress, that we may see the wonderful
things too.' We found our two mothers in the pretty drawing room. Three
large windows looked out upon the busy town and blue sea below. The
little mother was out in the balcony, in a perfect ecstasy of delight.
A call to breakfast was obeyed, though we could hardly eat, the chicks
jumping up every min