After some further questioning from the officials, a Bible was required for the captain to take an oath.  Mine was mislaid, and there was none at hand.

“Confound it!” muttered the old sailor, tossing over the papers in his desk; “that scoundrel, Sam, always stows my traps out of the way.”  Then taking up from the table a book which I had been reading, which happened to be Voltaire’s History of Charles XII., he presented it, with as grave an air as he could assume, to the Frenchman.  Taking for granted that it was the volume required, the little doctor was too polite to open the book, the captain was duly sworn, and the party returned to the deck.

Here a new difficulty occurred, which nearly ended in a serious quarrel.  The gentlemen requested the old sailor to give them a few feet of old planking, to repair some damage which their boat had sustained the day before.  This the captain could not do.  They seemed to think his refusal intentional, and took it as a personal affront.  In no very gentle tones, they ordered him instantly to prepare his boats, and put his passengers on shore.

“Stiff breeze—­short sea,” returned the bluff old seaman; “great risk in making land—­boats heavily laden with women and children will be swamped.  Not a soul goes on shore this night.”

“If you refuse to comply with our orders, we will report you to the authorities.”

“I know my duty—­you stick to yours.  When the wind falls off, I’ll see to it.  Not a life shall be risked to please you or your authorities.”

He turned upon his heel, and the medical men left the vessel in great disdain.  We had every reason to be thankful for the firmness displayed by our rough commander.  That same evening we saw eleven persons drowned, from another vessel close beside us while attempting to make the shore.

By daybreak all was hurry and confusion on board the Anne.  I watched boat after boat depart for the island, full of people and goods, and envied them the glorious privilege of once more standing firmly on the earth, after two long months of rocking and rolling at sea.  How ardently we anticipate pleasure, which often ends in positive pain!  Such was my case when at last indulged in the gratification so eagerly desired.  As cabin passengers, we were not included in the general order of purification, but were only obliged to send our servant, with the clothes and bedding we had used during the voyage, on shore, to be washed.

The ship was soon emptied of all her live cargo.  My husband went off with the boats, to reconnoitre the island, and I was left alone with my baby in the otherwise empty vessel.  Even Oscar, the Captain’s Scotch terrier, who had formed a devoted attachment to me during the voyage, forgot his allegiance, became possessed of the land mania, and was away with the rest.  With the most intense desire to go on shore, I was doomed to look and long and envy every boatful of emigrants that glided past.  Nor was this all;