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And then there was singing, more singing, until it bade fair to be morning before they slept, and the little teacher was weary indeed when she lay down on the cot in Mom Wallis's room, after having knelt beside the old woman and prayed.
In the afternoon of the 22d, a very light breeze sprung up from the eastward, with which we endeavoured to get within Wallis's island; we sounded frequently, but had no ground with 130 fathoms of line: this situation was truly distressing, for although we had every thing set, we could not force the ship more than a knot and a half through the water, and had the mortification to see that we were driving to the westward: about two o'clock the breeze freshened up a little, and although we were within three miles of anchorage in Gower's harbour, we saw plainly we could not fetch it; however I had hope, as Carteret's harbour is laid down in the chart four leagues to leeward of it, that we might with ease get in there; we had a boat in shore at this time sounding, and it was the general opinion, that unless we bore away soon, we should not run the distance before dark, we therefore made the signal for the boat, and bore away.
"It is brave of you to confess all this, Florence, and I think none the worse of you for doing so, and if you pray against this feeling it will not increase, dear. Now go away and prepare for your French paper. By the way, a special master is coming twice a week now to coach all three of you. This has been done by Sir John Wallis's orders. Go away now, dear, and work."
It was evident how little the women were used to the sight of anything tolerable, by the effect which a man of decent appearance produced. Modest Sir Walter! He was not allowed to escape, however. His daughter and Mrs Clay united in hinting that Colonel Wallis's companion might have as good a figure as Colonel Wallis, and certainly was not sandy-haired.
Wallis's Islands bore S. by W. 1/2 W., distant five or six miles, the islands to the northward extended from S. 73 E. to N. 10 E., and a small island, which was just in sight, bore N.W. 1/2 W. Here we found the flood-tide set to the westward, and the ebb to the eastward.
Our depth of water in the streight was from four to nine fathom, with every where good anchorage, except upon the bank, which lies two leagues to the northward of Wallis's Islands, where at low water there are but three fathom: For a more particular knowledge of this streight, and of the situations of the several islands and shoals on the eastern coast of New Wales, I refer to the chart where they are delineated with all the accuracy that circumstances would admit; yet, with respect to the shoals, I cannot pretend that one half of them are laid down, nor can it be supposed possible that one half of them should be discovered in the course of a single navigation: Many islands also must have escaped my pencil, especially between latitude 20° and 22°, where we saw islands out at sea as far as an island could be distinguished; it must not therefore be supposed, by future navigators, that where no shoal or island is laid down in my chart, no shoal or island will be found in these seas: It is enough that the situation of those that appear in the chart is faithfully ascertained, and, in general, I have the greatest reason to hope that it will be found as free from error as any that has not been corrected by subsequent and successive observations.
In a few minutes' time Mom Wallis's astonished old gray locks lay soft and fluffy about her face, and pinned in a smooth coil behind, instead of the tight knot, making the most wonderful difference in the world in her old, tired face. "Now look!" said Margaret, and turned her about to the mirror. "If there's anything at all you don't like about it I can change it, you know.
Clavering hastened away, and all the girls of the Upper school, seven in all, presently found themselves seated by their desks, busily answering Sir John Wallis's questions on the reign of Queen Elizabeth. When Mrs.
Wallis's "Arithmetic of Infinites," Sanderson's "Logic," and the "Optics" of Kepler, were among the books which he studied with care; and he is reported to have found himself more deeply versed in some branches of knowledge than the tutor who directed his studies.
Gardley himself had been a far errand for Jasper Kemp, and had taken this short trail back because it cut off several miles and he was weary. Also, he was anxious to stop in Ashland and leave Mom Wallis's request that Margaret would spend the next Sabbath at the camp and see the new curtains.
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