he ship now riding
at anchor in the bay a passenger, named Wolston, with his wife and two
daughters. This gentleman was on his way to join his son at the Cape
of Good Hope, but had been taken seriously ill previous to the
_Nelsons_ arrival on the coast. He and his family were invited on
shore by Becker, and had taken up their quarters at Rockhouse.
Wolston was an engineer by profession, but his wife belonged to a
highly aristocratic family of the West of England; she had been
brought up in a state of ease and refinement, was possessed of all the
accomplishments required in fashionable society, but she was at the
same time gifted with strong good sense, and could readily accommodate
herself to the circumstances in which she was now placed. Her two
daughters, Sophia the youngest, a lively child of thirteen, and Mary
the eldest, a demure girl of sixteen, had been likewise carefully, but
somewhat elaborately, educated. Attracted no less by the hearty and
warm reception of the Swiss family, than determined by the state of
his health and the pure air of the country, Wolston resolved to await
there the return of the sloop, the official destination of which was
the Cape of Good Hope, where it had to land despatches from Sidney.

Captain Littlestone, of H.B.M.'s sloop _Nelson_, had kindly consented
to all these arrangements; he agreed to convey Ernest and Frank Becker
and their cargo to the Cape, to aid them there with his experience,
and, finally, to recommend them to some trustworthy correspondents he
had at Liverpool. He likewise promised to bring back young Wolston
with him on his return voyage.

Everything being prepared, the departure was fixed for the next day:
the sloop, with the blue Peter at the fore, was ready, as soon as the
anchor was weighed, to continue her voyage. The cargo had been stowed
under hatches. Becker had just given the farewell dinner to Captain
Littlestone and Lieutenant Dunsley, his second in command. These two
gentlemen had discreetly taken their leave, not to interrupt by their
presence the final embraces of the family, the ties of which, after so
many long years of labor and hardship, were for the first time to be
broken asunder.

During the voyage, Wolston had formed an intimacy with the boatswain
of the _Nelson_, named Willis, and he, on his side, held Wolston and
his family in high esteem. Willis was likewise a great favorite with
his captain--they had served in the same ship together when b