king my hand,
followed close at my heels.

"I do not quite like the look of the weather," observed Mr Sedgwick,
glancing back at the sea. "I wish I had told them on board the brig to
get out another anchor; or it might have been safer, to be sure, to
stand out into the offing. Stay; there will be no harm in giving them a
caution."

He went back to the beach and hailed; but the boat was already at a
considerable distance, and Tarbox did not appear to hear him.

"Well, I hope it is all right," he observed. "I have often seen this
weather, and nothing has come of it. At the same time, it generally
looks like this just before a heavy gale; and this open bay is not a
good place for a vessel to be caught in when it blows hard."

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

SEDGWICK ISLAND AND ITS WONDERS.

Our uncle introduced us to his house with evident pride. He and his man
Tanda had bestowed a great deal of pains on it. It was constructed
entirely after the Malay fashion--of wood, bamboo, and matting, though
raised higher off the ground than the Malays are accustomed to build
theirs. The floors were of split bamboo, sufficiently strong to bear a
person's weight, and yet giving a pleasant spring as we passed over
them. They were kept in their place by long strips of ratan, passed
transversely between them, much in the way of a cane-bottom chair. Over
these mats were spread--not so neatly made, perhaps, as those employed
by the wealthy Malays, but still very well done. The walls were made of
the palm-leaves which I have before described, fixed in panels, very
neat and pleasing to the eye, and perfectly weather-tight. The roof was
high pitched, and had broad overhanging eaves, giving it very much the
appearance of a Swiss cottage. A broad verandah ran round each side of
the house, the rooms opening into it. They were divided from each other
by thick mats stretched from the ceiling to the floor, and could be
lifted up at pleasure to allow the air to circulate in every direction.
It would have been impossible to build with the materials at hand an
abode better suited to the purpose.

"Here, Frau, you and your young ladies shall occupy these two
apartments," said my uncle to Frau Ursula, who stood smiling from ear to
ear at the polite way in which he addressed her. "You shall have
bedsteads brought in directly; and I must leave you to arrange them,
while Tanda and I get supper ready. The lads here and the sailor will
no dou