very naturally hoping that nothing for a long time to come might compel
them to leave it.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

A HARD TRIAL FOR JACK AND TERENCE--THE DRAGON AND EOLUS SAIL FOR THE
PACIFIC--THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN, VALPARAISO, CALLAO--PERUVIAN
KIDNAPPERS--A STRANGE TALE--SAIL FOR TAHITI--FALL IN WITH A KIDNAPPER--A
FEARFUL ATROCITY--A CORAL ISLAND--TAHITI--ITS PRESENT STATE--SAMOA.

"Those Lords of the Admiralty are the most horribly cruel, tyrannical,
hard-hearted set I ever heard of. Why could they not have appointed
another officer who is not just married? There are numbers of single
men who would have been delighted to take command of the _Dragon_; and
to think of their sending you, my dear, dear Jack, all the way out to
the Pacific, for I don't know how many years, among coral reefs and
cannibals, and all sorts of fearful dangers;" and Mrs Jack Rogers put
her handkerchief to her eyes and sobbed as if her heart would break.
Her husband, who held an official-looking letter, which he had just
read, in his hand, looked as he felt, much distressed; but at the same
time, it never occurred to him that he could possibly refuse the
appointment to the fine new screw-steamer which had just been offered
him, although her destination was the Pacific, and she might be kept out
there three or four years. It was the first trial of his married life--
a very great one--and he had had no other as yet to break him in. He in
vain tried to comfort his young wife; it was very, very hard to them
both; and, indeed, it was very difficult to discover any sort of
comfort, and the more he said the more poor Julia wept.

"Could you not say that, under your circumstances, you would rather be
appointed to the coastguard?" she exclaimed at length; "then you might
stay at home, and I should not be separated from you in the unnatural
way the Admiralty propose."

"It would be equivalent to desiring to be shelved, and I aspire to
become a post-captain and to get my flag some day," answered Jack. "Our
case is not worse than that of many others. Some friends of mine have
been sent off to sea a few days only after they have been married."

"It was a shame, then, and they had no business to go," answered Julia
indignantly. "I wonder how those horrid lords themselves would like
being separated from their wives, unless, as is possible, they are
incapable of feeling the slightest love for them."

"I assure you, my dear Julia, that, though