left, and that as soon as he could obtain fresh provisions and water, he
had again sailed in search of him. The _Eolus_ had come round by the
Cape, and had not entered the Pacific till three weeks after the
_Dragon_.

Jack agreed to wait till the _Eolus_ could take in provisions and water.
The feeling with which the unjustifiable capture of Tahiti by the
French had been regarded by the English had by this time subsided; and,
the officers of the two ships having been treated with all the civility
the French were able to show, they left the harbour with some regret, as
they were not likely to meet with any place so advanced in civilisation
before they reached Sydney.

A voyage across the Pacific sounds very romantic; but there are often
long distances to be traversed when no land is in sight, and there is
nothing to break the monotony of the voyage. The midshipmen of the two
ships voted it very dull, and began to believe that they should meet
with none of the wonderful adventures which they had anticipated. Mr
Mildmay confessed that he had been dreadfully disappointed; he had
expected everywhere to see bevies of graceful nymphs, dressed in
gossamer robes, their glossy hair decked with wreaths of bright flowers,
and their necks and arms adorned with coral and precious stones; instead
of which, he declared that he had seen only a set of dowdy women with
brown skins and without a particle of beauty to boast of.

"One thing, however, can be said of the inhabitants of these islands,"
observed Jack; "whereas a few years ago they were in heathen darkness,
now, thanks to the exertions of the missionaries, heathenism has
disappeared from all the islands to the southward; and if the people are
not perfect Christians, they are at all events as much so as the great
mass of people in Christendom."

Jack was right; indeed, they found missionaries established at all the
principal islands at which they touched, with large chapels, well-built
schoolhouses, and neat villages; the inhabitants being universally able
to read and write, and many of them being well informed on various
important subjects. After touching at several islands to the south and
west of Tahiti, where not a single heathen remains, the ships steered
for a harbour in one of the islands of the Samoan group. It was here
that a boat's crew of the French navigator, La Perouse, were massacred.
As they approached the islands, no sign of a harbour could be
perceived--lo