o lunch on board the yacht. Whilst I was still lying down to
rest I heard a bustle on deck as if the dinghy were being lowered, and
as I wanted to send a message on shore I called to them to stop. In
reply they told me that 'Sir Roger' was swimming off to the yacht, and
that not a moment must be lost in trying to save him. It did not tend
to calm my fears when Mrs. Stevens told me that the bay was perfectly
full of sharks, and that she herself had lost a fine dog not a month
ago under similar circumstances. Poor old 'Sir Roger' swam bravely
out, keeping his head well above the water; but what with the fear of
the strong current dashing him against the sharp coral reefs, and the
dread of seeing him dragged under by the snags of a ferocious shark, I
spent a bad quarter of an hour. At last I saw him pulled safely into
the boat. I have been so ill lately, and necessarily left so much
alone when the others were on shore, that my dog has become more than
ever a companion to me, and never leaves my chair or bed for an
instant if he can possibly help it. He had been fairly driven away
this morning to accompany Tom on his long walk to the lighthouse, for
I knew the outing would do him good. Halfway up the hill he refused to
follow any further, and bolted back, in a straight line, to the beach,
and had actually swum more than halfway to the yacht before he was
picked up. I should hardly have thought a dog could identify the
vessel at so great a distance.

Those of the party who had been left on shore came off to a late
lunch, and shortly afterwards we got up our anchor and steamed back
towards Thursday Island. This was again a work of great difficulty,
for the tide ran eight or nine knots an hour, and a stiff gale was
blowing against us. Once or twice, in the narrows, we positively stood
still for five or ten minutes at a time, and the chief engineer was
considerably chaffed about his beloved engines not moving the vessel
ahead at all. We reached our anchorage safely at half-past four, and
soon afterwards many people came off to the yacht. I was too tired to
see them, but I am told they appeared greatly interested in their
inspection. Some of our own party went ashore in the afternoon to
lawn-tennis, and Mr. Milman came back with them to dinner.

[Illustration: Darnley Island; the Shore]

_Thursday, August 25th._--We were to have been off, first at daybreak,
and then at 9 A.M. When Mr. Milman and Mrs. Hunt, the wife of the
mis