The Castaways of the Flag (4 page)

           
After
rounding the False Hope Point the
Unicorn
sailed westward before the
wind and came down to the south again, leaving the island of Burning Rock to
her starboard. Before finally leaving New Switzerland Lieutenant Littlestone
decided to reconnoitre its eastern coast as well, in order to satisfy himself
that it really was an isolated island in these seas, and to form an approximate
idea of the size of a colony which would soon be included among the island
dominions of Great Britain. As soon as he had done this, the corvette, with a
fair wind behind her, left the island to the north-west, after getting little
more than a glimpse of its southern portion through the haze and fog.

           
Fortune
favoured the first few weeks of the voyage. The passengers on the
Unicorn
were
delighted with the weather, as well as with the cordial treatment which they
received from the commander and the other officers. When they all met at table
in the officers' mess, or under the awning on the poop, the conversation
generally turned upon the wonders of New Switzerland. If the corvette met with
nothing to delay her they all hoped to see it again within the year.

           
Fritz and
Jenny often talked of Colonel Montrose, and of the gladness that would be his
when he clasped in his arms the daughter whom he had thought he would never see
again. For three years no news had been received of the
Dorcas,
whose
loss with nearly all hands had been confirmed, by the survivors who had been
taken to Sydney. But when they reached England Jenny would present to her
father the man who had rescued her, and would beg him to bless their union.

           
As for Frank,
though Dolly Wolston was only fourteen, it would not be without a bitter pang
that he would leave her at Cape Town, and keen would be his longing to come
back to her side!

           
After
crossing the Tropic, off the Isle of France, the
Unicorn
encountered
less favourable winds. These delayed her arrival at her port until the 17th of
December, two months after her departure from New Switzerland.

           
The corvette
came to anchor in the harbour of Cape Town, where she was to remain for a week.

           
One of the
first visitors to come aboard was James Wolston. He knew that his father,
mother, and two sisters had taken passages on the
Unicorn,
and his
disappointment can be imagined at finding that there was only one sister for
him to meet. Dolly presented Fritz and Frank Zermatt to him.

           
"Your
father and mother and sister Hannah are living in New Switzerland now, Mr.
Wolston," Fritz told him; "an unknown island on which my family was
cast twelve years ago, after the wreck of the
Landlord.
They have
decided to remain there and expect you to join them. When she comes back from
Europe the
Unicorn
will take you and your wife and child to our island,
if you are willing to go with us."

           
"When is
the corvette due back at the Cape?" James Wolston enquired.

           
"In eight
or nine months," Fritz replied, "and she will go from here to New
Switzerland where the British flag will be flying. My brother Frank and I have
availed ourselves of this opportunity to take back to London the daughter of
Colonel Montrose who, we hope, will consent to come and settle with her in our
second fatherland."

           
"And
with you too, Fritz dear; for you will have become his son," Jenny added,
giving him her hand.

           
'' That is my
most ardent wish, Jenny dear,'' said Fritz.

           
"And we
and our parents do very much want you to bring your family and settle in New
Switzerland," Dolly Wolston added.

           
"You
must insist on the fact, Dolly," Frank declared, "that our island is
the most wonderful island that has ever appeared above the sea."

           
"James
will be the first to agree, when he has seen it," Dolly answered.
"When once you have set foot in New Switzerland, and stayed at Rock Castle
–"

           
"And
roosted at Falconhurst, eh, Dolly?" said Jenny, laughing.

           
"Yes,
roosted," the little girl replied; "well, then you will never want to
leave New Switzerland again!"

           
"You
hear Mr. Wolston?" said Fritz.

           
"I hear,
M. Zermatt," James Wolston answered. "To settle in your island and
open up its first commercial relations with Great Britain is a proposition that
I find peculiarly inviting. My wife and I will talk about it, and if we decide
to go we will wind up our affairs and hold ourselves in readiness to embark
upon the
Unicorn
when she comes back to Cape Town. I am sure Susan will
not hesitate."

           
"I will
do whatever my husband wishes," Mrs. Wolston said.

           
Fritz and
Frank shook James Wolston's hand warmly as Dolly kissed her sister-in-law.

           
"While
the corvette stays here," James Wolston then explained, "we expect you
all to accept the hospitality of our house. That will be the best way to knit
our friendship, and we will talk as much as you please about New
Switzerland."

           
Naturally the
passengers on the
Unicorn
accepted this invitation in the spirit in
which it had been offered.

           
An hour later
Mr. and Mrs. James Wolston received their guests. Fritz and Frank were given a
room between them, and Jenny shared the one allotted to Dolly, as she had
shared her cabin during the voyage.

           
Mrs. James
Wolston was a young woman of twenty-four, gentle, intelligent, and devoted to
her husband. He was an earnest and active man, very much like his father. They
had one boy, Bob, now five years old, whom they adored.

           
During the
ten days that the
Unicorn
remained in the port, from the 17th to the
27th of December, little was talked about but New Switzerland, the events of
which it had been the stage, the various works undertaken, and the many
contrivances and improvements effected on the island. The subject was never
exhausted. Dolly would expatiate on all these wonderful things, and Frank would
encourage her to go on, and even find fault with her for not saying enough.
Then Jenny Montrose would embroider the tale, to Fritz's keen delight.

           
In a word,
the time sped, and James Wolston and his wife quite made up their minds to
leave the Cape for New Switzerland. During the voyage of the corvette home and
out again, Wolston would employ himself winding up his affairs and realising
his capital; he would be ready to start directly the
Unicorn
reappeared;
and he would be one of the first emigrants to the island.

           
The last
good-byes had to be said at length, with the comforting reflection that in
another eight or nine months they would be at Cape Town again, and that then
they would all put to sea together, outward bound for New Switzerland.
Nevertheless, the parting was a painful one. Jenny Montrose and Susan Wolston
mingled their kisses and tears, to which Dolly's were added. The child was much
distressed by Frank's departure, and his heart, too, was heavy, for he had
grown very fond of her. As he and his brother clasped James Wolston's hand they
could assure themselves that they were leaving there a true friend indeed.

           
The
Unicorn
put to sea on the 27th, in somewhat overcast weather. Her passage was of
average length. For several weeks winds varied from north-west to south-west.
The corvette spoke Saint Helena, Ascension, and the Cape Verde Islands. Then,
after passing in sight of the Canaries and Azores, off the coasts of Portugal
and France, she came up the Channel, rounded the Isle of Wight, and, on the
14th of February, dropped anchor at Portsmouth.

           
Jenny
Montrose wanted to start at once for London, where her aunt lived. If the
Colonel were on active service she would not find him there, since the campaign
for which he had been recalled from India might have lasted for several years.
But if he had retired, he would have settled near his sister-in-law, and it
would be there that he would at length set eyes again upon her whom he believed
to have perished in the wreck of the
Dorcas.

           
Fritz and
Frank offered to escort Jenny to London, whither business called them also, and
Fritz naturally wanted to meet Colonel Montrose soon. So all three set out the
same evening, and arrived in London during the morning of the 23rd.

           
But bitter
grief fell upon Jenny Montrose. She learned from her aunt that the colonel had
died during his last campaign, without the happiness of knowing that the
daughter whom he had mourned for was still alive.

           
After coming
back from the far waters of the Indian Ocean to embrace her father, hoping
never to part from him again, to present her saviour to him, and to beg for his
consent to their union and his blessing on it, Jenny would never see him more!

           
Her distress
was great. In vain her aunt lavished on her words of consolation; in vain Fritz
sorrowed with her. The blow was too cruel. She had never even thought of the
possibility that her father might be dead.

           
A few days
later, in a conversation broken by tears and regrets, Jenny said to him:

           
"Fritz, dear
Fritz, we have just experienced the bitterest of misfortunes, you and I. If you
have not changed your mind at all –"

           
"Oh,
Jenny, my darling!" Fritz exclaimed.

            "
Yes,
I know,'' said Jenny,'' and my father would have been happy to call you his
son. I am sure he would have wanted to go with us and share our life in the new
English colony. But I must give up that happiness. I am alone in the world now,
and have only myself to depend upon! Alone t No, no! You are there,
Fritz."

           
"Jenny,"
said the young man, "the whole of my life shall be devoted to your
happiness."

           
"And
mine to yours, Fritz dear! But since my father is no longer here to give us his
consent, since I have no near relations living, and since yours is the only
family I can call my own –"

           
"You
have belonged to it three years already, Jenny dear, ever since the day when I
found you on Burning Rock."

           
"I love
them all, and they love me, Fritz! Well, in a few months more we shall be with them
all again; we shall be back –"

           
"Married,
Jenny?"

           
"Yes,
Fritz, if you wish it, since you have your father's consent and my aunt will
not refuse me hers."

           
"Jenny,
dear Jenny!" Fritz exclaimed, falling on his knees beside her. "Our
plans will not be changed at all, and I shall take back my wife to my father
and mother."

           
Jenny
Montrose remained henceforth in her aunt's house, where Fritz and Frank came
€very day to see her. Meanwhile all the necessary arrangements were made for
the celebration of the marriage within the briefest time that the law
permitted.

           
But there was
other business of some importance to be attended to, business which had been
the purpose of the two brothers in coming to Europe.

           
There was the
sale of the various articles of value collected on the island, the coral
gathered on Whale Island, the pearls taken from the bay, the nutmegs and the
vanilla. M. Zermatt had not been mistaken about their market value. They
produced the considerable sum of eight thousand pounds sterling.