our dress, made them no doubt guess that we were wild men of the woods; for at last one of the crew on board held up knives and glass beads, which I knew the wild tribes of the New World were fond of. This made us laugh, but we would not as yet draw nigh to the ship, as we thought we ought to meet our new friends in our best trim.
We then gave a shout and a wave of the hand, and shot off round the cape as fast as our boat would take us. We soon got back to Rock House, where our dear ones were on the look out for us. My wife said we had done quite right to come back, but Jane thought we should have found out who they were.
That night none of us slept well; our guest thought there might now be a change for her to reach her home, and she dreamt she heard the known voice of her sire call her to come to him. The boys were half crazed with vague hopes and lay for hours ere they went to sleep. My wife and I sat up late to think and talk of the use that might be made of this chance. We felt that we were now full of years, and should not like in our age to leave the place where we had spent the best part of our lives; still we might do some trade with the land from which the ship came; if it were but known that we were here, and we might hear news of our dear Swiss home.
