Page:Helen Leah Reed - Napoleons young neighbour.djvu/24

4 in on one side by a hedge of aloes and prickly pear and on the other by high cliffs and precipices. From one of these cliffs, not far from the house, fell a waterfall, not only beautiful to the eye but on a hot day refreshing to the mind with its cool splash and tinkle.

The owner of The Briars at this time was an Englishman named Balcombe, who was in the service of the government. Besides his servants his household consisted of his wife, his daughters Jane and Betsy, in their early teens, and two little boys much younger. They formed a happy, contented household, living a simple, quiet life, and though the parents were sometimes homesick, the children were very fond of their island abode.

One evening in the middle of October, 1815, the Balcombe children were having a merry time with their parents, when a servant, entering, announced the arrival of two visitors.

"It is the captain of the Icarus," said Mr. Balcombe, turning to his wife, "and another naval officer."

"The man-of-war that came in to-day?" asked one of the children. "We heard the alarm sound from Ladder Hill."