Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/217

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 211 ever, provided his body was not directly exposed to the sun s rays. Nor was the difference in the temperature between the Reef and the Peak, as marked as might have been expected from the great elevation of the last. This was owing to the circumstance that the sea air, and that usually in swift motion, entered so intimately into the composition of the atmosphere down on that low range of rocks, imparting its customary freshness to everything it passed over. Mark did not make the next trip to Rancocus. By this time Anne passed half the day in the open air, and was so fast regaining her strength that Heaton did not hesitate to leave her. The doctor had left many things behind him, that he much wished to see embarked in person, and he volunteered to be the companion of Socrates, on this occa sion, leaving the bridegroom behind, with his bride. By this time Heaton himself was a reasonably good sailor, and to him Mark confided the instructions as to the course to be steered, and the distance to be run. All resulted fa vourably, the Neshamony making the trip in very good time, bringing into the cove, the fourth day after she had sailed, not only the remaining cow, and her calf, but seve ral of the goats. Convinced he might now depend on Heaton and Socrates to sail the pinnace, and Anne ex pressing a perfect willingness to remain on the Peak, in company with Teresa and Dido, Mark resolved to proceed to the crater with his two Bridgets, feeling the propriety of no longer neglecting the property in that quarter of his dominions. There was nothing to excite apprehension, and the women had all acquired a certain amount of reso lution that more properly belonged to their situation than to their sex or nature. Anne s great object of concern was the baby. As long as that was safe, everything with her was going on well ; and Dido being a renowned baby doctor, and all the simples for a child s ailings being in the possession of the young mother, she raised no objection whatever to her brother s quitting her. Bridget had great impatience to make this voyage, for she longed to see the spot where her husband had passed so many days in solitude. Everything he had mentioned, in their many conferences on this subject, was already fa- 1