At the rising of the sun Mark was awake.  Springing to his feet, he saw that Rancocus Island was plainly in view.  In the course of the ten hours she had been out, the Neshamony had run about seventy miles, having a square-sail set, in addition to her jib and mainsail.  This brought the mountain for which she was steering within ten leagues, and directly to leeward.  A little impatience was betrayed by the young husband, but, on the whole, he behaved reasonably well.  Mark had never neglected his person, notwithstanding his solitude.  Daily baths, and the most scrupulous attention to his attire, so far as neatness went, had kept him not only in health, but in spirits, the frame of the mind depending most intimately on the condition of the body.  Among other habits, he preserved that of shaving daily.  The cutting of his hair gave him the most trouble, and he had half a mind to get Bob to act as barber on the present occasion.  Then he remembered having seen Bridget once cut the hair of a child, and he could not but fancy how pleasant it would be to have her moving about him, in the performance of the same office on himself.  He decided, consequently, to remain as he was, as regarded his looks, until his charming bride could act as his hair-dresser.  The toilette, however, was not neglected, and, on the whole, there was no reason to complain of the young man’s appearance.  The ship furnished him clothes at will, and the climate rendered so few necessary, that even a much smaller stock than he possessed, would probably have supplied him for life.

When about a league from the northern end of Rancocus Island, Bob set a little flag at his mast-head, the signal, previously arranged, of his having been successful.  Among the stores brought by the party from America, were three regular tents, or marquees, which Heaton purchased at a sale of old military stores, and had prudently brought with him, to be used as occasion might demand.  These marquees were now pitched on a broad piece of low land, that lay between the cliffs and the beach, and where the colony had temporarily established itself.  Mark’s heart beat violently as Bob pointed out these little canvas dwellings to him.  They were the abodes of his friends, including his young wife.  Next the cows appeared, quietly grazing near by, with a pleasant home look, and the goats and colts were not far off, cropping the grass.  Altogether our young man was profoundly overcome again, and it was some time ere he could regain his self-command.  On a point that proved to be the landing-place, stood a solitary female figure.  As the boat drew nearer she extended her arms, and then, as if unable to stand, she sunk on a rock which had served her for a seat ever since the distant sail was visible.  In two more minutes Mark Woolston had his charming young bride encircled in his arms.  The delicacy which kept the others aloof from this meeting, was imitated by Bob, who, merely causing the boat, to brush near the