Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/326

80 TIIECRATER; the danger was over, and Woolston was not sorry to find that success was obtained without recourse to his batte ries. The ship went immediately alongside of the natural quay, and her people poured ashore, in a crowd, the instant a plank could be run out, in order to enable them to do so, In an hour the cows were landed, and were grazing in the crater, where the grass was knee-high, and everything pos sessing life was out of the ship, the rats and cock-roaches perhaps excepted. As for the enemy, no one now cared for them. The man aloft said they could be seen, paddling away as if for life, and already too far for pursuit. It would have been easy enough for the vessels to cut off the fugitives by going into the offing again, but this was not the desire of any there, all being too happy to be rid of them, to take my steps to prolong the intercourse. Great was the delight of the colonists to be once more on the land. Under ordinary circumstances, the immi grants might not have seen so many charms in the Reef and crater, and hog-lot; but five months at sea have a powerful influence in rendering the most barren spot beau tiful. Barrenness, however, was a reproach that could no longer be justly applied to the group, and most especially to those portions of it which had received the attention of its people. Even trees were beginning to be numerous, thousands of them having been planted, some for their fruits, some for their wood, and others merely for the shade. Of willows, alone, Socrates with his own hand had set out more than five thousand, the operation being simply that of thrusting the end of a branch into the mud. Of the rapidity of the growth, it is scarcely necessary to speak ; though it quadrupled that known even to the most fertile regions of America. Here, then, was Mark once more at home, after so long a passage. There was his ship, too, well freighted with a hundred things, all of which would contribute to the com fort and well-being of the colonists ! It was a moment when the governor s heart was overflowing with gratitude, and could he then have taken Bridget and his children in his arms, the cup of happiness would have been full. Brid get was not forgotten, however, for in less than half an hour after the ship was secured, Belts sailed in the Nesha-