"Not at all. We have been out on several rough nights in her, and surely, Norfolk is not such a great way off, that we need fear such a voyage in early September. By your leave I will go with you and act as skipper and pilot, and then, having taken you safely home, will resume my post as King of Jethou. What do you say?" "But the 'Anglo-Franc' is too small, my good sir." "Perhaps so; but in a week we can lengthen her, and by adding a couple of strakes to her upper works she will carry a ton more than she does now, if it should be necessary." "Agreed, Alec. Your hand! Good thought!" The more I turned it over in my mind the better I liked the project. Why not lengthen and strengthen her at once? Without delay we would set about it; but to make sure that my father would not send a vessel for me, I would write him a line. As with my former letter, brevity marked my epistle. "_Jethou_, "_August 21st, 18--._ "DEAR FATHER, "All's well. I hope to arrive home about September 10th, and trust to find you all well. "Your affectionate Son, "HARRY NILFORD." Then, launching the boat, I instructed Alec to take the letter to Herm, so that the first boat crossing would take it to the St. Peter Port post office. I stood and watched him as he neared the little pier at the landing place of Herm, and before he had arrived within two hundred yards of the place, the whole population--men, women, and children--turned out to see him. I am not sure but that the _entire_ population was waiting to receive him, for I could only count twelve persons. I think they could not muster more than two or three more, all told, so that his reception was a grand one. Having instructions from me not to land, he handed the letter up in a cleft stick, and pushing off a boat's length, had a chat with the natives. "They all spoke at once," said he, "and would not give me time enough to answer their questions, so they got very little information from me. There was one very nice girl there though, that I should like to know, and when I get back from England, I think I shall try and see her parents, for I shall be very lonely all by myself, when you are gone." Poor fellow! He had fallen in love at first sight with a vengeance. But it is just like we poor men; we are no sooner in possession of enough means to live comfortably upon, than we are sure to want to share it with someone else, providing the someone else is a pretty and loveable woman. Right away from the Creation it has been the same. Adam and Eve set us young fellows an example that it seems will never die out--at least I hope not till we have all found Eves to our liking.