I hadn't the heart to protest against this new form of extravagance at such a moment. In fact, I almost suggested taking Joey with us there and then, and was greatly surprised that Molly had not thought of it herself! "All ashore!" cried Captain Morgan, breezily. The handshakings, the embraces and the kisses ceased; the gangway was drawn up; the engines throbbed; and the good ship swung slowly round and pointed its bow to the south. From the eastern horizon the sun suddenly shot its golden arrows of light. At the same moment our two aeroplanes rose from the centre of the island and came roaring overhead. All was commotion and noise. Below deck, we even heard the sharp bark of a male gorilla and the shrill cry of a female. The 'planes sped swiftly out to sea, until they were mere specks; the land, with its cheering and gesticulating crowd of blacks, slipped slowly away; the native craft contracted into tiny toy boats--now peeping at us from the tops of white crests of foam, now hiding in the trough of the waves. Gradually, we became a little, isolated community, afloat on the open sea. The terrors and hardships of the jungle and the queer, half-dream-like quality of the life we had led on Corisco resolved themselves into mere memories. Our mental outlook changed with the physical. We might almost have been aboard a steamer _en route_ from England to France! Romance was dying; the glory of conquest was departing; adventure was dead. Henceforth, our task would be merely the commonplace one of spectators. Except for Sally Rebecca, we should now have to be content with watching others tread the paths of danger and excitement. And when that was finished--what then? Would life become ordinary and respectable and safe again, or would it open into vistas of still greater accomplishments? "You look miserable, George!" said Gran'pa, breaking into my thoughts. "I am! I'm loath to leave. It is as if Fate has written '_Finis_' and only blank pages are left in the Book of Life. . . ." "Nonsense! This is merely the 'Introduction.'" "It's all very well for you," I complained. "You and Sally Rebecca are just beginning." "Your time will come later!" "The zest will have gone by then." "Did it with me?" "No! But you're different. . . ." "We're of the same flesh, George! You'll be just as keen when you're my age. Cheer up, old man!" It was poor comfort to suggest that I ought to look forward to growing old in order that I might become young again, but it was typical of Gran'pa's strange outlook on life. He revelled in his aged youthfulness, and I believe that he felt really sorry for merely young people. "It's such an anticlimax," I complained. "Sneaking back with only a couple of dozen pairs of monkey glands after all our adventures and excitements."