under any consideration. Even Colonel Deane was snubbed for saying that she could get everything she wanted in New Zealand, for she unkindly reminded him that we had not arrived yet, and most probably never would, since it was more than probable pneumonia would seize her for its own long before we landed!
However that terrible contingency did not occur, and the exquisite perfection of this morning of our arrival banished all thought of the last few days.
Except to me. I regretted them heartily; I thought of a thousand things as yet undiscussed with my friend, and I wished with all my heart that this was Hobart instead of Auckland, that I might still have a few days before we parted. So I watched the haze gradually clearing from the land with a growing resentment against the other passengers, who were loudly lamenting the tardiness of the Port Doctor, without whose sanction we could not leave the ship. Then breakfast was announced, and we took our places at table to an accompaniment of murmurs both deep and shrill, greatly to the amusement of the ship's officers and all the Colonials on board.
“You are in a democratic, live-and-let-live country now!” they said. “Even the dock-lumpers do not commence work until eight o’clock, unless they are paid overtime wages, so that you can scarcely expect a Government official to hurry himself!”
Just then the Chief Steward announced his arrival to the Captain, and handed round letters that had come off with the doctor. There was one for Captain Greendays, which proved to be from some old friend of his in Auckland, and directly he said that he must go to see him Colonel Deane turned to me and asked if he might be my cicerone for that day.
How I blessed Captain Greendays’s unknown friend!
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“Delightful summer days at Teneriffe.”
