AN ANNOYING DELAY 199 



ever before been in this corner of the world. When 

 darkness came on, a heavy rain set in, and without 

 being able to see anything at all, we lay there feeling 

 our way all night. With the appearance of daylight 

 a fresh south-west wind came and swept away most 

 of the rain, so that we could again make out the land. 

 We decided that what we saw was the middle promon- 

 tory, Tasman Head, and gaily set our course into 

 Storm Bay — as we thought. With the rapidly 

 strengthening breeze we went spinningly, and the 

 possibility of reaching Hobart in a few hours began 

 to appear as a dead certainty. With this comfortable 

 feeling we had just sat down to the breakfast table 

 in the fore-saloon, when the door was pulled open with 

 what seemed unnecessary violence, and the face of the 

 officer of the watch appeared in the doorway. " We're 

 on the wrong side of the head," was the sinister message, 

 and the face disappeared. Good-bye to our pleasant 

 plans, good-bye to our breakfast! All hands went 

 on deck at once, and it was seen only too well that 

 the melancholy information was correct. We had 

 made a mistake in the thick rain. The wind, that 

 had now increased to a stiff breeze, had chased the 

 rain-clouds from the tops of the hills, and on the point 

 we had taken for Tasman Head, we now saw the 

 lighthouse. It was therefore Tasman Island, and 

 instead of being in Storm Bay, we were out in the 

 open Pacific, far to leeward of the infamous headland. 



