96 CAPTAIN COOK 



death of two of his children. On the eve of the 

 departure of the Endeavour, in 1768, his wife 

 had given birth to a son, which did not live, and 

 his only daughter, named Elizabeth after her 

 mother, had died recently at the age of four. 

 It is the lot of sailors to find gaps round their 

 fireside when they return from their long wan- 

 derings round the world. Cook did not rail at 

 fate. He tenderly embraced his young wife, still 

 so sweetly fair, and his two little boys. What 

 wonderful things he had brought back for them, 

 and what stories he had to tell! 



Elizabeth was proud. The reputation of her 

 husband had spread all over England. All the 

 newspapers spoke of him; illustrious personages 

 wrote to him; Ministers received him. 



Away in the depths of Yorkshire, in the little 

 village of Great Ayton, there was an old man 

 of nearly eighty who was very proud too. This 

 was Cook's old father, who had been a widower 

 for three years, and who had not seen his son 

 for many long years. Life had been frequently 

 unhappy at Great Ayton. Of the eight children 

 of the Cooks, five were dead. But James's glory 

 was enough to atone for the sorrows. Cook was 

 overjoyed when he was told that his son had dis- 

 covered islands larger than Yorkshire and coun- 

 tries greater than the whole of England. "I 

 was quite right to send him to Staithes to Mr. 



