142 CAPTAIN COOK 



State of health of the crew of the Resolution was 

 excellent. During his three months' stay in 

 Queen Charlotte Sound he had not a single case 

 of illness on board. 



On the day before his departure Cook wrote 

 out on paper all the directions and instructions 

 necessary for Captain Furneaux to rejoin the 

 Resolution. He put this paper in a bottle, which 

 he buried at the foot of a tree which stood in the 

 middle of a garden near the shore, and on No- 

 vember 26th he left the Sound, steering towards 

 the ice-bound waters of the southern seas. 



Such was the extraordinary confidence which 

 he inspired in his men that not one of them 

 evinced the slightest discouragement at return- 

 ing to the terrible southern latitudes unaccom- 

 panied by a sister-ship. "The crew," observed 

 Cook, "sailed with as much courage for the 

 South Pole as though we had been convoyed by 

 a fleet." 



On December 6th, at half-past eight in the 

 evening, the Resolution found herself at the 

 antipodes of London, and passed beneath the 

 central arch of London Bridge. The memory 

 of the great capital, of their far-off country, of 

 the dear ones who waited there without news, 

 drew a sigh from the breasts of the brave Eng- 

 lishmen. Cook allowed his mind to rest upon 

 the gentle Elizabeth, his children, his old father. 



