i86 CAPTAIN COOK 



up as though impelled by some irresistible force, 

 and, with eyes burning with a mystic flame, in- 

 stinctive and spontaneous, replied in a single 

 word: "Myself!" 



Lord Sandwich and Sir Hugh Palliser smiled 

 at one another. This reply, which they had fore- 

 seen, fulfilled their secret wishes. Of himself 

 Cook had accepted what they had not dared to 

 offer him. England could rest content. Her 

 finest sailor was once more about to watch over 

 her glory. 



When the King had approved Lord Sand- 

 wich's scheme, Captain Cook was officially ap- 

 pointed commander of the expedition, bearing 

 the date February loth, 1776. 



At the end of the dinner, during which the 

 reply which had bound him had sprung from 

 his heart, Cook had begged his two friends to 

 keep his wife in ignorance of his new respon- 

 sibilities for as long as possible. When Eliza- 

 beth learnt, some weeks later, that her husband, 

 whom she thought had returned home for good, 

 was once more to be taken from her by the in- 

 satiable ocean, she was sadly wounded. She had 

 dreamed to have a home like other women, and 

 to grow old gently by the side of the man who 

 was her love and pride; and now the sea called 

 her husband once again. She expected her sixth 



