“Be careful of anything you’re carrying,” warned Mrs. Dunstan.

“They have a way of snatching things and running off.”

Just as she spoke one came very close. We did not see him at first, then Tamarisk gave a sudden cry, for he had whipped her hat from her head and was running off with it.

Well! ” stammered Tamarisk, and we could not help laughing at her dismay.

“It was very colourful,” said Mrs. Dunstan.

“It must have caught his eye. Never mind. It’s gone now.”

We walked on and had not gone far when a man ran up with Tamarisk’s new hat in his hand.

He was laughing.

“I saw what happened. You lost your hat. The ape was so quick. They are very human, these creatures. He stopped near me. He was looking back at you. That gave me the opportunity. I snatched it from him.”

“How clever of you!” cried Tamarisk.

Everyone was laughing. Others came up and joined us.

“It was the funniest thing,” said one of the ladies.

“The ape looked so bewildered. Then he seemed to shrug his shoulders and run off.”

“It’s a becoming hat,” said its rescuer, smiling at Tamarisk.

He was tall, fair-haired and pleasant-looking, with a manner which was immediately likeable.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” said Tamarisk.

“It was so easy. The wily ape only had possession of his prize for a few seconds.”

“I’m glad to have it back.”

“Well,” said Mrs. Dunstan, ‘all’s well that ends well. I shouldn’t put it on again. Tamarisk, if I were you. This time there might not be a gallant rescuer at hand. “

We moved on and the man seemed to attach himself to us. I had no doubt that he was among the party of sightseers from the ship.

Mrs. Dunstan confirmed this by saying: “You are on the Queen of the South, of course.”

“Yes,” he said.

“It seems that most of the people in Gibraltar today are from the Queen of the South.”

“It’s always so when the ship calls,” added the Major.

“I think it is time we descended a little,” said Mrs. Dunstan.

“Perhaps a little refreshment would be a good idea. What about that place we went to last time, Gerald?” she addressed the Major.

“Do you remember? You liked those special pastries they had?”

“I remember them well,” replied the Major.

“And I am sure everyone would like to sample them. We can watch the world go by while we refresh ourselves.”

We descended and the hat rescuer was still with us. We found the cafe and about six of us went in and sat where we could look out on the street. The fair man was with us. He sat between Tamarisk and me.

Coffee and the special pastries were ordered and the Major, looking at the newcomer, said: “It’s amazing that one can be on a ship in a fairly confined space and not know a number of one’s fellow travellers.”

It was clearly an invitation to the young man to introduce himself.

“I’m Luke Armour,” he said.

“I am going to Sydney.”

Tamarisk and I looked at each other in delight.

“That’s interesting’ she burst out.

Mrs. Dunstan was looking at her as though to say, in what way?

Tamarisk explained: “We saw your luggage label on the first day we got on the ship. Your bags were piled up with the others. We saw you were going to Casker’s Island.”

“That’s right,” he said expectantly.

“The point is,” said Tamarisk, ‘so are we. “

“Really! How interesting! You must be the only ones apart from myself.

Why are you going there? “

“My father lives there,” I said.

“We are going to see him.”

“Oh,” he replied.

“Do you know it well?” I asked.

“I’ve never been there.”

“People always look amazed when they know we’re going there,” said Tamarisk.

“Well, nobody seems to know very much about it. I’ve tried to find out but there doesn’t seem much to know. All I learned is that it is an island which was discovered by a man named Casker about three hundred years ago. He lived there until he died. Hence, Casker’s Island. Your father lives there, you say?”

“Yes, and we are going to see him.”

He looked at me questioningly, as though wondering why I knew so little about the place since my father lived there. But he must have guessed that my relationship with my father was not a usual one and he was too polite to probe.

“How are you going to get there?” I asked.

“There is only one way, it seems. Leave at Sydney and take a ship to a place called Cato Cato and from there get the ferry to Casker’s.”

“That is what we are doing.”

“Well, it is interesting to find someone who is going to this little-known place.”

“Rather comforting,” commented Tamarisk.

“I agree,” he said with a warm smile.

We were both happy to have discovered the identity of Luke Armour and to have found him so pleasant.

He was very knowledgeable and told us that when he visited places he liked to learn as much about them as possible. That was why he was frustrated at being unable to discover much about Casker’s.

“It is wonderful to see the world,” he said.

“One has heard of places from school lessons but it is seeing them in reality which brings them to life. I like to think of Tariq ibn Ziyad coming to this place years ago in 711, I think. That would be nearly twelve hundred years ago.

Just think of that! And the English thought Jabal Tariq (Mount Tariq) was too foreign for their liking and Jabal Tariq was trans lated into Gibraltar. And now the place is in British hands the only entrance to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean, to be guarded as one of the most important fortresses in the world. “

“That’s true,” said the Major.

“And long may it remain in our hands!”

“And now,” said Mrs. Dunstan, ‘if everyone is finished, I think it is time for us to return to the ship. “

We were very tired that evening. Tamarisk and I lay in our beds talking about the day’s adventures.

“It was wonderful,” said Tamarisk.

“The best I’ve had since-‘ ” It was interesting,” I agreed.

“The most marvelous moments were when Luke Armour came up with the hat and when he said that he was the name on the luggage label. And he’s going to Casker’s! Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Well, we knew he had to be on the ship somewhere.”

“But that he should be the one to retrieve my hat from that odious little monkey! It was wonderfully dramatic. And when he said who he was, I wanted to burst out laughing. He’s nice, isn’t he? There’s something about him.”

“You don’t know him yet.”

“Oh, but I shall,” she said.

“I am determined to and I don’t think he will be averse.”

We did see a good deal of him after that. He did not offer to tell us why he was going to Casker’s and we did not ask him. We knew that, as we were all going there, we should know in due course.

We gravitated towards each other. We used to meet on deck; then we would sit and talk. He knew a great deal about islands. He had spent a few years in the Caribbean and on one near Borneo; but Casker’s was more remote than any of these.

By the time we reached our next port, which was Naples, we were on friendly terms and it was natural that he should suggest that we should accompany him to the ruins of Pompeii. Mrs. Dunstan, having by now cultivated the acquaintance of Luke Armour, thought it was quite in order for us to go with him.

It was a most interesting day and Luke Armour was an instructive companion. He had said he liked to know something of the places he visited and he talked very vividly and made me, at least, feel I was back in that tragic year of 79 a. u. when Vesuvius had erupted and ruined the thriving city, together with Herculaneum and Stabiae. The remains seemed to come to life and I could picture those people and the panic of bewilderment and not knowing where to turn to escape the destruction.

When we returned to the ship Tamarisk remarked:

“What a serious man our Luke Armour is! He seemed to care so much about all those ancient ruins and the people who had lived there.”

“Didn’t you think they were interesting?”

“Yes, but he does go on. It’s all in the past, isn’t it?”

“He is serious-minded. I like him.”

“The way we met him was fun, but now he seems …”

“He is certainly not frivolous, but I should have thought you would have learned to be a little wary of people who are all charm on the surface with not very much of value beneath.”

I was sorry I said that afterwards. It had an effect on her. She lost a little of her high spirits for several hours, and when we were next with Luke Armour she was very charming to him.

We were both looking forward to going through the Suez Canal and were not disappointed. I was enchanted by the golden banks and the occasional glimpse of a shepherd tending his flock. Such were like the pictures in the Bible we had had at Lavender House. We saw the occasional camel making its disdainful way across the sandy soil and people in their long robes and sandal led feet added a picturesque touch to the scene.

It was pleasant to sit on deck and watch this as we slowly & ‘- “I! passed by.

Luke Armour came to sit beside me.

“Inspiring, isn’t it?” he said.

“It’s a wonderful experience. I never thought I should see it.”

“What a feat making such a canal! And what an asset to shipping!”

“Indeed yes.”

“Well, we are getting on with our journey.”

“You must be accustomed to travel. Imagine what an experience it is for those who have not done it before.”