Nothing
escapes the vigilance of the New South Wales police; their reputation
is known the world over. They made a shrewd guess that I could give
them some useful information, and they were the first to meet me. Some
one said they came to arrest me, and--well, let it go at that.
[Illustration: The accident at Sydney.]
Summer was approaching, and the harbor of Sydney was blooming with
yachts. Some of them came down to the weather-beaten _Spray_ and
sailed round her at Shelcote, where she took a berth for a few days.
At Sydney I was at once among friends. The _Spray_ remained at the
various watering-places in the great port for several weeks, and was
visited by many agreeable people, frequently by officers of H.M.S.
_Orlando_ and their friends. Captain Fisher, the commander, with a
party of young ladies from the city and gentlemen belonging to his
ship, came one day to pay me a visit in the midst of a deluge of rain.
I never saw it rain harder even in Australia. But they were out for
fun, and rain could not dampen their feelings, however hard it
poured. But, as ill luck would have it, a young gentleman of another
party on board, in the full uniform of a very great yacht club, with
brass buttons enough to sink him, stepping quickly to get out of the
wet, tumbled holus-bolus, head and heels, into a barrel of water I had
been coopering, and being a short man, was soon out of sight, and
nearly drowned before he was rescued.
Pages:
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163