Part 10 (1/2)

”Then there is no hope for you,” and again ”Farewell” I promised I would report them, and did so at the first opportunity, and out of hu day I spoke the steamshi+p _Sherman,_ bound down the coast, and reported the yacht in distress and that it would be an act of humanity to tow her somewhere away froet a tow from the steamer was from no lack of funds to pay the bill; for the owner, lately heir to a few hundred pounds, had the e to New Guinea was to look that island over with a view to its purchase It was about eighteen days before I heard of the _Akbar_ again, which was on the 31st of May, when I reached Cooktown, on the Endeavor River, where I found this news:

May 31, the yacht _Akbar,_ from Sydney for New Guinea, three hands on board, lost at Crescent Head; the crew saved

So it took them several days to lose the yacht, after all

After speaking the distressed _Akbar_ and the _Shere for many days was uneventful save in the pleasant incident on May 16 of a chat by signal with the people on South Solitary Island, a dreary stone heap in the ocean just off the coast of New South Wales, in latitude 30 degrees 12' south

”What vessel is that?” they asked, as the sloop came abreast of their island For answer I tried thenals at once, and up went the British ensign instead, which they dipped heartily I understood from this that they made out my vessel and knew all about her, for they asked no e would pay,” but they threw out this friendly e,”

which at that verythe Tweed River, was signaled froer Point, where those on shore seemed most anxious about the state of my health, for they asked if ”all hands” ell, to which I could say, ”Yes”

On the following day the _Spray_ rounded Great Sandy Cape, and, what is a notable event in every voyage, picked up the trade-winds, and these winds followed her now forto blow froale to a mild summer breeze, except at rare intervals

Froht seen twenty-seven ht, which stands on an island as a sentinel at the gateway of the Barrier Reef, the _Spray_ was at once in the fairway leading north Poets have sung of beacon-light and of pharos, but did ever poet behold a great light flash up before his path on a dark night in the

The _Spray_ had sailed for hours in suspense, evidently sterasped the hel out of the sea was the light ahead

”Excalibur!” cried ”all hands,” and rejoiced, and sailed on The _Spray_ was now in a protected sea and smooth water, the first she had dipped her keel into since leaving Gibraltar, and a change it was fro of the misnamed ”Pacific” Ocean

The Pacific is perhaps, upon the whole, no h I feel quite safe in saying that it is not h in one part or another I once kneriter who, after saying beautiful things about the sea, passed through a Pacific hurricane, and he becaed man But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no aves? At last here was the _Spray_ in the ht be called sh, sharp, and dangerous I trusted now to the ood lookout at the same time for perils on every hand

Lo! the Barrier Reef and the waters of many colors studded all about with enchanted islands! I behold a them after all many safe harbors, elseer Point, now entered Whitsunday Pass, and that night sailed through a I looked back and regretted having gone by while it was dark, for the scenery far astern was varied and char

CHAPTER XV

Arrival at Port Denison, Queensland--A lecture--Re for charity at Cooktown--A happy escape from a coral reef--Home Island, Sunday Island, Bird Island--An American pearl-fishern for the _Spray_--booby Island--Across the Indian Ocean--Christ of the 26th Gloucester Island was close aboard, and the _Spray_ anchored in the evening at Port Denison, where rests, on a hill, the sweet little town of Bowen, the future watering place and health-resort of Queensland The country all about here had a healthful appearance

The harbor was easy of approach, spacious and safe, and afforded excellent holding-ground It was quiet in Bohen the _Spray_ arrived, and the good people with an hour to throay on the second evening of her arrival cae, it being the latest event It was duly advertised in the two little papers, ”Boo” and ”Nully Nully,” in the one the day before the affair came off, and in the other the day after, which was all the same to the editor, and, for that matter, it was the same to me

Besides this, circulars were distributed with a flourish, and the ”best bellman” in Australia was employed But I could have keelhauled the wretch, bell and all, when he came to the door of the little hotel where , and with his clattering bell and fiendish yell e of the _Spray_ from ”Boston to Bowen, the two Hubs in the cart-wheels of creation,” as the ”Booistrate, harbor-old warden, etc, was chairman, and introduced me, for what reason I never knew, except to embarrass me with a sense of vain ostentation and embitter my life, for Heaven knows I had met every person in town the first hour ashore I knew them all by naood talker Indeed, I tried to induce hio on and tell the story while I showed the pictures, but this he refused to do I may explain that it was a talk illustrated by stereopticon The vieere good, but the lantern, a thirty-shi+lling affair, retched, and had only an oil-la before the papers ca it best to do so They each appeared with a favorable column, however, of what they called a lecture, so I learned afterward, and they had a kind word for the bellman besides

From Port Denison the sloop ran before the constant trade-wind, and ht or day, till she reached Cooktown, on the Endeavor River, where she arrived Monday, May 31, 1897, before a furious blast of wind encountered that day fifty miles down the coast

On this parallel of latitude is the high ridge and backbone of the tradewinds, which about Cooktown aate the route with extra care, and to feel round The skilled officer of the royal navy who advised e wrote hts as well as days through it, but that I, under sail, would jeopardize my vessel on coral reefs if I undertook to do so

Confidentially, it would have been no easy etting the sloop under way everywas finished, I had hoped, when she cleared the Strait of Magellan Besides that, the best of adht and day Indeed, with a fair wind, and in the clear weather of that season, the way through the Barrier Beef Channel, in all sincerity, was clearer than a highway in a busy city, and by all odds less dangerous But to any one conteht, or, re on the land, be wary still

”The _Spray_ cashore daily papers of Cooktown the e,” they added, ”that only onethe craft” The _Spray_ was doing her best, to be sure, for it was near night, and she was in haste to find a perch before dark