ced upon half a dozen
men who, in consideration of the payment of fabulous wages, undertook to
ship for the homeward passage. They were as lawless and ruffianly-
looking a set of fellows as one need ever care to encounter; but, as Mr
Bowles observed, they could at least pull and haul, and once at sea and
away from the demoralising influence of the grog-shops, who knew but
they might settle down into steady serviceable hands. At all events
they would not want for a good example on the part of their shipmates,
the remnant of the original crew, for these were without exception
thoroughly steady, reliable men, although one of them was Boyd, the man
who had been shot by Mr Carter for refusal to obey orders.

These men secured, Captain Staunton resolved to avoid all further risk
by sailing at once. It was true that the ship would be still rather
short-handed--which was all the more to be regretted inasmuch as she was
in light trim and a trifle crank--but he reflected that he might lie in
port for the next six months without securing another man; and it
therefore seemed to him best under the circumstances to make shift with
what he had, and get away to sea forthwith. Hasty summonses were
accordingly despatched to the few passengers who had taken berths; and
these all coming on board next day, the anchor was hove up, and evening
saw the _Galatea_ standing off the land and heading to the eastward,
with every sail set and dragging at her like a cart-horse.

The passengers were this time only six in number, namely, Blanche and
Violet, Messrs. Dale, Fortescue, and Brook, who had lost the contract
which they went out in the hope of securing, entirely through the
obstinacy of the head of the firm, and a Mr Evelin, formerly a captain
in the Royal Engineers, who had thrown up his commission to go gold-
digging, and who, thanks to his technical training, supplemented by
arduous special study of geology, had been successful to an
extraordinary degree, and was now returning home master of a handsome
fortune.

Launcelot, or Lance Evelin, was a tall handsome man of about thirty-
five, with the physique of a Hercules, the result of some six months'
toil and exposure at the diggings, deeply bronzed, clear cut features,
half concealed by a heavy moustache and beard of a golden chestnut hue,
clear grey eyes, and wavy hair a shade darker than the beard. He proved
an immense acquisition to the ladies, who would otherwise have been
almost