ble at meal-times he was very chatty and friendly, with a certain
subtle suggestion of patronage in his tone, however, that rather went
against the grain with me; but he asked me no questions until I had set
the course for Cape Otway, and the island of Amsterdam was melting into
the haze astern of us. Then, being on the poop at the moment when I
gave the course to the helmsman, and hearing its direction, he came up
to me and said:

"Are you aiming for any point in particular in directing the helmsman to
steer east-south-east, Mr Troubridge?"

"Yes," said I. "If the wind will permit us to steer that course long
enough it will eventually bring us within sight of Cape Otway."

"Cape Otway!" he repeated. "Um! the name seems not altogether
unfamiliar to me, and as a man who has been for some years a
schoolmaster I suppose I ought to be able to say, offhand, exactly where
it is. But my memory upon such matters is a trifle weak, I am afraid.
Perhaps you will kindly tell me where Cape Otway is?"

"Cape Otway lies some sixty miles--more or less--south-west of Port
Philip Heads," said I, "and, excepting Wilson Promontory, is the most
southerly headland of Australia."

"Of course, of course," he exclaimed with a little air of vexation.
"Dear me! how marvellously easy it seems to forget such details. I am
afraid our system of education does not attach nearly as much importance
as it ought to the study of geography. Ah, well; what matters it? I
have done with such trifles, I hope, for the remainder of my days. Does
Cape Otway happen to be on our road to the Pacific, Mr Troubridge?"

"Yes," I said; "that is to say, if one elects to go south-about. But
the Pacific is a big sheet of water, and there are two or three ways of
getting to it from here. All depends, of course, upon the particular
part of the Pacific to which one is bound."

"Yes, of course," agreed Wilde. Then he turned suddenly, and, looking
me keenly in the face, remarked: "Really, you know, Troubridge, you
impress me very favourably--very favourably indeed! I shall be
profoundly sorry if we are obliged to part with you, for you seem to me
to be a lad of considerably more than average intelligence. That remark
of yours touching `the particular part of the Pacific to which one is
bound'--by the way, have you a tolerably intimate knowledge of the
Pacific?"

"No," said I; "I know nothing whatever of it except the part which lies
between Australia and Ca