up North-west Channel, we entered the lagoon and, heading to the
northward, passed through the wide gap in the reef, abreast of Shark
Bay, and once more found ourselves riding buoyantly on the long swell of
the open Pacific.

Of course I had long ago given most careful consideration to the
question of where I should steer for, in the event of the cutter's
completion, and after much study of the charts at my command I had
decided to shape a course for Sydney, Australia. It meant a voyage of
some two thousand three hundred and fifty miles across the open ocean in
a ten-ton cutter, but I felt sure the _Dolphin_ could do it, especially
as we should have the south-east trade wind and the prospect of
reasonably fine weather with us nearly all the way. Accordingly, as
soon as we were fairly clear of the reef, I bore up and headed away to
the southward, along the west side of the group, of which we finally
lost sight about an hour before sunset.

To say that our voyage was unadventurous would be untrue; on the
contrary, we had many thrilling adventures and several hair-breadth
escapes from destruction, but lack of space forbids more than the bare
mention of them here. Let it suffice to say that, after a voyage packed
with sufficiently exciting incidents, we arrived safely in Sydney
harbour on the twenty-third day after our departure from the group.

Arrived there, my first business was to negotiate with a firm of bankers
for the exchange of some of the gold coinage, which formed part of our
treasure, for a sufficient number of British sovereigns to carry both of
us comfortably home, and, this done, we set about providing ourselves
with outfits suitable for the voyage. It was, of course, impossible for
us to keep our adventures entirely secret; a hint of them somehow got
abroad, possibly from the people in the hotel at which we put up, and
the enterprising reporters of the Sydney papers did the rest; one result
of which was that I soon got from a local yachtsman so advantageous an
offer for the _Dolphin_ that I unhesitatingly accepted it. We spent a
very pleasant fortnight in Sydney, many of its leading citizens vying
with each other to show us hospitality; finally, on a certain day in the
month of April we both embarked for England in an Orient liner, which,
after a most delightful voyage, landed us in London on a glorious day in
the month of May.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strange Adventures