led him Jacobs. He passed away most of
his time on board in swopping watch lies with the other passengers and
good-naturedly spoiling their Waterburys.

One commercial traveller shipped with a flower in his buttonhole. His
girl gave it to him on the wharf, and told him to keep it till it faded,
and then press it. She was a barmaid. She thought he was "going saloon,"
but he came forward as soon as the wharf was out of sight. He gave the
flower to the stewardess, and told us about these things one moonlight
night during the voyage.

There was another--a well-known Sydney man--whose friends thought he was
going saloon, and turned up in good force to see him off. He spent his
last shilling "shouting," and kept up his end of the pathetic little
farce out of consideration for the feelings of certain proud female
relatives, and not because he was "proud"--at least in that way. He
stood on a conspicuous part of the saloon deck and waved his white
handkerchief until Miller's Point came between. Then he came forward
where he belonged. But he was proud--bitterly so. He had a flower too,
but he did not give it to the stewardess. He had it pressed, we think
(for we knew him), and perhaps he wears it now over the place where his
heart used to be.

When Australia was fading from view we shed a tear, which was all we had
to shed; at least, we tried to shed a tear, and could not. It is best to
be exact when you are writing from experience.

Just as Australia was fading from view, someone looked through a glass,
and said in a sad, tired kind of voice that he could just see the place
where the _Dunbar_ was wrecked.

Several passengers were leaning about and saying "Europe! E-u-rope!"
in agonized tones. None of them were going to Europe, and the new chums
said nothing about it. This reminds us that some people say "Asia! Asia!
Ak-kak-Asia!" when somebody spills the pepper. There was a pepper-box
without a stopper on the table in our cabin. The fact soon attracted
attention.

A new chum came along and asked us whether the Maoris were very bad
round Sydney. He'd heard that they were. We told him that we had never
had any trouble with them to speak of, and gave him another show.

"Did you ever hear of the wreck of the _Dunbar_?" we asked. He said
that he never "heerd tell" of it, but he had heerd of the wreck of the
_Victoria_.

We gave him best.

The first evening passed off quietly, except for the vinously-excited
shearers. They