Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-09-16
THE CALIFORNIANS,
BY JULES VERNE.
Copyright 1891 by the Authors Alliance
CHAPTER XIII.

Capt. Willis sailed from San Diego at ten o'clock on the morning of April 8, 1889, following southeasterly course, with the intention of proceeding by as direct a route as possible to the Torres strait and so into Arafoora sea.
 The Molly's Hope not having any reason for touching at the Gilbert or Salmon islands, after an uneventful voyage of three weeks, sighted first the high land of the New Guinea coast and then the most northerly point of Aus tralia known as Cape York.
 Torres strait, lying between this | point and the New Guinea coast, enjoys the repute of being an extremely dan | gerous passage, partly due to the vio- lent current which sets in from east to | west and partly to the shoal water. ! Only for certain part of the day while the sun is in such position as to make the breakers plainly visible, is it at all safe to venture into this narrow water ! lane
 Was it quite as far up as Melville island that the Golden Gate picked up the fragment of the wreck?" asked Capt. Willis of Boatswain French.
 "Quite," replied Zach.
 Ut must be five hundred miles be- yond the strait"
 At least, captain" replied Zach, "and I can understand your surprise. For, knowing as we do the existence of these strong westerly currents, it would seem from having found the piece of wreck off Melville island that the Dreadnaught must have been lost at the entrance to Torres strait.'
 "Precisely, Zach, and we would be forced to conclude that Capt. John had made choice of this dangerous passage to reach Singapore. Now, that never can admit! Unless something happens to change my opinion I shall stick to my belief that he crossed the eastern archipelago, as we did in our first ex- petition, for the last time he was seen was to the south of Celebes island" And as there is no other conclusion possible for us to reach," remarked the mate, 'it follows that if Capt. Allaire entered Timor sea he did so through one of the straits separating the Sunda islands"
 Ut can't be otherwise replied the captain, land I can't understand how the Dreadnaught was ever carried to- | ward the eastward. Now either he was dismantled or he was not. If he was dismantled he should have been carried hundreds of miles to the west of Torres strait. If he was not, why should he have returned towards this strait, when Singapore, his port of destination, lay in the opposite direction?"
 "I don't know what to thlnk," an swered the mate. "If the piece of wreck had been found in the Indian ocean it might be explained by assum- ing that the clipper ship had been wrecked on the Sunda islands or on the west coast of Australia"
 "While the fact is,'' replied Capt. Will lis, 'that the bit of wreck was found as far up as Melville island, which would go to prove that the Dreadnaught had been lost in Arafoora sea near Torres strait or in the strait itself"
 ''It may be-" said French, ''that there are counter currents along the Austra- lian coast which may have carried the piece of wreck towards the strait In that case the ship may have gone to pieces in the western portion of Ara foora sea-"
 ''It will come out in good time," an swered Captain Willis; meanwhile, let us work our ship as if the Dreadnaught had gone to pieces on the reefs of Torres strait"
 And if we work her well," added Zach, "we shall find Capt. John."
 This was the best thing that could be done, and this was what they did do.
 Torres strait is about thirty miles wide and swarms with reefs and inlets, nine hundred or more, and most of them on level with the water. The natives are very skillful in the manage ment of their light pirogues and have no difficulty in crossing from one shore to another. Therefore, if Capt. John , and his companions had taken refuge on ono of these inlets it would have been easy enough for them to reach - the Australian coast and then make 5 their way to some little settlement on the gulf of Carpentaria or on the peninsula of Cape York, whence they would have had no great difficulty in reaching home. On the other hand, the moment it was assumed that Capt John had never entered Torres strait then arose the question of the fragment of wreck and how to explain its presence off Melville island.
 Capt. Willis ran the Molly's Hope boldly into this dangerous passage . keeping close to the Australian coast Upon nearing Murray island the ap proach of a number of dugouts was sig naled, but the natives who manned them as well as those who gathered or the shores as the Molly's Hope steamed slowly by contented themselves witE uttering wild war whoops and brandish ing their battle spears.
 F For whole month, up to June 10 . Willis and his interchangeable searchers continued to ransacl the coasts of the islands lying between the gulf of Car ? pentaria and New Guinea. Not bit CT shred of rigging, not broken spal = or piece of wood was pickedup by Capt Willis to lead him to think that the Oreadnaught had gone to pieces or these reefs.
 D After another month spent in coast ing along from Arnheim bay to Var Diemen's gulf the Molly's Hope on July = II sighted Melville island. It was ter ! miles tO the north of this coast that thG