Year: 1879

! y
had q good ship-Jauet's Pride-loaded
with miscellaneous articles. On board
were fourteen passengers, and take them
all in all, pleasanter lot 1 never steered
! across the stormy seas.


There were three old gentlemen, who
were going out to share their fortunes,
come what might, and which, poor old
souls, they seemed to think fashioned in
the brightest coioTs, long before the
! English coast was out of sight,


Then there was solitary old gentle
man, who, Judging from the general
| tone of his conversation, was seeking the
New World for the ostensible reason of
finding fault with it.


There were two Young married couples,
all full of hope and activity, bent upon
making a new home far away from their
native land.


There was also a very jolly elderly
/ brother and sister, neither of whom had
| ever entered into the bonds Of matrimo-
ny, but instead, had stuck by each other
through life.


There were three old Australian settlers
who had been over to have peep at the
old country, and who were now returning
to the land which to them, through long
communion, had become the dearest of
all others:-''Home, sweet home!"
Lastly, though not least, there was a
solitary passenger who soon became the
pet Of all on board. He was a man of
about eight-and twenty years of age pos
sessing very clear complexion, q very
handsome, long, flowing beard, and 4
very silky moustache.


His name was Reginald Moore. His
given reasons for taking this sea voyage
was the delicate state of his health.
| There was not the least doubt that the
| poor fellows chest was considerably af-
fected, for his voice, though charmingly
sweet, was one Of the weakest | ever
remember hearing; and it had certain n
hollowness in its sound that in my mind
is invariably associated with that terrible
disease commonly termed consumption.
He always wore q thick muller round
his neck to protect his throat and chest.
In all my experience-and it has been
a pretty wide one-I never knew any
one with so many friends and such un-
divided esteem in so short a time as
Reginald Moore. There was not, [ be-
lieve, a sailor on board who did not en-
tertain the warmest possible liking for
him.


As for the passengers, they had never
seemed so happy as when listening to
his amusing anecdotes, of which he
seemed to possess an inexhaustible store.
And this delicate young English paragon
of passengers lad made his conquest
over all our hearts before we had been
| three weeks at sea.


He was too, such a clever fellow with
his hands; be could cut and shape you
anything out of piece of wood, from an
oyster to an elephant, and at making
models for ships / never met his equal
He was, besides, such kind and con-
sidera5e follow towards bis fellow pass
engers.


When the three elderly gentlemen
who imagined they had their fortunes
made, were afflicted with sea-sickness, he
was the first to come forward and help
them about while they slowly recovered.
He would insist upon their taking his
arm, weak as he was himself, and he
would lead them about on deck with a
irmness that spoke volumes in favor of
his own ''sea legs


l do not remember any voyage ever
passing SO quickly as the one when the
pleasant passenger was on board. [
could with infinite pleasure, make long
/ pause at this juncture in the thread of
my story, to dwell upon the pleasant
memories | still retain OF Reginald
! Moore.


We wera within weeks sail of Mel
bourne. Reginald Moore had all but
/ completed a model of the Janet's Pride,
which he purposed presenting to me the
night before we landed.


Now he worked at his model principal
ly on deck, and strangely enough, he
had chosen for work table the top Of
one Of the empty water casks that stood
| on deck, abaft and under the shelter of
the hulwarks.


While he worked through the day, you
were sure to see him surrounded by
some of the passengers or sailors. The
amount of industry he displayed was
truly wonderful, for he was invariably at
work in the early morning, long before
any Of tie other passengers dreamt of
turning off their snug berths.


As have already stated, we were but
six days sail from Melbourne. For the
first time in our experience Of him, the
pleasant passenger appeared at the din
ner table with solemn, downcast ex-
preston of face and silent tongue.


Before dinner was ever, asked him


what troubled his mind, and caused this


unhappy change in his wonted cheerful


manner.


At first he tried to evade my queries


by replying that it was ''nothing, nothing


in particular but 1 pressed him per-
sistently until won from him an expla-


nation.


Perhaps, after all, it is only fair that


I should explain matters. The fact OF
the matter is, my watch has been stolen. =


''Stolen" we all exclaimed in breath.


"Undoubtedly," he answered; "but


pray you, captain" he tured to me


Il pray you say not one word about
it. The only thing that rend Is the los: