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CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARIES 
 
 flHACA, N. Y. 14853 
 
 Cdfkeam m §mtlaea§c Asia 
 fOim U OilM LIBRARY 
 
PQ 2469.M67 ImT"'"' ""'^'^ 
 
He threw himself amid ihc waves. 
 
 Pace q. 
 
MISTRESS BRANICAN 
 
 
 vt 
 
 JULtiS VERNE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "the lottery TICKET," "FIVE WFRKS IN A BALLOON," 
 " ROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 K^EIV AND CHEAPER EDITION 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 LONDON 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSrON & COMPANY 
 
 Limited 
 ^t. JIuiislim's Sjouse 
 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 1 1 35575 
 
MISTRESS BRANICAN. 
 
 |3art jf. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE " FRANKLIN." 
 
 There are two chances of never again seeing the friends 
 vvc part with when starting on a long voyage ; those we 
 leave may not be here on our return, and those who go may 
 never come back. But little heed of these eventualities 
 was taken by the sailors who were preparing for departure 
 on board the Franklin m the morning -of the isth of 
 March, 1875. 
 
 On that day the Franklin, Captain John Branican, was 
 about to quit the port of San Diego, in California, on a 
 voyage across the Northern Pacific, 
 
 A fine vessel of nine hundred tons was this Franklin — 
 a barquentine fully canvased with gaff sails, jibs and stay- 
 sails, and with topmast and top-gallant-mast on the fore. 
 
 Long and narrow in the bow, finely modelled in the 
 quick-works, and with a good clean run, her masts gently 
 raking and strictly parallel, her, standing rigging of 
 galvanized wire as stiff as iron bars, she was of the most 
 modern type of those elegant clippers which the North 
 Americans find so well adapted for their ocean trade and 
 which compete in speed with the best stc^mers^ of t}icir 
 Rierpantile marine, 
 
3 Mistress Branican. 
 
 The Franklin was so well built and efficiently commanded 
 that not a man of her crew would have shipped on another 
 vessel — even with the assurance of obtaining higher pay. 
 All were preparing to start content in their double con- 
 fidence in a good ship and a good captain. 
 
 The Franklin was to make her first voyage on behalf 
 of William H. Andrew, and Co. of San Diego. She was 
 bound to Calcutta by way of Singapore with a cargo of 
 American goods to return with Indian products to one 
 of the Californian ports. 
 
 Captain Joha Branican was a young man of nine and 
 twenty, with an attractive but resolute face, his features 
 telling of unusual energy; he possessed in the highest degree 
 that moral courage so superior to physical courage — that 
 " two o'clock in the morning courage," as Napoleon called 
 it — that is to say, the kind that faces the unexpected and 
 is ready for action at any moment. His head had more 
 character than beauty, with his rough hair, his eyes 
 animated with a keen, frank look which flashed like a 
 dart from their black pupils. It would be difficult to 
 imagine a man of his age more robust in body or consti- 
 tution. That was clear enough in the vigour of his hand- 
 shakings which indicated the ardour of his blood and the 
 strength of his muscles. But what we have particularly to 
 note is that the spirit contained in this body of iron was a 
 good and noble spirit, ready to sacrifice its life for its kind. 
 John Branican was of the character of those rescuers whose 
 coolness enables them to perform heroic acts without hesi- 
 tation. He had given proof of this early in life. One day, 
 among the broken ice of the bay on a capsized boat, 
 he had saved children like himself ; and later on he had 
 not belied the instincts of self-sacrifice which had marked 
 his youth. 
 
 A few years after John Branican had lost his father and 
 his mother, he had married Dolly Starter, an orphan, 
 belonging to one of the best families of San Diego. The 
 girl's dowry was a modest one, and suitable for the 
 position, equally modest, of the young sailor, then a mate 
 
The "Franklin." 3 
 
 on a merchant vessel. But there was reason to think tfiat 
 Dolly would one day be the heiress of a very rich uncle, 
 Edward Starter, who lived a farmer's life in the wildest 
 and most out-of-the-way part of Tennessee. Meanwhile 
 it would have to be enough to live on for two, or even for 
 three, for little Walter — ^'Wat, by abbreviation — came into 
 the world in the first year of the marriage. Thus John 
 Branican — and his wife understood it — could not dream of 
 abandoning his profession as a sailor. In the future he 
 would' see what he could do, when the fortune came by 
 inheritance, or by his enriching himself in Andrews' 
 service. 
 
 Besides this, the young sailor's promotion had been 
 unusually rapid. He had advanced quickly, and he had 
 advanced straight. He was a captain at an age when 
 most of his colleagues were only mates. If his abilities 
 justified this promotion, his advance was explained by 
 certain circumstances which had properly drawn attention 
 to him. 
 
 In fact, John Branican was' popular at San Diego, and 
 at the different ports on the Californian coast.- His acts 
 of self-sacrifice had been noted with applause, not only by 
 sailors, but by the merchants and shipowners of the 
 Union. 
 
 A few years before, a Peruvian schooner, the Sonora, 
 had come ashore at the entrance to Coronado Beach, and 
 the crew would have been lost if communication had not 
 been established between the ship and the shore. But to 
 take a rope out through the breakers was to risk one's life 
 a hundred times. John Branican did not hesitate. He 
 threw himself amid the waves which came rolling in with 
 extreme violence on to the reefs and then came beating on 
 to the beach in a terrible surf. In sight of the death which 
 he would have faced without thinking of the danger, the 
 people would have held him back. He resisted ; he hurlfed 
 himself towards the schooner; he succeeded in reaching 
 her, and, thanks to his bravery, the Sonora s crew were 
 saved. 
 
4 ' Mistress Branican. 
 
 About a year afterwards, during a storm which broke 
 some five hundred miles out in the Pacific, John Branican 
 had another opportunity of showing what might be 
 expected from him. He was mate on the Washington 
 when the captain was washed overboard by a wave at the 
 same time as half the crew. Remaining on board a disabled 
 ship with half a dozen seamen, most of them injured, he 
 took the command, and although the vessel had lost her 
 rudder, he managed to handle her, and brought her into 
 San Diego under jury masts. This almost unmanageable 
 hulk contained a cargo worth five hundred thousand 
 dollars, and belonged to Andrews. 
 
 Gi'eat was the young sailor's reception when the 
 Washington was moored in the port of San Diego. As 
 the chances of the sea had made him captain, there was 
 not a voice among the whole population against con- 
 firming him in his rank. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that Andrews built the 
 Franklin and offered him the command. He accepted it, 
 for he felt himself equal to the post, and could pick and 
 choose his crew, for people had confidence in him. And 
 that is how it came about that the Franklin was beginning 
 her first voyage under the orders of John Branican. 
 
 The departure was an event for the whole town, 
 Andrew's was justly considered one of the most honourable 
 firms in San Diego. Of the highest character for the security 
 of his business relationships and the strength of his credit 
 was Mr. William Andrew, who directed its affairs with a sure 
 hand. This worthy shipowner was not only esteemed, he 
 was loved. And his behaviour towards John Branican was 
 unanimously applauded. 
 
 There was thus nothing to be astonished at if during 
 this morning of the iSth of March, a numerous gathering 
 of spectators — in other words a crowd of friends, known 
 and unknown, of the young captain — appeared on the 
 quays of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company to greet 
 him with a last cheer at his departure. 
 
 The crevyr of the prmklir^ consisted pf twejye pien jnr 
 
The " Franklin." , 5 
 
 eluding the boatswain, all, however, good sailors belonging 
 to San Diego and happy to serve under the orders of John 
 Branican. The mate was an excellent officer, named 
 Harry Felton. Although he was five or six years older 
 than his captain he was in no way offended at having to 
 serve under him, nor was he in any way jealous of the 
 position his captain held. He considered that. John 
 Branican deserved his position, he had sailed with him 
 before and they mutually appreciated each other. Besides, 
 what Mr. William Andrew did must be well done. Harry 
 Ftlton and his men were devoted to him body and soul. 
 Most of them had already sailed in some of his ships. 
 It was, as it were, a family of officers and sailors — a 
 numerous family devoted to its chief, which constituted its 
 maritime staff and did not cease to increase with the 
 prosperity of the house. 
 
 And it was without apprehension, or rather with ardour, 
 that the crew of the brankUn were entering on this new 
 campaign. Fathers, mothers, relatives, were there to say 
 farewell, but to say it to those v/hom they would soon see 
 again. " Good-bye, and see you again soon, shall we not } " 
 It was only a six months' voyage, a simple passage during 
 the fine season between California and India, there and 
 back between San Diego and California, and not one of 
 those expeditions of commerce or discovery which keep a' 
 ship for long years on the most dangerous seas of the 
 two hemispheres. The sailors had been many other such 
 voyages, and their families had been present at many more 
 disquieting departures. 
 
 The-preparations would soon be complete. The Franklin 
 at her anchor in the middle of the harbour was already 
 clear of the other vessels, whose number bore witness to 
 the importance of San Diego as a port. From the place 
 she occupied she would have no need of a tug to take her 
 out to sea. As soon as her anchor was short apeak, it 
 would be enough for her to fill her sails, and a beautiful 
 breeze would take her rapidly out of the bay without her 
 haying to go about. Captain John Branican could not 
 
6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 have wished for better weather, nor a more favourable 
 wind, over the sea which glittered under the rays of the 
 sun around the Coronado islands in the offing. 
 
 At this time — six o'clock in the morning — it need 
 scarcely be said that all the crew were on board. None of 
 the sailors could return to the shore, and as far as they 
 were concerned the voyage had already begun. A few of 
 the harbour boats were at the starboard gangway waiting 
 for the people who were bidding the last good-bye to their 
 friends and relatives. These boats would take them to the 
 quay as soon as the Franklin hoisted her jibs. Although 
 the tides are not strong in the Pacific, it was quite as well 
 to go out with the ebb which would soon begin. 
 
 Among the visitors we must pariacuferly notice Mr. 
 William Andrew and Mrs. Bxaaicaii, accompanied by the 
 nurse carrying little Wat ; they were accompanied by Mr. 
 Len BurJcer and his wife, Jane Burker, Dolly's cousin- 
 german. Harry Felton, the mate, having no family, had 
 no one to bid him good-bye. The good wishes of Mr. 
 William Andrew were not wanting on the occasion, and 
 he asked no more than that those of John's wife should be 
 added to them — of which he was assured in advance. 
 
 Harry Felton was on the forecastle where half a dozen of 
 the men were shortening in the cable at the capstan amid 
 the metallic clatter of the pawls. The Franklin had 
 already begun to move as the chain came grinding in 
 through the hawse-hole. The house flag with Andrew's 
 initials floated at the main-mast head, while the American 
 flag fluttered in the breeze from the peak, and displayed 
 the Stars and Stripes. The square sails were all ready for 
 setting as soon as the ship was under way under jibs and 
 staysails. 
 
 On the front of the poop so as to lose nothing of what 
 was being done, John Branican received the final in- 
 structions from Mr. William Andrew relative to the 
 manifest, that is, the detailed statement of the goods which 
 constituted the Franklin's cargo. Then the shipowner 
 gave the young captain the papers, and added, — 
 
The "Franklin." 7 
 
 " If circumstances oblige you to change your course do 
 the best you can for our interests, and send me news from 
 the first land you touch at. The Franklin may perhaps 
 put in at one of the Philippines, for you have doubtless 
 no intention of going through Torres Straits ? " 
 
 " No, Mr. Andrew," said John, " I should not think of 
 taking the Franklin into the dangerous seas to the north 
 of Australia. My road should be to Hawaii, the Ladrones, 
 Mindanao of the Philippines, Celebes, and the Strait of 
 Macassar, so as to reach Singapore by the Java Sea. From 
 there to Calcutta the road is cleai- enough. I do not think 
 the route will have to be changed on account of the winds 
 we shall meet with in the Western Pacific. If you have 
 anything of importance to telegraph to me send it to 
 Mindanao, where I shall probably put in, or to Singapore, 
 where I certainly shall." 
 
 " That is agreed. On your part let me know as soon as 
 you can the state of the market at Calcutta. It is possible 
 that it may oblige me to cbange my intentions regarding 
 the return cargo." 
 
 " I shall not fail to do so, Mr. Andrew,'' said John 
 Branican. 
 
 At this moment Harry Felton approached, and said, — ■ 
 
 " The anchor is apeak, sir." 
 
 " And the ebb ? " 
 
 " Is just beginning to be felt." 
 
 " Hold on." 
 
 Then addressing Mr. William Andrew, the captain, full 
 of gratitude, repeated, — 
 
 " Once more, Mr. Andrew, I thank you for having 
 given me the command of the Franklin. I hope I shall 
 justify your confidence." 
 
 " I have no doubt of it whatever," said Mr. Andrew ; 
 " and I could not leave the business of my house in better 
 hands." 
 
 The shipowner shook hands with him heartily and 
 moved towards the stern. 
 
 Mrs, Branican, followed by the nt.:'::c and the baby. 
 
8 Mistress Branican, 
 
 rejoined her husband with Mr. and Mrs. Burker. The 
 moment of separation had come. Captain Branican had 
 now but to receive the last farewells of his wife and family. 
 
 Dolly, as we know, had not been married two yeans, 
 and her child was hardly nine months old. Although the 
 separation caused her profound grief, yet she would not let 
 anything of it be seen, and restrained the beating of her 
 heart while her cousin Jane, of weak nature and without 
 energy, could not conceal her emotion. She was very 
 fond of Dolly,. and in being near her had often found 
 some alleviation of the sorrows causedby the imperious and 
 violent character of her husband. But if Dolly concealed 
 her anxieties, Jane was none the less aware of what she 
 felt in all its reality. Doubtless Captain Branican would 
 be back before six months, but at least it was a separation 
 ' — the first since their marriage — and if she was strong 
 enough to restrain her tears it could well be said that Jane 
 wept for her. As to Len Burker, the man whose look no 
 lender emotion had ever softened, his eyes were dry, and 
 with his hands in his pockets he moved about inattentive 
 to what was going on, and thinking of one knows not 
 what. Evidently he had no ideas in common with the 
 visitors whom sentiments of affection had brought on 
 board the ship at her departure. 
 
 Captain John took his wife's two hands between his, 
 and drawing her towards him said, in a gentle voice, — 
 
 " Dear Dolly, I must go. I shall not be long away. 
 In a few months you will see me again. I will find you 
 again, Dolly, never fear. On my ship with my crew, what 
 have we to fear from the dangers of the sea ? Be stron'^-, 
 as a sailor's wife should be. When I come back our little 
 Wat will be fifteen months old. He will be a big boy. 
 He will be able to talk, and the first word I hear on my 
 return — " 
 
 " Will be your name, John ! " said Dolly. " Your name 
 shall be the first he will learn.' We will both talk Of you 
 and always ! Dear John, do write to me at every oppor- 
 tunity. And tell me all you have done, and all you think 
 
The "Franklin." $ 
 
 of doing. Let me feel that thoughts of me are m all your 
 thoughts." 
 
 " Yes, dear Dolly, I will write to you. I will keep 
 you posted- up in the events of our voyage. My letters 
 shall be like a log, with all my tenderness to the good ! " 
 
 "Ah! John. I am so jealous of this sea which ij 
 taking you away so far. How much I envy those who 
 love and whom nothing in life can separate ! But no ; I 
 am wrong to think of that." 
 
 " Dear wife, say to yourself that it is for our child that 
 I go — for you also, to give both of you comfort and 
 happiness. If our hopes of the future are one day realized, 
 we shall never again separate." 
 
 Here Len Burker and Jane came near. Captain John 
 turned towards them. 
 
 " My dear Len," he said, " I leave you my wife ; I leave 
 you my son. I entrust them to you as being the only 
 relations they have in San Diego." 
 
 " You can depend on us, John," said Len Burker, en- 
 deavouring to soften the harshness of his voice. "Jane 
 and I are here, and we will take care of Dolly." 
 
 " And we will console her," said Mrs. Burker. " You 
 know how much I love you, my dear Dolly ! I will see 
 you often.' Every day I will spend a few hours with you. 
 We will talk- about John." 
 
 " Yes, Jane," answered Mrs. Branican, " for I shall not 
 cease to think about. him." 
 
 Harry Felton again came to interrupt the conversation. 
 
 " Captain," said he, " it will be time — " 
 
 " Alf right, Harry," said John. " Up with the inner jib 
 and mizen." 
 
 The mate went off to execute the orders, which meant 
 an immediate departure. , 
 
 " Mr. Andrew," said the captain to the owner, " the boat 
 will take you back to the quay with my wife and her 
 relations as soon as you like." 
 
 " Now, John," answered Mr. Andrew, " and once more 
 — a pleasant voyage 1 " 
 
lo Mistress Branican. 
 
 " Yes ! a pleasant voyage ! " said the other visitors aS 
 they went down into the boats on the starboard side of the 
 Franklin." 
 
 " Good-bye, Len ! Good-bye, Jane ! " said John, clasp- 
 ing their hands in his. 
 
 " Good-bye ! good-bye ! " said Mrs. Biirker. 
 
 " And you, my Dolly, you must go," added John ; 
 "the sails are filling." 
 
 And in fact the sails were giving a slight heel to the 
 Franklin, while the sailors sang, — 
 
 " Here goes one, 
 A bouncing one, 
 One will go, She will, oh ! 
 But two come home, they will, oh ! 
 Here goes two, 
 A bouncing two, 
 'J'wo will go, they will, oh ! 
 But three come home, they will, oh ! 
 Here goes three — " 
 
 And'so on. 
 
 During this the captain had led his wife to the gangwr.v, 
 and as she put her foot on the ladder, feeling "himself as 
 incapable of speaking fo her as she was of speaking to 
 him, he could only clasp her tightly in his armf. 
 
 And then the baby, which Dolly had just taken from 
 the nurse, stretched out its arms towards its father, shook 
 its little hands as it smiled, and this word escaped from its 
 lips,— 
 
 " Pa— pa ! Pa— pa I " 
 
 " My John," exclaimed Dolly,- "you have heard his first 
 word before separating from him.^' 
 
 Self-controlled as was the young captain, he could not 
 restrain the tear which rolled down on to little Wat's 
 cheek. 
 
 " Dolly ! " he murmured, " Good-bye ! good-bye 1 " 
 
 Then,— 
 
 " Are you clear ? " he called in a loud voice, to put an 
 end to this painful scene. 
 
The "Frankmn." ii 
 
 A moment afterwards the boat was offend heading for 
 the wharf where its passengers would immediately land. 
 
 Captain Branican was busy getting under way. The 
 anchor began to mount towards the hawse-hole. The 
 Franklin, free from her last fetter, already felt the breeze 
 on her sails, which were shaking violently. The big jib 
 was almost close home, and the guyed mizen caused the 
 ship to luff a little so that she could pass clear of a few 
 vessels moored at the entrance of the bay. 
 
 At a new order from Captain Branican the mainsail and 
 foresail went up together with a simultaneous precision 
 that did honour to the arms of the crew. Then the 
 Franklin, coming round on the port tack, stood off out to 
 sea. 
 
 From the wharf the numerous spectators could admire 
 these different manoeuvres. Nothing could be more 
 graceful than this elegantly shaped vessel when she heeled 
 to the capricious gusts of the wind. During the evolution 
 she approached the end of "the wharf where Mr. William 
 Andrew, Dolly, Len and Jane Burker stood within less* than 
 half a cable length ; and consequently the young captain 
 again had a glimpse of his wife and her relations and 
 friends. 
 
 They all replied to his voice which was clearly heard, 
 and to his hand which he stretched out towards those 
 from whom he was going away. 
 
 " Good-bye ! Good-bye ! " said he. 
 
 " Hurrah I " shouted the crowd of spectators, while the 
 handkerchiefs waved in hundreds. 
 
 Liked by all was Captain John Branican 1 Was he not 
 the townsman of whom the town was most justifiably 
 proud .' Yes ! they all would be there on his return when 
 he appeared outside the bay. 
 
 The Franklin, which was already at the mouth, had to 
 luff to avoid a long mail boat just coming in. The two 
 ships saluted by dipping their American ensigps. 
 
 On the wharf Mrs. Branican stood motionless gazing at 
 the Franklin rapidly sailing away under the fresh breeze 
 
12 Mistress Branican. 
 
 from the north-cast. She would follow her with her eyes 
 as long as her masts were visible over Island Point. 
 
 But the Franklin was soon round the Coronado Islands 
 outside the .bay. For a moment the house flag at the 
 masthead was visible through a gap in the cliffs. Then 
 she disappeared. - 
 
 " Good bye, John. Good-bye!" murmured Dolly. 
 
 And why was it that an inexplicable presentiment 
 prevented her from adding, " Au revoirf" 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 FAMILY MATTERS. 
 
 It is necessary to speak in more detail of Mrs. Branican, 
 whom the different events of this history will bring into 
 fuller light. At this time, Dolly — an abbreviation for 
 Dorothy — was one and twenty. She was of American 
 birth. But without going very far back in her pedigree, 
 there could be found the generation which allied her to 
 the Spanish or rather Mexican race, from which the chief 
 families of this country are descended. Her mother, in 
 fact, was born at San Diego, and San Diego was already 
 founded while Lower California still belonged to Mexico. 
 The vast bay discovered about three and a half centuries 
 before by the Spanish navigator, Juan Rodri'guez Cabrillo, 
 was at first named after San Miguel, but received its new 
 name in 1602. In 1846 the province changed its tri- 
 coloured flag for the Stars and Stripes and since then it 
 has formed one of the States of the Union. 
 
 Of middle height, with a face lighted up by eyes large 
 and deep and black, a warm complexion, abundant hair 
 of rich dark brown, with hands and feet rather strongly 
 made, as is generally the case in the Spanish type, a walk 
 firm and graceful, a physiognomy denoting energy of 
 character and goodness of heart — such was Mrs. Branican. 
 She was one of those women who cannot be looked upon 
 with indifference, and before her marriage Dolly had the 
 reputation among the girls of San Diego — where beauty 
 is not at all rare — of being the one most worthy of 
 attention. She was of a serious, reflective turn of mind, 
 
 U 
 
14 Mistress Branican. 
 
 in its larger sense, and was of enlightened views, gifts 
 which marriage would assuredly develop in her. 
 
 Yes ! under whatever circumstances, grave as they 
 might be, Dolly, now Mrs. Branican, would know how to 
 do her duty. Having frankly looked straight at life and 
 not through the deceitful surfaces of a prism, she possessed 
 a noble spirit and a strong will. The love with which her 
 husband had inspired her rendered her more resolute to 
 accomplish her task. If the case required it — and this is 
 not an empty phrase when applied to Mrs. Branican — 
 she would give her life for John, as John would give his 
 for her, and as both would give for the child born to 
 them in the first year of their union. They adored this 
 baby, which had just lisped the word "papa" at the 
 moment the young captain was separated from him and 
 his mother. The resemblance which little Wat bore to 
 his father was striking — in the features at least, for he 
 had the warm complexion of Dolly. Of vigorous con- 
 stitution he had nothing to fear from childish ailments. 
 Besides, he was so carefully looked after. Ah ! what 
 dreams of the future, the paternal and maternal imagina- 
 tion had already dreamt for this little being whose life had 
 barely begun. 
 
 Assuredly Mrs. Branican would have been the happiest 
 of women, if John's position had allowed him to abandon 
 his trade as a sailor, of which the least of the drawbacks 
 was this necessity of separation from each other. But 
 when the command of the Franklin had been offered to him, 
 how could she even think of keeping him from it .? And 
 besides, had she not to think of the necessities of house- 
 keeping, and providing for a family which might not 
 always consist of this one child } Dolly's dowry was 
 hardly enough for the needs of the house as it was. 
 Evidently John Branican might reckon on the fortune 
 which the uncle would leave to his niece, and very un- 
 likely things would have to occur for this fortune to 
 escape him, for Mr. Edward Starter was almost a sexa- 
 genarian and had no other heiress than Dolly. In fact, 
 
Family Matters. 15 
 
 her cousin, Jane Burker, belonged to the maternal branch 
 of the family, and was in no way related to her uncle. 
 Dolly would be rich — but ten years, twenty years might 
 pass before she came into her inheritance. And so John 
 Branican was obliged to, work at present, if he had no 
 reason to be anxious about the future ; and he had done 
 well in continuing in Andrews' service, in addition to the 
 interest which had been given him in the results of the 
 Franklin's voyages. And as besides being a sailor he 
 was a merchant well acquainted with trading affairs, 
 there was every chance of his acquiring by his work a 
 certain degree of comfort while waiting for the heritage 
 of Mr. Edward Starter. 
 
 One word concerning this American — whose " Ameri- 
 canism" was quite original. He was the brother of 
 Dolly's father and consequently her uncle. It was her 
 father, the elder by five or six years, who had so to speak 
 brought up the younger, for both were orphans ; and 
 the younger Starter had always retained for him a lively 
 affection augmented by gratitude. Circumstances favour- 
 ing the elder he had followed the steady road to fortune, 
 while the younger brother had wandered along the cross- 
 roads which rarely lead to anything. He had gone off to 
 engage in lucky speculations in buying and clearing vast 
 extents of land, in the State of Tennessee, but he had 
 never broken off communications with his brother, whom 
 business kept in the State of New York. When he had 
 become a widower he had settled at San Diego, the native 
 place of his wife, where he died just after the marriage of 
 Dolly with John Branican had been decided on. The 
 marriage took place when the mourning v/as over, and 
 the young couple's entire fortune was the very modest 
 heritage left by Starter senior. 
 
 A short time afterwards there had arrived at San Diego 
 a letter addressed to Dolly Branican by Starter junior. 
 It was the first he had written to his niece, and it was 
 to be the last. 
 
 In substance this letter said, in a form as concise as it 
 
1(3 MisTkEss Branican. 
 
 was to the point: although Starter junior was a long 
 way away from her, and although he had never seen her, 
 yet he did not forget that he had a niece, his own brother's 
 daughter. If he had never seen her it was because 
 Starter senior and Starter junior had never met since 
 Starter senior had taken to himself a wife, and because 
 Starter junior lived near Nashville In the remotest part of 
 Tennessee while she dwelt at San Diego. Between 
 Tennessee, and California there were several hundred 
 miles which it was in no way convenient for Starter 
 junior to travel, and if Starter junior found the journey 
 too fatiguing for him to go and see his niece, he thought 
 it would be no less fatiguing for his niece to come and see 
 him, and he begged her not to think of taking any trouble 
 in the matter. 
 
 In reality Starter junior was a regular bear — not one 
 of those American grizzlies with claws and fur, but one 
 of those human bears who are specially fitted to live 
 outside all social relationships. But that was no concern 
 t,f Dolly's. She was the niece of a bear — be it so I But 
 this bear possessed an uncle's heart. He did not for- 
 get what was due from Starter junior to the brother's 
 daughter who would inherit his fortune. 
 
 Starter junior said that this fortune was already worth 
 having. It was then worth 500,000 dollars, and could 
 not but increase, for clearing speculations were prospering 
 in the State of Tennessee. As it consisted of land and 
 caitle it would be easy to realize at good prices, and there 
 would be no difficulty in finding buyers. 
 
 If this was said in that positive and somewhat brutal 
 fashion which is peculiar to Americans of the old type, it 
 was said all the same. The fortune of Starter junior 
 would go entirely to Mrs. Branican and her children ; but 
 in the event of the death of Mrs. Branican, without 
 descendants, this fortune would revert to the State, which 
 would be very happy to accept it. 
 
 Two things more. 
 
 I, Starter junior was a bachelor. He would remain a 
 
Family Matters. 17 
 
 bachelor : " the folly he had avoided between the years of 
 twenty and thirty he would avoid at sixty," so his letter 
 said. There was nothing then to turn aside this fortune, 
 as he desired formally to impress upon her, and she 
 v/ould have it for her household use as certainly as the 
 Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 2. Starter junior would use every effort — superhuman, 
 indeed — to enrich his niece at the most distant date 
 possible. He had no intention of dying till he was at 
 least a centenarian, and would use all the obstinacy of 
 which he was capable to prolong his life to the utmost 
 possible limit. 
 
 Finally, Starter junior begged Mrs. Branican, and even 
 ordered her, not to reply. There was but little com- 
 munication between the towns and the forest region in 
 the depths of Tennessee. And for his part he would not 
 write again unless it was to announce his death, when the 
 letter would not be in his own hand. 
 
 Such was the singular letter received by Mrs. Branican. 
 That she would be the heiress, the universal legatee of her 
 Uncle Starter, there could be no doubt. She would one 
 day possess a fortune of 500,000 dollars, which would 
 probably be greatly increased by the work of this clever 
 clearer of forests. But as Starter junior clearly expressed 
 his intention of living till he was a hundred— and one 
 knows how tenacious these Americans are — John Branican 
 had wisely decided not to abandon the sea. His intelli- 
 gence, his courage, and his determination would probably 
 help him to acquire a certain affluence for his wife and 
 child long before Uncle Starter had started for another 
 world. 
 
 Such was the position of the hopsehold when the 
 Franklin sailed for the Western Pacific, and which it was 
 necessary to explain in order that what follows may be 
 understood. And now for the only relations of Dolly 
 Branican at San Diego, Mr. and Mrs. Burker. 
 
 Len Burker, an American by birth, was then in his 
 thirty-second year, and had only during the last few years 
 
1 8 Mistress Branicatt. 
 
 settled In the capital of Lower California. This New 
 England Yankee, cold in face, hard in feature, stroncj in 
 body, was very determined, very active, and very close, 
 allowing nothing to be known of his thoughts, and saying 
 nothing of his actions. His was one of those natures 
 which resemble closed houses, the door of which is opened 
 to nobody. However, at San Diego there had been no 
 unfavourable rumours concerning this uncommunicative 
 man, whose marriage with Jane Burker had made him 
 John Branican's cousin. There is nothing surprising in 
 John's having entrusted Dolly and his child to the 
 Burkers, for he had no other relations ; but in reality it 
 was .more particularly to Jane that he entrusted them, 
 knowing that the two cousins had a profound affection for 
 each other. 
 
 And it would have been different had John known the 
 truth about Len Burker, if he had known the knavery 
 which he dissimulated behind the impenetrable mask of 
 his physiognomy, or the unceremoniousness with which he 
 treated the social proprieties, respect for himself and the 
 rights of others. Deceived by his somewhat seductive 
 exterior, by a sort of dominating fascination he exercised 
 over her, Jane had married him five months before at 
 Boston, where she was living with her mother, who died 
 a little time after the marriage, the consequences of which 
 were to become so regrettable. Jane's dowry, and the 
 maternal inheritance, would have sufficed for the young 
 couple to live upon if Len Burker had been a man to 
 follow the usual road and not the by-paths. But he did 
 nothing of the sort. After having run through his wife's 
 fortune, Len Burker had been bankrupt at Boston, and 
 had to leave that city. On the other side of America, 
 where his dubious reputation had not followed him, the 
 new countries offered him chances he could not have in 
 New England. 
 
 Jane, who now knew her husband, readily seconded 
 this plan of departure, happy to get away from Boston, 
 where Len Burker's position, led to disagreeable com- 
 
Family Matters. 19 
 
 ments, and glad also to be with the only relative she had 
 left to her. They had come to San Diego where Dolly 
 and Jane became friends again. For three years they had 
 lived in the town, and Len Burker had given rise to no 
 suspicions, owing to his hiding his difificulties with so 
 much ability. Such were the circumstances which had 
 again brought together the two cousins at the time when 
 Dolly was not yet Mrs. Branican. The young wife and 
 the girl became close friends.. Although it would seem 
 that Jane should have influenced Dolly, the contrary was 
 the case. Dolly was strong, Jane was weak, and the girl 
 soon became the wife's support. When the union of John 
 Branican and Dolly was decided on, Jane showed herself 
 very pleased at the match — a marriage which in no way 
 promised to resemble hers ! And in the intimacy of this 
 young household what consolation she might not have 
 found if she had told the secret of her troubles. But 
 subdued under her husband's domination, she had never 
 dared to say a word. 
 
 But Len Burker's position was becoming more and 
 more serious. The little that remained to him of his 
 wife's fortune when he left Boston had almost entirely 
 gone. This gambler, or rather this reckless speculator, 
 was one of those people who leave everything to chance, 
 and await the event. Such a character, incapable of listen- 
 ing to reason, could not but bring about deplorable results. 
 
 On his arrival at San Diego, Len Burker had opened an 
 office in Fleet Street — one of those offices like dens from 
 which every idea, good or bad, is made a starting-point for 
 business. Clever in putting the best appearance on every- 
 thing, quite unscrupulous as to the means he employed, an 
 adept at treating quibbles as arguments, much inclined to 
 look on the property of others as his own, he launched 
 out into a score of speculations which would gradually end 
 in disaster, but not without leaving him a few pickings. 
 At the opening of this history Len Burker was reduced to 
 many shifts, and discomfort was in his house ; but he still 
 pnjoyed a certain apjount of credit, owing to his keeping 
 
20 Mistress Branican. 
 
 his affairs quiet, and this he employed in making new 
 dupes. The position, however, could only end in a cata- 
 strophe. The hour could not be distant when the claims 
 would come in. Perhaps this adventurous Yankee, trans- 
 planted to Western America, would have no other resource 
 but to leave San Diego as he had left Boston, although in 
 a time of such enlightenment and such powerful com- 
 mercial activity, the progress of which increased from 
 year to year, an honest and intelligent man would have 
 found a hundred opportunities of success. But Len 
 Barker had neither honourable feelings, just ideas, nor 
 honest intentions. 
 
 But it must be understood that neither John Branican 
 nor William Andrew had any suspicion concerning the 
 affairs of Len Burker. In the world of industry and com- 
 merce no one knew that this adventurer — and would to 
 heaven he merited that name only — was approaching a 
 disastrous end. And even when the catastrophe came 
 about the world might see in him merely a man little 
 favoured by fortune,- and not one of those persons without 
 morality, to whom every way of making money must be 
 right. And so, without having taken a great liking to 
 him, John Branican had conceived no mistrust towards 
 him ; and it was in all good faith that he reckoned on the 
 kindness of the Burkers to his wife. If anything hap- 
 pened to make Dolly have recourse to them she would 
 not go in vain. Their house was open to her, and she 
 would there find a welcome due not only to a friend but 
 to a sister. 
 
 In this respect there was no cause to suspect the senti- 
 ments of Jane Burker. The affection she entertained 
 towards her cousin was without restraint or calculation. 
 Far from blaming the sincere friendship which united 
 these two young women, Len Burker had encouraged it, 
 on the contrary, doubtless with a confused notion of the 
 future, and the advantages which this connection might 
 bring. He knew, loo, that Jane would never say a word 
 she ought not to say, and that she would maintain a, 
 
Family Matters. 21 
 
 prudent reserve regarding her personal position, that she 
 was ignorant of the blameworthy undertakings on which 
 he had entered, of the difficulties amid which his house- 
 keeping had to struggle on. And Jane was silent, and 
 not a word of recrimination escaped her. She was com- 
 pletely overawed by her husband, and submissive to his 
 absolute influence, although she knew him to be a man 
 without conscience, destitute of any moral sense, and 
 capable of committing the most unpardonable acts. After 
 so many disillusions how could she retain the least respect 
 for him ? But — and this is the essential point — she (eared 
 him, she was like a child in his hands, and at a sign from 
 him she would folloiv him, if his safety obliged him to fly 
 to no matter what part of the world. But for her own 
 self-respect she allowed no one to know her misery, not 
 even her cousin Dolly, who perhaps suspected it without 
 being taken into her confidence. 
 
 The relative positions of John and Dolly Branican on 
 the one hand, and that of Len and Jane Burker on the 
 other, is thus sufficiently clear for the understanding of 
 the occurrences that followed. In what way would this 
 position be altered by the unexpected which was so sodn 
 and so suddenly to happen ? No one could have fore- 
 seen. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TROSPECT HOUSE. 
 
 Thirty years ago Lower California — about a third of the 
 State of California — contained only about thirty-five thou- 
 sand iahabitants. To-day its population is one hundred 
 and fifty thousand. At that time the land of the province 
 was almost uncultivated and was deemed only fit for cattle- 
 raising. Who would have divined what the future had in 
 reserve for a region then so abandoned that the only 
 means of communication by land was the roads rutted with 
 cart-wheels, and by sea a solitary line of packet-boats call- 
 ing at every port on the coast .' 
 
 But ever since 1769 the embryo of a town existed a few 
 miles in the interior to the north of the Bay of San Diego, 
 which town has the historical claim of being the most 
 ancient settlement on Californian soil. 
 
 When the new continent, attached to old Europe by the 
 simple colonial ties which the United Kingdom thought to 
 tighten, had been given a violent shock, these ties were 
 broken, and the union of the States of North America was 
 founded under the flag of independent;e ; but in those days 
 California belonged to the Mexicans, and it continued in 
 their possession until 1846. In that year, after receiving its 
 freedom, the rpunicipality of San Diego, formed eleven 
 years before, became what it should always be — American. 
 
 The bay of San Diego is magnificent. It has been com- 
 pared with the bay of Naples, but the comparison would be 
 more exact if made with the bays of Vigo or Rio Janeiro. 
 Twelve miles long and two miles wide it gives enough space 
 
Prospect House. 23 
 
 for the anchorage of a merchant fleet as well as for the 
 manoeuvres of a squadron, for San Diego is considered to 
 be a military port. Forming a kind of oval, opening to 
 the westward by a narrow mouth between Island Point 
 and Loma or Coronado Point, it is sheltered on all sides. 
 The winds from the open sea respect it, the swell from the 
 Pacific hardly troubles its surface, ships get away from it 
 without difficulty, and come alongside the quays in a 
 minimum of twenty-three feet of water. It is the only 
 port, safe, practicable, suitable for putting in at, south of 
 San Francisco and north of San Quentin. 
 
 With so many natural advantages, it was evident that 
 the old town would soon be found too small as at first laid 
 out. Already barracks had been built for the installation 
 of a detachment of cavalry on some adjoining ground 
 which was covered with brushwood. Owing to Mr. 
 Horton's initiative a suburb to this was begun, and this 
 has now become the city which now stands on the ridges 
 at the north of the bay. The expansion took place with 
 that celerity so familiar to Americans. A million of dollars 
 sown on the ground germinated as private houses, public 
 buildings, offices and villas. In 1885 San Diego contained 
 fifteen thousand inhabitants, to-day it has thirty-five thou- 
 sand. Its first railroad dates from 1881. At present the 
 Atlantic and Pacific, the Southern California, and the 
 Southern Pacific put it in communication with the con- 
 tinental network, and the Pacific Coast Steamship Com- 
 pany gives it constant intercourse with San Francisco. 
 
 It is a handsome, comfortable town, airy and healthy, 
 'vith a climate beyond eulogv. In the vicinity the country 
 is of incomparable fertility. The vine, the olive, the orange, 
 the citron grow side by side with the fruits and vegetables 
 of northern climes. We might call it a Normandy com- 
 bined with a Provence. 
 
 The town itself is built with that picturesque freedom 
 of position and private fancy which is conducive to 
 health when there is plenty of space. If progress under 
 all its forms is not to be met with in a modern city, more 
 
24 Mistress Branican. 
 
 especially when this city is American, where should we 
 look for it ? Gas, telegraph, telephone — the inhabitants 
 have but to make a sign to be lighted, to exchange 
 messages, to speak in each other's ears between one quarter 
 of the town and another. There are even masts a hundred 
 and fifty feet high which shed the electric light over the 
 streets of the town. If the milk is not yet distributed 
 under pressure by the General Milk Company, if moving 
 footpaths running four miles an hour are not yet working 
 at San Diego, this will certainly be done — eventually. 
 
 'Jo these advantages we must add the different institu- 
 tions in which is controlled the vital movement of tliese great 
 agglomerations — a custom house, the importance of whicii 
 increases daily, two banks, a chamber of commerce, an 
 emigration society, vast offices, numerous counting houses, 
 in which an enormous trade is carried on in timber and 
 flour; churches for different denominations, three markets, 
 a theatre, a gymnasium ; three large schools for poor 
 children, the Russ House, the Masonic and the Odd 
 Fellows'; a number of establishments in which" studies 
 are carried on for the gaining of university diplomas 
 — and we can imagine what will be the future of a city, 
 still young and compulsorily careful of its moral and 
 material interests, within which are accumulated so many 
 elements of prosperity. Are newspapers unknown to it? 
 No ! It possesses three daily sheets, among others the 
 Herald, and these papers have each a weekly edition. Is 
 there any fear of tourists being unable to find comfortable 
 quarters ? Without counting the hotels of inferior order, 
 are there not at their choice the three magnificent establish- 
 ments — the Horton House, the Florence Hotel, and the 
 Gerard Hotel with its hundred rooms, and on the opposite 
 side of the bay, overlooking the beach at Coronado Foint, 
 on an admirable site amid charming villas, a new hotel 
 which has not cost less than five million dollars? 
 
 From all the countries of the old continent and from all 
 points of the new, come tourists to visit this young and 
 lively capital of Lower California, where they are hospitably 
 
PROSfficT House. 25 
 
 welcomed by its generous inhabitants, and in no way regret 
 the voyage — unless it be that they thought it too short. 
 
 San Diego is a town full of animation and well organized 
 in all. the confusion of its business like the majority of 
 J^merican cities. If life is shown by movement, one can 
 say its people live in the most intense sense of the word. 
 They have scarcely time enough for their commercial 
 transactions. But if that is so for the people whose 
 instincts and habits throw them into the whirlpool, it is no 
 longer true of those whose existence drags on in intermin- 
 able leisure. When the movement stops the hours cannot 
 go too slowly I 
 
 And thus did Mrs. Branican feel after the departure of 
 the Franklin. Since her marriage she had helped her 
 husband in his work. Although he did not go to sea, his 
 business with Andrews' gave John' a good deal to do. 
 Besides the commercial transactions in which he took 
 part, he had had to superintend the building of the ship to 
 which he was to be appointed. With what zeal, we might 
 almost say with what love, did he look after the smallest 
 details. He gave it all the incessant care of a man build- 
 ing the house in which he is to pass his life. And more 
 so, for the ship is not only a house, or a mere instrument 
 of fortune, but an assemblage of wood and iron to which is 
 confided the lives of so many men.' Is it not as' it were a 
 detached fragment of the native soil to which it returns to 
 leave it again, and which unfortunately destiny often for- 
 bids from finishing its maritime career in the port in which 
 it was born .' 
 
 Frequently would Dolly accompany Captain John to 
 the shipyard. This framework, which rose on the sloping 
 keel, the curves arranged like the ribs of a gigantic 
 mammifer, the planking which was to go on ; this hull 
 of complex form, this deck with the large openings in it 
 destined for loading and unloading the cargo; the masts 
 laid on the ground until they are in place, the poop and its 
 cabins, could not all this interest her } It was John's life 
 and that of his companions that \h& Franklin wovXd, defend 
 
26 Mistress Branican. 
 
 from the surges of the Pacific. Could there be a plank, 
 therefore, to which Dolly did not in her thought attach 
 some chance of safety, a hammer stroke, amid the noise 
 of the shipyard, which did not echo in her heart ? John 
 explained everything to her, told her the destina- 
 tion of each piece of wood or metal, and showed her 
 how the progress accorded with the working drawings. 
 She loved this ship of which John was to be the soul, the 
 master, after God ! And sometimes she would ask, when 
 she did not go with John, why he did not take her with 
 him, why she did not share with him the perils of the 
 journey, why the Franklin did not take her as well as him 
 from San Diego .■' Yes ! She wished never to be separated 
 from her husband. And had not seafaring households, 
 afloat for matny years, existed for a long time among the 
 people of the north } 
 
 But there was Wat, the baby, and could Dolly abandon 
 him to the cares of a nurse far away from maternal caresses ? 
 No ! Could she take him to sea, exposing him to the 
 eventualities of a voyage so dangerous for such little 
 creatures ? - Not at all. Therefore she must stop at San 
 Diego with the child, to preserve the life that had been 
 given him, without leaving him for an instant; surround- 
 ing him with affection and tenderness in order that as he 
 blossomed forth in health he might smile when his father 
 returned. And the captain would not be away more than 
 six months. After taking in a new cargo at Calcutta the 
 Franklin would return to her port of registry. And, be- 
 sides, was it not advisable for a sailor's wife to become 
 accustomed to these inevitable separations t 
 
 It was necessary to become resigned to it, and Dolly 
 did resign herself to it. But after John's departure, as 
 soon as the movement which was life to her had ceased 
 around her, how vacant, monotonous and desolate her life 
 would have been if she had not been absorbed in her 
 child, if she had not concentrated on him all her love. 
 
 John Branican's house was on one of the upper levels of 
 the heights which surround the shore of the bay. It was 
 
Prospect House. 27 
 
 a sort of chalet, standing in a little garden, planted with 
 orange trees and olive trees, enclosed with a wooden 
 fence. A ground floor with a path along the front, on to 
 which opened the door and the windows of the drawing 
 and dining rooms, a first floor with a balcony the whole 
 length, and above it the graceful gables of the roof— such 
 was this very simple and attractive dwelling. On the 
 ground floor were the drawing and dining rooms, modestly 
 furnished. On the first floor were two rooms occupied by 
 Mrs. Branican and the child, behind the house a small 
 annexe for the kitchen and offices ; that was the interior 
 plan of the chalet. Prospect House rejoiced in an ex- 
 ceptionally fine position owing to its southern aspect. The 
 view extended over the entire town, and across the bay to 
 the buildings on Loma Point. It was rather too far away 
 from the business quarter undoubtedly; but this slight 
 disadvantage was amply compensated for by the chalet's 
 position in a good atmosphere, exposed to the southerly 
 breezes, laden with the saline odours of the Pacific. 
 
 It was in this house that the -long hours of absence for 
 Dolly were to be passed. The baby's nurse and a 
 domestic were the only servants. The only persons who 
 visited it were Mr. and Mrs. Burker — Len rarely, Jane 
 frequently. Mr. William Andrew, according to his pro- 
 mise, often called on the young wife to acquaint her with 
 all the news of the Franklin which might reach him 
 directly or indirectly. Before any letters could come the 
 maritime journals would record the vessels spoken with, 
 their arrival in port, and the different shipping news of 
 interest to shipowners. Dolly would thus be kept up to 
 date. As to the people around and her neighbours, she 
 was accustomed to the isolation of Prospect House and 
 had never sought acquaintanceship. One thought 
 occupied her life, and even if visitors had crowded to the 
 chalet, it would have seemed empty to her, \ox John was 
 not there, and it would remain empty until his return. 
 
 The first few days were very sad for her. t)olly never 
 went out of the house when Jane Burker came to see her. 
 
sS Mistress Bkanican. 
 
 They Spent their time with little Wat and in speaking of 
 Captain John. Generally, when she was alone, Dolly 
 would spend a part of the day on the balcony, looking 
 out beyond the bay, beyond Island Point, beyond the 
 Coronado Islands, beyond the horizon. The Franklin was 
 far away, but in thought she was on board of her and 
 near her husband. And when a ship came into view and 
 sought the harbour she would say to herself that one day 
 the Franklin would also appear, and grow larger as she 
 neared the land, that John would be on board. 
 
 But little Wat's health v/ould not be improved by rigid 
 seclusion within Prospect Flouse. In the second week 
 after the departure the weather had become very fine 
 and the breezes tempered the growirrg heat. So Mrs. 
 Branican deemed it necessary to go out. She took with 
 her the nurse to carry the baby. They went for a walk as 
 far as the outskirts of San Diego, as far as the houses of 
 the Old Town. That was of great benefit to the child, 
 who was fresh and rosy, and when the nurse stopped he 
 clapped his little hands and smiled at his mother. Once 
 or twice, for longer excursions a pretty chaise, hired in the 
 neighbourhood, took out the three, or rather the four, for 
 Mrs. Burker formed one of the party. One day they went 
 as far as Knob Hill, which rises near the Florence Hotel, 
 from which the view extends beyond the islands to the 
 west. Another day the drive extended to Coronado 
 Beach, on which the furious sea beat like thunder. Then 
 they visited the Mussel Beds, where the high tide covers 
 the superb rocks with its spray. Dolly touched with her 
 foot this ocean, which bore as it were an echo from the 
 distant regions where John was then sailing— this ocean, 
 the waves of which were perhaps dashing against the 
 Franklin thousands of miles away. And she stood there 
 motionless, seeing the young captain's ship in the flight of 
 her imagination, and murmuring the name of John. 
 
 On the 30th of March Mrs. Branican was on the balcony 
 when she preceived Mrs. Burker coming towards Prospect 
 House. Jane was hurrying along, and signalled joyfully 
 
Prospect House. 29 
 
 with her hand, a proof that she brought no bad news. 
 Dolly immediately went downstairs to meet her at the 
 door. 
 
 " What is the matter, Jane ? " ■she asked. 
 
 " Dear Dolly," replied Mrs. Burker, " I have something 
 to tell you which will please you. I have come from Mr. 
 William Andrew to tell you that the Boundary came in 
 this morning and has spoken the Franklin'' 
 
 " The Franklin ? " 
 
 " Yes ! Mr. William Andrew had just heard it whe'n he 
 met me in Fleet Street, and as he could not come on here 
 until the afternoon, I hurried on in hi^ place to tell you." 
 
 " And is there any news of John ? " 
 
 "Yes, Dolly." 
 
 " What ? Tell me." 
 
 " Eight days ago the Franklin and the Boundary passed 
 each other on the sea and communicated with each other." 
 
 "Was all well on board ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear Dolly. The two captains were near enough 
 to shout to each other, 'and the last word heard on tlie 
 Boundary was your name." 
 
 " My poor John ! " exclaimed Mrs. Branican, with tears 
 of love in her eyes. 
 
 " I am so glad, Dolly," said Mrs. Burker, " to have been 
 the first to bring you the news." 
 
 " And I thank you ! " said Mrs. Branican. " If you 
 only knew how happy you have made me ! Ah ! If 
 every day I could hear of my John— my dear John ! The 
 captain of the Boundary has seen you. John has spoken 
 to him — it is like another good-bye he has sent me 1 " 
 
 " Yes, dear Dolly, and I tell you again that all was well 
 on board the Franklin!' 
 
 " Jane," said Mrs. Branican, " I must see this captain of 
 the Boundary. He will tell me more in detail. When did 
 the meeting take place 1 " 
 
 "That fdo not know," said Jane, "but the log book 
 would tell us, and the captain of the Boundary will give 
 you full information." 
 
30 Mistress Branican. 
 
 "Well, Jane, let me put on my things and we will go 
 off together at once." 
 
 " No. Not to-day, Dolly," said Mrs. Bu.kcr ; " we 
 cannot go on board the Boundary." 
 
 " And why not ? " 
 
 " Because she only arrived this morning, and she is in 
 quarantine." 
 
 " For how long ? " 
 
 " Oh ! For twenty-four hours only. It is merely a 
 matter of form, but no one can — " 
 
 "And how did Mr. William Andrew come to know 
 about this meeting ? " 
 
 " Through a message sent through the custom house by 
 the captain. Dear Dolly, be easy. There is no doubt 
 at all about what I have told you, and you can have the 
 confirmation of it to-morrow. I only ask a day's patience." 
 
 " Well, Jane, to-morrow," replied Mrs. Branican. " To- 
 morrow I will be y.t your house at nine o'clock in the 
 morning. You will then come with me on to the 
 Boundary f " 
 
 " Willingly, dear Dolly. I will go with you to-morrow, 
 and then, as the quarantine will have been raised, we can 
 be received by the captain." 
 
 " Is not Captain Ellis a friend of John's? " asked Mrs. 
 Branican. 
 
 " Yes, Dolly, and the Boundary belongs to Andrews'." 
 
 " Then it is agreed, Jane. I shall be with you at the 
 time named. But the day will be very long for me. Will 
 you have luncheon with me?" 
 
 " If you like, my dear Dolly. Mr. Burker is away until 
 this evening, and we can spend the afternoon." 
 
 " Yes, dear John, and we will talk about John — always 
 about him — always ! " 
 
 "And little Wat.? How is the baby?" asked Mrs. 
 Burker. 
 
 " He is very well ! " said Dolly. " He is as happy as a 
 bird. How glad his father will be to see him again! 
 Jane, I have a great mind to take him and his nurse 
 
Prospect House. 31 
 
 with us to-morrow ! You know I don't like to be separate 
 from my child even for a few hours. I should never be 
 easy if he were out of my sight — if I did not have him 
 with me." 
 
 " You are right, Dolly," said Mrs. Burker, " it is a good 
 idea. Little Wat will be all the better for the outing. It 
 is fine weather, the bay is calm. It will be his first sea 
 voyage, the dear child ! Is it agreed ? " 
 
 " It is agreed ! " said Mrs. Branican. 
 
 Jane remained at Prospect House until five o'clock in 
 the afternoon. Then, as she left her cousin, she repeated 
 that she would expect her at nine o'clock next morning to 
 accompanj' her on board the Boundary, 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON 130ARD THE "BOUNDARY." 
 
 In the morning they were up early at Prospect House. 
 The weather was superb. The breeze off the land blew 
 the last mists of the night away out to sea. The nurse 
 dressed little Wat, while Mrs. Branican was busy at her 
 toilette. It had been agreed that she would lunch with 
 Mrs. Barker ; and so she contented herself with a light meal 
 which would last her till noon, for very probably the visit 
 to Captain Ellis would take two good hours. Everything 
 the brave captain told her would be so interesting. 
 
 Mrs. Branican, and the nurse with the child in her arms, 
 left the chalet as the clocks of San Diego were chiming 
 half-past eight. The wide streets of the upper town, bor- 
 dered with villas and gardens, were descended at a good 
 pace, and Dolly reached the narrower streets more crowded 
 with houses, which form the business quarter. Lcn 
 Burker lived in Fleet Street, not far from the wharf be- 
 longing to the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. In 
 short, Mrs. Branican had made a good passage, for she had 
 come right through the city, and it was just nine o'clock 
 when she entered Jane's house. 
 
 It was a small house and of rather melancholy aspect, 
 with its Venetian shutters generally closed. Len Bunker's 
 friends were almost always men of business, as he had no 
 acquaintances with his neighbours. Little was known of 
 him even in Fleet Street, and his business frequently kept 
 him away from morning till night. Often, too, he went 
 on journeys, and most frequently to San Francisco, on 
 
On board the "Boundary." 33 
 
 matters of which he never spoke to his wife. This morn- 
 ing he was not in the office when Mrs. Branlcan arrived. 
 Jane Burker made an excuse for her husband not being 
 able to accompany them in their visit to the Boundary, 
 adding that he would certainly be back to lunch. 
 
 " I am ready, my dear Dolly," said she, after kissing the 
 baby. " You do not want to wait ? " 
 
 " I am not tired," said Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " You do not want anything .<" " 
 
 " No, Jane. I am anxious to see Captain Ellis. Let us 
 be otfat once, please." 
 
 Mrs. Burker had but one servant — an old woman, a 
 mulatto whom her husband had brought from New York 
 when he had come to San Diego. This mulatto, whose 
 name was No, had been Len Burker's nurse. Having 
 always lived in his family, she was entirely devoted to 
 him, and still talked to him as if he were a child. This 
 uncouth, imperious creature was the only one who had 
 ever exercised any influence over Len Burker, who had com- 
 pletely handed over to her the management of his house. 
 Often Jane had had to put up with a domination almost 
 exceeding bounds, "and of which her husband entiiely 
 approved. But she submitted to the domination of the 
 mulatto as she did to that of her husband. In her resig- 
 nation, which was nothing but feebleness, she left matters 
 to themselves, and N6 consulted her in nothing as to the 
 management of the household. 
 
 Just as Jane was going away the mulatto advised her 
 to be back before noon, for Len Burker would return for 
 lunch, and certainly would not wait for her. Besides he 
 wi.shed to see Mrs. Branican on important business — so 
 said No. 
 
 " What is it about ? " asked Dolly of her cousin. 
 
 " And how should I know ? " answered Mrs. Burker. 
 " Come, Dolly, come ! " 
 
 Mrs. Branican and Jane Burker, accompanied by the 
 nurse and the child, left the house and walked towards the 
 v/harf, where they arrived in a few minutes. 
 
34 Mistress Branican. 
 
 The Boundary, whose quarantine had just been raised, 
 had not yet come alongside the berth reserved for An- 
 drews' ships. She was moored in the bay about a cable's 
 length from Point Loma. It was thus necessary to cross 
 the bay to get on board the vessel, which would not move 
 up for two hours. This meant a passage of about two 
 miles, which the steam launches started on every half 
 hour. 
 
 As soon as they arrived Dolly and Jane took their places 
 in the steam launch with about a dozen other passengers. 
 Most of them were friends or relatives of the crew of the 
 Boundary, who were taking advantage of the first oppor- 
 tunity to visit them on board the vessel. The launch let 
 go her painter, sheered off from the wharf, and under the 
 impulse of her screw headed obliquely across the bay, 
 puffing at every stroke. 
 
 In the limpid clearness of the weather, the bay was 
 visible all round, with the amphitheatre of the houses of 
 San Diego, the hill dominating the Old Town, the mouth 
 open between Island Point and Loma Point, the immense 
 Coronado hotel of grandiose architecture, and the light- 
 house which rayed forth its light over the sea after the 
 setting of the sun. 
 
 There were several ships moored here and there, which 
 the launch avoided cleverly, as she did also the boats 
 coming in the opposite direction, and the fishing boats 
 going close-hauled so as to fetch the point in one tack. 
 
 Mri. Branican sat near Jane on one of the seats aft. 
 The nurse, near them, held the child in her arms. The 
 baby did not sleep, and his eyes filled with the light which 
 the breeze seemed to brighten with its breath. He jumped 
 when a couple of gulls passed over the launch, uttering 
 their sharp cry. He was blooming with health, with his 
 fresh cheeks and his rosy lips, still humid with the milk he 
 had drawn from the bosom of his nurse before he had left 
 the Burkers.. His mother regarded him with emotion, 
 bending over him to kiss him, while he smiled in return. 
 But Dolly's attention was soon attracted by the sight of 
 
On board the "Boundary." 35 
 
 the Boundary. Lying apart now from the other vessels, 
 the three-master, clearly outlined at the end of the bay, was 
 flying her flags against the sunny sky. She was swinging 
 with the tide, her bow to the westward at the extremity of 
 her straining cable, on which the last undulations of the 
 surge were breaking. 
 
 All Dolly's life wgis in her look. She thought of John, 
 carried away on a ship the sister of this one, so much were 
 they ahke. And were they not both children of the house 
 of Andrew > Were they not both of the same port ? Were 
 they not both built in the same yard ? 
 
 Dolly, beset by the charm of the illusion, her imagination 
 stimulated by the remembrance, abandoned herself to the 
 idea that John was there on board, that he was waiting 
 for her, that he would stretch out his hand to her when he 
 saw her, that she would be able to jump into his arms. 
 His name rose to her lips, she called him, and he answered 
 by uttering her name. 
 
 Then a gentle cry from her child recalled her from 
 sentiment to reality. It was the Boundary towards 
 which she was going, and not the Franklin, which was 
 far, far away, thousands of leagues from the American 
 shore. 
 
 " She will be there — one day — in that very place ! " she 
 murmured, looking at Mrs. Burker. 
 
 " Yes, dear Dolly," answered Jane. " And it will be 
 John who will welcome us -on board." 
 
 She was conscious that a vague uneasiness was wringing 
 the heart of the young wife when she asked about the 
 future. 
 
 However, the steam launch had in a quarter of an hour 
 covered the two miles which separate the San Diego wharf 
 from Point Loma. The passengers landed on the pier at 
 the beach, and had then to return towards the Boundary a 
 little more than a cable's length away. 
 
 At the foot of the pier in charge of two sailors was a 
 boat plying to and from the three-master. Mrs. Branican 
 hailed it, and the men put it at her disposal to take her 
 
35 Mistress Branican. 
 
 to the Boundary as soon as she was assured that Captain 
 Ellis was then on board. 
 
 A few strokes of the oars were enough, and Captain Ellis 
 having recognized Mrs. Branican, came to the side as she 
 was coming up the ladder, followed by Jane, not without 
 having cautioned the nurse to hold on tight to the baby. 
 The captain took them to the poop, while the mate began 
 the preparations to take the ship alongside the wharf at 
 San Diego. 
 
 " Mr. Ellis," said Mrs. Branican at once, " I hear you 
 met the Franklin ? " 
 
 " Yes, madam," said the captain, " and I can assure you 
 she was in good condition, as I have already reported to 
 Mr. William Andrew." 
 " You have seen — John } " 
 
 " The Franklin and the Boundary passed so close on 
 different tacks that Captain Branican and I were able to 
 exchange a few words." 
 
 "Yes! You saw him!" repeated Mrs. Branican, as if 
 she were talking to herself and seeking a reflection of the 
 sight of the Franklin in the captain's eyes. 
 
 Mrs. Burker then asked several questions, to which 
 Dolly listened attentively, although her eyes were turned 
 towards the horizon of sea. 
 
 " On that occasion," said Captain Ellis, " the weather 
 was very favourable and the Franklin was running free 
 under all plain canvas. Captain Branican was on the 
 poop, his telescope in his hand. He had luffed a point so 
 as to approach the Boundary, for I had not been able to 
 change my course, being as close to the wind as I could 
 haul without shivering ray sails." 
 
 Mrs, Branican doubtless did not understand the full 
 meaning of Captain Ellis's terms, but what she remembered 
 was that he had spoken with John, who had exchanged a 
 few words with him. 
 
 " When we were alongside each other," added he, " your 
 husband, Mrs. Branican, waved me a salute with his hand 
 and shouted : 'All's right with us, Ellis ! As soon as you 
 
On board the "Boundary.^' 37 
 
 get to San Diego give news of me to my wife, to my dear 
 Dolly!' And then the two vessels parted, and in a few- 
 minutes were a long way from each other." 
 
 " And v/hat day was it that you met the Franldin ? " 
 asked Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " On the 23rd of March," answered Captain Ellis, " at 
 1 1. 25, a.m." 
 
 It was then better to go into detail, and the captain 
 pointed out on the chart the exact point at which the ships 
 had crossed. It was in 14S deg. oflongitude and 20 deg, of 
 latitude that the Boundary had met the Franklin, that is 
 to say, at seventeen hundred miles from San Diego. If 
 the weather continued favourable— and there was a chance 
 that it would with the fine season now becoming estab- 
 lished — Captain John would make a quick and fortunate 
 passage across the North Pacific. And as he would find 
 a cargo as soon as he arrived at Calcutta, he would stay 
 but a short time in the capita! of India, and his return 
 for America would promptly take place. The Franklin's 
 absence would thus be limited to five or six months, as 
 foreseen and expected by her owners. 
 
 While Captain Ellis answered sometimes Mrs. Burker, 
 
 sometimes Mrs. Branican, Dolly, carried away by her 
 
 imagination, figured to herself that she was on board the 
 
 'Franklin. It was not Ellis — it was John who was telling 
 
 her these things. It was his voice she was listening to. 
 
 At this moment the mate mounted the poop and told 
 the captain that the preparations were almost complete. 
 The sailors on the forecastle were only waiting for the 
 order to weigh the anchor. 
 
 Captain Ellis then offered to set Mrs. Branican ashore, 
 unless she preferred to remain on board, in which case she 
 could cross the bay on the Boundary and land when she 
 was alongside the wharf, which would be in about two 
 hours. 
 
 Mrs. Branican would have very willingly accepted the 
 captain's offer ; but she was expected to lunch at noon, when 
 Len Burker would have returned. She knew that Jane, after 
 
38 Mistress Branican. 
 
 what the mulatto had said, would rather be at home at the 
 same time as her husband. She therefore asked Captain 
 Ellis to put her ashore at the pier, where she could get 
 away in the first launch. 
 
 Orders were given in consequence. Mrs. Branican and 
 Mrs. Burker took leave of the captain, after he had kissed 
 little Wat's cheeks. Then the two cousins, preceding the 
 nurse, descended into one of the ship's boats, and in a 
 few minutes reached the pier. 
 
 While waiting for the steam launch which had just left 
 San Diego, Mrs. Branican observed the manoeuvres of the 
 Boundary. To the rugged song of the boatswain, the 
 sailors shortened in the cable/and the three-master came up 
 to her anchor, while the mate hoisted the jib, the forestay- 
 sail and the mizen. Under this canvas she would easily 
 move up to her station with the incoming tide. 
 
 Soon the launch came in. Then she gave a few puffs 
 of the whistle to call the passengers, and two or three 
 dilatory ones had to hurry coming over the point in front 
 of the Coronado Hotel. The launch waited only five 
 minutes. Mrs. Branican, Jane Burker, and the nurse took 
 their seats on the bench on the starboard side, while the 
 other passengers — about twenty in number — moved about 
 from the front to the after-part of the vessel. There was 
 a final whistle, the screw was put in movement, and the 
 launch left the shore 
 
 It was but half-past eleven. Mrs. Branican would thus 
 be back at the house in Fleet Street in time, for the cross- 
 ing of the bay only took a quarter of an hour. As the 
 launch moved away her eyes were fixed on the Boundary. 
 The anchor was apeak, the sails had caught the wind, and 
 the vessel had begun to leave her anchorage. When she 
 was moored at the wharf Dolly could visit Captain Ellis 
 as often as she liked. 
 
 The steam launch sped along swiftly. The houses of 
 the town grew larger on the picturesque amphitheatre 
 which they occupied at different levels. It was only a 
 quarter of a mile now to the landing-place. 
 
On board the "Boundary." 39 
 
 "Look out! Look out!" shouted one of the saflbrs 
 posted in the bow. 
 
 And he turned to the man at the helm who stood on a 
 little bridge in front of the funnel. 
 
 Hearing the shout, Mrs. Branican looked away to port 
 where something was taking place which also attracted the 
 attention of the other passengers, most of whom had gone 
 to the bow of the launch. 
 
 A large brigantine was coming out from the line of 
 vessels along the quays with her bow directed towards 
 Island Point. She was being assisted by a tug which 
 would take her out to sea, and was already moving at 
 some speed. 
 
 At the moment the brigantine was just in the course of 
 the steam launch and so near that it was necessary for the 
 launch to pass under her stern. It was this which caused 
 the sailor to shout to the man at the helm. 
 
 A certain anxiety seized upon the passengers — an 
 anxiety all the more justifiable as the harbour was crowded 
 with ships moored here and there at their anchors. And by 
 a very natural movement they drew back towards the stern. 
 
 It was clear what ought to be done. The launch ought 
 to stop and give way to the tug and brigantine, and 
 resume its progress when the course was clear. A few 
 fishing boats running before the wind made this course 
 more difficult as they crossed in front of the wharves of 
 San Diego. 
 
 " Look out ! " said the sailor at the bow. 
 
 " All right ! " said the man at the helm. " There is 
 nothing to fear. I have room enough ! " 
 
 But embarrassed by the sudden af)parition of a large 
 steamer coming in, the tug made an unexpected move- 
 ment, and fell away to port. 
 
 There were loud shouts, to which were added those of 
 the brigantine's crew, endeavouring to help the tug by 
 steering in the same direction. 
 
 There was hardly twenty feet between the tug and the 
 steam launch. 
 
40 Mistress Branican. 
 
 Jane, very frightened, had stood up. Mrs. Branican, by 
 an instinctive impulse, took little Wat from his nurse's 
 arms and clasped him in hers. 
 
 " Port ! Port 1 " shouted the captain of the tug to the 
 helmsman of the launch, motioning with his hand the 
 direction he should take. 
 
 The man had not lost his coolness, and suddenly put 
 down the helm with all his- might, so as to get out of the 
 way of the tug, which could not stop, owing to the 
 brigantine having begun to yaw and give signs of sidling 
 on to her. 
 
 At the lift of the helm, which was very powerful, the 
 launch shot over sharply to port, and, as frequently 
 happens, the passengers losing their equilibrium were all 
 thrown to the same side. 
 
 There was another shouting, this time a shout of terror, 
 for it looked as though the launch was about to capsize. 
 
 At this moment Mrs. Branican, who was standing near 
 the rail, could not recover her footing, was hurled over- 
 board and disappeared with her child. 
 
 The brigantine was then almost grazing the launch as 
 she passed, and all danger of collision was over. 
 
 " Dolly ! Dolly ! " screamed Jane, whom one of the 
 passengers caught as she was falling. 
 
 Suddenly a sailor from the steam launch jumped over 
 the rail on the side where Mrs. Branican and the child 
 had just disappeared. 
 
 Dolly, kept up by her clothes, was floating at the 
 surface of the water with little Wat, whom she held in her 
 arms, when the sailor came near her. 
 
 The launch having* stopped, it would not be difficult for 
 the sailor, a strong man and good swimmer, to get back 
 with Mrs. Branican. Unfortunately, as he was seizing 
 her by the waist, the arms of the unfortunate woman 
 opened while she struggled, half suffocated; and the baby 
 rolled out of them and sank. 
 
 When Mrs. Branican was lifted on to the launch and 
 laid on the deck she had quite lost consciousness. 
 
On board the "Boundary." 41 
 
 Again the brave sailor — a man of about thirty, named 
 Zach Fren — threw himself into the sea, dived several 
 times, and searched in the water about where the launch 
 lay. It was in vain ; he could not find the child, which 
 had been borne away by an undercurrent. 
 
 Meanwhile the passengers were giving Mrs. Branican 
 all the attention her state required. Jane, distracted, the 
 nurse, frantic, endeavoured to bring her to consciousness. 
 The steam launch, motionless, waited until Zach Fren 
 had given up all hope of recovering little Wat. 
 
 At length Dolly began to recover her senses ; she 
 murmured the name of Wat, her eyes opened, and her 
 first cry was, — 
 
 " My child ! " 
 
 Zach Fren came on board for the last time. Wat was 
 not in his arms: 
 
 " My child 1 " again cried Dolly. Then she rose, and 
 pushing aside those who surrounded her, ran towards the 
 stern. 
 
 And if she had not been stopped, she would have 
 thrown herself overboard ; E^nd they had to hold her 
 while the steam launch resumed its journey towards the 
 wharf. 
 
 With her face convulsed, and her hands clenched, she 
 had fallen on the deck. A few minutes afterwards the 
 launch had reached the landing-place, and Mrs. Branican 
 was taken to Jane's house. Len Barker, who had just 
 come in, sent the mulatto out for a doctor. 
 
 The doctor came almost immediately, and it was not 
 without tr<)uble that Dolly again came to. 
 
 And then looking with a fixed stare she said, — 
 
 " What is the matter ? What has happened ? Ah ! 
 I know!" 
 
 Then with a smile — 
 
 " It is my John ! He returns ! He returns 1 " she 
 cried. " He has come back to his wife and child ! John I 
 There is my John 1" 
 
 Mrs. Branican had lost {ley reason. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THREE MONTHS ELAPSE. 
 
 How can we describe the effect produced in San Diego 
 by this double catastrophe of the death of the child and 
 the madness of the mother ? We know the people's 
 sympathy with the Branicans, the interest they took in 
 the young captain of the Franklin. He had been gone 
 scarcely a fortnight, and he was no longer a father. His 
 wife was mad. On his return, in his empty house, he 
 would find neither the smiles of his little Wat nor the 
 tendernesses of Dolly, who would not even recognize 
 him. The day the Franklin returned to port he would 
 not be saluted by the cheers of the town.' 
 
 But it was not necessary to wait for John Branican's 
 return to inform him of the horrible misfortune that had 
 just occurred to him. Mr. William Andrew could not 
 leave Captain John in ignorance of what had passed, and 
 at the mercy of some fortuitous circumstance to hear of 
 the terrible catastrophe. He would immediately send off 
 a letter to one of his correspondents at Singapore. In this 
 way John would know the awful truth before reaching 
 India. 
 
 But Mr. William Andrew wished to delay the sending 
 of this message. Perhaps Dolly's reason was not irre- 
 mediably lost ? Perhaps the care with which she was 
 being nurged would restore her to her senses ? Why 
 strike John a double blow, in telling him of the death of 
 his child and the madness of his wife, if this madness vvas 
 to be only short-lived ? 
 
Three Months elapse, 43 
 
 After talking the matter over with Lcn and jane 
 Burker, Mr. William Andrew resolved to wait until the 
 doctors had pronounced a definite opinion as to Dolly's 
 mental state. In these cases of sudden .alienation was 
 there not more hope of cure than in those due to a slow 
 disorganization of the intellectual life ? Yes ; and it 
 would be better to wait a few days, or even a few 
 weeks. 
 
 The town, however, was plunged in consternation, 
 Crowds came to the house in Fleet Street for news of 
 Mrs. Branican. Meanwhile the minutest search had been 
 made in the bay to recover the body of the child, but 
 without success. Apparently it had been borne away on 
 the flood, and then taken out to sea by the ebb. The 
 poor little child would not even have a grave, at which 
 his mother could pray if she recovered her. reason. 
 
 At first the doctors reported that Dolly's madness was of 
 the form of a gentle melancholy. There were no nervous 
 crises, none of those unconscious outbreaks of violence, 
 which compel us to put the afflicted under restraint, and 
 render all movement Impossible. There seemed, there- 
 fore, no necessity to take precautions against the excesses 
 which mad people frequently commit on others or on 
 themselves. Dolly was merely a body without a mind, 
 an intelligence in which there remained no remembrance 
 of the horrible misfortune. Her eyes were dry, her look 
 lifeless. She seemed not to see ; she seemed not to hear. 
 She was. not of this world. She hved only the material 
 life. 
 
 Such was Mrs. Branican's state during the first, month 
 after -the accident. There had been a consultation as to 
 the advisability of putting her in an asylum where special 
 attention would be given her. This was the suggestion 
 of Mr. William Andrew, and it would have been acted on 
 had it not been for a proposal made by Len' Burker. 
 
 One day Len Burker went to call on Mr. William 
 Andrew, and spoke to him as follows : " We are now 
 pertain that Dolly's madness is not of a dangerous 
 
44 Mistress Branican. 
 
 character ;ssitating her being put under restraint, 
 
 and as we are her only relatives, we wish to keep her 
 with us. Dolly is very fond of my wife, and Jane's 
 nursing might probably be of greater effect than that of 
 a stranger ? If a crisis occurs later on, we can then con- 
 sider the matter, and take our measures accordingly. 
 What do you think, Mr. Andrew?" 
 
 The worthy shipowner did not reply without a certain 
 amount of hesitation, for he had no confidence in Len 
 Burker, although he knew nothing of his precarious posi- 
 tion and had no suspicion of his honesty. After all, the 
 friendship between Dolly and Jane was real, and as Mrs. 
 Burker was her only relative, it evidently seemed better 
 thst Dolly should be entrusted to her care. The main 
 point was that the unhappy woman should be constantly 
 and effectually l.ooked after in the way her state required. 
 
 " If you are willing to take this trouble," said Mr. William 
 Andrew, " I see nothing, Mr. Burker, against Dolly being 
 entrusted to her cousin, of whose affection there is no 
 doubt." 
 
 " An affection which will never fail ! " said Len Burker. 
 But he said it in a cold, positive, displeasing tone which 
 he could not throw off. 
 
 " I approve of your offer," said Mr. William Andrew. 
 " But there is one thing I must say. I am not certain 
 that in your house in Fleet Street, in the noisy business 
 quarter of the town, poor Dolly would find herself under 
 favourable circumstances for her return to health. She 
 wants quiet,- good air." 
 
 '■Quite so," answered Len Burker. "Our intention is 
 to take her to Prospect House and there live with her. 
 The chsllet is familiar to her, and the sight of objects to 
 which she is accustomed may perhaps exercise a salutary 
 influence on her mind. There she will be away from all 
 worry. The country is at her door. Jane can take her 
 out for walks in the neighbourhood, which she knows and 
 which she used to take with her child. Would not John 
 approve of this proposition were he here ? And what 
 
Three Months elapse. 45 
 
 will he think when he comes back if he finds his wife in a 
 lunatic asylum entrusted to mercenary hands ? Mr. Andrew, 
 we should neglect nothing which might be of a nature to 
 exercise an influence on the mind of our unfortunate 
 relative." 
 
 This reply was evidently dictated by good feeling. 
 But why did this man's words always appear to insi^ire 
 distrust ? Nevertheless his proposal, in the way it was 
 offered, was deserving of acceptance, and Mr. William 
 Andrew could only thank him for it, adding that Captain 
 John would be deeply grateful to him. 
 
 On the 27th of April, Mrs. Branican was taken to 
 Prospect House, where Jane and Len Burker installed 
 themselves the same day. The course received general 
 approval. 
 
 Len Barker's motive can be guessed. The very day of 
 the catastrophe he had, it will be remembered, intended to 
 consult Dolly on certain business. This business v/as 
 simply to borrow some money from her. But since then 
 the situation had changed. It was probable that Len 
 Burker would be appointed her trustee, and in that way 
 would become possessed of resources, illicit no doubt, 
 which would enable him to gain time. This was exactly 
 what Jane had feared, and although she was happy at 
 being able to devote herself entirely to Dolly, she trembeld 
 at the suspicion of the plan her husband proposed under 
 cover of a feeling of humanity. 
 
 Life, then, began under new conditions at Prospect 
 House. Dolly was installed in the same room from which 
 she had gone forth to meet with her dreadful misfortune. 
 It was no longer the mother that returned, but a being 
 deprived of reason. This chalet so loved, this drawing- 
 room in which a few photographs recalled the memory of 
 the absent one, this garden in which the two had passed 
 so many happy hours, told her nothing of the past. Jane 
 occupied the next room to Mrs. Branican, and Len 
 Burker had taken possession of the room on the ground 
 floor, which had been John's work-room. 
 
 D 
 
46 Mistress BranicaN, 
 
 From this day Len Burker resumed his usual occupa- 
 tions. Every morning he went down into San Diego, 
 to his office in Fleet Street, where he continued to carry 
 on his business. But it was noticeable that he never 
 failed to return in the evening to Prospect House, and 
 only went out of the town on short absences. 
 
 The mulatto woman had of course followed her master 
 to his new dwelling, where she was what she had been 
 everywhere and always, a person on whose entire devo- 
 tion he could count. Little Wat's nurse had been dis- 
 charged, although she had offered to stay and look after 
 Mrs. Branican. As to the servant, she was temporarily 
 continued on at the chilet so as to help No, who was not 
 quite equal to all the work of the household. 
 
 No one could have been more assiduous than Jane in 
 her affectionate care of Dolly. Her friendship was in- 
 creased, if possible, since the death of the child, of which 
 she accused herself as being the primary cause. If she 
 had, not come to Dolly at Prospect House, if she had not 
 suggested the idea of the visit to the captain of the 
 Boundary, the baby would still be with his mother and 
 consoling her during the long hours of absence ; and 
 Dolly would not have lost her reason. 
 
 It doubtless entered into Len Burker's calculations that 
 Jane's attention should appear sufficient to those who 
 were interested in Mrs. Branican's position. . Even Mr. 
 William Andrew acknowledged that the unfortunate 
 woman could not be in better hands. In the course of 
 his visits his first care was to discover if Dolly's state 
 showed any "tendency towards amelioration, wishing still 
 to hope that the first message sent to the captain at 
 Singapore or Calcutta would not announce the double 
 misfortune of his child dead^his wife — And was it not 
 as if she were dead, she also >. Well, no ! He could not 
 believe that Dolly, in the strength of her youth, with her 
 enlightened mind and energetic character, had been irre- 
 trievably deprived of her intelligence ! Was it not only 
 a fire hidden in ashes ? Surely some spark would one 
 
Three Months elapse. 47 
 
 day kindle again ? But five weeks had now gone by and 
 no flash of reason had dissipated the darkness. In a case 
 like this of calm, reserved, languishing madness, with no 
 physiological excitement, the doctors seemed to have but 
 the very slightest hope, and they soon began to leave olf 
 their visits. Soon even Mr. William Andrew, despairing 
 of cure, began to come less frequently to Prospect House, 
 it being painful to him to find himself in the presence of 
 this unfortunate woman, who was unable even to recognize 
 him. 
 
 When Lcn Burker was obliged for one reason or another 
 to be away for a day, the mulatto was ordered to keep a 
 care''ul eye on Mrs. Branican. Without seeking to inter- 
 fere with Jane in any way, sjic rarely left her alone, 
 and faithfully reported to her master all she had remarked 
 in Dolly's condition. She exercised her ingenuity in 
 getting rid of the few people who called in search of news 
 at the chalet. It was contrary to the doctor's orders, she 
 said. Absolute quiet was necessary. These interruptions 
 might occasion serious consequences. And Mrs. Barker 
 herself sided with No when she got rid of visitors a^ 
 nuisances who had no business at Prospect House. And 
 so Mrs. Branican became isolated. 
 
 " Poor Dolly ! " thought Jane. " If her state gets worse, 
 if her mania becomes violent — they will take her away — 
 they will shut her up in an asylum, and I may very liktly 
 see her no more. No! Heaven leave her to me. Who 
 would look after her as lovingly as I do ? " 
 
 During the third week of May, Jane tried a few walk^ 
 in the neighbourhood, thinking it would do her cousin a 
 little good. Len Burker made no objection, but on con- 
 dition that No should accompany them. This, however, 
 was only prudent. The walk, the fresh air, might have 
 an effect on Dolly and suggest to her mind the idea of 
 flight ; and Jane would not be strong enough to prevent 
 her. Everything was to be feared from a madness which 
 might even end in self-destruction. It would not do to 
 expose her to another misfortune; 
 
4S Mistress Branican. 
 
 Many times Mrs. Branican went out leaning on Jane's 
 arm. She allowed herself to be led as if, she were a 
 passive being, and took no interest in anything. 
 
 From the commencement of these walks, if nothing else 
 happened, at least the mulatto woman noticed a change 
 for the better in Dolly's state. Her habitual calm gave 
 place to a certain exaltation which might have serious 
 consequences. Several times the sight of children she 
 met made her utter a nervous cry. Was this in remem- 
 brance of him she had lost ? Did little Wat return to her 
 thoughts ? Whatever it might be, even admitting that it 
 was a favourable symptom, there followed- a cerebral 
 agitation of a disquieting nature. 
 
 One day Mrs. Burker and the mulatto had taken Mrs. 
 Branican to the heights of Knob Hill. Dolly had turned 
 towards the horizon, but it seemed that her brain was as 
 void of thought as her e}es were vacant in look. Suddenly 
 her face lighted up, a shudder shook her, her eye gave a 
 strange glance, and with a trembling hand she pointed to 
 a spot shining out at sea. 
 
 " There ! there ! " She exclaimed. 
 
 It was a sail clearly distinguished against the sky, on 
 which the sun's rays fell. 
 
 " There ! there ! " repeated Dolly. 
 
 And her voice was quite changed and did not seeni to 
 belong to a human creature. 
 
 While Jane regarded her with anxiety, the mulatto shook 
 hef head in sign of dissatisfaction. Seizing Dolly's arm, 
 she said, — 
 
 " Come ! — come ! " 
 
 Dolly did not hear her. 
 
 " Come, Dolly, come ! " said Jane. 
 
 And she endeavoured to draw her away, to distract her 
 attention from the sail moving on the horizon. 
 
 Dolly resisted. 
 
 " No, no 1 " she cried. 
 
 And she repulsed the mulatto with a strength q ' which 
 she did not believe her capable. 
 
"There ! there!" repeated Dolly. 
 
Three Months elapse. 49 
 
 Mrs. Burker and No became veiy anxious. They saw that 
 Dolly might escape from them'. If she were irresistibly 
 attracted by this disturbing vision, in which John's memory 
 predominated, might she not descend the slopes of Knob 
 Hill and rush towards the beach which was swept by the 
 waves ? 
 
 But, suddenly, the excitement calmed down. The sun 
 had just vanished behind a cloud, and the sail no longer 
 appeared on the face of the ocean. 
 
 Dolly again became inert, her look became vacant and 
 she was no longer conscious of what was going on. The 
 sobs which had convulsively shaken her chest had ceased, 
 as if life had departed from her. Then Jane took her by 
 the hand, and she allowed her to lead her away without 
 resistance, and peacefully went back into Prospect House. 
 
 From that day Len Burker decided that Dolly should 
 take her walks only within the Prospect House enclosure, 
 and Jane had to conform to this injunction. 
 
 It was at this time that Mr. William Andrew made up 
 his mind to inform Captain John that the mental state of 
 Mrs. Branican left little hope of improvement. It was not 
 to Singapore, which the Franklin ought already to have 
 left, but to Calcutta that the message was sent for John to 
 receive as soon as he arrived in India. 
 
 But although Mr. William Andrew had no hope con- 
 cerning Dolly, the doctors thought some change might still 
 be produced in her mental state if she experienced some 
 violent shock — for instance, when her husband reappeared 
 before her eyes. This chance was, it is true, the only one 
 left, but, feeble as it was, Mr. William Andrew took it into 
 account. ' And in his message he had begged John not to 
 abandon himself to despair, but to hand over the command 
 of the Franklin to ,the mate, Harry Felton, and come 
 home by the quickest route. If it had been necessary, 
 this excellent man would have sacrificed his dearest in- 
 terests to try this last experiment, and he asked the young 
 captain to telegraph back to him on this subject. 
 
 When Len Burker heard of this message, which Mr. 
 v\ ■ 
 
50 Mistress Branican. 
 
 William Andrew had thought it right to communicate to 
 him, he approved of it, though he expressed his fear that 
 John's return would be powerless to produce a shock from 
 which any salutary effect could be gained. But Jane held 
 to the hope that the sight of John might bring Dolly back 
 to reason, and Len Burkgr promised to write to him to this 
 effect, in order that there might be no delay in his return 
 to San Diego — a promise, however, he did not keep. 
 
 During the following weeks there was no change in 
 Mrs. Branican's stats. If her physical life was in no way 
 troubled, if her health left nothing to be desired, the altera- 
 tion in her face was only too apparent. Although she had 
 not yet reached her twenty-first year, her features were 
 ageing and the warm colourof her corhplexion was fading, 
 as if the fire of life were dying out within her. And it was 
 only seldom she could be seen, unless in the chalet garden, 
 seated on some bench, with Jane walking near and looking 
 after her with indefatigable devotion. 
 
 At the beginning of the month of June the Franklin had 
 been gone from San Diego two months and a half. Since 
 her meeting with the Boundary there had been no news of 
 her. By this, after putting in at Singapore, she ought, 
 barring accidents, to be on the point of arrival at Calcutta. 
 No exceptionally stormy weather had been reported in the 
 North Pacific or Indian Ocean which would delay a well- 
 equipped sailing-ship. 
 
 But Mr. William Andrew could not help being surprised 
 at this want of news. He did not understand why his 
 correspondent had not informed him of the arrival of the 
 Franklin at Singapore. To suppose that she had not put 
 in there was impossible, for Captain John had had precise 
 orders to do so. But at any rate they would know in a 
 day or two, when he arrived at Calcutta. 
 
 A week went by. The 15th of June came and there 
 was no news. A message was then sent to the correspon- 
 dent asking for an immediate reply regarding John Brani- 
 can and the Franklin. 
 
 The reply arrived two days afterwards. Nothing was 
 
Three Months elapse. Si 
 
 known of the Franklin at Calcutta. The American 
 barqucntine had not been spoken up to then either in the 
 Indian Ocean or in the Gulf of Bengal. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew's surprise became changed to 
 anxiety, and as it was impossible to keep the telegram 
 secret, the report soon spread that the Franklin had not 
 yet arrived at either Calcutta or Singapore. Was the 
 Branican family to be struck with another disaster — a 
 disaster which would also fall on the San Diego families to 
 whom the crew of the Franklin belonged .-' 
 
 Len Burker did not show much concern when he learnt 
 these alarming news. However, his affection for Captain 
 John had never been very demonstrative, and he was not 
 the man to be troubled by the misfortunes of others, even 
 those of his own family. But it was evident that from the 
 day people began to be seriously uneasy as to the fate of 
 the Franklin, he appeared more gloomy than usual, more 
 careworn, more reserved to all his friends — even in busi- 
 ness. He was rarely seen in the streets of San Diego, at 
 his office in Fleet Street, and he kept within the enclosure 
 at Prospect House. As to Jane, her pale cheeks, her eyes 
 red with tears, her deeply dispirited face showed that she 
 was in great trouble. 
 
 Just about this time a change took place in the staff" of 
 the chalet. Without any apparent motive Len Burker 
 sent away the servant he had kept to help No, and who 
 had given no cause for complaint. The mulatto remained 
 in sole charge of the house. With the exception of her 
 and Jane, no one had access to Mrs. Branican. As to Mr. 
 William Andrew, his health having suffered from these 
 strokes of ill fortune, he had left off visiting Prospect 
 House. In the event of the probable loss of the Franklin 
 what could he say, what could he do } Besides, now that 
 the walks had been stopped, he knew that Dolly had re- 
 covered all her quiet, and that her nervous troubles had 
 disappeared. She lived, or rather she vegetated, in a state 
 of unconscious tranquillitj'-, which was the true character 
 of her affliction, and her health required no special care. 
 
52 Mistress Branican. 
 
 At the end of June Mr. William Andrew received another 
 message from Calcutta. The maritime agencies had had 
 no report of the Franklin from any of the points she ought 
 to have passed, among the Philippines, Celebes, the Java 
 Sea, and the Indian Ocean ; and as the vessel had left 
 San Diego three months before, it was to be supposed that 
 she had been totally lost, either by collision or shipwreck, 
 before even reaching Singapore. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE END OF A SORROWFUL YEAR. 
 
 The concurrence of serious events of which the 
 Branican family had become the victim afforded Len 
 Burker an opportunity to which our careful consideration 
 should be directed. 
 
 It will not have been forgotten, that if the pecuniary 
 position of Mrs. Branican was very modest, she would yet 
 be the sole heiress of her uncle, Edward Starter. In retreat 
 in his vast forest domain, banished, so to speak, in the 
 most inaccessible part of the state of Tennessee, this 
 eccentric man had absolutely refrained from sending any 
 news of himself. As he Was still but fifty-nine his fortune 
 might be a long time coming. 
 
 Perhaps even Edward Starter would have changed his 
 intentions had he known that Mrs. Branican, his only 
 direct relative, had been struck with mental alienation after 
 the death of her child. But he knew not of this double 
 misfortune, he would not even hear of it, having always 
 refused to receive letters as well as to write them. 
 Evidently Len Burker could have broken this prohibition 
 had he chosen to do so, in consideration of the changes 
 that had come over Dolly's existence, and Jane had given 
 him to understand that it was his duty to communicalo 
 with Edward Starter ; but he had imposed silence on his 
 wife and kept his own counsel. 
 
 It was his interest to be silent, and between his interest 
 and his duty he was not the man to hesitate for an instant. 
 His affairs daily took too .serious an aspect for him to 
 sacrifice the sole chance of fortune the future offered. 
 
54 Mistress Branican. 
 
 The position was indeed a simple one : if Mrs. Branican 
 died without children, her cousin Jane was the only 
 relative who could inherit her property ; so that by the 
 death of little Wat Len Barker had certainly seen an 
 improvement in the chances of his wife's coming into 
 possession of Edward Starter's fortune ; and his wife's 
 chances were his own. 
 
 And were not events all tending to bring him this 
 fortune ? Not only was the child dead, not only was Dolly 
 deranged, but according to the opinion of the doctors the 
 only thing that could change her mental state was John's 
 return. 
 
 And the fate of the Franklin was the cause of the 
 liveliest anxiety. If news failed to come during the next 
 few weeks, if John Branican were not met with on the sea, 
 if Andrews did not learn that their ship had put in at some 
 port, it would mean that neither Franklin nor crew would 
 ever again return to San Diego. Then there would only 
 be Dolly, deprived of reason, between the fortune and Len 
 Burker. And when driven desperate, what might not 
 tempt this man without a conscience, when the death of 
 Edward Starter would put Dolly in possession of her rich 
 inheritance. 
 
 But evidently Mrs. Branican could only inherit the 
 property on condition of surviving her uncle. It was Len 
 Burker's interest to keep her alive until Edward Starter's 
 fortune had come to her. There were at present but two 
 chances against him : either Mrs. Branican's death might 
 occur too soon, or Captain John might return after being 
 shipwrecked on some unknown island. But this last 
 ei^entuality was a very unlikely one, and the total loss of 
 the Franklin might already be considered as certain. 
 
 Such was Len Burker's position, such was the future he 
 had in view, and that at the moment he was reduced to the 
 last expedients. In fact, if justice intervened in his affairs 
 he would have to meet a charge of embezzlement. Part 
 of the money entrusted to him by imprudent investors, or 
 which he had obtained the use of by his manoeuvres, was 
 
The End of a Sorrowful Year. 55 
 
 no longer within his reach ; the claims would inevitably 
 have to be met in the long run, although some of his new 
 liabilities had been incurred in paying off old debts. Ruin 
 was approaching, and worse than ruin, dishonour, and 
 what particularly appealed to him, his arrest on serious 
 charges. 
 
 Mrs. Barker doubtless suspected that her husband's 
 position was much threatened, but she had no idea that 
 the end would be in the intervention of the lav/. Besides, 
 no sign of pecuniary embarrassment had yet been visible 
 at Prospect House. 
 
 And for this reason. 
 
 Since Dolly had gone out of her mind a trustee had 
 had to be appointed for her in the absence of her husband. 
 Len Burker had been clearly pointed out as the man for 
 the post owing to his relationship to Mrs. Branican, and to 
 him had been entrusted the administration of her property. 
 The money left by John for household expenses was at his 
 disposition, and he had used it for his personal needs. It 
 was not much, certainlj', for the Franklin! s voyage was 
 not expected to last more than six months ; but this 
 patrimony which Dolly had brought at her marriage, 
 although it consisted of some two or three thousand dollars, 
 would help Len Burker to meet pressing claims, and^ gain 
 time — which was of the utmost importance to him. 
 
 And this dishonest man did not hesitate to abuse his 
 position as trustee. He misappropriated the securities in 
 his charge, and owing to these illicit resources was able to 
 obtain a little respite and plunge into new speculations. 
 Having entered on the road leading to crime, Len Burker 
 would, if needful, follow it to the end. 
 
 The captain's return was less and less to be feared. The 
 weeks rolled by, and Andrews' received no news of the 
 Franklin, whose presence had nowhere been reported for 
 six months. August and September passed. Neither at 
 Calcutta nor at Singapore had the correspondents received 
 the least information relative to the American three- 
 master. She was now looked upon as lost, and there was 
 
56 Mistress Branican. 
 
 public mourning at San Diego. How had she perished ? 
 There was little difference of opinion, for all was con- 
 jecture. Since she had sailed several trading vessels 
 bound to the same ports had taken the course she should 
 have taken ; and as they had found no trace of her, the 
 only likely hypothesis was that she had been caught in 
 one of those terrible storms, those irresistible tornadoes 
 which are the scourge of the Celebes Sea and the Java 
 Sea, and had gone down with all on board. Not a man 
 probably had survived the disaster. On the 15th of 
 October, 1875, the Franklin had been gone from San 
 Diego seven months, and there was every reason to believe 
 she v/ould never return. 
 
 The town had become so convinced of this that a sub- 
 scription list had been opened in favour of the famih'es so 
 unfortunately smitten by tiiis catastrophe. The crew of 
 the. Franklin, both officers and seamen, belonged to San 
 Diego, and had left behind them wives, children and 
 relatives who needed assistance. 
 
 The initiative in this subscription was taken by Andrews, 
 who headed the list with a large amount. As he was 
 interested in the matter, and for prudential reasons, Len 
 Burker also contributed to this charitable work. The 
 other firms in the town, the landowners, the retail dealers, 
 followed the example ; and the result was that the families 
 of the lost crew were to a large extent assisted, and the 
 consequences of this maritime disaster considerably 
 alleviated. 
 
 On his part, Mr. William Andrew looked upon it as a 
 duty that Mrs. Branican should have enough to live upon. 
 He knew that Captain John had at his departure left 
 enough for her requirements calculated on an absence of 
 six or seven months. But thinking that the resources 
 were coming to an end, and not wishing that Dolly should 
 be a burden to her relatives, he resolved to consult with 
 Len Burker on the subject. 
 
 On the 17th of October, in the afternoon, although his 
 health was not completely re-established, the shipowner 
 
The End op a Sorrowful Year. S7 
 
 set out for Prospect House, and after reaching the high 
 part of the tow;i, appeared before the chalet. 
 
 Outside there was no change, except that the shutters 
 on the ground floor and first floor were closed. It looked 
 like an inhabited house, but silent and mysterious. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew rang at the gate in the fence. No 
 one came. It seemed as though the visitor had neither 
 been seen nor heard. 
 
 Was there anyone at home ? He rang a second time, 
 and then followed the noise of a door opening at the side. 
 
 The mulatto appeared, and as soon as she recognized 
 Mr. William Andrew she could not restrain a gesture of 
 vexation, which, however, he did not notice. 
 
 No came towards him, and before the gate was opened 
 he spoke to her over the fence. 
 
 " Is not Mrs. Branican at home ? " he asked. 
 
 "No, Mr. Andrew," answered No, with a peculiar 
 hesitation visibly mingled with fear. 
 
 " Where is she, then ? " asked Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 " She is out for a walk with Mrs. Burker." 
 
 " I thought they had given Up their walks, which excited 
 her, and might bring on a crisis ? " 
 
 " Yes, doubtless," said N6. " But for some days Mrs. 
 Branican has gone out. It seems to be doing her good — " 
 
 " I am sorry you did not let me know," replied Mr. 
 William Andrew. " Is Mr. Burker at home ? " 
 
 " I do not know." 
 
 " Then see ; and if he is, tell him I wish to speak with 
 him." 
 
 Before the mulatto could reply — and probably she 
 would have been much embarrassed for a reply — the door 
 on the ground floor opened. Len Burker appeared on the 
 steps, crossed the garden, and advancing, said, — 
 
 " Please come in, Mr. Andrew. In the absence of Jane, 
 who has gone out with Dolly, allow me to receive you." 
 
 And this was not said in the hard tone so habitual to 
 Len Burker, but in a voice that was evidently slightly 
 troubled. 
 
58 Mistress Branican. 
 
 As it was especially to sec Len Burker that Mr. William 
 Andrew had come to Prospect House, he entered the 
 gate. Then, without accepting the offer made to him to 
 go into the drawing-room on the ground floor, he sat down 
 on one of the seats in the garden. 
 
 Len Burker, beginning the conversation, confirmed what 
 the mulatto had just said : for some days Mrs. Branican 
 had resumed her walks in the neighbourhood of Prospect , 
 House with great advantage to her health. 
 
 " Will not Dolly be back soon .' " asked Mr. William 
 Andrew. 
 
 " I do not think Jane will bring her home before 
 dinner/' answered Len Burker. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew looked much disappointed, for he 
 had to return to his office before post time ; and Len 
 Burker gave him no invitation to wait for Mrs. Branican's 
 return. 
 
 " And you have not yet noticed any improvement in 
 Dolly's condition .' " he asked. 
 
 " No, unfortunately, Mr. Andrew. It is to be feared we 
 are dealing with the sort of derangement that neither care 
 nor time can cure." 
 
 " Who knows, Mr. Burker > That which hardly seems 
 possible to men is always possible to God! " 
 
 Len Burker shook his head like a man who scarcely ad- 
 mitted Dirine intervention in the things of this world. 
 
 " The worst of it is," said Mr. William Andrew, "that 
 we can no longer look forward to the captain's return. We 
 must give up the hope of the change that the return might 
 have had on poor Dolly's mental state. You are aware, 
 Mr. Burker we have given up all hope of again seeing the 
 Franklin ? " 
 
 "I am quite aware of it, Mr. Andrew, and it is one more 
 misfortune on the top of the others. But — even though 
 Providence may not interfere—" said he in an ironical 
 tone, very much out of place at the moment, " there would 
 be nothing extraordinary in John's coming back after all." 
 
 " Now that seven months have gone by without news of 
 
The End of a Sorrowful Year. 59 
 
 the Franklin" said Mr. William Andrew, " and the inquiries 
 I have made have had no result ? " 
 
 " But there is nothing to prove that the Franklin has 
 gone doAvn at sea," replied Len Burker. " Can she not 
 have been wrecked on one of the numerous reefs in the 
 sea she was to cross ? Who knows if John and the 
 sailors have not taken refuge on a desert island ? "' And if 
 so, these resolute and energetic men will know how to get 
 back to their country. Can they not build a boat with the 
 remains of their ship ? Can their signals not be seen by a 
 vessel passing in sight of the island } Evidently a certain 
 time is necessary for these things to happen. No, I do 
 not despair of John's return — in a few months, if not in a 
 few weeks. There are a number of examples of ship- 
 wrecked people who have been thought inevitably lost, 
 and who have returned to port." 
 
 Len Burker had spoken with a volubility which was not 
 usual with him. His face, so impassive, was now animated. 
 It seemed as, though in expressing himself in this way, in 
 adducing more or less specious reasons regarding the 
 safety of the shipwrecked, it was not to Mr. William 
 Andrew he was replying, but to himself, to his own anxieties, 
 to the fear he would experience if although the Franklin 
 might not reappear off San Diego, another ship might come 
 in, bririging Captain John and his crew. That would mean 
 the collapse of the system on which he had built his future. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. William Andrew, " I know there 
 have been almost miraculous escapes. All that you say, 
 Mr. Burker, I have said to myself, but it is impossible for 
 me to retain the least hope. In any case — and this is what 
 I have come to see you about to-day — I desire that Dolly 
 should not be any expense to you — " 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. Andrew—" 
 
 " No, Mr. Burker ; and you will allow me to see that the 
 salary of the captain shall be at his wife's disposal as long 
 as she lives." 
 
 " On her behalf I thank you," said Len Burker. " This 
 generosity—" 
 
 > . E 
 
6o Mistress Branican. 
 
 "I think it is only my duty," said Mr. William Andrew. 
 " And as I suppose that the money left by John before his 
 departure must in a great measure have been spent — " 
 
 " Undoubtedly, Mr. Andrew/' replied Len Burker. " But 
 Dolly is not without relations whose duty it also is to come 
 to her help — and was it not from affection — " 
 
 "Yes; I know I can reckon on Mrs. Burker's devotion. 
 Nevertheless, allow me to interfere in a certain measure to 
 assure John's wife — perhaps his widow— the comfort and 
 the care which I am certain will never be wanting on your 
 part." 
 
 " That is as you please, Mr. Andrew." 
 
 " Ihave brought you, Mr. Burker, what I look upon as 
 legitimately due to Captain Branican- since the departure 
 of the Franklin, and in your position as trustee you can 
 draw every month what I have to- his credit." 
 
 "As you wish," said Len Burker. 
 
 " Perhaps you will give me a receipt for the money I 
 have brought } " 
 
 " Willingly, Mr. Andrew." 
 
 And Len Burker went to his desk to write the receipt in 
 question. 
 
 When he returned to the garden, Mr. William Andrew, 
 who much regretted not having met Dolly and not being 
 able to wait for her return, thanked him for the interest he 
 and his wife were taking in their unfortunate relative. It 
 \Vas to be understood that the least change in her state was 
 to be reported by Len Burker to Mr. William Andrew, 
 who then took his leave, waiting for a moment at the gate 
 to see if he could see Dolly returning to Prospect House 
 in Jane's company, and then he went down into San 
 Diego. 
 
 As soon as he Was out of sight Len Burker called the 
 mulatto to him. 
 
 " Does Jane know that Mr. Andrew has just been } " 
 
 " Very likely, Len. She saw him come and she saw 
 him go." 
 
 "If he should come here — and he is not likely to do so 
 
The End of a Sorrowful Vear. fit 
 
 for Some time — lie must not sec Jane, nor particularly 
 Dolly. You understand, No ? " 
 
 " I will take care, Len." 
 
 "And if Jane insists — " 
 
 " Oh, when you have said, I will not have it," said No, 
 "it is not Jane who will defy you." 
 
 " Be it so, but we must guard against a surprise ! 
 Chance may bring about a meeting— and — at this moment 
 — that would be to risk losing everything." 
 
 "I am here," .said the mulatto, "and you need fear 
 nothing, Len ! No one shall enter Prospect House as 
 long — as long as it does not suit you." 
 
 And, as a matter of fact, during the two months that 
 followed, the house remained more shut up than ever. 
 Jane and Dolly no longer showed themselves in the little 
 garden. They were not seen either under the verandah 
 or at the windows of the first-floor rooms which were in- 
 variably closed. The mulatto only went out on household 
 matters for the sliortest time possible, and never in the 
 absence of Len Burker, so that Dolly was never left alone 
 with Jane. It was also noticed during the last months of 
 the year that Len Burker went but very seldom to his 
 office in Fleet Street. Even weeks went by without his 
 appearing there, as if he were endeavouring to withdraw 
 from business while preparing for some new venture. 
 
 And it was under these conditions that, thus ended the 
 year 1875, which had been so disastrous for the Branican 
 family — John lost at sea, Dolly deprived of reason, and 
 their child drowned in the depths of San Diego bay. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 VAiyOUS MATTERS. 
 
 There was no news of the Franklin during the early 
 months of 1876. There was no trace of her presence in the 
 seas of the Philippines, of Celebes, or of Java ; neither was 
 there in the neighbourhood of Northern Australia, but how 
 could it be supposed that Captain John would have ventured 
 through Torres Straits ! Once only to' the north of the 
 Sunda Islands, thirty miles from Batavia, a piece of wreck- 
 age was picked up by an American schooner artd brought 
 to San Dit-go under the impression that it belonged to 
 the vanished ship. But after careful examination, it was 
 shown that the wreckage was of much older wood than 
 the materials employed by the builders of the Franklin. 
 
 Besides, the fragment could only have been knocked off 
 if the ship had been thrown on some reef or collided at 
 sea. In the latter case the secret of the collision could 
 hardly have been so well kept for no news to come regard- 
 ing it — at least, unless the vessels had both foundered. 
 But as there had been no report of the disappearance of 
 another ship during the twelve months, the idea of a 
 collision had to be abandoned, as also the supposition cf a 
 wreck on the coast, to return to the simplest explanation 
 that the Franklin had gone down in one of the tornadoes 
 which are frequent in the seas of Malaysia, and which no 
 sailing vessel can resist when caught within their sphere of 
 activity. 
 
 A year had elapsed since the Franklin's departure, and 
 she was definitely classed among the vessels lost, or supposed 
 
Various Matters. 63 
 
 to be lost, which figure in such large numbers in the annals 
 of maritime disasters. 
 
 This winter — that of 1875-76 — was very severe even in 
 the fortunate region of Lower California, where the climate 
 is generally moderate. With the excessive cold that pre- , 
 vailed up to the end of February, no one could be astonished 
 that Mrs. Branican had not left Prospect House, even to 
 take theair in the little garden. 
 
 But if this seclusion were prolonged it might become 
 suspicious to the people, who lived in the neighbourhood, 
 although it might be asked if Mrs. Branican's malady had 
 not become worse rather than supposed that Len Burkcr 
 had any interest in keeping Dolly out of sight. Mr. William 
 Andrew was confined to his room during a great part of 
 the winter, but impatient to see for himself in what state 
 Dolly was, he made up his mind to go to Frospect House 
 as soon as he could getout. 
 
 In the first week of March Mrs. Branican resumed her 
 walks in the environs of Prospect House accompanied by 
 Jane and the mulatto. A few days afterwards, in a visit 
 to the chalet, Mr. William Andrew saw for himself that 
 the young woman's health gave no cause for anxiety. 
 Physically her state was as satisfactory as possible ; 
 mentally there had been no amelioration — she 'was un- 
 conscious of what was going on around her, and had 
 neither memory nor intelligence as is usual in thes.e 
 cases of mental degeneracy. During the walks abroad 
 which might have recalled certain remembrances, in the 
 presence of the children she met on the way, before- 
 the sea and the distant sails, Mrs. Branican did not even 
 betray the emotion which had formerly so deeply troubled 
 her. She no longer tried to get away, and could now be 
 left in Jane's charge. All idea of resistance, all desire of 
 reaction being extinct, she lived in the most absolute 
 resignation added to the completest indifference, and 
 when Mr. William Andrew saw her again he thought her 
 madness incurable. 
 
 By this time Len Barker's position had become quite 
 
64 Mistress Branican. 
 
 hopeless. Mrs. Branican's patrimony, which he had apph'ed 
 to his own uses had been insufficient to fill the abyss opened 
 under his feet. His last struggle was at the point of 
 ending with his last resources. A few months yet, a few 
 weeks perhaps, and he would be wanted by the police, and 
 his pnly safety lay in his leaving San Diego. 
 
 Only 6ne thing could save him, but that did not seem 
 likely to happen — at least in time to be of use to him. In 
 fact, if Mrs. Branican was alive, her uncle, Edward Starter, 
 was also alive, and very healthy as well. With infinite 
 precaution, lest the source of the inquiry should be re- 
 cognized, Len Burker had obtained news of this Yankee 
 from the depths of Tennessee. 
 
 Robust and vigorous, in the plenitude of his mental and 
 physical faculties, and just upon sixty, Edward Starter 
 spent his life in the open air and the forests and prairies of 
 this immense territory, hunting and shooting over the land 
 well stocked with game, fishing in the numerous rivers that 
 water it, rushing about on foot and on horseback, managing 
 his vast estate all by himself. Evidently he was one of 
 those rough North-American farmers who die centenarians, 
 and for whose death at all there never seems to be a 
 reason. 
 
 It was only too clear that an early arrival of the inheri- 
 tance was not to be counted on ; and there was every 
 chance that the uncle would survive the niece. Len 
 Burker's hopes on that head were clearly vain, and before 
 him rose the inevitable catastrophe from which Edward 
 Starter's death could alone have saved him. 
 
 Two months went by — two months, during which his 
 position went from bad to worse. Disquieting rumours 
 concerning him began to be current at San Diego. 
 Letters with threats of legal proceedings were received 
 by him from people who could obtain nothing from him. 
 For the first time Mr. William Andrew heard of the 
 state of his affairs, and, in great alarm for the position 
 of Mrs. Branican, he resolved to call on her trustee to 
 produce his accounts. If necessary, Dolly's interest 
 
Various Matters. 65 
 
 could be transferred to some representative more worthy 
 of confidence, although this in no way reflected on Jane 
 Burker, who was deeply devoted to her cousin. 
 
 At this time, two-thirds of Mrs. Branican's patrimony 
 had been devoured, and of her whole fortune all that re- 
 mained in Len Burker's hands was a few hundred dollars. 
 Amid the claims pressing him on all sides, this was as a 
 mere drop of water in San Diego bay ; but that which 
 was insufficient for him to meet his obligations with was 
 enough if he made up his mind to disappear to put him 
 safe beyond pursuit. But there was only just time. 
 
 In fact, proceedings had already been begun against 
 Len Burker, proceedings charging him with swindling and 
 abuse of trust. Soon a warrant was issued against him ; 
 but when the police presented themselves at his office, 
 in Fleet Street, he had not been seen there since the day 
 before. 
 
 The police then went to Prospect House. Len Burker 
 had left the. chalet in the middle of the night. Whether 
 she liked it or not, his wife had been compelled to accom- 
 pany him. Only the mulatto woman remained in .charge 
 of Mrs. Branican. 
 
 An active search was immediately ordered in San Diego, 
 then at San P'rancisco, and at different places in the State 
 of California, in the hope of getting on his track ; but 
 these had no result. 
 
 As soon as the rumour of his disappearance had spread 
 in the town, an outcry was raised against this worthless 
 man of business, whose defalcations it was soon apparent 
 would amount to a considerable sum. 
 
 On that day, the 17th of May, very early in the morning, 
 Mr. William Andrew had been to Prospect House, and 
 discovered that none of Mrs. Branican's securities were 
 left. Dolly was absolutely without resources. Her faith- 
 Jess trustee had not left her the wherewithal for her urgent 
 needs. 
 
 Mr. )Villiam Andrew immediately did the only thing 
 he could. He took Mrs. Branican to an asylum where 
 
66 Mistress Branican. 
 
 she would be safe, and dismissed No, whom he seriously 
 mistrusted. If Len Barker, had hoped that the mulatto 
 would remain near Dolly, and keep him informed of any 
 change in her health or fortune, he was in this way check- 
 mated. 
 
 N6, being under orders to leave Prospect House, went 
 away that very day. Her idea was, doubtless, to rejoin 
 the Burkers, and the police kept her under observation 
 for some time. But she was very cautious and artful, and 
 managed to outwit them by soon disappearing without 
 their knowing what had become of her. And now it was 
 empty, this house in which John and Dolly had lived so 
 happily, and where they had had so many dreams for their 
 child's happiness. 
 
 It was in Dr. Brumley's asylum that Mrs. Branican 
 had been placed by Mr. William Andrew. Would her 
 mental state take notice of the change which had occurred 
 in her life ? It was vain to hope so. She remained as 
 indifferent as she had been at Prospect House. The only 
 symptoms worth notice seemed to be a sort of natural 
 instinct which supported her amid the wreck of her reason. 
 Now and then she would murmur a little baby song as if 
 she were hushing to sleep a child in her arms. But the 
 name of little Wat never escaped her lips. 
 
 During the year 1876 there was no news of John 
 Branican. The few persons who still hoped that if the 
 Franklin did not come back her captain and crew might 
 nevertheless do sq, had had to give up even this hope. 
 Confidence could not indefinitely resist the destructive 
 action of time ; and now the chance of recovering the ship- 
 wrecked crew grew feebler from day to day, and was 
 reduced to nothing when the year 1877 neared its end 
 and eighteen months had gone by without anything being 
 heard relative to the vanished ship. 
 
 It was the same with regard to the Burkers, the search 
 continued to be useless. It was not known to what 
 country they had gone or in what place they were hiding, 
 doubtless, under a false name. And Len Burker must 
 
Various Matters. t^ 
 
 have bewailed his ill luck when, two years after his dis- 
 appearance, the hope on which he had built his plan 
 became realized j he had, so to speak, foundered in sight 
 of port. 
 
 About the middle of the month of June, 1878, Mr. 
 William Andrew received a letter addressed to Dolly 
 Branican. This letter informed her of the ■ nexpected 
 death of Edward Starter. The Yankee had been killed 
 accidentally. A bullet fired by one of his hunting com- 
 panions had ricochetted, struck him full in the chest, and 
 killed him on the spot. 
 
 When his will was opened it was found that he had left 
 the whole of his fortune to his niece, Dolly Starter, the 
 wife of Captain Branican. The condition in which the 
 heiress was, in no way altered his intentions, for he knew 
 nothing of her attack of madneiss, as he knew nothing of 
 Captain John's disappearance. No such news had pene- 
 trated into Tennessee, into that wild and inaccessible region 
 where, in accordance with Edward Starter's wish, neither 
 letters nor newspapers came. 
 
 In farms and forests, in cattle, in industrial property of 
 various kinds, the testator's fortune was estimated to 
 amount to 2,000,000 dollars. 
 
 Such was the heritage which the accidental death of 
 Edward Starter had just passed on to his niece. With 
 what joy would San Diego have applauded this enrich- 
 ment of the Branican family if Dolly had still been a wife 
 and a mother in full possession of her intelligence, if John 
 had been there to share this wealth with her. What use 
 the charitable woman would have made of it ! What mis- 
 fortunes they would not have alleviated 1 But no ! The 
 revenues of this fortune would be put aside and accumu- 
 late without profit to any one. In the unknown retreat 
 in which he had taken refuge did Len Burker know of 
 Edward Starter's death, and of the considerable wealth he 
 had left behind him ? It is impossible to say. Mr. William 
 Andrew, acting as Dolly's trustee, resolved to sell the 
 lands in Tennessee, farms, forests, and prairies, which 
 
68 Mistress Branican. 
 
 would have been difficult to have managed at such a 
 distance. A number of buyers presented themselves, and 
 the sales were effected under advantageous conditions. 
 The amounts produced, converted into first-class securities, 
 added to those which formed an important part of Edward 
 Starter's bequest, were deposited in the strong room of 
 the Consolidated National Bank at San Diego. The 
 maintenance of Mrs. Branican at Dr. Brumley's could 
 absorb but a small part of the dividends which would 
 be annually credited to her, and their accumulation would 
 end in forming one of the largest fortunes in Lower 
 California ; but, notwithstanding this improvement in her 
 position, there was no question of removing Mrs. Branican 
 from Dr. Brumley's care. Mr. William Andrew did not 
 consider it necessary. The house afforded her all the 
 comfort and care her relatives could have wished for. 
 There, then, she would remain, and there, probably, she 
 would end her miserable, her useless existence, from which 
 it seemed the future withheld every chance of happiness. 
 
 But if time went on, the remembrance of the misfortunes 
 which had overwhelmed the Branican family was always 
 vivid at San Diego, and the sympathy for Dolly was as 
 sincere, as profound as on the first day. 
 
 The year 1879 began, and those who thought it was 
 going to roll by like the others, without bringing any 
 change in the position were completely deceived. 
 
 During the early months of the new year, the doctor 
 and his assistant were greatly struck by the changes evi- 
 dently taking place in the mental state of Mrs. Branican. 
 That dispiriting calm, that apathetic indifference to the 
 details of existence were gradually giving place to charac- 
 teristic agitation. These were not crises followed by 
 reaction in which the intelligence was more deeply 
 shattered than before. No ! It seemed as though Dolly 
 was beginning to want to return to her intellectual life, 
 and her mind was seeking to break the bonds which pre- 
 vented it from expanding to the surface. Children brought 
 before her received a look, almost a smile. It will not 
 
Various Matters. 69 
 
 have been- forgotten that at Prospect House, during the 
 first period of her madness, she had had tiiese outbursts 
 of instinct which vanished at the crisis. Now, on tlie con- 
 trary, the impressions had a tendency to persist. It 
 seemed as though Dolly were in the position of a person 
 questioning himself and seeking in his mind for distant 
 recollections. 
 
 Was Mrs. Branican about to recover her reason ? Had 
 a work of regeneration begun within her.' Was the ful- 
 ness of her mental life to be restored to her ? Alas ! At 
 present, when she had neither child nor husband, was it to 
 be wished that this cure, we might say this~miracle, should 
 manifest itself when it could only make her more miser- 
 able ! 
 
 Whether it were desirable or not, the doctors were pre- 
 pared for the possibility of obtaining this result. Measures 
 were taken for producing on the mind and heart of Mrs. 
 Branican a series of durable and salutary shocks. It was 
 even thought desirable to take her away' from Dr. Brum- 
 ley's, to bring her into the garden at Prospect House, to 
 again let her occupy her room in the chalet. And when 
 that was done she was certainly conscious of the change 
 in her way of living, and appeared to take some interest in 
 finding herself amid these new surroundings. 
 
 With the first days of spring — it was then April — walks 
 were recommenced in the neighbourhood. Mrs. Branican 
 was many times taken to the beach at Island Point. The 
 few ships passing out at sea she followed with her look 
 and with her hand stretched out towards the horizon. But 
 she did not try to run away, as she formerly did, to escape 
 from Dr. Brumley who accompanied her. She was not 
 excited by the noise of the tumultuous waves covering the 
 beach with their spray. Was there any reason for think- 
 ing that her imagination was bearing her along the route 
 followed by the Frajiklin in leaving the port of San Diego, 
 at the moment the upper .sails disappeared behind the 
 heights of the cliff ? Yes! Perhaps! And her lips, one 
 day, distinctly murmured the name of John ! 
 
70 Mistress Branican. 
 
 It was obvious that Mrs. Branican's malady was entering 
 on a period the different phases of which would have to be 
 carefully studied. Gradually as she became accustomed 
 to live at the chalet she was recognizing the objects which 
 had been dear to her. Her memory was being built up 
 amid the surroundings which had been hers so long. A 
 portrait of Captain John, hung on the wall of the room, 
 began to fix her attention. Every day she looked at it 
 more persistently, and a tear still unconscious occasionally 
 escaped from her eyes. 
 
 Yes ! If there had been a doubt as to the Franklin's loss, 
 if John were just coming home, if he were to appear 
 suddenly, Dolly, perhaps, might recover her reason ! But 
 John's return could not be reckoned on. 
 
 And so Dr. Brumley decided to give the poor woman a 
 shock which was not without danger. He wished to act 
 before the improvement observed in her mental state began 
 to subside, before she again fell into that indifference which 
 had been characteristic of her madness for the last four 
 years. As it seemed that her mind was still vibrating at 
 the breath of memory, it would be well to give it a vibra- 
 tion intense enough to permit of the former Dolly again 
 entering into this comparatively lifeless being. 
 
 This was also Mr. William Andrew's opinion, and he 
 encouraged Dr. Brumley to make the experiment. On 
 the 27th of May they both went to call on Mrs. Branican 
 at Prospect House. A carriage waiting at the gate took 
 them through the streets of San Diego down to the 
 wharves, and they stopped at the landing place from which 
 the steam launch started for Loma Point. 
 
 Doctor Brumley's intention was not only to reproduce the 
 scene of the catastrophe, but to put Mrs. Branican in a 
 position exactly similar to that when she had so suddenly 
 lost her reason. 
 
 As she stopped at the landing stage Dolly's looks began 
 to brighten up wonderfully. She was evidently strangely 
 agitated. Her whole being seemed astir. 
 
 Doctor Brumley and Mr. William Andrew led her to th§ 
 
Various Matters. ^t 
 
 launch, and hardly had she stepped on the deck than they 
 were still more surprised at her behaviour. Instinctively 
 she went to the very place she had occupied at the corner 
 of the starboard seat when she held her child in her arms. 
 Then she looked out into the bay, away towards Loma 
 Point, as if she were seeking the Boundary at her moor- 
 ings. 
 
 The passengers on the launch had recognized Mrs. 
 Branican, and Mr. William Andrew had informed them of 
 what it was proposed to do, so that all were under the 
 influence of excitement. Were they to be the witnesses 
 of a resurrection^not the resurrection of a body, but the 
 resurrection of a mind 1 
 
 It need not be said that every precaution was taken in 
 case, in a paroxysm of madness, Dolly attempted to throw 
 herself overboard. 
 
 The launch had already gone half a mile, and Dolly 
 had not yet lowered her eyes to the surface of the bay. 
 All the time she looked towards Point Loma, and when 
 she turned aside it was to observe the manoeuvres of a 
 trading vessel in full sail which had appeared at the 
 en; ranee of the mouth to take up her station in quarantine. 
 
 Dolly's face was as if transformed. She rose, she looked 
 at the ship. 
 
 It was not the Franklin, and she did not mistake it for 
 her. But shacking her head, she said, — 
 
 "John! My John I You also will come back soon! 
 And I will be there to welcome you." 
 
 Suddenly her looks seemed to search in the waters of 
 this bay she had just recognized. She gave a heartrending 
 shriek, and said, turning to Mr. William Andrew, — 
 
 " Mr. Andrew — you — and him — my little W^at — my 
 child — my poor child ! There ! There ! I remember ! 
 I remember! " 
 
 And she fell on her knees on the deck, her eyes drowned 
 in tears. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A DIFFICULT POSITION, 
 
 Mrs. BraniCAN restored to reason was like a dead woman 
 restored to life. Seeing that she had stood the test of this 
 remembrance, of this evocation of the past, seeing that 
 the flash of memory had not injured her, could it be hoped 
 that her recox-ery would take place .' Was her intelligence 
 to succumb a second time when she learnt that there had 
 been no news of the Franklin for four years, and that it 
 was believed the .ship had gone down with all on board, 
 and that she would never again see her husband ? 
 
 Dolly, completely prostrated by the shock, had been 
 taken back immediately to Prospect House. Neither 
 Mr. William Andrew nor Doctor Erumley would leave 
 her, and from the women in the latter's service she 
 received all the care her state required. 
 
 But the shock had been so severe that an intense fever 
 came on. She was even for a few days in a state of 
 delirium, which gave the doctors much uneasiness, 
 although she recovered the fulness of her intellectual 
 faculties. It is true that when the time came to acquaint 
 her with '-:he whole extent of her misfortune, many 
 precautions would have to be taken. 
 
 To begin with, Ddlly asked how long she had been 
 deprived of reason. 
 
 " Two months," replied Dr. Brumley, who was prepared 
 for the question. 
 
 " Two months only ! " she murmured. 
 
A Difficult Position. 73 
 
 And it seemed as though a century had passed over her 
 head ! 
 
 " Two months ! " she added. " John could not have 
 come back yet, for it is only two months since he went 
 away. Does he know that our poor little child — " 
 
 " Mr. Andrew has written," replied Doctor Brumley 
 without hesitation. 
 
 " And is there any news of the Franklin ? " ' 
 
 The reply was that Captain Branican was to write from 
 Singapore, but the letters had not come to hand. But at 
 the same time, according to the shipping intelligence, the 
 Franklin would soon reach the Indies, and telegrams 
 would shortly be received. 
 
 When Dolly asked why Jane Burker was not with her, 
 the doctor answered that Mr. and Mrs. Burker were 
 away travelling, and had not yet announced the date of 
 their return. 
 
 It was left to Mr. William Andrew to tell Mrs. Branican 
 the fate oi\he Franklin. But it was agreed to say nothing 
 until her reason had been sufficiently re-established to 
 support the blow, and to be careful in revealing the facts 
 little by little, in order that she might gradually be led to 
 conclude that no survivor of the wreck remained. 
 
 The news of the inheritance which had come to her, 
 through the death of Edward Starter, was also kept back. 
 Mrs. Branican would know soon enough that she possessed 
 this fortune, which her husband could no longer share with 
 her. 
 
 During the fortniglit which followed, Mrs. Branican had 
 no communication with the outside world. Mr. William 
 Andrew and Dr. Brumley alone had access to her. The 
 fever, which was very high to begin with, began to 
 diminish, and would soon, doubtless, disappear. As much 
 from the point of view of her health, as from that of not 
 having to reply to definite and embarrassing questions, 
 the doctor had forbidden the patient from talking. And 
 every allusion to the past was avoided, as was everything 
 that could lead her to suspect that four years had elapsed 
 
74 Mistress BraNican. 
 
 since the death of her child and the departure of her 
 husband. For some time yet it was advisable that the 
 year 1879 should be for her only 1875. 
 
 But Dolly had only one desire, or rather a very natural 
 impatience, and that was to receive a first letter from 
 John. She calculated that the Franklin being at the 
 point of arrival at Calcutta, if she were not there already, 
 Andrews' ought soon to hear of her by telegraph. Then 
 she herself, as soon as she had strength, would write 
 to John. Alas ! what would she say in her letter — the 
 first she would write to him since their marriage, for they 
 had never been separated until the departure of the 
 Franklin ? Yes ! What sad things this first letter would 
 tell! 
 
 And then thinking of the past, Dolly reproached herself 
 for having been the cause of her child's death I That 
 unhappy day of the 31st March returned to her memory ! 
 If she had left little Wat at Prospect House he would still 
 be alive I Why had she taken him out to the Boundary ? 
 Why had she refused the offer of Captain Ellis, who had 
 proposed her staying on board until the ship's arrival at the 
 wharf of San Diego ? The terrible misfortune would not 
 have occurred ! And why also had she in a thoughtless 
 moment taken the child from the nurse's arms at the 
 moment the launch was suddenly checked to avc id a 
 collision ! She had fallen, and little Wat was no longer in 
 her arms ! Poor child, who had not even a grave over 
 which his mother could go and weep ! 
 
 These fancies, too vividly called up in her mind, caused 
 Dolly to lose the calmness which was so necessary to her. 
 Several times a violent delirium, due to the increase of the 
 fever, made Dr. Brumley extremely uneasy. Fortunately 
 these crises grew less acute, less frequent, and finally dis- 
 appeared. There was now no fear for the mental state of 
 Mrs. Branican. The moment was approaching when Mr. 
 William Andrew might tell her all. 
 
 As soon as Dolly had unmistakably entered upon the 
 period of her convalescence she obtained permission to 
 
A Difficult Position. 75 
 
 leave her bed. She was placed iii a long chair at her 
 bedroom window, whence she could look out over the Bay 
 ■oi San Diego, and even far out beyond Loma Point to the 
 very horizon. There she remained motionless for many 
 long hours. 
 
 Then Dolly wished to write to John ; she wanted to tell 
 him of their child he would never sec again, and she 
 poured out her grief in a letter John never would receive. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew took this letter, promising to send 
 it with his mail to the Indies, and that d ne, Mrs. Branican 
 became calm again, living only in the hope of lecciving 
 news of the Franklin directly or indirectly. 
 
 However, this statecf things could not Inst. Evidently 
 Dolly would learn sooner or later what ihcy were hiJing 
 from her — by excess of prudence, perhaps. The more she 
 concentrated herself in the hope that she would soon 
 receive a letter from John, that with each day his return 
 grew nearer, the more terriblti would be the blew. 
 
 And that appeared but too evident after an interview 
 which Mrs. Branican had with Mr. William Andrew on the 
 19th of June. 
 
 For the first time Dolly had gone down into the little 
 garden of Prospect House, where Mr. William Andrew 
 found her seated on a bench before the steps of tlie chalet. 
 He went and sat'down close to her, and taking her hands, 
 clasped them affectionately. 
 
 In this last period of convalescence Mrs. Branican had 
 be^un to feel quite strong again. Her face had resumed 
 its former warm colour, although her eyes were always 
 I'.umid with tears. 
 
 " I see your recovery makes rapid progress, my dear 
 Dolly," said Mr. William Andrew. " You are getting on 
 well." 
 
 •■ Certainly, Mr. Andrew," replied Dolly, " but it seems 
 to me that I have aged considerably during the two 
 months ! How much my poor John will find me changed 
 when he comes back ! And I am waiting for him alone ! 
 He v/ill only find mc — " 
 
 F 
 
•jQ Mistress Branican. 
 
 " Courage, dear Dolly, courage ! I forbid you to be so 
 depressed. I am now your father. Yes, your father ! 
 and I insist on your obeying me ! " 
 
 " Dear Mr. Andrew ! " 
 ■ " Be it so." 
 
 " The letter I wrote to John has gone, has it not ? " 
 asked Dolly. 
 
 "Doubtless — and you must wait for his reply with 
 patience ! Sometimes there are long delays in the Indian 
 mails ! You are still crying ! I beseech you not to cry 
 any more 1" 
 
 "I cannot help it, Mr. Andrew, when I think. And am 
 I not the cause ? — I — " 
 
 "No, poor mother, no. Providence has struck you 
 cruelly, but all grief has an end." 
 
 " Providence ! " murmured Mrs. Branican ; " Providence 
 will bring me back my John ! " 
 
 " My dear Dolly, have you. seen the doctor to-day } " 
 asked Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 " Yes, and he thought me better 1 I am getting back 
 my strength, and I shall soon be able to go out." 
 
 " Not before he says you may." 
 
 " No, Mr. Andrew. I promise to do nothing im- 
 prudent." 
 
 " And I reckon on your promise." 
 
 " You have not )'et received anything relative to the 
 Franklin, Mr. Andrew ? " 
 
 " No, and I am not surprised. Ships take some time 
 occasionally to get to the Indies." 
 
 " It seems to me John might have written from 
 Singapore ? Did he not call there ? " 
 
 " Very probably, Dolly ! But if he missed the mail by 
 a few hours it would make a delay of a fortnight in his 
 letters." 
 
 " And so you are not at all surprised that John has not 
 yet sent you a letter ? " 
 
 " Not at all," answered Mr. William Andrew, who felt 
 the conversation becoming embarrassing. 
 
A Difficult Position. 77 
 
 "And have not the shipping journals noticed his 
 voyage ? " asked Dolly. 
 
 " No. Since he spoke the Boundary — it is about — " 
 
 " Yes ; about two months. And why should he have 
 spoken her ? I should not have gone on board the 
 Boundary, and my chi'd — " 
 
 Mrs. Branican's look suddenly changed, and tears rolled 
 down from her eyes. 
 
 "Dolly — my dear Dolly," answered Mr. William 
 Andrew. " Do not cry. I beg you, do not cry ! " 
 
 " Ah ! Mr. Andrew. I do not know — a presentiment 
 sometimes comes to me. It is inexplicable. It seems to 
 me that a new misfortune — I am uneasy about John ! " 
 
 " There is no need to be, Dolly ! There is no reason 
 for being anxious — " 
 
 " Mr. Andrew," a"Skcd Mrs. Branican, " could you not 
 send me a few newspapers with shipping intelligence in 
 them ? I should like to read them." 
 
 " Certainly, my dear Dolly ; I will do so. But if any- 
 thing were known concerning the i^r««>^/27?, if she had been 
 met with on the sea, if her approaching arrival in India 
 had been reported, I should be the first to hear of it, and 
 immediately." 
 
 But it was advisable to give another turn to the inter- 
 view. Mrs. Branican would notice the hesitation with 
 which Mr. Andrew replied, and the way in which his look 
 sank before hers when she questioned hirn more directly. 
 And so the worthy shipowner began to speak for the first 
 time of the death of Edward Starter, and the considerable 
 fortune which had fallen to his niece. And then Dolly 
 asked, — 
 
 " Jane Burker and her husband are on a voyage, they 
 tell me ; have they been away long from San Diego .■' " 
 
 " No. Two or three weeks." 
 
 " And ought they not soon to be back." 
 
 " I do not know," replied Mr. Andrew. " We have 
 received no news — " 
 
 " Does nobody know where they have gone ? " 
 
78 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " Nobody knows, my dear Dolly. Len Burlier has been 
 engaged in very important — very adventurous — matters, 
 lie has been called away — very far away." 
 
 " And Jane ? " 
 
 " Mrs. Burker had to accompany her husband — and I 
 do not know how to tell you what happened — " 
 
 " Poor Jane ! " said Mrs. Branican. " I had a great 
 affection for her, and I should be glad to see her again. 
 Is she not the only relation I have left ! " 
 
 She did not give a thought to Edward Starter, nor of 
 the family tie which united them. 
 
 " How is it that Jane has not once written to me ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " My dear Dolly, you were very ill when Mr. Burker and 
 his wife left San Diego." 
 
 " Just so, 'Mr. Andrew, and why write to one who could 
 not understand .' Dear Jane, she is to be pitied! Life will 
 be hard for her ! I was always afraid that Len Burker 
 v/ould launch into some speculation which would turn out 
 badly ! Perhaps John thought so too ! " 
 
 " 13ut," said Mr. William Andrew, "no one expected such 
 a regrettable ending." 
 
 " Was it then on account of some bad business that Len 
 Burker left San Diego .'' " asked Dolly quickly. 
 
 And she looked at M*. Andrew, whose embarrassment 
 was only too visible. 
 
 " Mr. Andrew," she continued, "speak! Do not leave 
 me in ignorance ! I desire to know all ! " 
 
 " Well, Uolly, I do not wish to hide from you a mis- 
 fortune you are sure soon to know ! Yes ! In the end 
 Len Burker's affairs became very bad. He could not meet 
 liis engagements. Claims came in ; and, threatened with 
 arrest, he had to take safety in flight." 
 
 " And Jane went with him ? " 
 
 " He certainly had to compel her to do so, and you 
 know she had no will of her own where he was con- 
 cerned." 
 
 "Poor Jane! Poor Jane!" murmured Mrs. Branican. 
 
A Difficult PosiTio>f. ^g 
 
 " I pity her, and if I had been well I should have helped 
 her—" 
 
 " You could have done it 1 " said Mr. Andrew. " Yes — ■ 
 you could have saved Len Barker, if not for himself, who 
 deserves no sympathy, at least for his wife." 
 
 "And John would have approved, I am sure, of the use 
 I would have made of our humble fortune." 
 
 Mr. William Andrew carefully abstained from saying 
 that Mrs. Branican's patrimony had been devoured by 
 Len Burker. That would have been to have shown that 
 he had been her trustee, and she might have asked how' so 
 much could have happened in the short time of two 
 months. 
 
 And so Mr. Andrew at once answered, — 
 
 " Say no more about your humble position, my dear 
 Dolly ; that is all altered now." 
 
 " What do you • mean, Mr. Andrew ? " asked Mrs. 
 Branican. 
 
 " I m.ean that you are rich, extremely rich 1' 
 
 "I ?" 
 
 "Your Uncle Edward Starter is dead." 
 
 " Dead .■• He is dead 1 And since when ? " 
 
 " Since—" 
 
 Mr. William Andrew was on the point of betraying 
 himself by giving the exact date of Edward Starter's 
 decease, nearly two years before, which would have 
 revealed the whole truth. But Dolly's only thought was 
 ■that the death of her uncle and the disappearance of her 
 cousin left her without relations. And when she learnt 
 that owing to the relative she had hardly known, whose 
 wealth she and John had not expected to inherit until a 
 remote future, her fortune now amounted to two millions 
 of dollars, her only thought was w'.iat good she could do 
 with-it. 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Andrew," she said, "I ought to go to Jane's 
 help ! I ought to save her from ruin and disgrace ! 
 Where is she ? Where can she be ? What has become of 
 her?" 
 
8o Mistress Branican, 
 
 Mr. William Andrew had to say that the efforts to dis- 
 cover Len Burker had had no result. He had either taken 
 refuge in some distant part of the United States, or else 
 had left America, but it was impossible to say. 
 
 " But if it is only a few weeks since Jane and he dis- 
 appeared from San Diego," said Mrs. -Branican, "we may 
 learn — " 
 
 " Yes — a few weeks ! " said Mr. William Andrew hastily. 
 
 But at this moment Mrs. Branican could think of 
 nothing else than that, thanks to Edward Starter, John 
 need no longer be a sailor. He could now leave the sea. 
 This voyage in the Franklin for Andrews would be his 
 last. And was it not his last, since he would never come 
 back } 
 
 " No, Mr. Andrew," exclaimed Dolly. " Once John 
 comes Isack, he will never go to sea again ! His taste for 
 sea life he will give up for my sake. We will live together 
 — always together ! Nothing shall separate us again." 
 
 At the thought that this happiness would be shattered at 
 a word — a word that soon would have to be uttered — Mr. 
 William Andrew could hardly control himself. He hastened 
 to bring the interview to a close, but before taking his 
 leave he obtained Mrs. Branican's promise that she would 
 commit no imprudence, that she would not run the risk of 
 going out, that she would not resume her customary life 
 until the doctor had given her permission. On his part he 
 repeated that if directly or indirectly he received any news 
 of the Franklin he would immediately send it on to Prospect 
 House. 
 
 When Mr. William Andrew reported this conversation to 
 Doctor Erumley, the doctor made no secret of his fear that 
 some indiscretion would put Mrs. Branican in possession of 
 the truth. That her madness had lasted for years, that for 
 four years no one had known what had become of the 
 Franklin, that she would never again see John — Yes ; it 
 would be best for her to learn this either from Mr. William 
 Andrew or from himself after taking all possible precau- 
 tion. 
 
A Difficult Position. 8i 
 
 It was therefore decided that in a week, when there could 
 
 be no longer a plausible motive for preventing Mrs Bi ani- 
 
 can from leaving the chalet, she should be told everything. 
 
 ."And may Heaven give her strength to bear the trial," 
 
 said Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 During the last week of June Mrs. Branican's life at 
 Prospect House continued to be what it always had been. 
 Thanks to careful nursing she recovered both phy.sical 
 strength and mental energy. And Mr, William Andrew 
 found it more and more embarrassing when Dolly pressed 
 him with questions to which he could not reply. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 23rd he came to see her, in order 
 to put at her disposal an important sum of money, and 
 account to her for her fortune which had been deposited 
 in reliable securities in the Consolidated Bank at San 
 Diego. 
 
 Mrs. Branican paid very little attention to the subject 
 of Mr. William Andrew's conversation, and hardly listened 
 to him. She could only talk about John, she could only 
 think of him. What ! Not a letter yet I That was most 
 disquieting! How came it that Andrews' had not even 
 received the telegram announcing the arrival of the Frank- 
 lin in India .' 
 
 The shipowner tried to calm Dolly by telling her he had 
 just telegraphed to Calcutta and would receive a reply in a 
 day or two. But if he succeeded in diverting her thoughts 
 he was considerably troubled when she asked, " Mr. 
 Andrew, there is a man of whom I have never spoken 
 until now — that is the man who saved my life and could 
 not save my child's. That sailor — " 
 
 " That sailor ? " said Mr. William Andrew, with visible 
 hesitation. 
 
 "Yes ; that courageous man— to whom I owe my life. 
 Has he been rewarded ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Dolly." 
 
 And he really had been. 
 
 " Is he at San Diego, Mr. Andrew ? " 
 
 " No, my dear Dolly — no ! I heard he had gone to sea." 
 
82 Mistress Branican. 
 
 Which was true. 
 
 After leaving the bay the sailor had gone on several 
 trading voyages, and now was away at sea. 
 
 " Hut at least you can tell me his name ? " asked Mr.5. 
 Eranican. 
 
 " His name is Zach Fren." 
 
 " Zach Fren ? Good ! I thank you, Mr. Andrew," 
 said Dolly. 
 
 And she said no more about the sailor whose name she , 
 had just ascertained. 
 
 lUit from tnat day Zach Fren never ceased to occupy 
 Dolly's thoughts. Menceforth he was indissolubly bound 
 up in her mind with the remembrance of the catastroph3 
 of which San Dieg^o bay had betn the theatre. She would 
 find out Zach I-'Ven at the end of his voyage. He was in 
 a San Diego ship, without doubt. The ship would return 
 in six months — in a year— and ihen — assuredly the 
 Franklin would be back before he was. She and John 
 would be of one mind as to rewarding him — as to paying 
 him their debt of gratitude. Yes! John would not delay 
 in bringing back the Franklin and he would resign the 
 command of her. They would never again separate from 
 each other. 
 
 " And that day," she thought, " why should our kisses 
 be mingled with tears 1 " 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 REVELATIONS. 
 
 But Mr. William Andrew desired and feared this interview 
 in which Mrs. Branican would learn of the disappearance 
 of the Franklin and the loss of her crew and her captain — 
 a loss of which no one doubted at San Diego. Could her 
 reason, which had once succumbed, be equal to this last 
 blow ? Although more than four years had gone by since 
 John's departure, it would seem as though his death had 
 occurred but yesterday. Time which had passed over so 
 many human sorrows had not moved on in her case 1 
 
 While Mrs. Bran'can remained at Prospect House they 
 could hope that no indiscretion would be prematurely com- 
 mitted. Mr. William Andrew and Dr. Brumley had taken 
 their precautions, and prevented any newspapers or letters 
 arriving at the chalet. But Dolly felt strong enough to go 
 out, and although the doctor had not given her permission 
 to do so, could she not leave Prospect House without saying 
 anything about it? And so they resolved to hesitate no 
 longer, and Dolly would soon be told that she could no 
 longer reckon on the return of the Franklin. 
 
 But after the conversation she had had with Mr. William 
 Andrew, Mrs. Branican had made up her mind to go out 
 without telling her maids, who would have done their 
 utmost to dissuade her. And if this expedition were free 
 from danger in the actual state of her health, it might 
 nevertheless bring about deplorable results in the event of 
 some accident acquainting her with the truth without 
 previous precaution. 
 
84 Mistress Branican, 
 
 In leaving Prospect House, Mrs. Branican proposed to 
 make some inquiries regarding Zach Fren. Now that 
 she knew the sailor's name, only one thought possessed 
 her. 
 
 " They have seen about him," she said. " Yes ! a little 
 money has been given him, without my having anything to 
 say in the matter. Zach Fren has been away about five or 
 six weeks. But perhaps he has a family, a wife, children 
 — poor people, undoubtedly ! It is my duty to go and 
 visit them, to minister to their wants, to assure them of 
 comfort ! I will see them, and will do what I ought to do 
 for them ! " 
 
 And if Mrs. Branican had consulted Mr. William 
 Andrew in the matter, how could he have dissuaded her 
 from this act of gratitude and charity ? 
 
 On the 2ist of June, Dolly went out of the inclosure 
 about nine o'clock in the morning without being noticed. 
 She was dressed in mourning — mourning for her child, 
 whose death she thought had taken place but two months 
 before. It was not without deep emotion that she went 
 out of the gate of the little garden — alone for the first 
 time. 
 
 The weather was fine, and the heat already great in 
 these first weeks of the Californian summer, although it 
 was tempered by the sea breeze. 
 
 She went along among the houses and gardens of the 
 upper town. Absorbed in thought of what she was going 
 to do, she did not notice the changes which had taken place 
 in the neighbourhood, the new buildings which ought to 
 have attracted her attention ; or at least she had but a vague 
 perception of them. Besides, these changes were not im- 
 portant enough to interfere with her finding her way along 
 the roads down to the bay. She did not notice two or 
 three people who recognized her and looked at her with a 
 certain amount of astonishment. 
 
 In passing a Catholic chapel not far from Prospect House, 
 of which she had been one of the ftiost assiduous frequenters, 
 she felt an irresistible desire to enter. The officiating priest 
 
Revelations. 85 
 
 had begun the mass as she knelt on a low chair in a dark 
 corner. There she poured out her soul in prayer for her 
 child, her husband — for all those she loved. The few 
 faithful who attended the mass had not noticed her, and 
 when she retired they had already left the chapel. 
 
 It was there that she noticed something which could not 
 but surprise her. It seemed that the altar was no longer 
 that before which she was accustomed to pray. This altar 
 was richer, and of a new kind, and stood in front of an 
 apse which appeared to be of recent construction. Had 
 the chapel been made larger ? 
 
 But this was only a fugitive impression which fled as 
 soon as Mrs. Branican began to descend the streets to- 
 wards the business quarter in which the animation was 
 great. But at any moment the truth might break on her 
 — a. poster with a date — a railway time-table — a steamboat 
 notice — the announcement of a fete or an entertainment 
 bearing the date 1879; and then Dolly would suddenly 
 learn that Mr. William Andrew and Doctor Brumley had 
 deceived her, and that her insanity had lasted four years, 
 and not a few weeks ; and that in consequence it was not 
 two months, but four years, since the Franklin had left 
 San Diego. And if they had hidden it from her that John 
 had not come back — it was because he would never come 
 back ! 
 
 Mrs. Branican was hurrying towards the wharves when 
 the idea occurred to her of passing Len Burker's house, 
 which would only take her a little out of her way. 
 " Poor Jane I" she murmured. 
 
 When she arrived in front of the office in Fleet Street 
 she could hardly recognize it, and this caused her mere 
 than a gesture of surprise, a vague and disturbing uneasi- 
 ness. 
 
 Instead of the narrow, gloomy house she knew, there 
 was an important building of Anglo-Saxon architecture, 
 of many storeys, with high windows, and iron bars on the 
 ground floor. On the roof was a lantern, from which 
 floated a flag, bearing the initials H, W. Near the door 
 
86 Mistress Branican. 
 
 was a plate, on which could be read these words, in golden 
 letters, — 
 
 "Harris, Wadanton and Co." 
 
 Dolly at first thought she was mistaken ; she looked to 
 the right, to the leit. No! it was here, at the angle of 
 Fleet Street, that the house stood to which she came to 
 see Jane Burker. 
 
 She put her hands to her eyes. An inexplicable pre- 
 sentiment chilled her heart. She could not account for 
 what she felt. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew's house of business was not far off. 
 Dolly, hurrying along, saw it at a turning out of the road. 
 At first she thought of going there. No — she would go 
 there as she came back — when she had seen Zach Fren's 
 family. She intended to get the sailor's address at the 
 steam launch office, near the landing-stage. 
 
 With her mind bewildered, her eyes irresolute, her heart 
 palpitating, Dolly continued her walk. She now looked 
 closely at the people she met. She felt an irresistible 
 want to go to these people to interrogate them, to ask them 
 — what .' They would have taken her for a lunatic — but 
 was she sure that her reason had not left her for a second 
 time ? Were there not gaps in her memory ? Was she 
 completely in possession of herself? 
 
 Mrs. Branican reached the wharf. Beyond, the bay 
 lay revealed throughout its extent. A few ships were 
 gently rolling at their anchorage. Others were preparing 
 to depart. What memories this life in the harbour re- 
 called I Two months ago she was at the end of this wharf ; 
 it was from this spot that she had seen the Franklin go 
 about for the last time to leave .the bay ; it was there she 
 had received John's la&t adieu ; there the vessel had 
 doubled Island Point, the upper sails had for a moment 
 been seen above the cliff, and the Franklin had vanished 
 into the distances of the high seas. 
 
 A few more steps, and Dolly found herself at the steam 
 launch office near the landing-stage. One of the boats 
 
Revelations. 87 
 
 was going away at the momentj heading for Loma 
 Point. 
 
 Dolly followed it with her eyes, listening to the 
 noise of the steam which panted from the end of the 
 black tube. 
 
 To what sorrowful remembrance did she then abandon 
 herself .' The remembrance of her child, whose little body 
 the waters had not even yielded up, which attracted her — 
 fascinated her. She felt herself fainting, as if the ground 
 were failing her. Her head turned. She was on the 
 point of falling. 
 
 A moment afterwards Mrs. Branican entered the steam 
 launch office. 
 
 As he caught sight of this woman with her features 
 drawn, and her face bloodless, the clerk who was sitting at 
 a table arose, handed her a chair, and said, — 
 
 "You are ill, madam?" 
 
 ''It is nothing, sir," said Dolly. "A moment of weak- 
 ness. I feel better." 
 
 " Will you sit down and wait for the next launch ? 
 In ten minutes at most — " 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Mrs. Branican. " I have only 
 come to ask you for some information. Can you give ic 
 me?" 
 
 " What is it > " 
 
 Dolly sat down, and, putting her hand to her forehead 
 to collect her ideas, — 
 
 " Sir," she said, " you had in your service a sailor named 
 Zach Fren ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the clerk, " he was not with us long, but 
 I remember him perfectly." 
 
 " He it was, was it not, who risked his life to save a 
 woman — an unhappy mother ? " 
 
 " I remember her — Mrs. Branican — yes 1 that was the 
 man." 
 
 " And now he is at sea ? " 
 
 " At sea." . 
 
 " On what ship is he ? " 
 
88 Mistress Branican. ,' 
 
 " The Californian." 
 
 "Of San Diego?" 
 
 " No, of San Francisco." 
 
 " Where is he bound for ? " 
 
 " For Europe." 
 
 Mrs. Branican, more fatigued than she beh'evcd herself 
 to be, was silent for some seconds, and the clerk waited for 
 her to ask him some more questions. When she had 
 recovered a little, she said, — 
 
 " Does Zach Fren belong to San Diego ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Can you tell me where his. family lives ? " 
 
 "I have always understood that Zach Fren was alone 
 in the world. I do not think he has any relations, either 
 at San Diego or elsewhere." 
 
 " He was not married ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 There was no reason for doubting the reply of this 
 clerk, to whom Zach Fren was well known. 
 
 Nothing, therefore, could be done, for the sailor had no 
 family, and Mrs. Branican would have to wait ,until the 
 Californian returned from Europe. 
 
 " Is it known how long Zach Fren's voyage will last ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " I cannot tell you that, for the Californian is on a very 
 long cruise." 
 
 " Thank you, sir," said Mrs. Branican. '" I should have 
 had great satisfaction in meeting Zach Fren, but some 
 time will elapse, doubtless." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " But it is possible that there will be news of the Califor- 
 nian in a few months, a few weeks .-' " 
 
 "News?" said the clerk. "But the San Francisco 
 house to whom she belongs has already had news of her 
 several times." 
 
 "Already.?" 
 
 "Ye-s.". 
 
 "And several times?" 
 
REVELATiaNS. 89 
 
 And as she repeated the words -Mrs. Branican rose, and 
 looked at the clerk as if she had not understood him. 
 
 " Look, madam," he replied, handing her a newspaper. 
 " Here is the Shipping Gazette, It says the Californian 
 left Liverpool eight days ago." 
 
 " Eight days ! " murmured Mrs. Branican, taking the 
 newspaper and trembling. 
 
 Then, in a voice so completely broken that the clerk 
 could hardly hear her, — 
 
 " How long is it since Zach Fren went away ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " Nearly eighteen months." 
 
 " Eighteen months !" 
 
 Dolly supported herself against the angle of the desk. 
 Her heart ceased to beat during some seconds. 
 
 Suddenly her looks were caught by a bill hung againsf 
 the wall, and which gave the times of the steam launches 
 for the summer season. 
 
 At the head of the bill were the word and ihe figures- 
 
 " MARCH, 1879." 
 
 March, 1879! They had deceived her ! Her child had 
 been dead for years — fcur years since John had left San 
 Diego ! She had been mad these four years ! Yes ! 
 And if Mr. William Andrew,- if Doctor Brumley had allowed 
 her to believe that her madness had only lasted two months, 
 it was because they wished to hide from her the truth 
 about the Franklin. It was four years since there had 
 been any news of John and his ship. 
 
 To the great alarm of the clerk, Mrs. Branican was seized 
 with a violent ?pasm ; but with a supreme effort she con- 
 trolled it, and, rushing from the office, walked quickly 
 through the streets of the lower town. 
 
 Those who saw this woman pass, with her pale face and 
 haggard eyes, may have thought she was mad. And if 
 she were not, was she not going to be so .'' 
 
 Where was she going ? Towards Andrews', where she 
 arrived almost unconsciously in a few minutes. She went 
 
90 Mistress Branican. 
 
 through the offices, she passed among the clerks who had 
 not time to stop her, and she pushed open the door of the 
 private office where she found the shipowner. 
 
 At first Mr. William Andrew was thunderstruck at seeing 
 Mrs. Branican enter, and terrified at her agitated features 
 and her frightful pallor. 
 
 But before he could say a word, — 
 
 "I know — I know 1" she exclaimed. "You have de- 
 ceived me. I have been mad for four years." 
 
 " My dear Dolly— be calm ! " 
 
 " Answer ! The Franklin ? She has been gone four 
 years, has she not ? " 
 
 Mr. William Andrew bowed his head. 
 
 " You have had no news — for four years — for four 
 years } " 
 
 Mr. William Andrew remained silent. 
 
 " You think the Franklin is lost ! Ncne of her crev/ 
 will return — and I shall never see John again ! " 
 
 Tears were Mr. William Andrew's only reply. 
 
 Mrs. Branican fell suddenly into an arm-chair. She had 
 fainted. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew called one of the women of the 
 house, who did all she could to bring Dolly round, while 
 one of the clerks was hurried off to Doctor Brumley, who 
 lived not far off and made haste to come. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew told him «hat had happened. By 
 some indiscretion or accident, he did not know which, Mrs. 
 Branican had just learnt everything. Whether at Prospect 
 House, or in the streets of San Diego, did not matter. She 
 knew now 1 She knew that four years had elapsed since 
 her child's death, that for four years she had been deprived 
 of reason, that four years had passed without receiving any 
 news of the Franklin, 
 
 It was not without difficulty that Doctor Brumley suc- 
 ceeded in bringing back Dolly to life, while he asked 
 himself if her intelligence had resisted this last blow, the 
 most terrible of those with which she had been struck. 
 
 When Mrs. Branican returned to her senses she knew 
 
Revelations. 91 
 
 all that had been revealed to her. She returned to life 
 with all her reason. And through her tears her look in- 
 terrogated Mr. William Andrew, who held her hands, and 
 knelt close to her. 
 
 " Speak — speak — Mr. Andrew ! " were the only words 
 that escaped her lips. 
 
 Then, in a voice broken with sobs, Mr. William Andrew 
 told her of the anxiety that had at first been caused by the 
 failure of news as to the Franklin. Letters and telegrams 
 had been sent to Singapore and the Indies, where the 
 vessel had never arrived. An inquiry had taken place 
 with regard to the Franklin's course ; but no trace of her 
 wreck had been found. 
 
 Motionless Mrs. Branican heard with her mouth silent, 
 her look fixed. And when Mr. William Andrew had 
 finished his recital, — 
 
 " My child dead — my husband dead," she murmured. 
 " Ah ! why did not Zach Fren let me die ! " 
 ■ Then' her face suddenly became animated, and her 
 natural energy manifested itself with so much power that 
 Doctor Brumley was alarmed. 
 
 " Since the last search," she said in a resolute voice, 
 " nothing Jias been heard of the Franklin f" 
 
 " Nothing ! " replied Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 "And you consider her as lost?" 
 
 "Yes! Lost!" 
 
 "And of John and his crew you can obtain no 
 news ? " 
 
 " None, my poor Dolly, and now we have no hope." 
 
 " No Jiope ! " said Mrs. Branican in a tone almost 
 ironical. 
 
 She rose and stretched out her hand towards one of the 
 windows through which she could see the horizon of sea. 
 
 Mr. William Andrew and Doctor Brumley looked at her 
 with dismay, fearing for her mental state. 
 
 But Dolly was in full possession of her faculties, and 
 with glowing look, she said, — ■ 
 
 " No hope ! You say no hope ! Mr. Andrew, if John is 
 
 G 
 
92 Mistress Branican. 
 
 lost for you, he is not lost for me ! This fortune which 
 belongs to me, I care not for it without him ! I will 
 devote it to searching for John and his companions of the 
 Franklin. And by Heaven's aid I will find them ] Yes 1 
 I will find them I " 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 PREPARATIONS. 
 
 A NEW life was about to commence for Mrs. Branican. If 
 she had absolute certainty of the death of her child, it 
 was not so regarding John. John and his companions 
 might have survived their wreck on one of the numerous 
 islands of the seas of the Ehilippines, Celebes or Java. 
 Was it impossible that they were held prisoners by some 
 native race, and that it was impossible for them to escape ? 
 It was to this hope that Mrs. Branican clung from the 
 outset, and with a tenacity so extraordinary that she soon 
 provoked a change in the public opinion of San Diego on 
 the subject of the Franklin. No ! She would not believe, 
 she could not' believe that John and his crew had perished, 
 and it may be that to the persistence of this idea she owed 
 the keeping of her reason. At least, as some were inclined 
 to think, it was a species of monomania, a sort of madness 
 which is called "the madness of desperate hope." But 
 this was not the case, as we shall soon see. Mrs. Branican 
 had resumed full possession of her intelligence, and had 
 recovered that sureness of judgment which had always 
 characterized her. One object she had for life, to find 
 John, and she pursued it with an energy which circum- 
 stances occurred to stimulate. As Heaven had permitted 
 Zach Fren to save her from the first catastrophe, and 
 reason had been returned to her when she had at her dis- 
 posal all the means of action fortune gives, if John were 
 alive he should be saved by her. This fortune she would 
 employ in incessant searches, she would squander it in re- 
 
94 Mistress Branican. 
 
 wards, she would spend it in expeditions. Thera was not an 
 island, not an islet, in the localities traversed by the young 
 captain which should not be reconnoitred, visited, searched. 
 What Lady Franklin had done for John Franklin Mrs. 
 Branican could do for John Branican, and she would suc- 
 ceed where the widow of the illustrious admiral had failed. 
 
 From this day Dolly's friends were those who could help 
 her in this new period of her existence, encourage her in 
 her investigations, and join their efforts to hers. And one 
 of them was Mr. William Andrew, although he had but 
 little hope of a happy result of these attempts to discover 
 the survivors of his wrecked ship, and he became the 
 most ardent adviser of Mrs. Branican, supported by the 
 captain of the Boundary, whose ship was then at San 
 Diego dismantled. Captain Ellis, a resolute man on 
 whom they could depend, and a devoted friend of John, 
 received an invitation to confer with Mrs, Branican and 
 Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 There were frequent interviews at Prospect House. 
 Rich as she now was, Mrs. Branican had no wish to leave 
 the modest chalet. It was there John had left her when 
 he started, it was there he should find her when he came 
 back. Nothing should be changed in her mode of life 
 until her husband returned to San Diego. She would live 
 the same life with the same simplicity, spending nothing 
 more than usual except for the expenses of her searches 
 and he? charities. 
 
 This was soon known in the town ; and in consequence 
 there was a redoubling of sympathy for this valiant woman 
 \vho would not be John Branican's widow. Without any 
 mistrust they became enthusiastic about her ; they admired 
 her, they even venerated her, for her misfortunes justified 
 their going as far as veneration. Not only did a number 
 of people pray that she might succeed, but they believed 
 in her eventual success. When Dolly came down into the 
 lower town to visit Andrews' or Captain Ellis, when she 
 •\\ as seen serious and sombre, clad in her mourning garb, 
 looking ten years older than she was, and she was theri 
 
Preparations. 95 
 
 scarcely five-and-twenty, hats were raised in respect and 
 people bowed as she passed. But she saw nothing of these 
 deferences which were addressed to her. 
 
 During the interviews between Mrs. Branican, Mr. 
 William Andrew and Captain Ellis, the first consideration 
 bore on the course the Franklin should have followed. 
 It was at the outset important to fix this with rigorous 
 exactitude. 
 
 Andrews' had sent the ship to Calcutta with a call at 
 Singapore, and it was in this port she had to discharge a 
 portion of the cargo before proceeding to India. Thus, in 
 sailing from the west coast of the American continent the 
 probabilities were that Captain John would sight the 
 Hawaiian or Sandwich archipelago. After traversing the 
 zones of Micronesia, the Franklin would pass near the 
 Mariannes and the Philippines ; then by the Sea of Celebes 
 and the Strait of Macassar she would gain the Sea of Java, 
 bounded on the north by the Sunda islands, and thus reach 
 Singapore. At the western extremity of the Straits of 
 Malacca, formed by the peninsula of that name and the 
 Island of Java, lies the Gulf of Bengal, in which, beyond 
 the Nicobar islands and the Andaman islands, there was 
 no refuge for shipwrecked men. Besides, it was beyond a 
 doubt that John Branican had never appeared in the Gulf 
 of Bengal ; for as he had failed to reach Singapore it was 
 evident he had not got beyond the Java sea and the Sunda 
 islands. 
 
 No sailor would admit that the Franklin, instead of 
 taking the Malaysia route, had endeavoured to reach India 
 through the difficult channels of Torres strait and along the 
 coast of the north of the Australian continent. Captain Ellis 
 affirmed that John Branican would never commit such a 
 useless imprudence as to risk his ship amid the dangers of 
 this strait. This hypothesis was absolutely put aside ; it 
 was only in Malaysia that search should be made. 
 
 In fact, in the seas of the Carolines, of Celelaes and of 
 Java islands and islets can be counted in thousands, and it 
 was there only, if they had survived an accident dx\. the sea. 
 
r)6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 that the crew of the Franklin could be abandoned or 
 detained by some tribe, without means of returning home. 
 
 These different points established, it was decided that an 
 expedition should be sent into the seas of Malaysia, and 
 Mrs. Branican made a proposition to which she attached 
 great importance. She asked Captain Ellis, if it suited 
 him, to take command of the expedition. 
 
 Captain Ellis was then free, because the Boundary had 
 been dismantled by her owners, and although he was sur- 
 prised by the unexpectedness of the proposal, he did not 
 hesitate to put himself at Mrs. Branican's disposal, with the 
 acquiescence of Mr. William Andrew, who thanked him 
 cordially. 
 
 " I am only doing my duty," he said, "and all that I can 
 do to find the survivors of the Franklin, I will do. If 
 Captain- John is alive — " 
 
 " John is alive ! " said Mrs. Branican, in so affirmative 
 a tone that the most incredulous dared not contradict 
 her. 
 
 Captain Ellis then entered into discussion on different 
 points which ought to be settled. To engage a crew 
 worthy of seconding his effort was not difficult. But there 
 was the question of the ship. Evidently there could be no 
 thought of using the Boutidary for an expedition of this 
 nature. It was not a sailing vessel that could carry out 
 such a campaign, but a steam vessel. 
 
 There were then in the harbour of San Diego a certain 
 number of steamers well suited for the purpose. Mrs. 
 Branican instructed Captain Ellis to buy the fastest of 
 these steamers, and put the necessary funds for the 
 purchase at his disposal. A few days afterwards the affair 
 v/as concluded, and Mrs. Branican was the owner of the 
 Davit, the name of which was changed to Dolly Hope of 
 happy augury. 
 
 She was a screw steamer of nine hundred tons, designed 
 to carry a large quantity of coal in her bunkers, so that 
 she could take long voyages without having to fill up 
 often with fuel. Rigged as a three-masted schooner, 
 
PRE^AKAT10NS. 97 
 
 provided with a considerable sail spread, her engines were 
 of 1 200 horse-power, and drove her at an average of 1 5 
 knots an hour. In these conditions of speed and tonnage 
 the Dolly Hope, handy and seaworthy, would answer all the 
 requirements of a voyage through narrow seas strewn with 
 islands, islets and reefs ; and it would have been difficult to 
 have made a more appropriate choice for this expedition. 
 
 It only took three weeks to get the Dolly Hope ready 
 for sea, to inspect her boilers, test her engines, repair her 
 rigging and sails, adjust her compasses, take in her coal, 
 and lay in provisions for a voyage which might last a year. 
 Captain Ellis had resolved not to abandon the region in 
 which ^& Franklin might have been lost without exploring 
 every part of it. He had given his word as a seaman, 
 and he was a man who kept his engagements. 
 
 To give a good ship a good crew was to increase 
 the chances of success, and Captain Ellis could only 
 congratulate himself on the crowd of the maritime 
 population of San Diego, from which he had to choose. 
 The best sailors offered to serve under his orders ; and 
 there was quite a dispute among those who were anxious 
 to go in search of the victims, who all belonged to the 
 families of the port. 
 
 The Dolly Hope had two mates and a boatswain, a 
 quartermaster and twenty-five men, including engineers 
 and stokers. Captain Ellis was certain of obtaining all 
 he wished from the devoted mariners, no matter how long 
 or difficult the voyage in the seas of Malaysia. 
 ■ It need not be said that during these preparations Mrs. 
 Branican did not remain inactive. She assisted Captain 
 Ellis by her constant intervention, solving all difficulties 
 with money, and seeing that nothing was neglected to 
 insure the success of the expedition. 
 . In the meanwhile this charitable woman had not 
 forgotten the families which the disappearance of the ship 
 had left in poverty or misery, although in that she had only 
 to complete the measures already taken by Andrews' and 
 supported by public subscription. Henceforth the sub- 
 
98 MisTREsr; Tranican. 
 
 sistence of these families was sufficiently cared for, until 
 the attempt of Mrs. Branican had given, them back the 
 men wrecked in the Franklin. 
 
 What Dolly had done for the families so cruelly tried 
 by disaster, would she not also do for Jane Burker ? She 
 now knew how good Jane had been to her during her 
 illness. She knew that Jane had never left her for an 
 instant. And at this moment she would still be at 
 Prospect House sharing in her hopes, if the deplorable 
 affairs of her husband had not obliged her to leave San 
 Diego, and doubtless the United States. Whatever 
 reproaches Len Burker deserved, it was certain that Jane's 
 conduct had been that of a relation, whose affection 
 extended to entire devotedness. Dolly had thus retained 
 for her a profound friendship, and in thinking of her 
 miserable position her keenest regret was in not being 
 able to show her gratitude by going to her aid. But in 
 spite of all Mr. William Andrew's diligence, it was 
 impossible to discover what had become of the Burkers. 
 It is true that if the place of their retreat had been known, 
 Mrs. Branican could not have summoned them back to 
 San Diego, for Len Burker was under the most over- 
 whelming charges of embezzlement, but she could have 
 hastened to convey to Jane the help of which the unfor- 
 tunate woman stood in need. 
 
 On the 27th of July the Dolly Hope was ready to start. 
 Mrs. Branican went on board in the morning, so as to beg 
 Captain Ellis for the last time to omit nothing that might 
 discover traces of the Franklin. She had, however, no 
 doubt that he would succeed. They would bring back 
 John ; they would bring back the crew. She repeated 
 these words with such conviction that the sailors clapped 
 their hands. All shared in her faith, as did their friends 
 and relatives, who had come to see the departure of the 
 Dolly Hope. 
 
 Captain Ellis then addressed Mrs. Branican at the same 
 time as he spoke to Mr. William Andrew, who had 
 accompanied her on board. 
 
Preparations. 99 
 
 "Before you, madam," he said, "before Mr. William 
 Andrew, in the name of my officers and my crew, I swear, 
 yes ! I swear to recoil from nothing either in danger or 
 fatigue to discover Captain John and the men of the 
 Franklin. The ship you have fitted out is now called the 
 Dolly Hope, and she shall justify her name." 
 
 " By the aid of God, and the devotion of those who put 
 their trust in Him ! " said Mrs, Branican. 
 
 " Hurrah ! hurrah ! for John and Dolly Branican ! " 
 
 The shouts were repeated by the ^\rhole crowd who 
 thronged the wharves. 
 
 Her hawsers were cast off, and the Dolly /Tis^^, obedient 
 to the first revolutions of the screw, moved out to leave 
 the bay. As soon as she was through the strait her 
 head was laid south-west, and under the action of her 
 powerful engines she was soon out of sight of the American 
 coast. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE FIKST CRUISE IN MALAYSIA, 
 
 On the 27th of July, after a run of two thousand two 
 hundred miles, the Dolly Hope sighted the mountain of 
 Mouna-Kea, which towers for fifteen thousand feet above 
 the island of Hawaii, which is the most southerly of the 
 Sandwich group. Independently of the five large and 
 three small islands, the group includes a certain number 
 of islets on which there was no need to search for traces of 
 the Franklin. It was evident that the wreck would long 
 ago have been known if it had taken place on any of the 
 reefs of this archipelago, even those of Medo-Manu, 
 although they are only frequented by innumerable sea 
 birds. In fact, the Sandwich islands are well populated — ■ 
 there are over a hundred thousand inhabitants in Hawaii 
 alone — and through the missionaries the news of the 
 disaster would soon have reached the Californian ports. 
 
 Besides, four years before when Captain Ellis had met 
 the Franklin, the two ships were already beyond the 
 Sandwich group. The Dolly Hope therefore continued her 
 course to the south-west across that admirable Pacific 
 Ocean which well merits its nan^e during the few months 
 of the warm season. 
 
 Six days later the speedy steamer had crossed the con- 
 ventional line which geographers have traced from south 
 to north between Polynesia and Micronesia. In this 
 eastern part of the Polynesian seas, Captain Ellis had no 
 investigation to make. But beyond, the Micronesian seas 
 swarm with islands, islets and reefs, where the Dolly Hope 
 
The First Cruise in Malaysia. loi 
 
 would have the dangerous task of discovering some 
 indicatioiTs of the wreck. 
 
 On the 22nd of August the Dolly Hope dropped anchor 
 at Otia, the most important of the Marshall group, visited 
 by Kotzebue and the Russians in' 18 17. This group 
 extends about thirty miles from east to west, and thirteen 
 miles from north to south, and includes about 65 islets or 
 atolls. 
 
 The Dolly Hope, which could have replenished her water 
 tanks in a few hours, remained here five days, while 
 Captain Ellis in the steam launch was able to assure 
 himself that no wreck had occurred on the reefs within 
 the last four years. He found a little floating timber 
 along the Mulgrave islets, but this consisted of trunks of 
 pines, palm trees, and bamboos brought by the currents 
 from the north or the south, and which the natives used to 
 build their canoes with. Captain Ellis also learnt from 
 the chief of Otia Island that, since 1872, there had been 
 only one vessel wrecked on the eastern atolls, and. that 
 was an English brig, the crew of which was eventually 
 taken home. 
 
 After leaving the Marshall archipelago the Dolly Hope 
 shaped her course for the Carolines. Captain Ellis went 
 in the launch to Olan island as he passed it, but the 
 exploration yielded no result. On the 3rd of September 
 he entered the vast archipelago which extends between 
 the twelfth degree of north latitude and the third degree 
 of south latitude, in one part or another, between the 
 hundred and twenty-ninth degree of east longitude, and 
 the hundred and seventieth degree of west longitude, or 
 two hundred and twenty-five leagues from north to south 
 on both sides of the equator, and about a thousand leagues 
 from east to west. 
 
 The Dolly Hope remained for about three months among 
 the Carolines, which are sufficiently well known through 
 the works of Lutke, the bold Russian navigator, added to 
 those of the Frenchmen Duperrey and Dumont D'Urville. 
 No less time was required for visiting the principal groups 
 
102 Mistress Branican. 
 
 which form this archipelago, those of the Pclews, the 
 Dangerous Sailors, the Martyrs, the Saavedras, the 
 Sonsorols, the Marieras, the Annas, the Lord Norths, etc. 
 
 Captain Ellis chose for the centre of his operations Yap 
 or Gouap, which belongs to the Carolines proper, which 
 consist of five hundred islands. It was from here that 
 the steamer pursued her investigations to the further 
 points. Of how many shipwrecks has this archipelago been 
 the theatre, among others those of the Antelope in 1793, 
 and the American, Captain Barnard, on the Morty and 
 Lord North islands in 1832 ? 
 
 During this period the way in which the men of the Dolly 
 Hope did their work was beyond praise. None of them 
 took notice of the dangers or fatigues occasioned by this 
 navigation amid innumerable reefs and through narrow 
 channels, whose beds bristled with coral. And the 
 bad season had begun to trouble these regions, in which 
 the winds are unloosed with frightful impetuosity, and 
 in which disasters are still so numerous. 
 
 Every day the ship's boats explored the creeks where 
 wreckage might be deposited by currents. When the 
 sailors landed they were well armed, for these were not such 
 explorations as were carried on in the desert countries of 
 the Arctic regions by Admiral Franklin. These islands 
 were for the most part inhabited, and Captain Ellis's task 
 consisted in manoeuvring like Entrecasteaux when he 
 explored the atolls, where it was thought La Perouse had 
 been lost. It was necessary for him to put himself in 
 communication with the natives. The crew of the Dolly 
 Hope were often received by hostile demonstrations among 
 some of the natives, who are anything but hospitable to 
 strangers. There were attacks which it was necessary to 
 repel by force. Two or three sailors were even wounded, 
 but fortunately not seriously. 
 
 It was from this archipelago of the Carolines that 
 Captain Ellis's first letters could be sent to Mrs. 
 Branican by ships bound to the American coast. But 
 they contained nothing relative to traces of the Franklin 
 
The First Cruise in Malaysia. 103 
 
 or Iier crew. The attempts which had failed in the 
 Carolines were to be resumed in the west, and comprise 
 the vast system of Malaysia. There in reality were better 
 chances of discovering the survivors of the catastrophe, 
 perhaps on one of the numerous islets, the existence of 
 which is not yet recorded in hydrographical books, even 
 after the three expeditions which have been at work on 
 this part of the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 Seven hundred miles more to the west of the Carolines, 
 on the 2nd of December, the Dolly Hope reached one of 
 the large islands of the Philippines, the most important 
 groupof the Malay archipelagoes, and also the most con- 
 siderable of those the position of which has been fixed by 
 geographers in Malaysian hydrography, and even in the 
 whole of Oceania. This group, discovered by Magellan in 
 1521, extends from the fifth to the twenty-first degree of 
 north latitude, and from the hundred and fourteenth to 
 the hundred and twenty-third degree of east longitude. 
 
 The Dolly Hope did not go to the large island of Luzon, 
 also called Manilla. It was not likely that the Franklin 
 had got up so high as the China seas on her way to 
 Singapore. For this reason Captain Ellis preferred to 
 make his centre Mindanao in the south of the archipelago, 
 that is to say on the same line as John Branican would 
 certainly have followed to reach the Java sea. 
 
 At this date the Dolly Hope was moored off the south- 
 west coast in the port of Zamboanga, the residence of the 
 governor in charge of the three alcaldes of the island. 
 
 Mindanao is in two divisions, one Spanish, the other 
 independent under the rule of a Sultan, who has his resi- 
 dence at Selangan. 
 
 Captain Ellis made his first inquiries of the governor 
 and alcaldes with regard to the wreck of which the coast 
 of Mindanao might have been the site. The authorities 
 very obligingly put themselves at his disposal ; but in 
 the Spanish region of Mindanao, more or less, there had 
 been no maritime disaster for five years. 
 
 On the coast of the independent portion of the island 
 
104 Mistress Branican. 
 
 inhabited by Mindanais, Caragos, Loutas, Soubanis, and 
 a few other savage races, very justly suspected of canni- 
 balism, disasters might occur and never be heard of, for 
 the people had every reason to say nothing about them! 
 There are even a number of Malays who get their living 
 as pirates. With their light vessels they give chase to 
 merchant vessels, driven by the westerly winds on their 
 coast, and when they capture them they destroy them. 
 Such might have been the Franklin's fate, and assuredly 
 it would not have been reported to the government. The 
 only information he could give relative to the portion of 
 the island under his authority was thus judged insufficient. 
 
 And so the Dolly Hope had to leave these dangerous 
 seas during the winter season. Many times she sent her 
 boats to diiTerent parts of the coast, and the sailors ven- 
 tured into the forests of tamarinds, bamboos, mangroves, 
 black ebonies, wild acacias and iron woods, which form 
 part of the wealth of the Philippines. Amid these fertile 
 regions, where the products of the temperate zone mingle 
 with those of the tropics, Captain Ellis and his men visited 
 certain villages, where they hoped to find some indication, 
 some fragments of wreckage, some prisoners detained by 
 the Malay tribes ; but their operations were fruitless, and 
 the steamer had to return to Zamboanga much tried by 
 the bad weather, and only by a miracle having escaped the 
 submarine reefs in these seas. 
 
 The exploration of the Philippine archipelago lasted two 
 months and a- half. More than a hundred islands had to 
 be visited, among them the chief, after Luzon and 
 Mindanao being Mindoro, Leyte, Samar, Panay, Negros, 
 Zebu, Marshate, Palawan, Catanduanes, &c. 
 
 After exploring the group of Basilan, by the south of 
 Zamboanga;- Captain. Ellis steered for the Sooloo archi- 
 pelago, where he arrived about the 25 th of February, 1880. 
 
 This was a veritable nest of pirates, in which the natives 
 swarm among the numerous islets which are covered with 
 a network of jungle, and extend from the southern point 
 of Mindanao to the northern point of Borneo, There is 
 
The First Cruise in Malaysia. 105 
 
 but one port which isoccasionally frequented by ships cross- 
 ing the China seas, and the Malaysian waters, the port of 
 Basilan, situated on the principal island which has given 
 its name to the group. 
 
 It was at Basilan that the Dolly Hope put in. There 
 communications were established with the Sultan and the 
 datous, who govern a population of six or seven thousand 
 inhabitants. Captain Ellis was not sparing of presents 
 either ;n money or kind. The natives put themselves on 
 the track of the different shipwrecks of which these islands, 
 defended by their girdles of coral, had been the site. But 
 amongst the wreckage that was collected nothing was 
 recognized as having belonged to the Franklin ; and either 
 the men had died or gone home. 
 
 The Dolly Hope, which had filled up her coal bunkers 
 at Mindanao, was already running short at the, end 
 of this cruise among the meanderings qf the Sooloo 
 group. Enough remained, however, to take her through 
 the Sea of Celebes, towards the Marantonba Islands, and 
 down to Bandjer Massing, which is situated in the south 
 of Borneo. 
 
 Captain Ellis proceeded down this sea which is shut in 
 like a lake between the large Malaysian islands, but it is 
 badly sheltered, and in spite of the natural obstacles 
 against the fury of the storms, it is desolated by the 
 typhoons which cast a shadow over the lovely picture of 
 the splendour of the waters which swarm with zoophytes 
 of startling colours, and molluscs of a thousand species, 
 making the sea a bed of liquid flowers. 
 
 Of its stormy nature the Dolly Hope had an experience 
 on the night of the 28th and 29th of February. During the 
 day the wind had gradually freshened, and although it 
 had dropped a little towards evening, enormous clouds of 
 livid hue were piled up on the horizon and betokened a 
 troubled night. 
 
 The storm broke out with great violence about eleven 
 o'clock, and the sea rose in a few minutes with an impetu- 
 osity quite extraordinary. 
 
io6 Mistress Bkanican. 
 
 Captain Ellis, justly alarmed for the Dolly Hopes engines, 
 and careful to prevent any accident which might endanger 
 his cruise, lay to so as to require of the screw only enough 
 speed to give the vessel steerage way. 
 
 Notwithstanding these precautions the tornado broke 
 with such violence, and the waves beat with such fury 
 round the Dclly Hope that several formidable seas boarded 
 her. In some of them quite a hundred tons of water were 
 hurled on to her deck, staving in the skylights and 
 accumulating in the hold. But the strong bulkheads stood 
 the pressure and kept it out from the boiler room and 
 engine room; which was fortunate, for if the fires had been 
 extinguished ihe Dolly Hope would have been left defence- 
 less to the strife of the elements, and, being unable to steer, 
 would have rolled in the hollows of the waves until she 
 was lost. 
 
 The crew showed as much coolness as courage in these 
 critical circumstances, and valiantly assisted their com- 
 mander and officers, and proved themselves worthy of the 
 captain who had chosen them from among the best of the 
 ; ailors of San Uiego. The ship was saved by the skill and 
 precision with which it was handled. 
 
 After fifteen terrible hours the sea calmed down, falling 
 almost suddenly as they approached the large Island of 
 Borneo, and in the morning of the 2nd of March the 
 Dolly Hope sighted the Maratouba islands. 
 
 These islands, which geographically belong to Borneo, 
 became the object of minute exploration during the first 
 fortnight of March. Encouraged by the gifts which were 
 not spared, the chiefs did their best to aid in the search, 
 but it was impossible to procure the least information 
 relative to the disappearance of the Franklin, and as these 
 regions of Malaysia are frequently infested by pirates it 
 was to be feared that John Branican and his crew had 
 been massacred to the last man.. 
 
 One day Captain Ellis, talking over these things with 
 the mate, said, — 
 
 '■ It is quite possible that the loss of the Franklin was due 
 
formidable seas boarded her. 
 
 n 
 
The First Cruise in Malaysia. 107 
 
 to an attack of that nature. That would explain why we 
 have not as yet discovered any trace of the wreck. Pirates 
 do not boast of their exploits. V/hen a ship disappears 
 the catastrophe is credited to a typhoon, and there is an 
 end of the matter." 
 
 " That is only too true, captain," said the mate. 
 " Pirates are plentiful enough in these seas, and we shall 
 have to keep a sharp look out as we go down the Straits 
 of Macassar." 
 
 " Undoubtedly," said Captain Ellis, " but we are in a 
 better position than John Branican to escape the rascals. 
 With irregular and shifty winds a sailing vessel cannot be 
 worked as you please ; but so long as the engines work no 
 Malay boat can get at us. Nevertheless, we must keep a 
 good look out." 
 
 The Dolly Hope entered the Straits of Macassar which 
 separate Eorneo from the capricious coast of Celebes. 
 During two months, from the i sth of March to the 15th of 
 May, after coaling at Damaring, Captain Ellis explored 
 all the .eastern creeks. 
 
 This Island of Celebes, which was discovered by Magel- 
 lan, is not less than ninety-two leagues long and twenty- 
 five wide. It is of such a shape that geographers have 
 compared it to a tarantula whose enormous legs are repre- 
 sented by the peninsula. The beauty of its landscapes, the 
 richness of its products, the convenient arrangement of its 
 mountains make it equal to superb Borneo. But its numer- 
 ous gulfs and creeks offer so many refuges to pirates that 
 the navigation of the strait is really dangerous. 
 
 Nevertheless Captain Ellis accomplished his v/ork with 
 all desirable precision. With his boilers always under 
 pressure he visited the creeks in his boats ready to return 
 to the ship at the least appearance of danger. 
 
 As she neared the southern extremity of the strait the 
 Dolly Hope could proceed under less alarming conditions. 
 In fact, that part of the Island of Celebes is imder Dutch 
 rule. The capital of these possessions is Macassar, for- 
 merly Wlaardingcn, which is defended by the fort of 
 
loS Mistress Bramcan. 
 
 Rotterdam. It was there that Captain Ellis dropped 
 anchor on the 17th of May to give his crew a little rest and 
 to fill up with coal. If he had discovered nothing that 
 could put him on the track of John Branican, he learnt in' 
 tliis port some very important news regarding the course 
 taken by the Franklin, for on the 3rd of May, 1875, the ship 
 had been signalled ten miles off Macassar heading towards 
 the Java sea. It was therefore certain that she had not 
 perished in the dangerous waters of Malaysia. It was 
 beyond Celebes and Borneo, that is to say in the Sea of 
 Java, that he must renew his investigations and continue 
 them on to Singapore. 
 
 In a letter which he addressed to Mrs. Branican from 
 this extreme point of the Island of Celebes, Captain Ellis 
 informed her of this circumstance, and renewed his promise 
 to keep her acquainted with his investigations, which would 
 now be localized between the Sea of Java and the Sunda 
 islands. 
 
 In fact, the Dolly Hope would not pass the meridian of 
 Singapore, which would be the limit of her cruise to the 
 westward. She would complete her cruise by returning 
 along the southern coast of the Java sea and visiting the 
 chaplet of islands that border it ; and then by the way of 
 the Moluccas she would regain the Pacific and return to 
 America. 
 
 The Dolly Hope left Macassar on the 23rd of July, 
 crossed the narrow strait which separates the island of 
 Celebes from the island of Borneo, and put in at Bandjer 
 Massing-. At this port resides the governor of Borneo, or 
 rather Kalematan, to give it its true geographical name. 
 There the shipping records were minutely searched, but 
 no mention could be found of the Franklin having been 
 seen in those parts ; but that could be explained by sup- 
 posing she had kept well out in the Java sea. 
 
 Ten days afterwards, Captain Ellis, having steered south- 
 west, dropped anchor at Batavia, at the end of the large 
 Island of Java, which is essentially of volcanic origin, and 
 is ncarlv always overhung by the flames from its crate-s. 
 
The First Cruise in Malaysia. 109 
 
 A few days were enough for the crew to revictual in this 
 great city, which is the capital of the Dutch possessions in 
 Oceania. The governor-general, whom the shipping news 
 had made acquainted with the efforts of Mrs. Branican 
 to discover the castaways, received Captain Ellis with 
 cordiality. Unfortunately he could give no intelligence 
 as to the fate of the Franklin. The opinion of the Dutch 
 sailors was that the American vessel had foundered with 
 all on board in some tornado. During the first six months, 
 of 1875 they mentioned several vessels which had hot been 
 heard of, and which had vanished in the same way without 
 the least trace of them being thrown on the coast. 
 
 After leaving Batavia the Dolly Hope, leaving on the port 
 hand the Strait of Sunda, which affords the communication 
 between the Sea of Java and the Sea of Timor, stood off for 
 the islands of Billiton and Banca. Formerly the ap- 
 proaches to these islands were infested by pirates, and ~the 
 vessels which came for cargoes of iron and tin only avoided 
 attack with difficulty. But the maritime police had effec- 
 tually cleared the sea of them, and there was no reason to 
 think that the Franklin and her crew had been the 
 victim of their aggressions. 
 
 Continuing to the north-west, visiting the islands on the 
 coast of Sumatra, the Dolly Hope doubled the extremity 
 of the peninsula of Malacca and reached Singapore in the 
 morning of the 29th c& June, after a passage much re- 
 tarded. 
 
 Repairs to the engines obliged Captain Ellis to remain 
 a fortnight in this port, which is situated to the north of 
 the island. Of little extent — some two hundred and 
 seventy square miles only — this possession, which is of 
 such importance in the trade between Europe and America, 
 hais become one of the richest in the east since the day the 
 English founded their first house there in 1818. 
 
 It was at Singapore, as we know, that the Franklin had 
 to deliver a part of her cargo on account of Andrews', 
 before she proceeded to Calcutta ; and we also know that 
 the American vessel had never appeared there. At the 
 
no Mistress Branican. 
 
 same time Captain Ellis resolved to put the delay to good 
 use by obtaining all the information he could regarding 
 the disasters in the Java sea during the last few years. 
 
 The Fraiiklin had.on the one hand, been reported at 
 Macassar ; on the other, she had not arrived at Singapore ; 
 consequently she must have been wrecked somewhere 
 between these points ; that is, unless Captain Branican had 
 left the Java sea through one of the straits which separate 
 the Sunda islands and entered the Sea of Timor. But why 
 should he do this if his destination, were Singapore ? It 
 was inexplicable, it was inadmissible. 
 
 The inquiry regarding the disasters in the Java sea 
 during the previous five or six years having given but 
 negative results. Captain Ellis could only take his leave of 
 the governor of Singapore, and begin his return to 
 America. 
 
 On the 25th of August he started in very stormy 
 weather. The heat was excessive, as it generally is in the 
 month of August in this part of the torrid zone, which is 
 only a few degrees below the equator. The Dolly Hope 
 experienced very rough weather during the last week of 
 the month ; but in cruising past the Sunda islands not a 
 place was left unexplored. One after the other, Madura 
 island, one of the twenty regencies of Java, Bali, one of 
 the busiest of these possessions, Lombok, and Sumbava, 
 with its volcano then threatening the island with an 
 eruption as disastrous as that of 1815, were visited. Be- 
 tween these different islands opened many straits, giving 
 access to the Timor sea, and the Dolly Hope had to be 
 carefully handled to avoid the powerful currents, which 
 are of such impetuosity as to bear away the vessels, even 
 in the teeth of the western monsoon. It will be understood 
 from this, how full of danger navigation is in these seas, 
 particularly for sailing vessels, which have no power of 
 locomotion in themselves, and hence the maritime disasters 
 so frequent within the Malaysian zone. 
 
 Leaving the Island of Floris, Captain Ellis followed the 
 thain of the other islands to the south of the sea of the 
 
The First Cruise in Malaysia. iir 
 
 Moluccas, but in vain. After so many failures, it is not to 
 be wondered that the crew was discouraged. But there 
 was no reason for giving up all hope of discovering the 
 Franklin until the exploration had been finished. It was 
 possible that Captain Branican, instead of descending the 
 Strait of Macassar, had crossed the archipelago and Sea 
 of the Moluccas, to reach the Java sea, and thus had ap- 
 peared off Celebes. 
 
 But time, went on, and the log continued to be silent 
 regarding the fate of the Franklin. Neither at Timor, 
 nor in the three groups which constitute the Moluccan 
 archipelago, the group of Amboyna, the residence of the 
 governor-general, which includes Ceram and Bouro, the 
 Banda group, nor the Gilolo group, could any information 
 be obtained regarding a vessel that should have been lost 
 among these islands in the spring of 1875. From the 
 23rd of September, the date of the Dolly Hope^s arrival at 
 Timor, to the 27th of December, the date of her arrival at 
 Gilolo, three months were occupied in investigations which 
 the Dutch assisted to the best of their ability, and nothing 
 was discovered to throw light on the disaster. 
 
 The Dolly Hope had finished her cruise. At this island of 
 Gilolo, which is the most important of the Moluccas, 
 terminated the circle which Captain Ellis had undertaken 
 to follow round the Malaysian region ; the crew then had 
 a few days' rest to which they were well entitled. And if any 
 new clue had been discovered, what would not these brave 
 men have attempted, even at the cost of greater dangers 1 
 
 Ternate, the capital of Gilolo, which commands the 
 Moluccan seas, and which is the headquarters of the Dutch 
 Resident, furnished the Dolly Hope with all that was 
 necessary in the way of provisions and coal for the return 
 voyage. There ended the year 1881, the sixth which had 
 elapsed since the disappearance of the Franklin, 
 
 Captain Ellis weighed anchor in the morning of the 9th 
 of January, and steamed off to the north-east. 
 
 It was then the bad season. The crossing was not easy, 
 and unfavourable winds occasioned long delays. It was 
 
112 Mistress Branican. 
 
 not until the 23rd of February that the Dolly Hope was 
 signaled by the semaphores of San Diego. 
 
 This cruise in Malaysia had lasted nineteen months. In 
 spite of the efforts of Captain Ellis, in spite of the devotion 
 of his crew, the secret of the Franklin remained buried 
 in the mysterious depths of the sea. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ANOTHER YEAR. 
 
 The letters which Mrs. Branican had received in the 
 course of the expedition made her doubt that the attempt 
 would be crowned with success. And so after the arrival 
 of the last, she retained but little hope regarding the 
 search of Captain Ellis in the Moluccan archipelago. 
 
 As soon as she learnt that the Dolly Hope was in sight 
 of San Diego, Mrs, Branican, accompanied by Mr. William 
 Andrew, went down to the harbour, and as soon as the 
 steamer came to an anchor they went on board. 
 
 The looks of Captain Ellis and his crew said clearly 
 enough, that the second half of the cruise had been no 
 more successful than the first. 
 
 Mrs. Branican, after shaking hands with the captain, 
 stepped up to the men so severely tried by the fatigues of 
 the voyage, and said in a firm voice, — 
 
 " I thank you, Captain Ellis, and I thank you, my 
 friends 1 You have done all I could expect from your 
 devotion ! You have not succeeded, and perhaps you 
 despair at success ? I do not despair ! No I I do not 
 despair of again seeing John and his companions of the 
 Franklin ! My hope is in God — and God will realize it ! " 
 
 These words were uttered with such extraordinary as- 
 surance, they testified to such rare energy, they said so 
 resolutely that Mrs. Branican would never give in, that her 
 confidence should have been communicated to all hearts. 
 But if the men listened with the respect that her attitude 
 
114 Mistress Branican. 
 
 commanded, there was not one who doubted but that the 
 Franklin and her crew were inevitably lost. 
 
 But could they have done better than yield to that 
 special intuition with which .a woman is naturally en- 
 dowed ? When a man clings only to the direct observation 
 of facts and their consequences, it is certain that woman 
 has occasionally a juster prevision of the future, thanks 
 to her intuitive qualities. A kind of instinct of genius 
 guides her and gives her a certain prescience. Who 
 knows if Mrs. Branican would not one day be justified in 
 her opposition to the general opinion ? 
 
 Mrs. Branican and Mr. William Andrew then passed 
 into the Dolly Hope's cabin, where Captain Ellis gave them 
 a detailed account of the expedition. The charts of 
 Polynesia and Malaysia were spread upon the table and 
 permitted them to follow the course of the steamer, her 
 anchorages at the numerous points explored, the ob- 
 servations collected in the principal ports and native 
 villages, the searches instituted among the islands and 
 islets with minute patience and indefatigable zeal. 
 
 In conclusion, said Captain Ellis, — 
 
 " Allow me to call your attention specially to this : The 
 Franklin was seen for the last time at the southern end of 
 Celebes on the 3rd of May, 1875, about seven weeks after 
 she left San Diego, and from that day she has never been 
 met with. As she never arrived at Singapore it is beyond 
 doubt that the disaster occurred in the Java Sea. How.' 
 There are only two hypotheses : The first is that the 
 Franklin went down under all sail or perished in a collision 
 without a trace of her being left ; the second is that she 
 was dashed to pieces on the rocks, or destroyed by Malay 
 pirates, and in either case it would have been possible 
 to find some wreckage. But in spite of all our efforts 
 we have found no material proof of the Franklin's destruc- 
 tion." 
 
 The conclusion derivable from their argument was that 
 it was more logical to admit the first hypothesis — that 
 which attributed the Franklin's loss to one of the tornadoes 
 
Another Year. .15. 
 
 so frequent in Malaysian waters. In fact, for the second 
 supposition, that of the collision, it was so seldom that one 
 of the two ships continued to keep the sea, that the secret 
 of the meeting would have been known sooner or later ; 
 and therefore, no hope remained. 
 
 This is what Mr. William Andrew understood, and he 
 sadly bowed his head before Mrs. Branican, who did not 
 cease to question him. " Well, no ! " she said, " no 1 the 
 Franklin has not foundered I No ! John and his crew have 
 not perished 1 " 
 
 And the interview continuing at Dolly's request, it 
 became necessary for Captain Ellis to make his report in 
 most circumstantial detail. She returned to the matter 
 again and again, questioning and discussing without yield- 
 ing in her opinion in any way. 
 
 This conversation lasted for three hours, and when 
 Mrs. Branican was about to go. Captain Ellis asked if it 
 was her intention for the Dolly Hope to be laid up. 
 
 " No, captain," she answered, " I should be sorry to see 
 your crew and yourself dismissed. There may be some- 
 thing new arrive, . which will make another expedition 
 necessary ; if then you consent to retain the command of 
 Dolly Hope!' 
 
 " That I would do willingly," answered Captain Ellis, 
 " but I belong to Andrews', Mrs. Branican, and they may 
 require my services." 
 
 ■ " Do not let that stop you, my dear Ellis," said Mr. 
 William Andrew, " I shall be happy for you to remain at 
 Dolly's orders if she wishes it." 
 
 " I am at your orders, Mr. Andrew. My crew and my- 
 self will not leave the Dolly Hope'' 
 
 "And I beg, captain," said Mrs. Branican, " that you will 
 take care the ship is always ready for sea." 
 
 And in giving his consent, the shipowner had had no 
 other thought than to defer to Dolly's wishes. But neither 
 he nor Captain Ellis doubted that she would give up 
 a second campaign after the useless results of the first. 
 If time had not weakened in her the memory of the 
 
iiG Mistress Branican. 
 
 catastrophe, it would at least end in destroying the hope 
 that remained. 
 
 And so, in conformity with Mrs. Branican's desires, the 
 Dolly Hope was not dismantled. Captain Ellis and his 
 men continued to figure on her books and receive their 
 wages as if they were at sea. There were important 
 repairs to make after nineteen months in the trying seas 
 of Malaysia ; the hull required careening, the rigging 
 required partial renewal, the boilers had to be replaced, 
 and several parts of the engine required changing; and 
 when the work was done, the Dolly Hope shipped her pro- 
 visions, filled up with coal^ and was ready for sea when 
 ordered. 
 
 Mrs. Branican had resumed her habitual life at Prospect 
 House, where, with the exception of Mr. William Andrew 
 and Captain Ellis, no one was admitted to her friend- 
 ship. She lived only in remembrances and hopes, having 
 always present in her thoughts the double misfortune 
 which had fallen on her. Little Wat would have been 
 seven years old at this time— the age when the first rays 
 of reason illuminate impressionable young brains — and 
 little Wat was no more. Then Dolly's thoughts returned 
 to him who had risked his life to save hers, to Zach Fren, 
 whom she wished to know and who had not yet returned 
 to San Francisco. . But that would soon happen. Many 
 times the shipping intelligence had contained news of the 
 Calif ornian, and the year 1881 would probably not finish 
 before he came back to his native place. As soon as he 
 arrived, Mrs. Branican would call him to her and pay him 
 her debt of gratitude, which would assure his future. 
 
 Meanwhile Mrs. Branican did not cease to help the ' 
 families suffering from the loss of the Franklin. It was 
 only io visit their humble homes, to soothe their cares, and 
 do some work of charity that she left Prospect House and 
 went down into the lower town. Her generosity showed 
 itself in all forms, and extended to the mental require- 
 ments as well as the material wants of her friends ; 
 and it was in the earlier months of this year that she 
 
Another Year. 117 
 
 consulted Mr. William Andrew regarding a project she 
 was eager to put into execution. 
 
 She desired to found a Iiospital to receive children that 
 had been abandoned, or orphans having neither father nor 
 mother, 
 
 "Mr. Andrew," said she to the shipowner, "it is in 
 memory of our child that I wish to found this institution, 
 and endow it with the resources necessary for its main- 
 tenance. John will no doubt approve of what I do when 
 he returns. And what better use could I make of our 
 fortune ? " 
 
 Mr. William Andrew, having no objection to make, put 
 himself at Mrs. Branican's disposal with regard to the pre- 
 liminaries that were required in the creation of an establish- 
 ment of this nature. One hundred and fifty thousand 
 dol ars were devoted to it, first for the acquisition of a 
 convenient building, and then for the payment of its annual 
 expenses. 
 
 The affair was very quickly concluded, owing to the 
 assistance given to Mrs. Branican by the municipality. 
 No buildings were necessary. A vast edifice situated in 
 a good atmosphere, on one of the slopes of San Diego, 
 near the Old Town, was secured. Art able architect • 
 adapted the edifice to its new purpose, and altered it so as 
 to provide a home for fifty children, with a staff sufficient 
 to educate and look after them. -Surrounded by a large 
 garden, shaded by beautiful trees, watered by running 
 streams, and including all the sanitary systems approved 
 by experience, it had everything to make it healthy. 
 
 On' the 19th of May this hospital — which received the 
 name of Wat House — was inaugurated amid the applause 
 of the whole town, which on this occasion sought to 
 shower on Mrs. Branican the most striking testimonies of 
 its sympathy. But the charitable woman did not appear 
 at the ceremony, as she did not care to leave her chalet. 
 Ais soon^ however, as a certain number of children had 
 been received at Wat' House, she went every day to visit 
 them as if she had been their mother. The children could 
 
ii8 Mistress Branican. 
 
 lemain in the hospital until they were twelve years old. 
 As soon as they were old enough they were taught to 
 read and write, and received a moral and religious educa- 
 tion at the same time as they were taught a trade according 
 to their abilities. Some of them belonged to families of 
 sailors and showed a taste for the sea, and these were 
 destined to be shipped as cabin boys or apprentices. And 
 in truth it seemed that Dolly felt more personal affection 
 for them than for the rest — doubtless in remembrance of 
 Captain John. 
 
 At the end of 1 88 1 no news of the FranMin had been 
 received at San Diego or elsewhere. Although a consider- 
 able reward was offered to whoever brought the least clue, 
 it had not been possible to send the Dolly Hope on a 
 second cruise. But still Mrs. Branican did not despair. 
 That which 1881 had not given, 1882 might give. 
 
 What had become of Mr. and Mrs. Burker? Where 
 had Len Burker taken refuge to escape the pursuit ordered 
 against him ? The Federal police had given up all inquiry 
 in the matter, and Mrs. Branican had to abandon all 
 thoughts of knowing what had become of Jane. 
 
 But this was a deep affliction for her who was so much 
 distressed at the position of her unfortunate relative. She 
 was astonished at never having received a letter from 
 Jane — a letter which she might have written without in 
 any way endangering her husband's safety. Were they 
 both unaware that Dolly, restored to reason, had sent a 
 ship in search of the Franklin, and that the expedition 
 had had no result ? It was inadmissible. Had not the 
 newspapers of both worlds followed the different phases 
 of the enterprise, and could it be imagined that Len and 
 Jane Burker had not heard of it ? They could not even be 
 ignorant that Mrs. Branican had become rich by the death 
 of her uncle Edward Starter, and that she was in a 
 position to come to their assistance. But, all the same, 
 neither one nor the other tried to enter into correspondence 
 with her, although their position must have been very 
 f recarious. 
 
Another Year. 119 
 
 January, February, March passed, and it seemed as 
 though the year 1882 would bring no change in the state 
 of things, when something happened that appeared to 
 throw some light on the fate of the Franklin. 
 
 On the 27th of March, the steamer Californian, on 
 board of which was Zach Fren, came to an anchor in the 
 bay of San Francisco, after a cruise of several years in the 
 seas of Europe. 
 
 As soon as Mrs. Branican heard of the ship's return she 
 wrote to Zach Fren, who was then boatswain on board the 
 Californian, and invited him to come immediately to her 
 at San Diego. 
 
 As Zach Fren had intended to return to his native 
 town to take a few months' rest, he replied that as soon as . 
 he could get ashore he would come to San Diego, and 
 his first visit would be to Prospect House. This was a 
 matter of a few days. 
 
 But at the same time a rumour spread which would 
 make considerable noise in the States if it proved to be 
 true. 
 
 It was said that the Californian had brought home some 
 wreckage which appeared to belong to the Franklin. 
 One of the San Francisco papers added that the Cali- 
 fornian had found the wreckage off the north of Australia, 
 in the region between the Timor Sea and the Arafura Sea 
 near Melville Island, west of Torres Island. 
 
 As soon as this news arrived at San Diego, Mr. William 
 Andrew and Captain Ellis, who had had the news by 
 telegram, hurrjed to Prospect House. 
 
 At the first word they said on the subject, Mrs. Branican 
 became very pale. But her tone denoted absolute convic- 
 tion as far as she was concerned. 
 
 " After the wreckage they will find the Franklin" said 
 she, " and after the Franklin they will find John and his 
 companions." 
 
 The discovery of this piece of wreck was a fact of 
 importance. 
 
 It was the first time that any relic of the lost ship had 
 
I20 Mistress BranicaN. 
 
 been met with. For a search for the site of the disaster 
 Mrj. ]?ranican now possessed a link in the chain whicli 
 bound her to the past. 
 
 Immediately she had brought a map of Oceania. Then 
 Mr. William Andrew and Captain Ellis could study tlic 
 question of another cruise, for she wished a decision in the 
 matter to be come to on the spot. 
 
 " And so the Franklin did not go straight to Singapore 
 on her way through the Philippines and Malaysia," said 
 Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 " But that is improbable ; it is impossible/' said Captain 
 Ellis. 
 
 "But," continued the shipowner, "if she had followed 
 that course, how could this wreckage have been found in 
 the Arafura' Sea to the north of Melville Island 1 " 
 
 " That I cannot explain and cannot understand, Mr. 
 Andrew," replied Captain Ellis. "AH I know is that the 
 Franklin was seen south-west of Celebes after leaving 
 the Straits of Maca.ssar ; and if she came down those 
 straits she must have come from the south and not from 
 the east. She was therefore unable to come through 
 Torres Strait." 
 
 The question was discussed for some time, and it had 
 to be admitted that Captain Ellis was right 
 
 Mrs. Branican listened to the objections and replies 
 without making any observation. But a vertical fold in 
 her forehead indicated with what tenacity and obstinacy 
 she refused to admit the loss of John and his companions. 
 No ! She would not believe it until some proof of their 
 death was forthcoming. 
 
 " Agreed 1 '■' said Mr. William Andrew. " I think as you 
 do, my dear Ellis, that the Franklin crossed the Sea of 
 Java on her way to Singapore." 
 
 " Some part of it, at least, Mr. Andrew, for it was between. 
 Singapore and Celebes that the wreck took place." 
 
 " Be it as you say. But how could the wreck be drifting 
 off Australia, if the Franklin was lost on some reef in the 
 Sea of Java? " 
 
Another Year. 121 
 
 "That can only be explained in one way," said Captain 
 Ellis, " by admitting that the wreck drifted through the 
 Straits of Sunda, or one of the other channels leading into 
 the Timor and Arafura seas." 
 
 "Would the currents take it in that direction ? " 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Andrew, and I may add that if the Franklin 
 had been disabled in a storm, she might be carried down 
 one of the straits, to be finally lost on the reefs of the 
 Australian coast." 
 
 " Quite so, my dear Ellis,", said Mr. William Andrew, 
 "and^ that is the only plausible explanation, and in that 
 case if a wreck has been met with off Melville Island six 
 years after the disaster, it is because it has been recently 
 detached from the reefs on which the Franklin was 
 lost." 
 
 This hypothesis no sailor would have contested. 
 
 Mrs, Branican, whose look was never taken off the map 
 that lay before her, then said, — 
 
 " If the Franklin were really lost on the coast of Austra- 
 lia, and the survivors of the wreck have not reappeared, it 
 is because they were taken prisoners by the natives." 
 
 "That, Dolly, is not impossible — but — " said Mr. 
 William Andrew. 
 
 Mrs. Branican was about to protest with energy against 
 •the doubt implied in Mr. William Andrew's reply, when 
 Captain Ellis intervened with, — • 
 
 " It remains to be seen if the wreckage fished up by the 
 Calif ornian really belonged to the Franklin'.' 
 
 " And do you doubt it ? " asked Dolly. 
 
 " We shall soon know," said Mr. William Andrew, " for 
 I have pven orders for it to be sent on." 
 
 " And I," said Mrs. Branican, "give orders that the Dolly 
 Hope is got ready to sail." 
 
 Three days after this interview, the boatswain, Zach Fren, 
 who had just arrived at San Diego, presented himself at 
 Prospect House. 
 
 At this time he was about thirty-seven years of age, 
 strong and resolute in appearance, with his fa^e tanned 
 
 I 
 
122 Mistress Branican. 
 
 by the wind and sea, frank and cheery in look. He was 
 one of those sailors who inspire confidence in others be- 
 cause they have confidence in themselves, and who always 
 go straight to the point. 
 
 The welcome he received from Mrs. Branican was so full 
 of gratitude that he did not know what to say. 
 
 " My friend," said she to him, after giving utterance to 
 the first outpouHngs of her heart, "it is you-^-you who 
 saved my Ufe, you who did all you could to save my poor 
 child. What can I do for you ? " 
 
 The boatswain said that he only did his duty. That a 
 sailor who did not act as he had done would not be a 
 sailor^he would only be a soldier. His only regret was 
 that he had not been able to restore the baby to its mother. 
 But he did not deserve anything at all. He thanked Mrs. 
 Branican for her good intentions regarding him ; and if she 
 would allow him, he would call and see her whenever he 
 came ashore. 
 
 " For years, Zach Fren," said Mrs. Branican, " I have 
 been waiting for your return, and 1 hope you will be near 
 me on the day Captain John returns." 
 
 "The day Captain John returns!" • 
 
 " Zach Fren, can you believe — " 
 
 " That Captain John has perished ? No, I do not ! " 
 said the boatswain. 
 
 '• Yes 1 You have hope .'' " 
 
 " I have more than hope, Mrs. Branican ; I am sure of it.- 
 Is a captain like Captain John to be lost like a cap in a 
 puff of wind ? Not likely ! I never saw anything like it ! " 
 
 So said Zach Fren, and in terms which testified to his 
 absolute faith and made Mrs. Branican's heart leap. She 
 was not the only one, then, to believe in John's return*! 
 Another shared • her conviction — and the other was the 
 man who had saved her. It seemed to her an indication 
 of Providence. 
 
 " Thank you, Zach Fren," said she, " thank you ! You 
 don't know the good you have done me ! Tell me again — 
 tell me again that Captain John survived the wreck—" 
 
Another Year. 123 
 
 " He did ! he did ! Mrs. Branican, And the proof that 
 he survived it is that one day or another he will be found ! 
 And if that is not a proof — " 
 
 And then Zach Fren gave a number of details as to the 
 circumstances under which the wreckage had been fished 
 up by the Californian. At last Mrs. Branican said to him, — 
 
 " Zach Fren, I have decided to begin a new search 
 immediately/' 
 
 " Well— and it will succeed this time — and I will go with 
 it, if you will allow me." 
 
 " Will you agree to serve under Captain Ellis .' " 
 
 " Willingly." 
 
 " Thank you, Zach Fren ! It seems to me that with you 
 on board the Dolly Hope there will be one chance more." 
 
 " I believe so, Mrs. Branican ! " said the boatswain, 
 winking his eye. " Yes ! I believe so — and I am ready to 
 start." 
 
 Dolly took Zach Fren's hand, she pressed it as if it \\&r(t 
 a friend's. Her imagination led her away, led her astray, 
 perhaps, but it seemed as though this boatswain would 
 succeed where others had failed. 
 
 However, as Captain Ellis bad observed — and although 
 Mrs. Branican was convinced on the subject — it was neces- 
 sary to make sure that the wreckage brought home by the 
 Californian really did belong to the Franklin. 
 
 Ordered on by Mr. William Andrew, it soon arrived by 
 railroad at San Diego, and was immediately taken to the 
 shipyard. There it was submitted to the examination of 
 the men who had built the Franklin. 
 
 The fragment met with by the crew of the Californian 
 , off. the little island a dozen miles from the shore, was a 
 piece of the stem, or rather of that carved cutwater which 
 usually figures at the prow of sailing vessels. The frag- 
 ment of wood had been much damaged, not by a long 
 sojourn in the water, but by exposure to the weather. 
 Hence the conclusion that it had remained for a long time 
 on the reefs, against which the ship had been thrown, and 
 then Been detached by some cause — perhaps by the action 
 
124 Mistress Branican. 
 
 of a current, and drifted for many months or many weeks 
 before it was noticed by the sailors of the Califomian. 
 But did it belong to Captain John's ship ? Yes, for what 
 remained of the carving resembled that which had orna- 
 mented the prows of the Franklin. 
 
 This was clearly made out at San Diego ; the shipwrights 
 had no doubt of it. The teak wood used for the prow had 
 come out of the timber stores of the yard. They even 
 found the traces of the iron band which fastened the 
 cutwater of the stem, and the remains of a coat of red 
 paint and a gold stripe on the foliage which had orna- 
 mented the bow. 
 
 And so this piece of wreck, brought home by the Cali- 
 fomian, undoubtedly belonged to the ship which had been 
 searched for in vain in the seas of Malaysia. 
 
 That point being settled, there had to be admitted the 
 reasonableness of Captain Ellis's explanation, that as the 
 Franklin had been sighted in the Java Sea south-west of 
 Celebes, it followed that a few days later she had been 
 driven through the Straits of Sunda, or some other channel 
 opening into the Timor or Arafura seas, and had been 
 wrecked on one of the reefs of the Australian coast. 
 
 The despatch of a vessel with orders to explore the seas 
 between the Sunda Islands and the north coast of Aus- 
 tralia was thus completely justified. Would this cruise 
 succeed any better than that among the Philippines, 
 Celebes and the Moluccas 1 There was reason to hope so. 
 
 This time Mrs. Branican thought of going out with the 
 Dolly Hope. But Mr. William Andrew and Captain Ellis, 
 as well as Zach Fren, dissuaded her, not without difificulty, 
 from doing so. A cruise of this kind might be very lonj, 
 and might be endangered by the presence of a woman on 
 board. 
 
 We need not say that Zach -Fren was engaged as boat- 
 swain of the Dolly Hope, and that Captain Ellis prepared 
 his ship for sea with the least possible di'lay. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A CRUISE IN THE TIMOR SEA. 
 
 The Dolly Hope left the port of San Diego at ten o'clock 
 in the morning of the 3rd of April, 1882. As soon as she 
 was out of sight of the American coast, Captain Ellis 
 steered south-west in a direction just a little lower than on 
 his first cruise. In fact, he wished to take the shortest 
 cut to the Arafura Sea through Torres Straits, beyond 
 which the wreckage from the Franklin's bow had been 
 picked up. 
 
 On the 26th of April they sighted the Gilbert Islands, 
 widely scattered in these regions, where the calms, of the 
 Pacific at this time of the year make navigation so slow 
 and difficult for sailing vessels. Leaving to the northward 
 the Scarborough and Kingsmill groups, which make up 
 this archipelago, situated about eight hundred leagues from 
 the Californian coast to the south-east of the Carolines, 
 Captain Ellis crossed the Vanikoro group, distinguish- 
 able fifteen leagues off by the lofty Mount Kapongo. 
 
 These green and fertile islands, covered throughout their 
 extent by impenetrable forests, belong to the Fiji archi- 
 pelago. They are surrounded by coral reefs which make 
 approach to them very dangerous. It was on them that 
 Dumont D'Urville and Dillon found the remains of the 
 ships of La Perouse, the Recherche and Esperatice, which 
 left Brest in 1791, and, driven on the reefs of Vanikoro, 
 never returned. 
 
 In sight of this island, so sadly celebrated, a very natural 
 feeling affected the crew of the Dolly Hope, Had the 
 
126 , Mistress Branican. 
 
 Franklin met with the fate of La Perouse's ships ? And 
 as it had happened to Dumont D'Urville and Dillon, would 
 it happen to Captain Ellis to find only the remains of the 
 lost ship ? And if he did not discover the place of the 
 catastrophe, would the fate of John Branican and his com- 
 panions remain in a state of mystery ? 
 
 Two hundred miles further the Dolly Hope crossed ob- 
 liquely through the Solomon Islands, formerly called New 
 Georgia. This archipelago comprises a dozen large islands, 
 dispersed over an area of two hundred leagues in length 
 and forty in width. Amongst them are the Carteret 
 Islands, formerly called the Massacre Islands, the name 
 sufficiently indicating the sanguinary scenes of which they 
 had been the site. 
 
 Captain Ellis had no information to seek from the 
 natives of this group and no investigation to make in the 
 vicinity. He did not stop, and steamed on towards Torres 
 Strait, no less impatient than Zach Fren to reach that part 
 of the Arafura Sea where the wreckage had been recovered. 
 It would be there that the search would be conducted with 
 a minute care and indefatigable perseverance that perhaps 
 might meet with success. 
 
 The shores of New Guinea were not far off. A few days 
 after leaving the Solomon Islands the Dolly Hope, sighted 
 the Louisiade archipelago. They passed in the offing the 
 islands of Rossel, of Entrecasteaux, Trobriand and a large 
 number of islets covered with magnificent domes of cocoa- 
 nut trees. 
 
 At length, after a passage of three weeks, the look-outs 
 recognized on the horizon the high lands of New Guinea, 
 and the peaks of Cape York projecting from the Austra- 
 lian coast which bound Torres Strait to the north and 
 south. 
 
 This strait is extremely dangerous. Captains always 
 avoid it if they can ; and it seems that even marine assur- 
 ance companies decline to guarantee against sea risks 
 within it. A careful-note has to be taken of the currents 
 which flow incessantly from the east to the west and bear 
 
A Cruise in the Timor Sea, 127 
 
 the Pacific waters into the Indian Ocean. The shoals 
 make navigation extremely perilous, and it can only be 
 attempted during certain hours of the day when the posi- 
 tion of the sun enabiles the breakers to be seen in the track 
 of the surge. 
 
 It was when in sight of Torres Strait that Captain Ellis, 
 in conversation with the mate and Zach Fren, asked the 
 boatswain, — 
 
 "Is it the fact that it was in the latitude of Melville 
 Island that the Californian picked up the wreckage of the 
 Franklin ? " 
 
 " Exactly," said Zach Fren. 
 
 " Then we must reckon nearly five hundred miles across 
 the Arafura Sea after leaving the Strait ? " 
 
 " That is so, captain, and I understand your difficulty. 
 Given the regular currents which flow from east to west, it 
 seems that if this piece of wreck was picked up off Melville 
 Island, the Franklin must have been lost at the entrance 
 of Torres Strait." 
 
 " Undoubtedly, Zach Fren, and we might reason that 
 John Branican had been obliged to choose the danger- 
 ous road to SingaporCj but I do not think so. Until I 
 know more I shall persist in believing he crossed Malay- 
 sia, as we found in our first voyage, on account of his 
 having been seen for the last time south of the island of 
 Celebes." 
 
 " And as there is no doubt about that," said the mate, 
 "it follows that Captain Branican entered Timor Sea 
 do\Vn one of the straits dividing the Sunda Islands," 
 
 " That is incontestable," said Captain Ellis, " and I can- 
 not understand how the Franklin got so far. Either she 
 was disabled or she was not. If she was disabled it must 
 have been from hundreds of miles west of Torres Strait 
 that the currents bore her. If not, why should she 
 return to this place when Singapore is in the opposite 
 direction ? " 
 
 " I do not know," said the mate. " If the wreckage had 
 been found in the Indian Ocean it might bo explained by a 
 
128 Mistress Branican. 
 
 wreck having occurred either on the Sunda Islands or on 
 the west coast of Australia." 
 
 " But," replied Captain Ellis, "as it has been recovered 
 in the latitude of Melville Island, it shows that the 
 Franklin was wrecked in that part of the Arafura Sea 
 adjoining Torres Strait, or even in the Strait." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Zach Fren, " there are counter-currents 
 along the Australian coast which floated the wreckage 
 back. In that case the wreck might have taken place in 
 the west of the Arafura Sea." 
 
 " We shall see," said Captain Ellis, " but in the mean- 
 time let us act as though the Franklin had been destroyed 
 on the reefs of Torres Strait." 
 
 "And if we act wisely," repeated Zach Fren, "we 
 shall find Captain John." 
 
 In short, this was the best thing to do, and it was 
 done. 
 
 The width of Torres Strait is estimated at thirty miles. 
 It would be difficult to imagine the swarm of islets and 
 reefs, the position of which is hardly known to the best of 
 hydrographers. There are at least some hundred of them 
 at the level of the water for the most part, and the largest of 
 them measuring no more than from three to four miles in 
 circumference. They are inhabited by tribes of Andamans, 
 who are much to be feared by the crews falling into their 
 hands, as is shown by the massacre of the sailors of the 
 Chesterfield and Hormuzier. By passing from one to the 
 other in their light canoes, or flying proahs of Malay build, 
 these natives can voyage without difficulty from New 
 Guinea to Australia and from Australia to New Guinea. 
 If Captain John and his companions had taken refuge on 
 one of these islands it would have been easy for them to 
 reach the Australian coast, then gain some settlement in 
 the Gulf of Carpentaria or the Cape York peninsula, and 
 thus return home without difficulty. But as none of them 
 had reappeared, the only hypothesis admissible was that 
 they had fallen into the hands of the natives, who were not 
 the sort of savages to have respect for them ; they would- 
 
A Cruise in the Timor Sea. 129 
 
 kill them without pity and devour them, and how could 
 any trace be found of such a catastrophe ? 
 
 So said Captain Ellis, and so said the sailors of the 
 Dolly Hope. Such ought to have been the fate of the 
 survivors of the Franklin if she had been lost in Torres 
 Strait There remained, it is true, the chance that she had 
 not entered the strait. But then how could they explain 
 the fact of this fragment of cutwater having been met 
 with off Melville Island ? 
 
 Captain Ellis boldly entered among these dangerous 
 channels, taking every measure that prudence required. 
 With a good steamer, vigilant officers and brave crew, he 
 might well reckon on traversing this labyrinth of reefs and 
 keeping off the natives who might attempt to attack him. 
 
 When, for one reason or another, vessels enter Torres 
 Strait, the mouth of which is furrowed with coral banks on 
 the Pacific side, they generally keep along the Australian 
 coast. But to the south of Papua there exists a rather 
 large island, Murray Island, which had to be examined 
 with some care. 
 
 The Dolly Hope, then, went on between two dangerous 
 reefs, known as Eastern Fields and Boot Reef. And on 
 the last, owing to the arrangement of the rocks having at 
 a distance the appearance of a wrecked ship, it seemed as 
 though the remains of the Franklin had been found, and 
 in consequence there was some excitement, that did not 
 last long owing to the steam launch soon discovering that 
 there was nothing but a strange piling up of coral rocks. 
 
 Several canoes, mere trunks of trees hollowed cut by 
 fire or by the axe, and fitted with outriggers to give them 
 stability, paddled by five or six natives, were perceived on 
 approaching Murray Island. These riatives contented 
 themselves with shouting, or rather howling, like wild 
 beasts. At half-steam the Dolly Hope made the round of 
 the island without having to repel any attack. Nowhere 
 did they see any trace of a wreck. On these islands and 
 islets there was nothing but black natives of athletic build, 
 with woolly hair, reddish in hue, shining skin, and with 
 
130 Mistress Branican. 
 
 large, but not flat noses. By way of showing their hostile 
 intentions they shook their spears, their bows, their arrows, 
 as they gathered under the cocoanut trees which grow in 
 thousands in the neighbourhood of the strait. 
 
 For a month, up to the loth of June, after renewing his 
 coals at Somerset, one of the ports of Northern Australia, 
 Captain Ellis minutely examined the shores between the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria and New Guinea. He put in at Mul- 
 grave Island, Banks Island, Horn Island, Albany Island, 
 and Booby Island, which is hollowed out in dark caverns, 
 in one of which is the letter-box of Torres Strait. But 
 sailors are not content with -depositing their letters in the 
 box, the collection of which is not very regular, be it under- 
 stood. A sort of international convention obliges the 
 sailors of different countries to leave a store of coal and 
 provisions on this Booby Island, and there is no fear of 
 these being stolen by the natives, owing to the strength 
 of the currents not permitting their frail vessels to land 
 there. 
 
 Now and then, by pleasing them with presents of little 
 value, it was possible to communicate with the mados or 
 chiefs of these islands. In return they offered "kaiso," 
 or tortoise-shell, and " incras," threaded shells which serve 
 them for money. As they could not make themselves 
 understood, and their language was unknown to those on 
 the Dolly Hope, it was impossible to discover if they had 
 any remembrance of a wreck taking place about the date 
 of the i'Vrtw/lVz'w'j disappearance. In any case it did not 
 seem as though they had in their possession any objects, 
 arms, or tools of American make. No ironwork or pieces 
 of carpentry, or masts, or spars were found which could 
 ]3oint to the demolition of a ship. And when Captain 
 Ellis left these natives of Torres Strait, if he could not 
 affirm that the Franklin had not been wrecked on the 
 reefs, at least he had found no trace of her. 
 
 The next work was the exploration of the Arafura Sea, 
 leading on to the Timor Sea, between the group of smail 
 Sunda Islands to the north and the Australian coast to the 
 
A Cruise in the Timor Sea, 131 
 
 south. As to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Captain Ellis did 
 not propose to visit it, for if a wreck toolc place on its 
 coasts it would not remain unknown to the colonists in 
 the neighbourhood. It was, on the contraiy, on the coast 
 of Arnheim Land that he first intended to explore. Then 
 on the return, he would explore the northern part of the 
 Timor Sea and the numerous channels of access to it 
 between the islands. 
 
 This cruise along Arnheim Land, swarming with islands 
 and reefs, did not take less than a month. It was accom- 
 plished with a zeal and a boldness nothing could dis- 
 courage. But everywhere, from the western point of the 
 Gulf of Carpentaria to the Gulf of Van Diemen, no in- 
 formation could be got. Nowhere could the crew of the 
 Dolly Hope come across the remains of a wrecked, ship. 
 Neither the Australian natives nor the Chinese, who carry 
 on the trepang trade in these seas, could throw any light 
 whatever on the matter. But if the survivors of the 
 Franklin had been made prisoners by the Australian tribes 
 of the region, tribes which are addicted to cannibalism, 
 not one of them could have been spared except by a 
 miracle. 
 
 On the lith of July, on reaching the hundred and 
 thirtieth degree of longitude. Captain Ellis began the 
 exploration of Melville Island and Bathurst Island, which 
 are separated from each other by only a narrow strait. 
 Ten miles to the north of this group the wreckage of the 
 Franklin had been recovered. As it had not been car- 
 ried further west, it followed that it had not been taken 
 fi om the reef until a short time be/ore the arrival of the 
 Californian. It was thus possible that the site of the 
 catastrophe was not very far away. 
 
 The exploration lasted nearly four months, for it in- 
 cluded not only the surroundings of these two islands, 
 but also the neighbouring coast line of Arnheim Land up 
 to Queen's Channel, and even the mouth of the Victoria 
 River. 
 
 It was very difficult to continue the investigations 
 
132 Mistress BranicaN. 
 
 inland, which would have risked much without any chance 
 of success. The tribes inhabiting the northern territories 
 of the Australian continent are very formidable. Recently, 
 as Captain Ellis heard at one of the ports he put in at, 
 there had been fresh acts of cannibalism in these parts. 
 The crew of a Dutch vessel, the Groningen, deceived by 
 the false signals of the natives of Bathurst Island, had 
 been massacred and devoured by these wild beasts — is not 
 that the only name they deserve .' . Whoever became their 
 prisoner might, perhaps, consider himself as destined to 
 the most frightful of deaths. 
 
 But if Captain Ellis would have to give up all hope of 
 knowing when and where the crew of the Franklin fell 
 into the hands of these natives, it might still be possible 
 for him to discover some trace of the wreck ; and there 
 was all the more reason for hoping that, as eight months 
 had not elapsed since the Californian had found the frag- 
 ment to the north of Melville Island. 
 
 Captain Ellis and his crew accordingly set to work to 
 search the gulfs and creeks of the reefs on the coast, 
 without troubling themselves about the fatigues or dangers 
 to which they were exposed. This accounts for the 
 duration of the exploration ; it was very long, because it 
 required to be very minute. Several times the Dolly Hope 
 was in danger of running on the little-known breakers of 
 these seas. Many times, too, she was on the point of being 
 captured by the natives, who had to be driven off in 
 their proahs by musketry when they were at a distance, 
 and by axes when they tried to board. 
 
 But neither on Melville and Bathurst Islands, nor in 
 Arnheim Land up to the mouth "of the Victoria, nor in 
 Torres Strait did the search yield anything. Nothing- was 
 discovered of the remains of a wreck, and no fragment 
 of wreck was met with afloat by the Dolly Hope. 
 
 That was the position of affairs on the 3rd of November. 
 What would Captain Ellis now do ? Would he consider 
 that his mission was ended— at least as far as the 
 Australian coast was concerned, and the islands and in- 
 
A Cruise in the Timor Sea. 133 
 
 lets in its neighbourhood ? Would he think of returning 
 after exploring the small Sunda Islands in the north of the 
 Timor Sea ? In a word, did he think he had done all it 
 was humanly possible to do ? 
 
 The brave seaman hesitated, it will be understood, to 
 look upon his task as ended, even after continuing it up 
 to the Australian coast. 
 
 An, incident put an end to his hesitation. On the 
 morning of the 4th of September he was walking with 
 Zach Fren on the after part of the steamer, when the 
 boatswain pointed out a few objects floating about half a 
 mile from the Dolly Hope. These were not pieces of wood, 
 fragments of planks, or trunks of trees, but huge clumps of 
 vegetable matter, a sort of yellowish sargasso, torn from 
 the ocean depths, and which followed the outline of the 
 higher ground. 
 
 " That is curious," said Zach Fren. " May I lose my 
 name if those weeds are not going west, even south-west ! 
 There must be a current taking them towards the Straits!" 
 
 "That's it!" said Captain Ellis, "and it ought to be a 
 local current, unless it is the tide." 
 
 " I do not think so," said Zach Fren, " for at dawn I 
 remember I saw a quantity of weeds drifting up the 
 stream." 
 
 " Are you certain of that .' " 
 
 " As certain as I am that we shall end by finding 
 Captain John." 
 
 "Well, if the current exists," said Captain Ellis, "it 
 may be that the wreckage of the Franklin came from the 
 west, along the Australian coast." 
 
 " That is exactly as I look at it," said Zach Fren. 
 
 " Then we need not hesitate. We must continue our 
 exploration across the Timor Sea, up to the extremity of 
 Western Australia." 
 
 " Never was I more sure of anything. Captain Ellis, fot 
 it is beyond doubt that there is a current on this coast, 
 the direction of which is very clear up to Melville Island. 
 By supposing that Captain Branican was not wrecked 
 
134 Mistress Branican. 
 
 west of this, we could explain how the piece of his vessel 
 was brought where we picked it up on board the Call- 
 fornian." 
 
 Captain Ellis called the mate, and consulted with him 
 as to the advisability of continuing the cruise more to the 
 westward. 
 
 The mate was of opinion that the local current should 
 be examined up to the point from which it started. 
 
 " We will go on to the west," answered Captain Ellis. 
 " It is not doubt but certainty we must take back to 
 San Diego — the certainty that nothing remains of the 
 Franklin if she perished on the Australian coast." 
 
 In consequence of this determination, which was fully 
 justified, the Dolly Hope went off to Timor to coal. After 
 a stay in port of forty-eight hours, she came down towards 
 Cape Londonderry at the angle of Western Australia. 
 
 Leaving Queen's Channel, Captain Ellis endeavoured 
 to follow the outline of the continent from Turtle Point, 
 where the current clearly showed that its direction was 
 from west to east. It was not one of those effects of the 
 tide which change with the ebb and flow, but a steady 
 movement of the waters in this southern portion of Timor 
 Sea. It was therefore necessary to steam up it, searching 
 the creeks and reefs until the Dolly Hope found herself out 
 in the Indian Ocean. 
 
 Arrived at the entrance of Cambridge Gulf, which 
 washes the base of Mount Cockburn, Captain Ellis con- 
 sidered that it would be imprudent to venture with his 
 vessel through this long strip of water bristling with reefs, 
 and with its banks frequented by formidable natives. And 
 so the steam launch, with a well-armed crew of six, was 
 put under the orders of Zach Fren to explore the interior 
 of the gulf. 
 
 "Evidently," said Captain Ellis to him, "if John 
 Branican has fallen into the power of the natives in this 
 part of the continent, it is not to be supposed that he and 
 his crew have survived. But what we have to do is to 
 find out if there still exist any remains of the Franklin, 
 
A Cruise in the Timor Sea, 135 
 
 in case the Australians have wrecked her in Cambridge 
 Gulf." 
 
 " And that would not astonish me with regard to these 
 scoundrels ! " said Zach Fren. 
 
 The boatswain's task was clearly stated, and he accom- 
 plished it conscientiously, being always on the alert. He 
 ■ took ±he launch to Adolphus Island, almost at the end of 
 the gulf, and went round it, and discovered nothing that 
 encouraged him to push his investigations any further. 
 
 The Dolly Hope then resumed her course beyond Cam- 
 bridge Gulf, rounded Dussejour Cape, and went away to 
 the north-west, along the coast which belongs to Western 
 Australia. The islands were numerous, and the creeks cut 
 into the shore capriciously, but neither at Cape Rhuliers 
 nor Cape Londonderry did anything result to repay the 
 crew for so many fatigues so gallantly undertaken. 
 
 The fatigues and dangers of this navigation became 
 serious enough when the Dolly Hope had rounded ■ Cape 
 Londonderry. On this crest, which is directly assailed by 
 the great surges of the Indian Ocean, there exist few 
 practicable refuges in which a disabled vessel could take 
 shelter. And a steamer is always at the mercy of its 
 engines, which may fail her in the violent pitching and 
 rolling due to a boisterous sea. From this cape to Collier 
 Bay in York Sound, and in Brunswick Bay there was 
 nothing to be seen but a medley of islands, a labyrinth of 
 shoals and reefs like those that swarm in Torres Strait. 
 At Capes Talbot and Bo'ugainville the coast is defended 
 by such a tremendous surf that its vicinity is only practic- 
 able to the native boats, which are rendered almost un- 
 capsizable by their outriggers. Admiralty Bay, opening 
 between Cape Bougainville and Cape Voltaire, is so 
 strewn with rocks that the steam launch was more than 
 once in danger of being lost. But nothing could stop the 
 ardour of the crew, and the bold sailors disputed among 
 themselves as to who should take part in the perilous 
 adventure. 
 
 Beyond Collier Bay Captain Ellis entered Buccaneer 
 
136 Mistress Branican. 
 
 Archipelago, his intention being not to go beyond Cape 
 Leveque at the end of King Sound to the north-west. 
 
 This was not on account of anxiety at the state of the 
 weather, which tended to improve daily. In this part of 
 the Indian Ocean, situated in the southern hemisphere, the 
 months of October and November correspond to those of 
 April and May in the northern. But Ellis could not keep 
 on indefinitely, and his furthest point would be reached as 
 soon as the shore current running east, and bringing the 
 wreckage towards Melville Island, had ceased to make 
 itself felt. 
 
 This was at last discovered towards the end of January, 
 1883, when the Dolly Hope had completed — unsuccess- 
 fully — the exploration of the large estuary of King Sound, 
 into the extremity of which flows the Fitzroy River. 
 
 At the mouth of this important stream the steam launch 
 was furiously attacked by the natives, and two men were 
 wounded in the encounter, slightly, it is true ; and it was 
 only owing to Captain Ellis's coolness that this last attempt 
 did not degenerate into disaster. 
 
 As soon as the Dolly Hope was out of King Sound, she 
 stopped off" Cape Leveque. Captain Ellis then held a 
 consultation with the mate and' boatswain. After the 
 charts had been carefully examined it was decided that 
 the expedition should end here on the eighteenth parallel 
 of northern latitude. Beyond King Sound the coast is 
 clear, there are only a few islands, and that portion of 
 Tasman Land which bounds the Indian Ocean still ap- 
 pears blank in the recently published atlas. There was no 
 reason for going south-west, nor for visiting the neighbour- 
 hood of the Dampier Archipelago. 
 
 Besides, there only remained in the Dolly Hope a small 
 quantity of coal, and the best thing to do was to make 
 direct for Baiavia, and fill up the bunkers. Then going 
 east, she could regain the Pacific through Timor Sea, 
 along the Sunda Islands. 
 
 The course was thus laid to the northward, and soon the 
 Dolly Hope was out of sight of the Australian coast. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BROWSE ISLAND. 
 
 The region between the north-west coast of Austrah'a and 
 the western part of the . Timor Sea contains no islands of 
 importance. With difficulty geographers have noted a few 
 islets. What is met with consists principally of curious 
 shallow coral formations, known as banks and rocks and 
 reefs and shoals — such as Lynher Reef, Scott's Reef, 
 Seringapatam Reef, Korallen Reef, Courtier Shoal, Rowley 
 Shoal, Hibernia Shoal, Sahul Bank, Echo Rock, etc. The 
 position of these dangers is determined exactly for the 
 most part, approximately in some instances. It is even 
 possible that there remain to be discovered a certain 
 number of those dangerous reefs which are at sea level. 
 And so the navigation is not easy, and requires constant 
 attention in these regions, which are often traversed by 
 vessels coming from the Indian seas. 
 
 The weather was fine, the sea calm enough outside the 
 •breakers. The excellent engines of the Dolly Hope had in 
 no way failed since the departure from San Diego, and 
 her boilers worked splendidly. All the circumstances of 
 weather and sea promised a favourable passage between 
 Cape Leveque and Java. But this was the way home, and 
 the only delays would be the stoppages Captain Ellis 
 might make in exploring the small Sunda Islands. 
 
 For the first few days, after leaving Cape Leveque, 
 nothing occurred worth mention. The m.ost rigorous 
 vigilance was imposed on the look-outs. Stationed in the 
 foretop, they had to report as far off qs possible the 
 
 K 
 
1 33 Mistress Bkanican. 
 
 shoals and the reefs, which rarely rose above the water 
 level. 
 
 On the 7th of February, about nine o'clock in the 
 morning, one of the men in the foretop shouted, — ■ 
 
 " Reef on the port bow ! " 
 
 As this reef was not yet visible to the men on deck, 
 Zach Fren went up the shrouds to reconnoitre its position 
 for himself. 
 
 When he reached the top, the boatswain saw distinctly 
 enough a rocky plateau about six miles off in the direc- 
 tion indicated. In reality it was neither a rock nor a 
 shoal, but an islet in the shape of a saddleback, away to 
 the north-west. Considering the distance, it was even 
 possible that this islet was an island of some extent, if it 
 was then visible end on. 
 
 A few minutes afterwards Zach Fren came down from 
 aloft, and made his report to Captain Ellis, who gave 
 the order to luff, so as to approach the said islet. 
 
 At noon, after taking the altitude, and finding his posi- 
 tion, the captain had noted in the log-book that the Do//y 
 Hope was in 14° 7' south latitude, and 133° 13' east 
 longitude. This position being marked on the chart, 
 coincided very nearly with the position of a certain island 
 named Browse Island by modern geographers, situated 
 about two hundred and fifty miles from York Sound, on 
 the Australian coast. 
 
 As this island was not much out of his way, the captain 
 resolved to coast along it, without any intention of 
 stopping at it. 
 
 About one o'clock in the afternoon Browse Island was 
 not more than a mile from the Dolly Hope. The sea, 
 somewhat rough, broke noisily, and covered with spray a 
 cape stretching out towards the north-east. The size of 
 the island was not apparent, as it was being looked at 
 obliquely. In any case, it looked like an undulating 
 plateau, with no particular hill dominating its surface. 
 
 However, as there was no time to lose. Captain Ellis, 
 after slowing a little, was about to give the order to go 
 
Reef on the port bow, 
 
Browse Island. 135 
 
 ahead full speed, when Zach Fren attracted his attention 
 by saying, — ■ 
 
 " Captain ! Look there ! Is that a spar on that cape ? " 
 
 And the boatswain stretched out his hand in the 
 direction of the cape, which ended abruptly :■: a rocl<y 
 ridcre. 
 
 ' A spar ! No ! It looks to me like the trunk of a 
 tree ! " said Captain Ellis. 
 
 And taking his glasses, he looked at the object with 
 more attention. 
 
 " You are right, boatswain," he said ; " it is a spar, and I 
 think I see a bit of bunting fluttered into tatters by the 
 wind. Yes ! yes ! It ought to be a signal ! " 
 
 " Then we had better go and see ! " said the boatswain. 
 
 "So I think," said Captain Ellis. And he gave the 
 order to bear down on Browse Island carefully and at 
 half-speed. 
 
 The order was instantly executed. The Dolly Hope 
 began to approach the reefs which surrounded the island 
 at a distance of a few hundred feet. The sea beat on 
 them violently, not that the wind was strong, but that 
 the current took the surge towards them. 
 
 Soon the details of the coast were apparent to the 
 naked eye. The shore looked wild, arid, desolate, with- 
 out a patch of verdure, with great gaping caverns in which 
 the surf beat with the noise of thunder. At intervals a 
 bit of yellowish beach broke the line of rocks, above which 
 flew flocks of seabirds. But there was nothing to be seen 
 of a wreck, neither fragments of spars nor vestiges of a 
 hull. The spar at the extreme end seemed to be a 
 portion of the bowsprit; but of this discoloured flag flying 
 in rags in the wind it was impossible to recognize the 
 colour. 
 
 " There have been shipwrecked people there ! " said 
 Zach Fren. 
 
 " Yes, there must have been 1 " said the mate. 
 
 " Undoubtedly," said Captain Ellis, " a vessel has been 
 cast on that island." 
 
t4<5 Mistress BranicaN. 
 
 "And what is none the less certain," said the mate, 
 "is that the shipwrecked crew took refuge there, for they 
 raised that signal mast, and perhaps they are there still, 
 for it is rare for vessels bound to Australia or the Indies 
 to pass in sight of Browse Island." 
 
 " I suppose, captain, you intend to go ashore here ?" 
 
 " I do, if we can, but I have not yet seen a place to 
 land. Let us begin by going round it before coming to 
 a decision. If it is still inhabited by unfortunate ship- 
 wrecked people it is impossible for us not to be seen ; and 
 they may signal to us — " 
 
 " And if we see nobody, what is your plan ? " asked 
 Zach Fren. 
 
 " We will try and land as soon as landing is prac- 
 ticable," said Captain Ellis. "If it is not inhabited, the 
 island may have some traces of a wreck, and that will be 
 of more interest for us." 
 
 " And who knows ? " murmured Zach Fren. 
 
 " Who knows ? Do you mean that the Franklin may 
 have been cast on Browse Island, quite out of the coursj 
 she ought have followed ? " 
 
 " Why not, captain?" 
 
 " Because it is quite unlikely," said Captain Ellisv " But 
 although we ought not to stop for unlikelihoods, we will 
 attempt a landing." 
 
 The plan of steaming round Browse Island was imme- 
 diately put into execution. 
 
 Prudently keeping a cable length off the reefs, the Dolly 
 Hope was soon round the different capes thrown out by 
 the island towards the north. There was no change in 
 tlic aspect of the shore, the rocks lay as if they had been 
 crystallized in almost identical shapes, ridges roughly 
 beaten by the surge, reefs covered with spray, and 
 landing impracticable. In the background a few clumps 
 of cocoa-nut trees rose on a rocky plateau, on which ap. 
 pcared no trace of cultivation. Of inhabitants there were 
 none ; of habitations there were none. Not a boat, not a 
 fishing caoG?. A desert sea, a desert island. A few flocks 
 
Browse Island, 14 1 
 
 of gulls flew from one point to another, and gave the only 
 life to this sad solitude. 
 
 If it was not the wished-for island of the castaway, in 
 which the wants of existence were assured, it could at 
 least offer a refuge to the survivors of a wreck. 
 
 Browse Island measures about six or seven miles round, 
 as was discovered when the Dolly Hope reached the 
 southern shore. In vain did the crew endeavour to dis- 
 cover a harbour, or in default of a harbour a creek among 
 the rocks in which the steamer could be put in shelter for 
 a few hours. It was soon seen that a landing could only 
 be effected by means of the boats, and that a passage that 
 would permit them to land was still to be found. 
 
 Soon the Dolly Hope was to leeward of the island. As 
 the breeze then blew from the north-west, the surge beat 
 less violently on the rocks. The shore describing a large 
 hollow, formed a vast roadstead in which a vessel might 
 anchor without risk until a change in the wind. It was 
 decided that the Dolly Hope should remain there, if not at 
 anchor, at least under half-steam, while the launch went 
 ashore. There remained to be discovered a place where the 
 men could set foot among the reefs which lay white in the 
 long line of surf. 
 
 Searching the beach with his glasses. Captain Ellis 
 finished by discovering a depression in the plateau, a sort 
 of gap in the mass of the island, through which a brook 
 rippled towards the sea. 
 
 After looking at it in his turn, Zach Fren affirmed that 
 a landing could be effected at the foot of this gap. The 
 coast seemed to be less steep there, and its profile was 
 broken by rather a sharp angle. There was also visible 
 a narrow passage through the reef on which the sea did 
 not break. 
 
 Captain Ellis ordered out the launch, which in half an 
 hour was under steam. He embarked in her with Zach 
 Fren, a steersmarr, a man in the bow, the stoker and 
 the engineer. As a matter of prudence two guns, two'axes, 
 and a few revolvers were put on board. During the 
 
142 Mistress Branican. 
 
 captain's absence, the mate could handle the Dolly Hope 
 in this open roadstead and attend to all the signals 
 that might be made. 
 
 At half-past one the boat went off towards the shore, 
 distant a good mile, and entered the channel, while 
 thousands of gulls flew around, uttering deafening, strident 
 cries. A few minutes afterwards she ran gently up to a 
 sandy beach. Captain Ellis, Zach Fren and the two sailors 
 jumped ashore, leaving the engineer and stoker in charge 
 of the launch, which was to be kept under steam. Going 
 up the gap through which the brook ran into the sea, all 
 four stood on the crest of the plateau. 
 
 A few hundred yards off was a sort of rocky mound of 
 curious form, the summit of which was a hundred feet 
 above the beach. 
 
 Captain Ellis and his companions went towards the 
 mound ; they climbed it not without difficulty, and from 
 the top could see over the whole island. 
 
 It was a broad oval, resembling a tortoise with the cape 
 ■ for the tail. In places a little vegetable soil covered the 
 rock, which was of madreporic formation, like the atolls 
 of Malaysia and the coral groups of Torres Strait. Here 
 and there patches of verdure appeared, but there were 
 more mosses than herbs, more stones than roots, more 
 undergrowth than shrubs. Whence came the creek, the 
 bed of which, visible for a part of its course, wound through 
 the slopes of the plateau ? Was it fed by some inland 
 spring 1 That was not easy to discover, although the view 
 extended up to the signal mast. 
 
 Standing on the top of the mound. Captain Ellis and 
 his men looked around in every direction. No smoke rose 
 in the air, no human being appeared. It followed, there- 
 fore, that if Browse Island had been inhabited — and there 
 was no doubt of that — it was not likely to be so now. 
 
 " A miserable shelter for castaways," said Captain Ellis. 
 " If their stay was a long one, I wonder how they managed 
 to live." 
 
 "Yes," said Zach Fren. "It is almost a bare plateaa 
 
Browse Island. 14^ 
 
 Here and there only are a few clumps of trees. The 
 rock is hardly covered with vegetable soil. But all the same, 
 one is not too particular when shipwrecked J A bit of 
 rock under your feet is always better than a hole with the 
 sea over your head ! " 
 
 " At first, yes," said Captain Ellis ; " but afterwards ? " 
 
 " Besides," said Zach Fren, " it is possible the castaways 
 who took refuge on the island may have been promptly 
 taken oflf by some vessel — " 
 
 "As it is equally possible that they succumbed to 
 privations." 
 
 "And what makes you think that, captain ? " 
 
 " That if they had left the island in some way they 
 would have taken the precaution to strike the signal mast. 
 It is, therefore, to be feared that the last of these unfortu- 
 nates died before help arrived. But let us go up to the mast. 
 We may perhaps find some trace of the nationality of the 
 ship which was lost here." 
 
 Captain Ellis, Zach Fren and. the two sailors descended 
 the mound and walked towards the promontory projecting 
 towards the north. But they had scarcely taken a 
 hundred steps before one of the men stopped to pick up 
 something his foot had kicked against. 
 
 " Hallo ! What is this .? " he said. 
 
 " Give it to me," said Zach Fren. 
 
 It was a cutlass-blade like those which sailors carry in 
 their belts in a leather scabbard. Broken at the handle, 
 and full of dents, the blade had evidently been thrown 
 away as useless. 
 
 " Well, boatswain ? " said Captain Ellis. 
 
 " I am looking for some mark to show where this blade 
 came from," replied Zach Fren. 
 
 It was possible it did bear a maker's name. But it was 
 so rusted that it had first to be scraped. When Zach 
 Fren had done this, he made out, not without difficulty, 
 the words " Skeffie/d— England" inscribed on the steel. 
 
 The cutlass was thus of English origin. But to assert 
 from that that the castaways on Browse Island were 
 
144 Mistress BranIcan. 
 
 English was to be too positive. Why could not this 
 weapon belong to a sailor of different nationality, since 
 the manufactures of Sheffield are spread over the whole 
 world ? If some other object were found, would this 
 hypothesis be changed into certainty ? i 
 
 Captain Ellis and his companions continued on their 
 way to the promontory, /-..s there was no footpath, the 
 walk was rather laborious. If it had been trodden by the 
 feet of men, it must have been at a period too remote to 
 be recognizable, for all trace had disappeared beneath the 
 grass and mos'!. 
 
 After a walk of about two miles Captain Ellis halted 
 near a clump of cocoa trees of anything but vigorous 
 growth, and ihe nuts ofwiiich had fallen for some time, 
 and were now nothing but dust and rottenness. 
 
 Up to there no other object had been found ; but a few 
 yards from the clump of trees, on the slope of a slii^ht 
 undulation it was easy to recognize traces of cultivation 
 amid the scattered shrubs. What remained were a few 
 yains and batatas almost returned to their wild state. A 
 pickaxe lay under som0 thick briars, where one of the 
 sailors discovered it accidentally. It seemed to be of 
 American manufacture from the way it was hafted, and 
 it was deeply eaten into by rust. 
 
 " What do you think of it, Captain Ellis ? " asked the 
 boatswain. 
 
 " I think," said the captain, " that we have not yet had 
 enough to say anything about." 
 
 " 1 hen, forward ! " replied Zach Fren, motioning the 
 men to follow him. 
 
 After descending the slopes of the plateau they reached 
 the edge to which the northern promontory joined on. In 
 this place a narrow sinuosity wa.s cut back into the ridge, 
 giving an easy access to the little sandy beach. This 
 beach measured about an acre, and was enclosed by rocks 
 of a beautiful red colour, on which the surf beat without 
 cessation. 
 
 On the sand several objects were scattered about, .showing 
 
Browse Island. 145 
 
 that human beings had made a long stay at this point of 
 the island, pieces of glass and crockery, iron bolts, preserve 
 tins, the American origin of which was clear enough this 
 time, and other things used at sea, a few fragments of 
 chain, broken rings, ends of galvainized iron rigging, a 
 fluke of a grapnel, several sheaves of blocks, a bent ring, 
 a pump handle, bits of spars and yards, pieces of sheet iron, 
 as to the origin of which the Californian sailors could 
 make no mistake. 
 
 " It was no English ship that went down off here," said 
 Captain Ellis. " It was an American." 
 
 " And you might say it was built in one of the Pacific 
 ports," said Zach Frcn, whose opinion was shared in by 
 the two sailors. 
 
 But at the same time there was nothing to show that it 
 was the Franklht. 
 
 And the question remained ; what was' this ship which 
 had sunk, and of which nothing of the frame or planking 
 had yet been found ? Had the crew reached Browse 
 Island in her boats ? 
 
 No! And Captain Ellis soon had proof enough that the 
 wreck had occurred on the reefs. 
 
 A hundred yards from the beach, amid a pile of pointed 
 rocks and reefs at the water level, lay the melancholy ruin 
 of a ship as thrown ashore and broken up by the sea, when 
 the waves have beaten over it with the violence of a flood 
 and in an instant, wood or iron, all is gashed to pieces, 
 demolished, shattered and dispersed and carried by the 
 surf among the rocks. 
 
 Captain Ellis, Zach Fren, and the two sailors, stood 
 looking, not without deep emotion, at what the rocks still 
 kept of the disaster. Of the hull there remained only a 
 few misshapen curves, jagged timbers bristling with broken 
 bolts, bent rails, a bit of the rudder, a few stfakes of the 
 deck, but nothing of the exterior upper works, nothing of 
 the masts which had either been cut away by the sea, or 
 since the wreck had been used for the camp on the island. 
 There was not a piece of the frame intact, not a piece of 
 
14^ Mistress Branican. 
 
 the keel entire. Amid the rocks with their sharp edges 
 like chcvaux de frise the vessel had evidently been ground 
 up until its remains could not be used. 
 
 " Let us look," said Captain Ellis, " and we may, perhaps, 
 find a name, a letter, a mark which will tell us the 
 nationality of this vessel." 
 
 " Yes ! and pray God that it may not be the Franklin 
 reduced to a state like that ! " said Zach Fren. 
 
 But was there any such indication as the captain ex- 
 pected ? Even supposing that the surf had left a part of 
 the stern or of the bow, where the name of the ship is 
 usually found, would not the weather and the spray have 
 effaced it t 
 
 And nothing of it was left. The search was fruitless. 
 And if some of the tilings on the beach were of American 
 make, there was nothing to show that they belonged'to 
 the Franklin. 
 
 But if some of the castaways had taken refuge on Browse 
 Island — and the signal mast at the end of the promontory 
 showed that unmistakably — if, during a period, the length 
 of which it was impossible to say, they had lived on this 
 island, they had certainly taken shelter in some cave, 
 probably near the beach, so as to be able to make use of 
 the wreckage among the rocks. 
 
 One of the sailors very soon discovered the cave which 
 had been occupied by the survivors of the wreck. It was 
 in. a huge mass of rock formed at the angle of the plateau 
 and the beach. 
 
 Captain Ellis and Zach Fren ran up to the sailor who 
 called them. Perhaps this cave contained the secret of 
 the disaster ? Perhaps it would reveal the name of the 
 ship ? 
 
 The only way in was through a narrow opening, very 
 low, near which were the cinders of a fire outside, the 
 smoke of which had blackened the rocky wall. 
 
 Inside the cave was about ten feet high, twenty feet 
 deep and fifteen feet wide, large enough to hold twelve 
 men. The only furniture was a bed of dry herbage. 
 
Browse Island. 147 
 
 covered with a sail in tatters, a bench made of pieces of 
 plank, two ,stools of the same kind, and a rickety table. 
 For utensils, there were a few plates and dishes of iron, 
 three forks, two spoons, a knife, and three pannikins, all 
 of them rusty. In a corner was a keg on the ground, 
 evidently used for water from the creek. 
 
 On the table was a ship's lamp, dented and rusty, and' 
 much too damaged for use. Here and there were a few 
 cooking utensils, and more clothes in rags thrown on the 
 bed. 
 
 " Poor creatures ! " said Zach Fren. " To what an end 
 they must have been reduced during their stay on this 
 island." 
 
 "They had scarcely saved anything from the ship," 
 said Captain Ellis, "and that shows with what violence 
 she was thrown ashore ! Everything had been broken, 
 everything ! How could they have got food ? Doubtless 
 from the little corn they saved, and salt beef, and the 
 preserves they emptied to the last box ! But what an 
 existence, and how they must have suffered ! " 
 
 Yes ! and if we add what they might get by fishing, we 
 shall have all the castaways could have procured for their 
 wants. As to their being now on the island there seemed 
 to be no chance. And if they had succumbed, it was 
 probable that _the remains of him who died last would be 
 found, although the closest search inside and outside 
 yielded no result 
 
 "It seems to me," said Zach Fren, "that these ship- 
 wrecked folks were taken off home." 
 
 " And why ? " asked Captain Ellis. " Could they have 
 built a boat big enough to go to sea out of the remains of 
 the ship ! " 
 
 •' No, captain, and they would not have had enough to 
 make a canoe ; but I rather think their signals must have 
 been seen by some ship." 
 
 " And I cannot agree- to that." 
 
 " And why not ? " 
 
 *' Because if a ship had taken them off, the news would 
 
148 Mistress Branican. 
 
 have spread all over the world, at least unless the ship 
 that rescued them went down with all hands — and that is 
 hot likely." 
 
 " Perhaps so ! " said Zach Fren, who did not give in 
 easily. " But if it was impossible for them to build a 
 boat, there is nqthing to prove that all the boats on board 
 perished in the wreck and in that case " 
 
 " Well, in that case," replied Captain Ellis, " as 
 nothing was heard of a crew having been picked up 
 somewhere near Western Australia, I think that the 
 boat would have perished on the voyage from Browse 
 Island ! " 
 
 It would have been difficult to reply to this reasoning, as 
 Zach Fren well knew, but not wishing to give up all hope 
 he continued, — 
 
 " I suppose you intend to visit the other parts of the 
 island ? " 
 
 " Yes, to clear our conscience," said Captain Ellis, " and 
 in the first place let us strike that signal mast so that 
 ships need not be stopped, now that there is not a man to 
 save." 
 
 The captain with Zach Fren and the sailors, came out 
 of the cave and gave a last look round the beach ; then 
 again walking up the creek to the plateaii, they went off 
 towards the head of the promontory. 
 
 After turning aside a little, so as to skirt a sort of 
 stony pool formed of rain-water, they went straight 
 ahead. 
 
 Suddenly Captain Ellis stopped. At this point the 
 ground .showed four undulations side by side. Pro- 
 bably this arrangement would not have attracted attention 
 if a half rotten cross of wood had not been at the end of 
 each little mound. These were graves, and this was 
 the cemetery of the castaways. 
 
 "At last," said Captain Ellis, "shall we be able to 
 learn ? " 
 
 It would not be out of any want of respect due to the 
 dead if they were to search these graves, and exhume the 
 
Browse Island. 149 
 
 bodies they contained, and see the state in which they 
 were, and search in the grave for some indication of their 
 nationality. 
 
 The two sailors set to work, and digging into the ground 
 with their knives, threw it up on each side. But a number 
 of years must have elapsed since the corpses had been 
 buried for the ground contained only bones. Captain 
 Ellis had them covered up again and the crosses were 
 replaced on the graves. 
 
 But it was necessary that the mystery of this wreck 
 should be cleared up. If four human beings had been 
 buried here, what had become of those who had rendered 
 them the last duty ? And when death had struck them in 
 thfeir turn, would not a skeleton be found on some other 
 point of the island ? 
 
 Captain Ellis had no hope in the matter. 
 
 " We shall not, then," he said, " learn the name of the 
 ship lost on Browse island ! We shall return to San 
 Diego without having discovered the remains of the 
 Franktin^ without knowing what has become of John 
 Branican and his crew." , ' ^ 
 
 " ^hy should not this be the Franklin ? " said one 
 of the sailors. 
 
 " And why should it be } " asked Zach Fren. There 
 was nothing in fact to show that it was the Franklin 
 whose wreckage covered the reefs of Browse Island, 
 and it seemed as though this second expedition of the 
 Dolly Hope would no more succeed than the first had 
 done. 
 
 Captain Ellis had remained silent with his looks cast 
 on the ground where the poor castaways had found the 
 end of their miseries, only with the end of their lives ! 
 Were they Americans as he was ? Were they those of 
 whom the Dolly Hope had come in search ? 
 
 « To the flagstaff," he said. 
 
 Zach Fren and his men followed him as he descended 
 the long rocky slope by which the promontory joined on 
 to the island. 
 
ISO Mistress Branican. 
 
 It took twenty minutes to walk 'the half mile which 
 separated them from the flagstaff, for the ground was 
 encumbered with stones and brambles. 
 
 When Captain Ellis and his men had reached the mast, 
 they saw that it had been sunk deep in a rocky ex- 
 cavation, which explained how it was that it had resisted 
 the storms for so long ; and as had been seen with the 
 glasses, this mast — the end of a bowsprit — had come from 
 some ship. 
 
 The rag nailed to its summit was merely a bit of sail- 
 cloth torn in the breeze, without any indication of nation- 
 ality. 
 
 At Captain Ellis' orders, the sailors were preparing to 
 lower the mast when Zach Fren exclaimed, — 
 
 " Captain ! Look there ! " 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "That bell!" 
 
 On a still solid framework there was a bell with the 
 clapper much rusted. 
 
 And so the castaways had not been contented with 
 setting up the mast and fixing to it the flag, but had taken 
 to it the bell, which they hoped could be heard by any 
 ship passing in sight of the island. But did not this bell 
 bear the name of the ship to which it belonged, according 
 to the custom of all maritime nations ? 
 
 Captain Ellis was walking towards the framework when 
 he stopped. 
 
 At the foot of it lay the remains of a skeleton, or rather 
 a mass of bones lay on the ground with a few rags among 
 it. 
 
 There were, then, five survivors who had taken refuge on 
 Browse Island. Four had died, and the fifth had remained 
 alone. 
 
 Then one day he had left the cave, he had dragged 
 himself to the end of the promontory, he had rung the 
 bell to make it heard by a ship in the offing, and he had 
 fallen at this spot never to rise again.. 
 
 After giving orders to the two sailors to dig a grave for 
 
Browse Island. 151 
 
 the bones, Captain Ellis made a sign to Zach Fren to 
 follow him and examine the bell. 
 
 On the bronze, there were this name and number, deeply 
 engraved and still legible — 
 
 Franklin, 
 1875. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LIVING WRECKAGE. 
 
 WllTLE the Dolly Hope was carrying on this second cam- 
 paign in the Timor Sea, and ending it in the way we know, 
 Mrs. Branican and her friends and the families of the 
 missing crew were sharing in all the aftxieties of the 
 attempt. What hopes attached to this little bit of wood 
 picked up by the Californian, and belongihg, without 
 question, to the Franklin I Would Captain Ellis find the 
 wreck of the ship on one of the islands, or on some point 
 of the Australian continent ? Would he find John 
 Branican, Harry Felton, and the twelve sailors embarked 
 under his orders ? Would he bring back to San Diego 
 one or many survivors of this catastrophe ? 
 
 Two letters from Captain Ellis had arrived since the 
 departure of the Dolly Hope. The first announced the 
 useless result of the exploration among the channels of 
 Torres Strait up to the Arafura Sea. The second an- 
 nounced that Melville and Bathurst Islands had been 
 visited without finding any trace of the Frankli7i. Mrs. 
 Branican was then informed that the search was to be 
 continued along the Sea of Timor up to Western 
 Australia, and among the numerous archipelagoes border- 
 ing on Tasman Land. The Dolly Hope would then return, 
 after searching the small Sunda Islands, and when no hope 
 was left of finding any trace. 
 
 After this last letter there came a break. Several 
 months elapsed, and now people were waiting from day 
 to day for the Dolly Hope to be signalled by the 
 semaphores of San Diego. 
 
Living Wreckage. 153 
 
 However, the year 1882 went by, and although Mrs. 
 Branican had received no news of Captain Ellis, there was 
 nothing surprising in that, for postal communications are 
 slow and irregular across the Pacific Ocean, so that there 
 was no reason for being anxious about the Dolly Hope, 
 although they might be impatient to see her. 
 
 At the end of February, however, Mr. William Andrew 
 began to think that the cruise of the Dolly Hope was un- 
 duly prolonged. Every day a certain number of people 
 would go to Island Point, in the hope that the ship would 
 be sighted in the dffiilg. And, far enough out as she 
 might-be, and even though she might not make her number, 
 the sailors of San Diego would recognize her from her: 
 look— just as they could tell a Frenchman from a German,, 
 or a Yankee from a Britisher. 
 
 The Dolly Hope appeared at length in the morning of 
 the 27th of March, nine miles off", coming along at full 
 speed, under a fresh breeze from the north-west. In less 
 than an hour she had enter-ed the harbour, and dropped 
 her anchor in the bay of San Diego. 
 
 The news Soon spread in the town, and the populace 
 crowded on the quays, and on Island Point and Point Loma. 
 
 Mrs. Branican and Mr. William Andrew and a few 
 other friends, hastening to enter into communication with 
 the Dolly Hope, embarked on a tug to go out and meet 
 her.' The crowd, was possessed by some mysterious 
 anxiety, and when the tug breasted the last wharf, on 
 her way to the ship, there was not a sound. It seemed 
 that if Captain Ellis had succeeded in this second attempt, 
 the news would already have spread' round the world. 
 
 Twenty minutes later Mrs. Branican, Mr. William 
 Andrew and their companions were alongside the Dolly 
 Hope'; ■ ' w - .. . : 
 
 A few minutes later they knew the result of the ex- 
 pedition It was OH the western boundary of the Timor 
 Sea, on Browse Island, that the Franklin had been lost. 
 It was there that the survivors of the wreck had taken 
 refuge. It was there they had died. 
 
154 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " All ? " said Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " All ! " replied Captain Ellis. 
 
 The consternation was general when the Dolly Hope 
 anchored in the middle of the bay with her flag awaft in 
 sign of mourning, mourning for the crew of the Franklin. 
 
 The Dolly Hope had left San Diego on the 3rd of April, 
 1882, and returned on the 27th of March, 1883. Her 
 cruise had lasted nearly twelve months, a cruise in which 
 devotion never failed ; but the only result had been to 
 destroy the last hopes. 
 
 During the few minutes Mrs. Branican and Mr. William 
 Andrew were on board, Captain Ellis had briefly informed 
 them of the facts relative to the wreck of the Eranklin on 
 the reefs of Browse Island. 
 
 Although she now learnt that there existed no doubt as 
 to the fate of Captain John and his companions, Mrs. 
 Branican showed no change whatever^ Not a tear es- 
 caped from her eyes. She asked no questions. As the 
 remains of the Franklin had been found on the island, as 
 there remained none of the crew who had taken refuge 
 there, what more could she ask at that time ? The story 
 of the expedition she could hear later. And so, having 
 shaken hands with Captain Ellis and Zach Fren, she had 
 sat down in the stern of the Dolly Hope, deep in her 
 thoughts, and, in spite of so many irrefragable proofs, 
 determined not to believe that she was yet " the widow of 
 John Branican." 
 
 When the Dolly Hope cast anchor, Dolly returned to 
 the front of the poop and asked Mr. William Andrew, 
 Captain Ellis, and Zach Fren, to call on her that very day 
 at Prospect House. She would expect them in the after- 
 noon, so as to learn in detail all that had happened during 
 the cruise in Torres Strait, the Arafura. Sea, and the Sea of 
 Timor. 
 
 A boat took Mrs. Branican ashore. The crowd parted 
 respectfully as she crossed the quay, and she directed her 
 steps towards the upper quarter of San Diego. 
 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon Mr. William ' 
 
Living Wreckage, 155 
 
 Andrew, Captain Ellis, and the boatswain presented them- 
 selves at the ch&let, where they were immediately ushered 
 into the drawing-room on the ground floor, in which Mrs. 
 Branican was waiting for them. 
 
 When they had taken their places round a table on 
 which was spread a chart of the northern Australian seas, 
 " Captain Ellis," said Dolly, " will you tell me the story of 
 your cruise ? " 
 
 And then Captain Ellis spoke as if he had his eyes on 
 the log-book, omitting no particular, forgetting no incident, 
 and referring every now and then to Zach Fren for corrobo- 
 ration. He even told in due order of the operations in 
 Torres Strait, in the Arafura Sea, at Melville and Bathurst 
 Islands, among the archipelagoes of Tasman Land, 
 although they had been useless. ' But Mrs. Branican was 
 interested in these details, and listened in silence, and fixed 
 on the captain a look which her eyelids did not veil for an 
 instant. 
 
 When the recital reached the episodes on Browse Island, 
 it had to account for every hour and every minute after 
 the Dolly Hope had seen the flagstaff on the cape. Mrs.' 
 Branican, without moving, but with just a slight trembling 
 of the hands, saw in these different incidents, as if they 
 were reproduced before her eyes, the landing of Captain 
 Ellis and his men at the mouth' of the creek, the ascent of 
 the knoll, the blade of the cutlass picked up off the ground, 
 the traces of cultivation, the abandoned pickaxe, the 
 beach with the fragments of wreckage, the remains of the 
 Franklin among the heap of rocks where it could only 
 have been driven by the most violent of storms, the cave 
 which the survivors had inhabited, the discovery of the 
 four graves, the skeleton of the last of the survivors at the 
 foot of the flagstaff near the alarm bell. At this moment 
 Dolly rose as though she heard the sound of the bell amid 
 the solitudes of Prospect House; 
 
 And then Captain Ellis, drawing from his pocket a locket 
 rusted with being in the water, presented it to her. 
 
 It was Dolly's portrait, a half-faded photograph she 
 
1 56 Mistress Branican. 
 
 had given to John at the FranMin's deiparture, and which 
 a fresh search had discovered in a dark corner of the cave.' 
 
 And if this locket showed that Captain John was one 
 of the five survivors, was it not to be concluded that he 
 was one of those who had succumbed to the long misery 
 of destitution and abandonment ? 
 
 The chart of the Australian seas was spread out on thfe 
 table, the chart on which for seven years Dolly had so 
 often , evoked the memory of John. She asked the 
 Captain to show her Browse Island, that point hardly per- 
 ceptible, lost in the regions swept by the typhoons of the 
 Indian Ocean, -W . ' > 
 
 " If we had arrived there a few years earl'i^r,""^a'dded 
 Captain Ellis, " we might have found them still alive — 
 John — his companions." 
 
 "Yes, maybej" said Mr. William Andrew', "and the 
 Bo/Iy Hope should have gone there on •'her first cruise. 
 But who would have thought that the Franklin had bfeen 
 lost on an island in the Indian Ocean ?" 
 
 " No one," said Captain Ellis, " considering the course 
 he should have followed, and which he did follow, since 
 the Franklin was seen- to the south of Celebes. Captain 
 Branican must have lost control of his ship, which must 
 have been borne through one of the Sunda Straits into the 
 Timor Sea and driven on Browse Island." ' 
 
 " There is no doubt," said Zach Ffen, " that that is what 
 happened." 
 
 " Captain Ellis," said Mrs. Branican, " in looking for the 
 Franklin in the seas of Malaysia you did what you ought 
 to have done. Bilt it was to Browse Island that you 
 should have gone first. Yes, it was thefe ! "" ' ' ' '' 
 
 Then taking part in the conversation, as if she wished 
 to draw some hope from the figures, she said, — 
 
 "On board the Franklin there wei-e Captain Johnj the 
 mate Harry Felton, and twelve "sailors. You found on the 
 island the remains of four men who had been buried, and 
 the last died at the foot of the flagstaff; What do yon 
 think had become of the nine others?" 
 
Living Wreckage. 157 
 
 " We do not know," said Captain Ellis; 
 
 "Yes, I know," said IVlrs. Branican ; " but what do you 
 t/iink became of them ? " 
 
 " Perhaps they perished when the Franklin struck on 
 the reefs of the island." 
 
 " You admit, then, that only five survived the wreck ? " 
 
 "Thatj unfortunately, is the most probable explanation,' 
 added Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 "That is not my opinion," said Mrs. Branican. "Why 
 should not John, Felton, and tvvelve men have reached 
 Browse Island safe and sound ? Why should not nine of 
 them have left it afterwards .■" " 
 
 " And how, Mrs. Branican ? " said Captain Ellis. 
 
 " In a sloop built from the remains of the ship." 
 
 " Mrs. Branican," said Captain Ellis, " Zach Fren will 
 tell you, as I do, that in the state in which we found those 
 remains, it appeared to us to be impossible." 
 
 " But, one of their boats ? " 
 
 " Tile boats of the Frank/in, even supposing they were 
 not all broken, could never have ventured a passage to the 
 Australian coast or to the Sunda Inlands." 
 
 "And, besides," said Mr. William Andrew, "if nine of 
 the men left the island, why did the five renia:in behind ? " 
 
 " 1 add," said Captain Ellis, " that if they had any boat 
 at all at' their d'sposal, those who went away in her perished 
 at sea or were the victims of the Australian aborigines, for 
 they Jiave never been heard of." 
 
 Then Mrs.' Branican, without showing a symptom of 
 weakness, asked the boatswain,—" Zach Fren," said she, 
 " do 3 ou.think as:Captain Ellis thinks ? " 
 
 " I think," said Zach Fren, shaking his head, " that 
 though it is possible for things to have been as he says, 
 it is also possible for them tohave been otherwise." 
 
 " And," said Mrs. Branican, " my opinion is that we have 
 no absolute certainty as to what has become of the nine 
 men whose remains were not found on the island. You 
 and your crew. Captain Ellis, have done all th"*! the most 
 intrepid devotion could di>." 
 
iS8 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " I should have liked to have done more, Mrs. Brani- 
 can." ' 
 
 " We will now leave you," said Mr. William Andrew, 
 thinking the interview had lasted long enough. 
 
 " Yes, my friend/' said Mrs. Branican, " I want to be 
 alone. But whenever Captain Ellis , likes to come to 
 Prospect House, I shall be happy to have a talk with him 
 about John and his companions." 
 
 " I am. always at your orders," said the captain. 
 
 " And you also, Zach Fren," added Mrs. Branican ; " do 
 not forget that my house is yours." 
 
 " Mine ? " said the boatswain, "but what will become of 
 the Bo/fy Nope?" 
 
 " The' Doi/f Hajtef" said Mrs. Branican, as if this ques- 
 tion wa9 of no importance. 
 
 " Your idea, my dear Dolly," said Mr. William Andrew, 
 " is that, if an opportunity offers, of selling her ? " 
 
 " Selling her ? " answered Mrs. Branican, sharply, " scll- 
 ing.her ? No, Mr. Andrew, never." 
 
 Mrs. Branican and Zach Fren had exchanged looks ; 
 they understood each other. 
 
 From this day forwards Dolly lived in great retirement 
 at Prospect House, where she had had brought the few 
 things collected on Browse Island — the ship's lamp, the 
 utensils, the fragment of canvas nailed to the flagstaff, 
 the bell of the Franklin, &c. 
 
 The Dolly Hope was taken to the end of the harbour 
 and laid up in'charge of Zach Fren. The crew, well paid, 
 were beyond reach of want for the future; but if ever 
 the Dolly Hope went to sea on another expedition, they 
 might be reckoned on. 
 
 Zach Fren did not forget to go often to Prospect House. 
 Mrs". Branican was pleased to see him, to talk with him, to 
 hear in detail all the incidents of his last cruise. Besides, 
 the same way of looking at things made them understand 
 one another better day by day ; they did not believe that 
 the last word had been said concerning the wreck of the 
 Franklin, and Dolly would say to the boatswain,— 
 
Living Wreckage. 159 
 
 "Zach Fren, neither John nor his companions are 
 dead." 
 
 " The eight ? — that I don't know," the boatswain would 
 answer, " but certainly Captain John is living ! " 
 
 " Yes ! Living ! And where shall we go and look for 
 him, Zach Fren ? Where is he, my poor John ? " 
 
 " He is where he is, and nowhere else, Mrs. Branican ; 
 and if we do not go there, we shall get news of him. I 
 do not say it will be by post and a prepaid letter ; but we 
 shall receive it all right." 
 
 " John is living, Zach Fren ! " 
 
 " If he were not, Mrs. Branican, should I ever have 
 been able to save you ? Would Heaven have permitted it ? 
 N6. That would have been too bad." 
 
 And Zach Fren, with his manner of saying things,, and 
 Mrs. Branican, with the obstinacy of her character, agreed 
 to encourage a hope that neither Mr. William Andrew, 
 nor Captain Ellis, nor any of their friends could continue 
 to hold. 
 
 During 1883 nothing happened to direct public atten- 
 tion to the matter of the Franklin. Captain Ellis, in 
 command of one of Andrews' ships, was again at sea. 
 Mr. William Andrew and Zach Fren were the only visitors 
 received at the chalet, and Mrs. Branican devoted herself 
 entirely to her work at Wat House. 
 
 Now, about fifty poor children, some of them quite 
 young, were being brought up in this asylum, which Mrs. 
 Branican visited every day, looking after their health, their 
 instruction, and their future.' The ample funds at the 
 disposal of Wat House allowed of the children being as 
 happy and comfortable as children could be who had lost 
 father and mother. When they reached an age at which 
 they could be apprenticed, Dolly placed them in the work- 
 shops and business houses of San Diego, where she con- 
 tinued to watch over them. This year, three or four sons 
 of sailors had gone to sea under honest captains. . Begin- 
 ning as cabin boys, they would become apprentices between 
 thirteen and eighteen years of age, then seamen, then 
 
iGo Mistress Branican. 
 
 boatswains, and, in this way, would be assured of a good 
 trade for their manhood and a retreat in their old age. 
 And thus the Asylum of Wat House was destined to be- 
 come the nursery of the sailors who are an honour to 
 the population of San Diego and the other ports of Cali- 
 fornia. 
 
 In addition to these occupations, Mrs. Branican did not 
 cease from being the benefactress of the poor. No one 
 knocked in vain at the door of Prospect House. With 
 the considerable income from her fortune, as controlled by 
 Mr. William Andrew, she engaged in every good work, 
 in which the fa.milics of the sailors of the Franklin had 
 the greatest share. And did she not hope that these absent 
 ones would one day return ? 
 
 This was the one subject of her interviews with Zach 
 Fren. What had become of the castaways of whom there 
 was no trace on Browse Island ? Why could not they 
 have left it in a boat of their own making, although Cap- 
 tain Ellis thought otherwise } But so many years had 
 since elapsed that it was madness to hope. 
 
 At night, in sleep troubled by strange dreams, Dolly 
 would again and again see John appear to her. He had 
 been saved from shipwreck and picked up in distant seas. 
 The ship that was bringing him home was in the offing. 
 John was on his way back to San Diego ; and what was 
 most extraordinary was that these illusions would persist, 
 after she awoke, with such intensity that Dolly looked 
 upon them as realities. 
 
 And, in the same way, Zach Fren continued obstinate. 
 It might be thought that these ideas had been driven 
 into his brain with a mallet as trenails are driven into a 
 ship's frame. He also repeated that they had found five 
 castaways instead of fourteen, that the nine had left Browse 
 Island, and that no one could say it was impossible to 
 build a boat out of the remains of the Franklin. But 
 what had become of them after so long a time .? Zach 
 Fren could not say, and it was not without alarm that Mr. 
 William Andrew saw him encouraging Dolly in these illq- 
 
Living Wreckage, i6i 
 
 sions. Was it not to be feared that this excitement was 
 dangerous for a brain adready smitten with madness ? But 
 when Mr. William Andrew took the boatswain to task on 
 the subject, he only persisted in his ideas and said, — 
 
 " I will only swing to one anchor while its flukes are 
 strong and its hold good." 
 
 Several years went by. In 1890, fourteen years had 
 elapsed since Captain Branican and his Franklin had left 
 the port of San Diego^ Mrs. Branican was then aged 
 .thijty-sevcn. If her hair wqs going grey, if her warm 
 col^m- was beginning to fade, her eyes were animated with 
 the,same fire as before. It seemed she had lost nothing 
 of her bojdl'ly and n'lent-al strfength,i;bf the energy which 
 4jstinguishfdTher,„and she was .only uvyiaiting for an oppor- 
 timfty of giving fresh^roofs, pf it; ■ f 
 
 It was just as possible for her. as for Lady Franklin to 
 organize expedition after expedition, ; to spend her entire 
 fortune in seeking to recover John and his companions. 
 But where could she look for them? Was it not the 
 general opinion that the maritime drama had had the 
 same ending as the expedition of the illustrious British 
 admiral ? Had not the sailors of the Franklin succumbed 
 on Browse Island as had the sailors of the Erebus and 
 Terror in the ice of the Arctic seas ? 
 
 During the long years which had brought no unravelling 
 of the mysterious catastrophe, Mrs. Branican had not 
 ceased in her inquiries as to what had become of Len and 
 Jane Burker. On this point also there was absolutely no 
 proof. No letter had come to San Diego. Everything 
 seemed to show that Len Burker had left America and 
 was living under an assumed name in some foreign .country. 
 To Mrs. Branican this was a very great sorrow added to so 
 many others. This unfortunate woman, of whom she was 
 so fond, how happy would she be to have her near her. 
 Jane had been a devoted companion ; but she was far away 
 and none the less lost to Dolly than was Captain John. 
 
 The first six months of the year 1890 had gone by when 
 ^ San Diego newspaper reproduced in its number for the 
 
i62 Mistress Branican. 
 
 26th of July an item of news of which the effect ought to 
 have been, and was, immense, we may say, in both conti- 
 nents. 
 
 This news was quoted from the Sydney Morning Herald, 
 and the extract was as follows : — 
 
 " It will be remembered that the last rese'arches made 
 seven years ago by the Dolly Hope, with, the object of 
 rescuing the survivors of the Franklin, ended in failure. 
 Since then it has been supposed that the shipwrecked 
 crew had succumbed to the last man, either before reach- 
 ing Browse Island or after leaving it. The mystery is, 
 however, far from being solved. In fact, one ofthe officers 
 of the Franklin has just arrived in Sydney. This is Harry 
 Felton, the mate. He was met with on the banks of the 
 Parru, one of the affluents of the Darling, almost on the 
 frontier between New South Wales and Queensland, and 
 he has been brought to Sydney. But he is in so weak a 
 state that no information can be obtained from him, and 
 it is feared that his death may take place at any moment. 
 We give this information for the benefit of those interested 
 in the fate of the Franklin." 
 
 On the 27th of July, as soon as Mr. William Andrew 
 heard the news, which reached San Diego by telegraph, 
 he went to Prospect House, where Zach Fren happened to 
 be at the time. 
 
 Mrs. Branican was at once shown the paper, and the 
 only reply she made was, — 
 
 " I stait for Sydney." 
 
 " For Sydney ? " said Mr. William Andrew. 
 
 " Yes," answered Dolly, and turning to the boatswain, 
 she said, — 
 
 " Will you accompany me, Zach Fren ? " 
 
 " Wherever you go, Mrs. Branican." 
 
 " Is the Dolly Hope ready for sea ? " 
 
 " No," said Mr. William Andrew, " and it will take three 
 weeks to fit her out." 
 
 " Before three weeks I must be in Sydney," said Mrs. 
 Branican. " Is there a mail boat due out to Australia ?" 
 
Livii(^G Wreckage. 163 
 
 " The Oregon ought to leave San Francisco to-night." 
 
 "Zach Fren add I will be at San Francisco this 
 evening." 
 
 " My dear Dolly," said Mr. William Andrew, " may 
 Heaven give you back your husband ! " 
 
 " It will give him back to me." 
 
 That night, at eleven o'clock, a special train, ordered by 
 her, landed Mrs. Branican and Zach Fren in the capital of 
 California. 
 
 At one o'clock in the morning the Oregon left San 
 Francisco bound for Sydney, 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HARRY FELTON. 
 
 The steamer Oregon attained a mean speed of seventeen 
 knots during her passage, which was favoured with superb 
 weather — the usual weather in this part of the Pacific at 
 this period of the year. The gallant ship shared in the 
 impatience of Mrs. Branican, as Zach Fren said. We 
 need scarcely say that the officers, passengers, and crew 
 showed the brave woman that respectful sympathy of 
 which her misfortunes, and the energy with which she 
 bore them, made her so worthy. 
 
 When the Oregon was in 33° 51' south latitude, and 
 148° 40' east longitude, the look-outs reported land. On 
 the 15th of August, after a voyage of seven thousand 
 miles, made in nineteen days, the steamer entered Port 
 Jackson, between the high schistose cliffs forming the 
 great gate opening on to the Pacific. 
 
 Leaving to the right and left the little bays dotted with 
 villas and cottages, which bear the names of Watson, 
 Vaucluse, Rose, Double, Elizabeth, the Oregon passed 
 Sydney Cove and entered Darling Harbour, which is the 
 port of Sydney, and ran alongside the quay. 
 
 To the first person who came on board — one of the 
 custom-house officers — Mrs. Branican said, — 
 " Harry Felton .? " 
 
 " He is alive," answered the officer, who had recognized 
 Mrs. Branican. 
 
 Did not all Sydney know she was on board the Oregon^ 
 and was not she expected with the greatest impatience ? 
 
'I he steamer ciuered Tort Jackson. 
 
Harry Felton. 165 
 
 " Where is Harry Felton ?" she asked, 
 
 " At the Marine Hospital." 
 
 Mrs. Branican, followed by Zach Fren, at once went 
 ashore. The crowd received her with the same defeience 
 with which she was greeted at San Diego, and which she 
 met with everywhere. 
 
 A carriage took them to the Marine Hospitalj where 
 they were received by the doctor on duty. 
 
 "Can Harry Felton speak? Is he conscious ?" asked 
 Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " No, madam," said the doctor. " The unfortunate 
 man has not yet recognized any one. It seems that he 
 cannot speak. Death may intervene at any time." 
 
 " Harry Felton must not die ! " said Mrs. Branican. 
 " He alone knows if Captain John or any of his com- 
 panions are still alive. He alone knows where they are ! 
 I have come to see Harry Felton." 
 
 " I will take you to him at once," said the doctor. 
 
 A few moments afterwards Mrs. Branican and Zach 
 Fren were in the room occupied by Harry Felton. 
 
 Six weeks before, some travellers were crossing the 
 country of Ularara in New South Wales, on the lower 
 boundary of Queensland. Reaching the left bank of the 
 Parru River, they saw a man lying at the foot of a tree. 
 Covered with clothes in rags, exhausted by privations, 
 broken down by fatigue, this man could not be brought 
 back to consciousness, and if his certificate as officer of the 
 mercantile marine had not been found in one of his pockets, 
 it would probably never have been known who he was. 
 
 It was Harry Felton, the mate oi the Frankli7i. Where 
 did he come from ? From what distant and unknown 
 part of the Australian continent had he set out ? How 
 long had he been wandering in the dreadful deserts of the 
 centre of Australia ? Had he been a prisoner of the 
 natives, and had he escaped .' If any of his companions 
 remained, where had he left them ? Was he the sole sur- 
 vivor of a disaster now fourteen years old .' All these 
 questions had, up to the present, remained without reply. 
 
 M 
 
i(!6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 But it was a matter of considerable interest to know 
 where Hany Felton came from, what his life had been 
 since the wreck of the Franklin on the reefs of Browse 
 Island — to know, in fact, the last word of this cata- 
 strophe. 
 
 Harry Felton was taken to the nearest station, that oj 
 Oxley, from which the railway brought him to Sydney. 
 The Sydney Morning Herald, having the first news of his 
 arrival, made it the, subject of the paragraph we know, 
 adding that the mate of the Franklin had not up to then 
 been able to reply to the questions put to him. 
 
 And now Mrs. Branican was before Harry Felton, whom 
 she would not have recognized. He was but forty-six 
 years of age then, and he looked quite sixty. And this 
 was the only man^ — almost a corpse — who could say what 
 had become of Captain John and his crew. 
 
 The most assiduous care had been unable to ameliorate 
 Harry Feltoa's condition — a condition evidently due to 
 the terrible fatigues he had suffered during the weeks,, 
 during the months, perhaps, that his journey across Central 
 Australia had lasted. The breath of life which still 
 re nained to him a fainting fit might deprive him of at any 
 moment. Since he had been in the ho.spital he had hardly 
 opened his eyes, and it was doubtful if he knew what was 
 go'ng on around him. He was supported by a little food, 
 and this he did not even seem to notice. It was to be 
 feared that excessive suffering might have annihilated his 
 intellectual faculties, and destroyed in him the working of 
 his memory, on which, perhaps, the safety of the castaways 
 depended. 
 
 Mrs. Branican sat downat his bedside, watching his look, 
 for a movement of his eyelids, the murmur of his voice, or 
 the least indication it would be possible to seize. Zach 
 Fren stood near her, alert for any spark of intelligence, 
 like a sailor looking for a light through the mist on the 
 horizon. 
 
 But the light did not shine neither that day nor the fol- 
 Itawirg day. Harry Felton's eyelids remained obstinately 
 
Harry Felton. 167 
 
 closed, and when Dolly lifted them she found only a look 
 of unconsciousness. 
 
 But she did not despair, neither did Zach Fren, who 
 said to her, — 
 
 " If Harry Felton recognizes his captain's wife, he will 
 know how to make her understand, even though he may 
 not speak," 
 
 Yes ! It was important that he should recognize Mrs. 
 Branican, and that, perhaps, might have a good effect on 
 him. And things would have to be managed with great 
 prudence while he was becoming accustomed to Dolly's 
 presence. Little by little the recollection of the Franklin 
 would return to his memory. He might express in signs 
 what he could not say. 
 
 Although she was advised not to remain shut up in 
 Harry Felton's room, Mrs. Branican refused to take an 
 hour's rest or even go out for a breath of fresh air. She 
 would not leave his bedside. 
 
 " Harry Felton may die, and if the only word I am wait- 
 ing for escapes with his last breath, I must be here to hear 
 it. I will not leave him." 
 
 Towards the evening a slight improvement seemed to 
 take place. His eyes opened several times, but they did 
 not look towards Mrs. Branican. And yet she leant over 
 him and called him by his name, and repeated the name 
 of John — of the captain of the Franklin — of San Diego ! 
 How was it these names did not recall to him the recollec- 
 tion of his companions .? A word, he was only asked for 
 one word — Living ? Were they alive ? 
 
 And all that Harry Felton had had to suffer before 
 coming there, Dolly said to herself, that John had suffered 
 also. Then the thought came to her that John had fallen 
 on the way. But, no. John had not followed Harry 
 Felton. He remained there with the others. Where .' 
 Was it with a tribe of the Australian coast ? What was 
 this tribe ? Harry Felton alone could say, and it seemed 
 that his intelligence was annihilated, that his lips had 
 forgotten how to speak. 
 
i68 Mistress Branican. 
 
 During the night his weakness increased. His eyes did 
 not open again, his hand grew cold as if the little life that 
 remained to him had retreated towards his heart. Was 
 he, then, going to die without saying a word ? And it 
 entered Dolly's mind that she also had lost her memory 
 and her reason for several years. As nothing could be 
 obtained from her then, nothing could be obtained from 
 this man — nothing of what he alone knew. 
 
 The day came. The doctor, very uneasy at the state 
 of prostration, tried the most powerful remedies, which 
 produced no effect. Harry Felton would die, and then 
 Mrs. Branican would see, lost in the void, the hopes 
 that his return had led her to 'ctmceive/ ^-To ?tjhe . light 
 he might have brought, there would succeed, a darkness 
 nothing could dissipate ! And then all would be ended ! 
 
 At Dolly's request the principal doctors of the city were 
 gathered in consultation. But after examining the patient 
 they declared themselves powerless. 
 
 " You can do nothing for this unhappy man ? " 
 
 " Nothing," said one of the doctors,,.,. - 
 
 " Not even a minute of intelligence, a minute of 
 memory ? " 
 
 And for that minute Mrs. Branican would have paid her 
 whole fortune. 
 
 But what is not in the power of man is always in the 
 power of God. It is to Him man should go when human 
 resources fail. 
 
 As soon as the doctors had gone Dolly knelt, and when 
 Zach Fren returned he found her in prayer by the side of 
 the dying man. 
 
 Suddenly Zach Fren, who had bent over him to see if a 
 breath escaped from his lips, exclaimed, — 
 
 " Look ! " 
 
 Dolly, thinking the boatswain had found that life had 
 gone, rose and murmured, — ■ 
 
 ••■ Dead ? " 
 
 "No, no! Look, His eyes are open. He is looking 
 at us," 
 
Harry Felton. 169 
 
 Under the raised eyelids Harry Felton's eyes were shin- 
 ing with extraordinary brightness. His face had slightly 
 regained its colour, and his hands moved. He seemed to 
 liave come out of the torpor in which he had been plunged 
 for so long. And as he looked at Mrs. Branican, a sort of 
 smile played round his lips. 
 
 " He has recognized me ! " exclaimed Dolly. 
 
 " Yes 1 " said Zach Fren. " His captain's wife is near 
 him, and he knows it. He is going to speak ! " 
 
 " And if he cannot, may God grant he may make him- 
 self understood." 
 
 And taking his hand, which feebly returned her pres- 
 sure, DoJly went near to him. 
 
 "John ? John ?" she said. 
 
 A movement of the eyes indicated that Harry Felton 
 had heard her and understood. 
 
 " Living ? " she asked. 
 
 *'Yes!" 
 
 And this "Yes," so feebly uttered, Dolly had heard 
 distinctly. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 BY " YES " AND " NO." 
 
 Mrs. Branican at once called the doctor, who saw well 
 enough that, in spite of the change in the patient's state 
 of intelligence, it was only a last manifestation of life, and 
 that death was near. 
 
 But the dying man seemed only to see Mrs. Branican. 
 Neither Zach Frcn nor the doctor attracted his attention. 
 All that remained of the strength of his intellect was 
 concentrated on his captain's wife. 
 
 "Harry Felton," asked Mrs. Branican, "if John is alive 
 where did you leave him ? Where is he ? " 
 
 Harry Felton did not reply. 
 
 " He cannot speak," said the doctor, " but he might 
 answer by a sign." 
 
 " If even by a look I would understand him," said Mrs, 
 Branican. 
 
 " Listen ! " said Zach Fren ; " the questions ought to be 
 put to him in a certain way, and, as we understand each 
 other as sailors, let me put them. Let Mrs. Branican hold 
 Felton's hand and not take her eyes off his. I will ask him. 
 We will see ' yes ' or ' no ' by his eyes, and that will do." 
 
 Mrs. Branican leant over Harry Felton and took his 
 hand. 
 
 If Zach Fren had, at the outset, asked him where Cap- 
 tain John was to be found, it would have been impossible 
 to obtain a satisfactory reply, as that would have obliged 
 Harry Felton to mention the name of a country, a county, 
 or a town, which he probably could not do. Better to 
 arrivo gradually at the information by taking up the 
 
By "Yes'* and "No." 171 
 
 history of the Franklin from the day she had been last 
 seen until the day Harry Felton had become separated 
 from John Branican. 
 
 "Felton," said Zach Fren, in a clear voice, "you have 
 near you Mrs. Branican, the wife of John Branican, the 
 captain of the Franklin. You have recognized her? " 
 
 Felton's lips did not move, but a movement of his eye- 
 brows, a feeble pressure of the hand, replied affirmatively. 
 
 "The Franklin" said Zach Fren, "was last reported 
 south of the island of Celebes. You understand me. 
 You understand me, Felton, do you not ? " 
 
 Another look of affirmation. 
 
 " Well," continued Zach Fren, " listen to me, and, ac- 
 cording as you open or shut yOur eyes, I shall know if 
 what I am saying is right or wrong." 
 
 There was no doubt that Felton understood what Zach 
 Fren said. 
 
 " When he left the Sea of Java, Captain John went into 
 the Timor Sea ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " By the Straits of Sunda ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Of his own free will ? " 
 
 This question was followed by a negative sign of which 
 there could be no doubt. 
 
 " No," said Zach Fren. 
 
 And this was what Captain Ellis had always thought. 
 For the Franklin to leave the Java Sea for the Timor Sea 
 she must have been obliged to do so. 
 
 " It was in a storm ? " asked Zach Fren.' 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " A violent tornado caught you in .the Java Sea ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And drove you through the Straits of Sunda ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Perhaps the Franklin was disabled and dismasted, her 
 rudder gone?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
t72 Mistress BraKIcaM. 
 
 Mrs. Eranican, with licr eyes fixed on Hafry Feltotl, 
 iooked at him without saying a word. 
 
 Zach Fren, wishing to run through the different phases 
 of the catastrophe, continued in these terms : — 
 
 "Captain John having been unable to tal<e an observa- 
 tion for some days, did not know his position .'' " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And after being swept for some days to the westward 
 in Timor Sea, he was lost on the reefs of Broivse Island.'" 
 
 A slight movement showed the surprise of Harry Felton, 
 who evidently did not know the name of the island on 
 which the Franklin had been wrecked, and which no ob- 
 servation had enabled him to fix the position of in the 
 Timor Sea. 
 
 Zach Fren continued, — 
 
 " When you left San Diego you had Captain John, your- 
 self, and twelve men, fourteen in all. Were you fourteen 
 after the wreck ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Some of the men perished, then, when the ship was 
 cast on the rocks ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " One ?— two ? " 
 
 An affirmative sign approved of this las^ number. So 
 two sailors were missing when the men set foot on Browse 
 Island. 
 
 At this moment, at the doctor's advice, a little rest was 
 given Harry Felton, whom the interrogation was visibly 
 tiring. 
 
 Then the questions having been resumed a few minutes 
 afterwards, Zach Fren obtained information as to the way 
 in which the twelve survivors had provided for the means 
 of their subsistence. Without a part of the cargo, con- 
 sisting of preserves and flour, which had been washed 
 ashore, and without fishing, which became one of their 
 chief resources, the castaways would have died of hunger. 
 They had only very rarely seen -ships pass out at sea off 
 the island. Their flag on the mast was never noticed, and 
 
By "Yes" and "No." 173 
 
 they had no other chance of safety beyond this of a vessel 
 taking them off. 
 
 When Zach Fren asked, — 
 
 " How long did you live on Browse Island ? One year .' 
 ■ — two years ? — three years ? — six years .■' " 
 
 It was to the last that Fclton answered "yes" with a 
 look. 
 
 And so from 1875 to 1881 Captain John and his com- 
 panions had lived on this island. But how did they 
 manage to leave it ? That was one of the most interesting 
 points which Zach Fren entered upon when he a.^ked, — • 
 
 " Did you build a boat with the remains of the ship ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 This is what Captain Ellis and the boatswain had agreed 
 when they were exploring the site of the shipwreck. • It 
 would not have been possible to build even a canoe with 
 such fragments. 
 
 Arrived at this point, Zach Fren was rather embarrassed 
 as to the questions he should ask as to the way the men 
 had left Browse Island. 
 
 " You say," he said, " that no ship answered your 
 signals ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Did a Malay proah, or a native Australian boat, come 
 to the island .? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Then a ship's boat came to the island ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Was the boat adrift ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 This point was cleared up at last, It was easy for ^ach 
 .Fren to deduce the natural consequences. 
 
 " Did you make the boat seaworthy ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And Captain John used it to reach the nearest coast 
 to leeward ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 But why had not the captain and all his companions 
 
1/4 Mistress Branican. 
 
 embarked in this boat ? That was what it was Importattt 
 to know. 
 
 " Doubtless the boat was too small to take twelve pas- 
 sengers ? " asked Zach Fren. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And seven of you went away — Captajta John, you, and 
 five men ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 And then they could clearly read in the dying man's 
 look that he thought they could still save those who 
 remained on Browse Island. 
 
 But, at a sign from Dolly, Zach Fren abstained froni 
 saying that the five sailors had succumbed after the cap- 
 tain's departure. 
 
 »A few minutes' rest was given to Harry Felton, whose 
 eyes remained closed, while his hand continued to clasp 
 Mrs. Branican's. 
 
 And then her thoughts carried her to Browse Island, and 
 she took part in these scenes. She saw John trying even 
 the impossible for the safety of his companions. She 
 heard him, he spoke to her, she encouraged him, she took 
 passage with him. Where had this boat.come ashore ? 
 
 Harry Felton's eyes opened again, and Zach Fren began 
 to question him. 
 
 "Then Captain John, you, and five men left Browse 
 Island ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " And the boat headed eastwards for the nearest land to 
 the island ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " The land was Australia ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Was she driven ashore by a storm during the voy- 
 age?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "You landed in one of the creeks on the Australian 
 coast > " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
By "Yes" and "No." 175 
 
 " In the neighbourhood of Cape Leveque ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 « Perhaps in York Sound ? " ' 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "As you landed did you fall into the hands of the 
 natives ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And they took you away with them ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "All?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Some of you perished as you landed ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Massacred by the aborigines ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " One ?— two ?— three ?— four ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " There were only three, then, that the Australians took 
 into the interior ? '\ 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Captain John, you, and one of the sailors .' " 
 
 "Yes." ^ > 
 
 " And this sailor, is he still with the captain ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " He died before you left .' " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " A long time ago ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 And so Captain John and Harry Felton were actually 
 the only survivors of the Franklin, and now one of these 
 had but a few hours to live. 
 
 It was not easy to obtain from Harry Felton informa- 
 tion concerning Captain John, information it was desirable 
 to have with extreme precision. More than once Zach 
 Fren had to pause in his examination 5 then, when he re- 
 sumed it, Mrs. Branican asked questions on questions, so as 
 to know what had passed during the nine years, that is to 
 say, since the day Captain John and Harry Felton had 
 
1^6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 been carried off by tlie aborigines of the coast. In this 
 way they learnt what the Australian nomads were doing. 
 The prisoners had had to accompany them during their 
 incessant peregrinations through the regions of Tasman 
 La,nd, while leading a most miserable existence. Why 
 had they been spared ? Was it to obtain some services 
 from them, or, if occasion offered, to obtain a high ransom 
 for them from the English authorities ? Yes, arid this last 
 important fact was definitely confirmed by Harry Felton. 
 It was only an affair of ransom if they could reach the 
 natives. A few other questions gave them to understand 
 that Captain John and Harry Felton had been so Well 
 watched during the nine years that they had not had a 
 single opportunity for flight. • ■ .r 
 
 At last a chance presented itself. A place had been 
 chosen where the two prisoners -could ifteet ' and escape 
 together; but some circumstance, unknown to Harry 
 Felton, had prevented Captain John from coming to the 
 rendezvous. Harry Felton had waited several days ; .not 
 wishing to escape alone, he had sought to rejoin the tribe, 
 but it had moved off; then, resolved to deliver his cap- 
 tain if he could reach one of the villages of the interior, 
 he had set out across the central regions, hiding to avoid 
 falling again into the hands of the blacks, exhausted by 
 the heat, dying of hunger arid, fatigue. For six months he 
 had wandered until he had fallen unconscious on the 
 banks of the Parru. 
 
 There, as we know, he was recognized by the papcrs'he 
 had on- him ; from there he had beenbrbught to Sydriey, 
 where his life had been proloflged as if by a miracle, so 
 that he might tell them what, for so many years, they had 
 in vain sought to know. 
 
 And so Captain John still lived ; but he was a prisoner 
 of a nomad tribe which wandered in the deserts of Tasman 
 Land. 
 
 And when Zach Fren had mentioned the different 
 names of the tribes which frequent these territories, it was 
 the Indas to which Harry Felton replied by the aflirma- 
 
Uncoiiiciuus on the I auks of the Parru, 
 
By "Yes" and "No." 177 
 
 tive sign, Zach Fren even managed to learn that in the 
 vyinter this tribe usually camped on the banks of the 
 Fitzroy River, one of the streaims running into Leveque 
 Gulf, on the north-west of the Australian continent. 
 
 " There we will go and look for John ! " exclaimed Mrs. 
 Branican, " and there we shall find him." 
 
 And Harry Felton understood her, for his look grew 
 animated at the thought that his captain would at last be 
 saved — saved by her. 
 
 Harry Felton had now accomplished his mission. Mrs. 
 Branican knew to what part of the Australian continent 
 her investigation's should be directed. And he closed his 
 eyes, having no more to say. 
 
 And that was the state to which had been reduced this 
 man, so courageous and robust, by fatigue and privation, and 
 chiefly by the terrible influence of the Australian climate, 
 and, for having braved it, he was about to succumb when 
 his miseries were near their end. Did not this await 
 Captain John if he attempted to escape across the solitudes 
 of Central Australia ? And did not the same dangers 
 menace those who went in search of this tribe of the 
 Indas ? 
 
 But this thought never occurred to the mind of Mrs. 
 Branican. While the Oregon bore her towards the Aus- 
 tralian continent she had conceived and organized the 
 project of a new campaign ; she would now put it into 
 execution. 
 
 Harry Felton died at nine o'clock that night. For the 
 last time Dolly had called him by his name. For the 
 last time he had understood her. His eyes opened and 
 this name escaped his lips — "John ! John ! " 
 
 Then the rattle came in his throat, and his heart ceased 
 to beat. 
 
 That night as Mrs. Branican left the hcspital she was 
 spoken to by a boy who was waiting at the door. 
 
 He was an apprentice in the merchant service, employed 
 on the Brisba7ie, one of the mail boats running between 
 Sydney and Adelaide, 
 
1 78 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " Mrs. Branican ! " said he, in a troubled voice. 
 
 " What do you want, my child ? " answered Dclly. 
 ■" Is Harry Felton dead ?" 
 
 " He is dead." 
 
 "And Captain John ?" 
 
 " He is alive ; yes, alive ! " 
 
 " Thank you, Mrs. Branican," said tlic apprentice. 
 
 Dolly hardly noticed the features of the boy, who went 
 off without saying who he was or why he asked the 
 question. 
 
 Next day Harry Felton was buried, and the sailors of 
 the port and a part of the population of Sydney attended 
 the funeral. 
 
 Mrs. Branican took her place behind the coffin, and 
 followed to the grave him who had been the devoted com- 
 panion and faithful friend of Captain John ; and near her 
 walked the young apprentice, whom she did not recognize 
 among the crowd who had come to render the last honours 
 to the mate of the Franklin, 
 
 END OF THE FIRST TART. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON THE VOYAGE. 
 
 From the day M. de Lesseps severed the Isthmus of Suez 
 it may be said that he made an island of the African con- 
 tinent. When the Panama Canal is finished, it will be 
 quite as correct to say the same of North and South 
 America. In fact, these immense territories are sur- 
 rounded by water ; but as they retain the name of con- 
 tinentf owing to their extent, it is logical to apply the 
 description to Australia, or New Holland, which is simi- 
 larly circumstanced. 
 ■ Australia measures three thousand nine hundred kilo- 
 metres in its greatest length from east to west, and three 
 thousand two hundred in its greatest width from north to 
 south. The product of these two dimensions yields an 
 area of about four million eight hundred and thirty thou- 
 sand square kilometres — about seven-ninths of the area of 
 Europe. 
 
 The Australian continent is divided by the compilers of 
 the most recent atlases into seven provinces, separated by 
 arbitrary lines cutting each other at right angles, and 
 taking no notice whatever of orographic or hydrographic 
 conditions. 
 
 On the east, in the most populated part, are Queensland 
 with its capital at Brisbane, New South Wales with its 
 capital at Sydney, Victoria with its capital at Melbourne. 
 
 In the middle are Northern Australia and Alexandra 
 
 N 
 
i8o Mistress Branican. 
 
 Land, without capitals, and Southern Australia with Its 
 capital at Adelaide. 
 
 On the west is Western Australia, extending from 
 north to south, with its capital at Perth. 
 
 It will soon be seen in what provinces, the most dan- 
 gerous and least known of any on the continent, Mrs. 
 Branican was about to adventure with that hope so vague, 
 that thought almost unrealizable, of finding Captain John 
 and rescuing him from the tribe who had kept him prisoner 
 for nine years. And besides, was there not good reason 
 to ask if th*e Indas had respected his life after the escape 
 of Harry Felton ? 
 
 Mrs. Branican's plan was to leave Sydney as soon as 
 possible. She could reckon on the boundless devotion of 
 Zach Fren, on the solid practical intelligence which charac- 
 terized this confident, resolute man.. In along interview, 
 with the map of Australia before them, they had discussed 
 the promptest and most efficient measures to be taken 
 to assure the success of this new attempt. The choice 
 of the point of departure was, it will be understood, of 
 extreme importance, and this is what was finally decided 
 upon : — 
 
 1. A caravan provided with the best means of search 
 and defence, and with everything required for a journey 
 across the deserts of Central Australia, would be organized 
 at the cost and by the effort of Mrs. Branican. 
 
 2. The expedition should start as soon as possible, 
 and to enable this to be done it was advisable to take it by 
 the quickest roads, either on land or sea, to the terminus of 
 the existing communications between the coast and the 
 interior of the continent. 
 
 In the first place, the question of reaching the north- 
 west coast, that is, the part of Tasman Land where the 
 Franklin's men had landed, was submitted and debated. 
 But this roundabout way would have occasioned loss 
 of time, and caused certain serious difficulties for the 
 staff and material — and the staff would be numerous and 
 the material considerable. -In short, there was nothing to 
 
On the Voyage. i8i 
 
 show that in attacking the Australian continent on the 
 west the expedition would more surely and more promptly 
 meet with the tribe which held Captain John Branican 
 prisoner ; for the nomad aborigines wander in Alexandra 
 Land as they do in the districts of Western Australia. And 
 consequently the question was replied to in the negative. 
 
 In the second place they discussed the direction it was 
 advisable to take at the outset of the campaign ; this was 
 evidently that which Harry Felton had had to follow 
 during his crossing of central Australia. Though this 
 direction was not known exactly, it was at least indicated 
 by the point where the mate of the Franklin had been dis- 
 covered, that is to say, on the banks of the Parru at the 
 boundary between Queensland and New South Wales, and 
 in the north-west of the latter province. 
 
 Since 1770 — the period at which Captain Cook explored- 
 New South Wales and took possession, in the name of the 
 King of England, of the continent already discovered by 
 the Portuguese Manuel Godenbho and the Dutchmen 
 Verschoor, Hartog, Carpenter and Tasman — its eastern 
 part has been largely colonized, developed, civilizjd. It 
 was in 1787 that, when Pitt was prime minister, Commo- 
 dore Phillip founded the convic? settlement of Botany Bay, 
 from V. hich in less than a century there was to come a 
 nation of more than three millions of people. Of all that 
 goes to form the greatness and wealth of a country nothing 
 is missing in that part of the continent j there are roads, 
 canals, railways, connecting the innumerable districts of 
 Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Aus- 
 tralia ; and lines of steamboats ply from port to port on the 
 coast. 
 
 Mrs. Branican was in Sydney, and this rich and populous 
 capital would have afforded her all the resources required 
 for the organization of the caravan, particularly as before 
 leaving San Diego she had opened an account through Mr. 
 William Andrew with the Central Australian Bank. She 
 could easily have obtained the men, vehicles, saddle-horses, 
 draught horses, and pack-horses required by an Australian 
 
i82 Mistress Branican. 
 
 expedition, even for one right across from east to west, a 
 journey of two thousand two hundred miles. But ougiit 
 Sydney to be the point of departure ? 
 
 All things considered, and chiefly at the advice of the 
 American consul, who was well up to date in Australian 
 geography, Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, 
 appeared more suitable as the base of operations. Follow- 
 ing the telegraph line, which extends from Adelaide to 
 the gulf of Van Diemen, that is to say, from south to 
 north, close along the hundred and thirty-ninth meridian, 
 the engineers had laid the first part of a railway which 
 extends beyond the latitude reached by Harry Felton. 
 This railway would permit of the expedition penetrating 
 further and more quickly into those regions of Alexandra 
 Land and Western Australia which few travellers had yet 
 reached. 
 
 And so this third expedition in search of Captain John 
 would be organized at Adelaide and taken as far as the 
 railway ran, about four hundred miles to the northward. 
 
 And now in what way should Mrs. Branican travel from 
 Sydney to Adelaide ? If there had been a railroad with- 
 out a break between the two capitals, there would have 
 been no reason for hesitation. . A railroad does exist 
 crossing the Murray on the Victorian frontier at Albury, 
 and continuing by Benalla and Kilmore to Melbourne, 
 and then on towards Adelaide ; but it stops at Horsham, 
 and beyond that the break in the line would have caused 
 long delays. 
 
 And so Mrs. Branican decided to go to Adelaide by sea. 
 This was a four days' voyage, and, adding forty-eight 
 hours for the stoppage the boats make at Melbourne, she 
 would reach the capital of South Australia after a six 
 days' journey along the coast. It is true that it was now 
 August, which corresponds to February in the northern 
 hemisphere. But the weather was calm and the wind in 
 the north-west, so that the steamer would be under the 
 shelter of the coast as soon as she was through Bass's 
 Straits, And besides, as she had come from San Francisco 
 
On the Voyage. i'83 
 
 to Sydn y, Mrs. Branican had nothing to be uneasy about 
 in a trip from Sydney to Adelaide. 
 
 The steamer Brisbane started next day at eleven in the 
 morning. After stopping at Melbourne she would reach 
 Adelaide on the morning of the 27th of August. Two 
 cabins were engaged, and Mrs. Branican took the necessary 
 steps for the transfer of the credit with the Sydney bank 
 to the bank at Adelaide. The directors obligingly con- 
 sented, and the transfer was effected without difficulty. 
 
 When she left the Marine Hospital, Mrs. Branican had 
 gone to a hotel where she had taken rooms until her depar- 
 ture. Her thoughts were summed up in the one thought, 
 "John is alive ! " With her eyes obstinately fixed on the 
 map of the Australian continent, her look lost amid the 
 immense solitudes of the centre and north-west, a prey to 
 the delirium of her imagination, she sought him, she found 
 him, she saved him. 
 
 After their interview that day Zach Fren, understanding 
 she would rather be alone, had gone for a walk in the 
 streets of Sydney, which were unknown to him, And to 
 begin with — as was not unnatural for a sailor — he had 
 gone to look at the Brisbane, so as to make sure Mrs. 
 Branican would be comfortable. The ship appeared to be 
 comfortably fitted for a coasting voyage. Then he asked 
 to see the cabins engaged for the lady. A boy took him 
 to the cabin, where he made several changes with a view 
 to make it more comfortable. Excellent Zach Fren ! 
 One would imagine he was preparing it for a long 
 voyage ! 
 
 As he was about to leave, the boy kept him back, and 
 in rather an agitated voice asked, — 
 
 " Then it is quite certain that Mrs. Branican will go to- 
 morrow to Adelaide ? " 
 
 " Yes, to-morrow ! " replied Zach Fren. 
 
 " On the Brisbane f " 
 
 " Undoubtedly." 
 
 " I hope she may succeed in her endeavour and find 
 Captain John ! " 
 
t ^4 MISTRESS ' BrANICA'N. 
 
 " We will do our best, you may be sure." 
 
 "I do not doubt it." 
 
 " Are you one of the Brisbane's crew ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " 
 
 "Well, then, good-b3'e until to-morrow." 
 
 During the last few hours he spent in Sydney Zach 
 Fren went for a stroll along Pitt Street and York Street, 
 which are bordered by fine buildings in reddish grey stone, 
 and then he went into Victoria Park and Hyde Park, 
 where stands the Cook monument. He visited the 
 Botanic Gardens, a lovely promenade situated by the 
 side of the sea, where are gathered together the different 
 trees of warm and temperate climes, oaks and araucarias, 
 cactuses and mangosteens, palms and olives. In short, 
 Sydney is well worthy of its reputation. It is the oldest of 
 the Australian capitals, and if it is less regularly built than 
 its juniors of Adelaide and Melbourne, it is richer in un- 
 expected beauties and picturesque sites. 
 
 Next evening Mrs, Branican and Zach Fren went on 
 board the steamboat. At eleven o'clock the Brisbane left 
 the wharf and crossed the. bay of Port Jackson. After 
 doubling the Inner South Head she turned off to the south 
 and kept along a few miles from the coast. During the 
 first hour Dolly remained on deck, seated aft, looking at 
 the shore, which appeared as confused masses through the 
 mist. This was the continent into which she was about to 
 penetrate, as if into an immense prison from which John 
 had not yet emerged. For fourteen years they had been 
 separated from each other. 
 
 " Fourteen years ! " she murmured. 
 
 When the Brisbane had passed Botany Bay and Jei-vis 
 Bay Mrs. Branican went below to rest. But next morning 
 she was on deck with the dawn, just as Mount Dromedary, 
 and a little behind it Mount Kosciusko, which belong to 
 the system of the Australian Alps, appeared on the horizon, 
 
 Zach Fren had joined Dolly on the spar deck, and 
 together they talked of the one thing in which they were 
 both interested. 
 
On the Voyage. 1S5 
 
 At this moment a sailor boy, hesitating and trembling-, 
 approached Mrs. Branican and asked her, on the captain's 
 behalf, if there was anything she required. 
 
 " No, my child I " said Dolly. 
 
 "Ah!" said Zach Fren, "it is the brave lad I saw 
 yesterday when I came on board the Brisbane." 
 
 " Yes," said the boy. 
 
 "And what is your name .? " 
 
 " Godfrey." 
 
 "Well, Godfrey, you see for certain that Mrs. Branican 
 is on board your- steamboat and you arc satisfied, I 
 imagine ? " 
 
 " Yes, and vve are all on board. Yes ! We all hope that 
 Mrs. Branican's attempt will succeed, and that she will' 
 rescue Captain John." 
 
 And as he spoke Godfrey looked at her with so much 
 respect and enthusiasm that Dolly was greatly agitated. 
 And then the boy's voice struck her. That voice she had 
 already heard, and the remembrance of it returned to her. 
 
 " My child,'" said she, "did you not speak to me at the 
 door of the hospital in Sydney ? " 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " You asked me if Captain John was still alive ? " 
 
 " I did 1 " 
 
 " You belong to the Brisbane ?" 
 
 '' Yes — for the last year," said Godfrey. " But if it 
 please God, I shall soon leave her." 
 
 Then, probably not wishing or daring to say more, God- 
 frey retired to take Mrs. Branican's message to the captain. 
 
 " That is a boy who has the blood of a sailor in his 
 veins ! " said Zach Fren. " You have only to look at him 
 to see that. He has a frank, clear, decided look. His 
 voice is at the same time firm and gentle — " 
 
 " His voice I " murmured Dolly. 
 
 And by what illusion of the senses did she fancy she had 
 just heard John speaking in the gentler tones of a voice 
 not yet quite set by age 1 
 
 And another remark she made — a remark still more 
 
1 86 Mistress Branican. 
 
 significant. Probably she was mistaken, but the boy's 
 features reminded her of John— of John, who was no more 
 than thirty v.fhen the Franklin had taken him away froni 
 her for so long. 
 
 " You see, Mrs. Branican,^' said Zach Fren, rubbing his 
 fine large hands, "English or Americans, every one 
 sympathizes with you ! In Australia you find the same 
 attentions as in America ! It will be in Adelaide as in 
 San Diego ! All wish you the same as this young 
 Englishman." 
 
 , " Is he an Englishman ? " asked Mrs. Branican, deeply 
 impressed. 
 
 The voyage was very enjoyable during this first day. 
 The sea was remarkably smooth, with the wind in the 
 north-west blowing off the land. The Brisbane found it 
 no rougher when she doubled Cape Howe at the an^ie of 
 the Australian continent on her way to Bass's Straits. 
 
 Dolly spent the day almost entirely on the spar deck. 
 The passengers showed her extreme deference, and also 
 extreme eagerness to keep her company. They were 
 anxious to see this woman whose misfortunes were so 
 widely known, and who did not hesitate to brave so many 
 perils and face so many fatigues in the hope of rescuing 
 her husband, if Providence willed he still was living. In 
 her presence no one dared to express a doubt on the 
 subject. How could they do otherwise than share her con- 
 fidence when they heard her inspired by such manly resolu- 
 tion and telling them all she was about to undertake } Un- 
 consciously they followed her in imagination into the 
 depths of Central Australia. And, in fact, more than one 
 of them would have agreed to follow her otherwise than 
 in thought. 
 
 But, as she replied to them, Dolly often interrupted 
 herself, and her look assumed a singular expression, her 
 eyes grew brighter, and Zach Fren was the only one who 
 knew what was passing in her mind. 
 
 This happened whenever she saw Godfrey. The boy's 
 bcarincT, his attitude, his gestures, the persistence with 
 
On the Voyage. 187 
 
 which he devoured her with his eyes, that sort of instinct 
 which seemed to draw her towards him — all this took 
 possession of her, agitated her, and so moved her that 
 John and Godfrey became somehow mixed up together in 
 her mind. 
 
 Dolly could not hide from Zach Fren that she noticed a 
 striking resemblance between John and Godfrey. And 
 Zach Fren did not see without anxiety Mrs. Branican 
 abandon herself to an impression due to a purely fortuito'us 
 circumstance. He feared, not without reason, that this 
 companion might recall too vividly the remembrance of 
 the child she had lost. It was truly regrettable that 
 Dolly should become so excited in the presence of this 
 boy ! 
 
 However, Godfrey had not come to her again. His 
 duty did not call him to the after part of the steamer, 
 which was exclusively reserved for first-class passengers. 
 But from afar their looks often crossed, and Dolly had 
 been on the point of calling him to her — ^yes ! and at a 
 sign Godfrey would have run to her. But Dolly did not 
 make this sign, and Godfrey did not come. 
 
 That evening, as Zach Fren was escorting her to her 
 cabin, she said, — 
 
 " Zach, I must find out who this boy is— to what family 
 he belongs — the place of his birth. He may perhaps not 
 be an Englishman." 
 
 " That is possible," said Zach Fren. " He may even be 
 an American. And if you wish it I will go and ask the 
 captain of the Brisbane — " 
 
 " No, Zachj no, I will ask Godfrey himself," said Mrs. 
 Branican. 
 
 And Zach heard her say to herself in an undertone, — 
 
 " My child, my poor little Wat, would have been about 
 his age now." 
 
 " That is what I feared !" said Zach Fren to himself, as 
 he went to his cabin. 
 
 -' The next day, the 22nd of August, the Brisbane, which 
 had passed Cape Howe during the night, continued the 
 
i88 Mistress Branican. 
 
 voyage under excellent conditions. The coast of Gipps 
 Land, one of the chief provinces of the colony of Victoria, 
 after curving to the south-east is terminated by Cape 
 Wilson, the most southerly promontory of the continent. 
 This coast is less rich in bays, ports, inlets, capes, geographi- 
 cally named, than the straighter section between Sydney 
 and Cape Howe ; and along it the plains stretch back out 
 of sight to the line of mountains, which are too distant to 
 be seen from the sea. 
 
 Mrs. Branican, having left her cabin in the- first rays of 
 the morning, had resumed her place on the after part cf 
 the spar deck. Zach Fren had joined her almost im- 
 mediately afterwards and noticed a very obvious change 
 in her manner. The land, which extended towards the 
 north-west, no longer attracted her attention. Absorbed 
 in her thoughts, she hardly replied to Zach Fren when he 
 asked her how she had passed the night. 
 
 Zach Fren said no more. The essential point was that 
 Dolly had forgotten the singular resemblance between 
 Godfrey and Captain John, and no longer thought of 
 seeing him and questioning him. It was possible that she 
 had changed her mind, and, in fact, she did not ask Zach 
 Fren to bring her the boy, whose duty kept him in the 
 steamer's bow. 
 
 After breakfast Mrs. Branican returned to her cabin, 
 and did not appear on deck again until three or four 
 o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 At this time the Brisbane was running at full speed into 
 Bass's Straits, which separate Australia from Tasmania, 
 or Van Diemen's Land. 
 
 Nothing can be more indisputable than that the dis- 
 covery of the Dutchman, Janssen Tasman, has been profit- 
 able to the English, and that this island, a natural depen- 
 dency of the continent, has been a gain to the Anglo-Saxon 
 race. Since 1642, the date of the discovery of the island, 
 which is two hundred and eighty kilometres long, the soil of 
 which IS extremely fertile, the forests of which are enriched 
 by superb trees, it is certain that colonization has advanced 
 
On the Voyage. 189 
 
 with rapid strides. From the earlier years of this century 
 the English have ruled it, as they rule, obstinately, without 
 the slightest thought for the native races. They have 
 divided the island into districts, they have founded im- 
 portant towns, the capital Hobart, Georgetown, and many 
 others ; they have utilized the innumerable indentations 
 of the cost for the .establishment of ports, at which their 
 ships call in hundreds. All that is good. But of the 
 black population which originally occupied this country, 
 what remains? Doubtless these poor people were hardly 
 civilized ; they were even looked upon as the stupidest 
 specimens of the human race ; they were placed below the 
 African negroes, below the Fuegi^ns of Tierra del Fuego. 
 If the annihilation of a race is the last word of colonial 
 progress, the English colonists may boast of having brought 
 their work to a good end. But, at the approaching 
 universal exhibition at Hobart, if they wish to exhibit a 
 few Tasmanians — there is not one left at this end of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
CHAPTER ir. 
 
 GODFREY. 
 
 The Brisbane passed through Bass's Straits during the 
 evening, In this latitude the day closes in about five 
 o'clock during the month of August. The moon entering 
 her first quarter soon disappeared amid the mists of the 
 horizon, and the coast scenery was veiled in deep 
 obscurity. 
 
 That the steamer was passing through the straits was 
 only apparent on board by the splashing of the short, 
 choppy waves ; currents and counter-currents striving im- 
 petuously with each other in this narrow channel, which is 
 open to the waters of the Pacific. 
 
 Next morning, that of the 23rd of August, the Brisbane 
 at dawn was off Port Phillip bay. Once in this bay 
 shipping have no fear of bad weather, but the entrance 
 requires careful and skilful manoeuvring, especially in 
 rounding the long sandy point of Nepean on the one side, 
 and that of Queenscliff on the other. The bay, which is 
 well shut in, is cut up into several harbours, where ships 
 of large tonnage find excellent anchorage — Geelong, Sand- 
 ridge, Williamstown — the last two forming the port of 
 Melbourne. The aspect of the coast is gloomy, monoton- 
 ous, unattractive. There is little vegetation on the banks, 
 and the shore looks like a newly dried-up marsh, which, 
 in place of lagoons or ponds, has patches of hard, cracked 
 mud. To the future the task is left of improving the 
 surface of these plains, by replacing the few skeletons of 
 
Godfrey. 191 
 
 trees by plantations, which the Australian climate will soon 
 develop into superb forests. 
 
 The Brisbane ran alongside one of the Williamstown 
 quays to disembark some of her passengers. 
 
 As she was going to stop there thirty-six hours, Mrs. 
 Branican decided to spend the time in Melbourne. Not 
 that she had business in the town, for it was at Adelaide 
 only that she would be occupied in the preparations for 
 an expedition which might perhaps reach the farthest 
 limits of Western Australia ; and haxing made up her 
 mind to this, why did she leave the Brisbane f Was she 
 afraid of being the object of too many and too frequent 
 visits ? But to escape these would it not have been 
 enough for her to remain .in her cabin } Besides, to go 
 down to one of the town hotels, where her presence would 
 be immediately known, was not that to expose herself to 
 the most persistent interviews, the most inevitable im- 
 portunities ? 
 
 Zach Fren could not understand Mrs. Branican's resolu- 
 tion. He saw that her manner was very different to what 
 it had been at Sydney. There she had been most affable, 
 now she. was much less communicative. Was it, as the 
 boatswain thought, that the presence of Godfrey had too 
 vividly reminded her of her child ? Yes, and Zach Fren 
 was not mistaken. The sight of the boy had troubled her 
 so deeply that she felt the need of being alone. Did it 
 not enter more into her thoughts to question him ? 
 Perhaps ; although she had not done so the night before, 
 notwithstanding she had expressed a -wish to do so. But 
 now, if she wished to land at Melbourne, to spend the day 
 there, it was not to avoid the inconveniences of a notoriety 
 unhappily too real, but to escape — there is no other word 
 for it — to escape from this fourteen-year-old boy to whom 
 she was attracted by some instinctive force. Why, then, 
 did she hesitate to speak to him, to ask what interested 
 her concerning his nationality, his birth, his familjr ? Did 
 she fear that his replies — as was only too likely — would 
 result in definitely destroying her imprudent illusions, a 
 
192 Mistress Branican. 
 
 chimerical hope, to which she had abandoned herself in 
 imagination, and which her agitation had revealed to Zach 
 Frcn ? 
 
 Mrs. Branican, accompanied by the boatswain, landed 
 during the first hour. As soon as she had set foot on the 
 landing-stage she turned to come back. 
 
 Godfrey was leaning on the rail of the Brisbane s bow. 
 Seeing her going away his face became so sad, he made 
 such an expressive gesture, he seemed to wish her so 
 imperiously to return on board, that Dolly was on the 
 point of returning to Say to him, "No ! I will not go!" 
 But she controlled herself, made a sign to Zach FVen to 
 follow her, and went off to the railway station, which puts 
 the harbour in communication with the town. 
 
 Melbourne, in fact, is situated away from the sea shore, 
 on the left bank of the river Yarra-Yarra, at a distance of 
 two kilometres — a distance accomplished by the trains in 
 a quarter of an hour. There stands this city, with its 
 population of three hundred thousand inhabitants, the 
 capital of the magnificent colony of Victoria, which holds 
 nearly a million, and on which, since 1851, it may be said 
 that Mount Alexander has poured all the gold from its 
 beds. 
 
 Mrs. Branican, although she vt^ent to one of the least 
 frequented hotels of the town, could not escape the 
 curiosity — entirely sympathetic — which her presence 
 everywhere aroused. And so she preferred to be in the 
 company of Zach Frcn to walk about the streets of tlie 
 town, of which, owing to her strange pre-occupation, she 
 saw nothing. 
 
 An American could not help being astonished or pleased 
 in visiting an absolutely modern city. Although younger 
 by a dozen years than San Francisco in California, Mel- 
 bourne is like it, " only more so," as has been said. Wide 
 streets crossing at right angles, squares without lawns or 
 trees, banks in hundreds, offices where enormous business 
 is done, a district in which the retail trade is concentrated, 
 public buildings, churches, temples, university, museum, 
 
Godfrey. 193- 
 
 art gallery, library, hospital, town hall, schools which are 
 palaces, palaces which, in some cases, would not be large 
 enough for schools, a monument to Burke and Wills, who 
 died in endeavouring to cross the continent from south lo 
 north ; then along the roads and boulevards beyond the 
 business quarter, a few passers-by, a certain number of 
 strangers, chiefly Jews and Germans, who sell money as 
 others selt cattle or linen, and at a good price — to the joy 
 of the heart of Israel. 
 
 But in business Melbourne, business men live as little as 
 possible. It is in the suburbs, in the environs of the town, 
 that the villas and cottages, and even princely dwellings, 
 swarm, at St. Kilda, at Hoam, at Emerald Hill, at 
 Brighton — and it is this, says M. D. Charnay, one of the 
 mo.t intelligent travellers who have visited the country, 
 which gives Melbourne the advantage over San Francisco. 
 And already the trees of different kinds have grown large ; 
 sumptuous parks are covered with shade ; and the running 
 streams assure a healthy freshness for many months, so 
 that there are few towns placed amid a more admirable 
 frame of verdure. 
 
 Mrs. Branican gave but little attention to these magnifi- 
 cences, even when Zach Fren took her out of the town 
 into the open country. Nothing indicated that this grand 
 situation, with its distant views, had interested her. It 
 seemed always as though she was possessed by some fixed 
 idea, and was on the point of asking Zach Fren something 
 she dared not put into words. 
 
 They returned to the hotel in the evening. Dolly had 
 her dinner served in her room, and hardly touched it. Then 
 she lay down, and slept but a half sleep, haunted by the 
 images of her husband and her child. In the morning 
 she remained in her apartment until the moment of de- 
 parture. She wrote along letter to Mr. William Andrew, 
 acquainting him with the departure from Sydney, a\id her 
 approaching arrival in the capital of South Australia. She 
 told him again of her hopes relative to the result of the 
 expedition. And when he received this letter, to his great 
 
194 Mistress Branican. 
 
 surprise and also anxiety, he would notice that, if Dolly 
 spoke of John as if she were sure to find him alive, she 
 also spoke of little Wat as if he were not dead. The 
 excellent man would certainly ask himself if he had not 
 again cause to fear for the sanity of this much-tried 
 woman. 
 
 The passengers the Brisbane was to take to Adelaide 
 had nearly all embarked when Mrs. Branican and Zach 
 Fren returned on board. Godfrey was waiting for her 
 return, and when he saw her coming his face lighted up 
 with a smile. He rushed to the landing-stage, and was 
 there when she set foot on the gangway. 
 
 Zach Fren was much annoyed, and his thick eyebrows 
 were knitted in a frown. What would he not have given 
 if the boy had left the steamer, or at least that he had not" 
 again met Uolly, in whom his presence revived the saddest 
 of memories. 
 
 Mrs. Branican noticed Godfrey. She stopped for 
 an instant and looked at hira keenly ; but she did not 
 speak, and bowing her head, she went to shut herself up in 
 her cabin. 
 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon the Brisbane cast off 
 her warps, and started out to sea, rounding Queenscliff 
 and steering for Adelaide, keeping out about three miles 
 from the coast of Victoria. 
 
 The passengers who had come on board at Melbourne 
 numbered about a hundred. For the most part they were 
 inhabitants of South Australia returning home. There 
 were a few strangers among them — one of them a China- 
 man, aged from thirty to thirty-five, looking as sleepy as a 
 mole, yellow as a lemon, round as a post, and as fat as a 
 mandarin of three buttons. But he was not a mandarim 
 No 1 he was merely a servant in the employ of a per- 
 sonage who deserves to be described somewhat precisely. 
 
 Imagine a son of Albion, as " Britannic" as one can be, 
 tall, thin, bony, a regular piece of osteology, all neck, all 
 bust, all legs. This typical Anglo-Saxon, of from forty- 
 five to fifty years of age, stood about six feet above seq- 
 
Godfrey. 195 
 
 level. A fair beard, which he wore uncut, and also fair 
 hair, in which were a few streaks of yellowish gold ; little 
 ferret eyes, a nose pinched in at the nostrils, curved like 
 the beak of a pelican or a heron, and of a length uncom- 
 mon ; a head on which the slightest observer of phreno- 
 logy would easily have discovered the bumps of mono- 
 mania and tenacity — made up altogether one of those 
 heads which attract attention and provoke a smile when 
 they are drawn by a clever artist. 
 
 This Englishman was clothed- in the traditional cos- 
 tume — a cap with a double peak, a waistcoat buttoned 
 to the chin, a coat with twenty pockets, trousers of 
 chequered cloth, high gaiters with nickel buttons, nailed 
 shoes, and a check overcoat, which the wind wrapped 
 round his body, revealing the thinness as of a skeleton. 
 
 Who was this original ? No one knew, and on the 
 Australian steamboats no one takes advantage of the 
 familiarities of the voyage to ask who people are or whence 
 they come. They are passengers, and as such they pass. 
 No more. But the stewards could have told us that the 
 Englishman had taken his cabin under the name of Joshua 
 Meritt — shortly, Jos Meritt — of Liverpool (United King- 
 dom), accompanied by his servant Gin-Ghi, of Hong Kong 
 (Celestial Empire). 
 
 For the rest, once he was on board, Jos Meritt went and 
 sat down on one of the benches of the promenade deck, and 
 did not leave it until lunch time. 
 
 He returned in about half an hour, lefl; again at seven for 
 dinner, reappeared at eight, looking all the time like a lay 
 figure, with his two hands open on his knees, turning his 
 head neither to the right nor the left, with his eyes looking 
 straight in front, their gaze lost in the mists of the 
 evening. Then at ten o'clock he regained his cabin at a 
 geometrical pace, which the irregularities of the vessel's 
 roll were unable to trouble. 
 
 During a part of the night Mrs. Branican, who had gone 
 on deck about nine o'clock, remained in the after part of 
 the Brisbane, although the temperature was rather low. 
 
 
 
196 Mistress Branican. 
 
 With her mind possessed, envisioned even (to employ the 
 more exact expression), she could not sleep. Confined in 
 her cabin she had need of a breath of fresh air, impregnated 
 now and then by the penetrating odours of the Acacia 
 fiagrans, which distinguishes the Australian coast fifty 
 miles out at sea. Was she thinking of meeting the sailor 
 boy, speaking to him, questioning him, ascertaining from 
 him— what? Godfrey having finished his watch at ten 
 o'clock, would not come on duty again till two o'clock in 
 the morning ; and Dolly, much fatigued by a certain shock 
 to her mind, regained her cabin. 
 
 In the middle of the night the Brisbane doubled Cape 
 Otway at the' extremity of the district of Polwarth. 
 From this point she had to head N.W. to Discovery Bay, 
 at the end of the conventional line traced on the hundred 
 and forty-first meridian — the line which separates the 
 colonies of Victoria and New South Wales from South 
 Australia. 
 
 In the morning Jos Meritt was again to be seen on 
 the bench on the spar deck, his customary place, in the 
 same attitude, and jiist as if he had not left it the pre- 
 vious evening. As to Gin-Ghi he was sleeping in some 
 corner. 
 
 Zach Fren was accustomed to the peculiarities Of his 
 compatriots, for there is no lack of originals in the forty- 
 two federated states included' under the formula U.S.A. 
 However, he could not regard without a certain astonish- 
 ment this successful type of human mechanism. 
 
 And what was his surprise when, approaching this long 
 and motionless gentleman, he heard himself spoken to in 
 rather a shrill voice. 
 
 " Boatswain Zach Fren, I believe ? " 
 
 " The same," said Zach Fren. 
 
 " The companion of Mrs. Branican ? " 
 
 "In person. I see you know — " 
 
 "I know — in search of her husband — lost for fourteen 
 yeans. Good ! Oh, very good ! " 
 
 " What is very sjood ? " .. .^ 
 
Godfrey. 197 
 
 "Yes ! Mrs, Branican ! Very good ! I also — I am 
 on a search — " 
 
 "Your wife?" 
 
 " Oh ! I am not married ! Very good ! If I had lost 
 my wife I should not seek her ! " 
 
 " Then it is for— " 
 
 " For finding— a hat." 
 
 " Your hat ? You have lost your hat ? " 
 
 "My hat? No! It is the hat I mean. Present my 
 respects to Mrs. Branican. Good ! Oh, very good ! " 
 
 The lips of Jos Meritt closed and did not utter another 
 syllable. 
 
 "He must be a lunatic," said Zach Fren to him- 
 self; . 
 
 And it seemed to him to be loss of time talking to tlris 
 gentleman. 
 
 When Dolly came on deck, the boatswain went to meet 
 her, and they sat down almost in front of the Englishman, 
 who moved no more than if he had been ihe god 
 Terminus. Having asked Zach Fren to present his re- 
 spects to Mrs. Branican, he apparently thought there 
 was no necessity for his presenting them in person. 
 
 And besides,' Dolly had not -remarked the presence of 
 this curious passenger. She spoke for some time with 
 her companion regarding the preparations for the journey, 
 which were to be commenced as soon as tliey reached 
 Adelaide.. Not a day, not an hour, was to be lost It 
 was important that the expedition should reach, and pass 
 if possible, the central regions before they were parched 
 by the intolerable heats of the torrid zone. 
 
 Among the dangers of different kinds, inherent to 
 a search undertaken under such conditions, the most 
 terrible would be probably due to the rigour of the 
 climate, aad. all precautions, should be taken to guard 
 against/it. . Dolly spoke much of Captain John, his 
 robust temperament, his indomitable energy, which had 
 permitted him^sbedid not doubt^r-to survive when ottwrs 
 less vigorous, and not so hardy, had succumbed. But she- 
 
ig8 Mistress Branican. 
 
 made no allusion to Godfrey, and Zach Fren^ was hoping 
 she was no longer thinking of the boy, when she suddenly 
 said, " I have not yet seen that boy to-day ? Have you 
 seen him, Zach ? " 
 
 " No, madam," said the boatswain, whom the question 
 evidently displeased. 
 
 "Perhaps 1 might do something for that child," 
 continued Dolly. 
 
 And she affected to speak of him in a tone of indifference, 
 which Zach Fren was not deceived by. 
 
 " This boy ? " said he. " Oh ! He has a good trade. 
 He will get on. I see him a quartermaster in a few years. 
 With zeal and good conduct — " 
 
 " That does not matter," said Dolly. " He interests 
 me in one way. Look, Zach, at the extraordinary 
 resemblance between him and my poor John. And 
 then, Wat — my child — ought to be about his age." 
 
 And as she said this she became quite pale ; and the 
 look she gave Zach Fren was so questioning that he 
 lowered his eyes. Then she added, — 
 
 "You will send him to me this afternoon, Zach. 
 Do not forget. I wish to speak with him. This voyage 
 will end to-morrow. We may never see each other again, 
 and before I leave the Brisbane I wish to know — yes, 
 to know — " 
 
 Zach Fren promised to bring Godfrey to her, and she 
 retired. 
 
 The boatswain, in a state of great anxiety and even 
 alarm, continued to pace the spar deck, until the steward 
 rang the second breakfast bell. Zach then happened to 
 run against the Englishman, who seemed to regulate his 
 steps by the stroke of the bell, as he made towards the • 
 companion. 
 
 " Good ! Oh, very good ! " said Jos Meritt. " You 
 have at my request conveyed my respects ? Her lost 
 husband — Good ! Oh, very good ! " 
 
 And he disappeared to reach the place he had taken at 
 the dining-room table, the best be it understood, and the 
 
Godfrey. 199 
 
 one nearest the kitchen, so that he could be served the 
 first, and have the best choice. 
 
 At three o'clock the Brisbane was off Portland, the 
 chief port of the Normanby district, where the Melbourne 
 railway ends ; then, rounding Cape Nelson, she crossed 
 Discovery Bay, and steered almost due north along the 
 coast of South Australia. 
 
 It was at this time that Zach Fren went to tell Godfrey 
 Mrs. Branican desired to speak to him. 
 
 " Speak to me 1 " exclaimed the boy. And his heart 
 - beat so furiously that he would have fallen had he not 
 caught hold of the rail. 
 
 Godfrey followed the boatswain to the cabin where Mrs. 
 Branican was waiting for him. 
 
 Dolly looked at him for some time as he stood up- 
 right with his cap in his hand. She was seated on a 
 couch. Zach Fren, leaning near the door, watched both 
 of them anxiously. He knew what Dolly was going to 
 ask Godfrey, but he did not know what would be his 
 replies. 
 
 , " My child," said Mrs. Branican, " I want to know some- 
 thing about you, about the family to which you belong. 
 If I ask, it is because I am interested in you — in your 
 position. Will you answer my questions?" 
 
 " Willingly," said Godfrey, his voice trembling with 
 emotion. 
 
 " How old are you ? " asked Dolly. 
 
 " I do not know exactly, but I ought to be from fourteen 
 to fifteen." 
 
 " Yes ! - From fourteen to fifteen ! And since when 
 have you been at sea ? " 
 
 " I went to sea when I was eight years old as a cabin 
 boy ; and for two years I have been an apprentice." 
 
 " Have you been any long voyage ? " 
 
 "Yes, madam, across the Pacific to Asia — and across 
 the Atlantic to,Europe." 
 
 " You are not an Englishman ? " 
 
 " No, niadam, I am an American." 
 
200 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " But yet you arc on an English steamer ? " 
 
 "The ship on which I was apprentice was sold at 
 Sydney. Finding myself without a ship, I came on the 
 Brisbane, awaiting an opportunity to again get on an 
 American ship." 
 
 " Good, my child," said Dolly, beckoning Godfrey to 
 come nearer to her. 
 
 " And now," she asked, " I want to know where you 
 were born?" *■- 
 
 " At San Diego, madam." 
 
 " Yes ! at San Diego ! " repeated Dolly, without ap- 
 pearing surprised, as if she had expected the answer. 
 
 Zach Fren was much impressed with'what he had just 
 heard. 
 
 "Yes, madam, at San Diego," continued Godfrey, 
 " Oh 1 I know you well ! Yes, I know you. When I 
 learnt you had come to Sydney I was very pleased^ If 
 you knew, madam, how much I am interested in' all that 
 concerns Captain John Branican — ''■ 
 
 Dolly took the boy's hand and held it for a few secohds 
 without saying a word. Then in a voice which betrayed 
 the wandering of her imagination, — 
 
 " Your name ? " she asked. 
 
 "Godfrey." 
 
 " Godfrey is your baptismal name. But what is your 
 family name? " 
 
 " 1 have no other name, madam." 
 
 "Your parents?" - T" 
 
 " I have no parents." 
 
 "No parents \" said Mrs. Branican. "Have you then 
 been brought up — " 
 
 ."At Wat House," replied Godfrey. "Yes! madam, and 
 by your care. Oh ! I have often seen you when you 
 came to visit the children. You did not see me artiong 
 all the little ones, but I saw you, and I wished j could 
 kiss you. Then, as I had a taste for the sea, when T wa.s 
 old enough I became a cabin boy. And others of the 
 Wat House orphans have gone on ships, and we will 
 
GODFREV. 20 r 
 
 never forget what we owe to Mrs. Branican — to our 
 mother ! " 
 
 "Your mother!" exclaimed Dolly, who started as if the 
 name had resounded deep within her. 
 
 She drew Godfrey to her — she covered him with kisses 
 ■ — he kissed her again — he wept. 
 
 And in his corner Zach Fren, frightened at what he 
 understood of the feelings he saw taking root in Dolly's 
 heart, murmured, — 
 
 ." Poor woman I Poor woman ! Where will she let her- 
 self be led ? " 
 
 Mrs. Branican rose and said, — 
 
 "Go, Godfrey ! Go, my child! I will sec you again ! 
 I want to be alone ! " 
 
 The boy looked at her for a last time and slowly with- 
 drew. 
 
 Zach Fren was preparing to follow him, when Dolly 
 stopped him by a gesture — " Remain, Zach ! " Then, 
 "Zach," said she, in a short, spasmodic way, which 
 denoted the extraordinary agitation of her mind, " Zach, 
 that child has been brought up with the children at Wat 
 Hoyse. He was bom at San Diego. He is from fourteen 
 to fifteen years old. He resembles John feature for feature. 
 He has his frank face, his resolute attitude. He has a 
 taste for the sea like him. He is the son of a sailor. He 
 is John's son. He is mine ! We believed that the bay of 
 San Diego never gave back the poor little creature. But 
 he still lived ; and he was rescued. Those who saved him 
 did not know his mother. And his mother was I — I — 
 then deprived of my reason. This child is not Godfrey, 
 as he says, but Wat, my son ! God has given him back 
 to me before giving me back his father." 
 
 Zach Fren had listened to Mrs. Branican without daring 
 to interrupt her. He understood that the unhappy woman 
 could not speak differently. All the appearances com- 
 pelled her to do so. She reasoned with the irrefutable 
 logic of a mother. And the brave sailor felt his heart 
 breaking, for these illusions it was his duty to destroy. 
 
202 MiSTRfiSS BrAKICAN. 
 
 He must stop Dolly on this incline, which might lead hef 
 into a new abyss. 
 
 He did it without hesitating — almost brutally. 
 
 " Mrs. Branican," he said, " you are mistaken. I will 
 not, I ought not to let you believe such things. The 
 resemblance is but a chance. Your little Wat is dead. 
 YeSj dead ! He perished in the accident, and Godfrey is 
 not your son," 
 
 " Wat is dead ? " exclaimed Mrs. Branican. " And how 
 do you know that .'' Who can prove it ? " 
 
 "I can, madam \" 
 
 "You?" 
 
 "A week after the accident in the bay, the body of a 
 child was thrown on the beach at Loma Point. I found it 
 there. , I told Mr. William Andrew. Little Wat was 
 recognized by him, and buried in the cemetery at San 
 Diego, where we have often placed flowers on his grave.'" 
 ■ " Wat 1 My little Wat— there — in the cemetery ! And 
 they never told me of it! " m.urmured Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " No, madam, no 1 " replied Zach Fren. " You were 
 then out of your mind, and when you recovered your 
 reason, four years afterwards, we feared — Mr. William 
 Andrew feared — to renew your sorrows, and he was silent. 
 But your child is dead, and Godfrey cannot be — he is not 
 your son ! " 
 
 Dolly fell back on the sofa. Her eyes were shut as if 
 shadow had suddenly succeeded intense light. 
 
 At a sign she made, Zach Fren left her alone deep in 
 her sorrows and remembrances. 
 
 On the morning of the next day, the 26th of August, 
 Mrs. Branican had not yet quitted her cabin when the Bris- 
 bane, after running through Backstairs Passage, between 
 Kangaroo Island and Jervis promontory, entered the 
 Gulf of St. Vincent and cast anchor in Adelaide harbour. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 A HISTORIC HAT. 
 
 Of the three capitals of Australia, Sydney is the eldest, 
 Melbourne the junior, and Adelaide the youngest. But if 
 the last is the youngest^ it can also be said to be the most 
 beautiful. It was born in 1853, of a mother — South 
 Australia — which had no political existence before 1837, 
 and the officially recognized independence of which only 
 dates from 1856. It is even probable that the youth of 
 Adelaide will be indefinitely prolonged under an unrivalled 
 climate, the healthiest on the continent, amidst a region 
 which knows neither consumption nor endemic fevers, 
 nor any kind of contagious epidemic. People die there 
 occ^lsionally, however ; but, as has been wittily observed 
 by M. D. Charnay, " that is the exception." 
 
 If the soil of South Australia differs from that of the 
 neighbouring province in that it does not contain auriferous 
 deposits, it is rich in copper ore. The mines of Kapunda, 
 Burra-Burra, Wallaroo and Moonta, discovered forty years 
 ago, after attracting emigrants in thousands have made the 
 fortune of the colony. 
 
 Adelaide does not stand on the shore of St. Vincent 
 Gulf. Like Melbourne, it is situated a dozen kilometres 
 inland, and a railway puts it in communication with the 
 harbour. Its botanic garden rivals that of its second 
 sister. Created by Schomburg, it possesses greenhouses 
 which have no equal in the whole world, parterres of roses 
 which are veritable parks, magnificent shades under the 
 shelter of the most beautiful trees of the temperate and 
 semi-tropical zones. 
 
204 Mistress BraNican. 
 
 Neither Sydney nor Melbourne can enter into com- 
 parison with Adelaide for elegance. Its streets are wide,- 
 agreeably distributed, carefully kept. Some possess veri- 
 table monuments along their borde:rs, such as King William 
 Street. The post-office and the town-hall are worthy of 
 notice from an architectural point of view. In the business 
 quarter, Hindley and Glenell Streets are noisily animated 
 with the throng of busy traders. And thereabouts gather 
 a number of business men who seem to show only that 
 satisfaction derived from business wisely conducted, 
 abundant, and ea^y without any of the cares it usually 
 brings. : 
 
 Mrs. Branican went to a hotel in King William Street, 
 whither Zach Fren accompanied lier. The mother, in her 
 had just been cruelly tried by the annihilation of her last 
 illusions. It seemed to be so likely that Godfrey was her 
 son that she had naturally abandoned herself to the idea. 
 The deception could still be read on her face, paler than 
 usual, in her eyes, red with weeping. But, from the moment 
 her hope had been so completely broken, she had not 
 endeavoured to see the boy again, and had said no more 
 about him to Zach Fren. There only remained the 
 remembrance of the surprising resemblance to John. 
 
 And now Dolly was to set to work to begin without de- 
 lay her preparations for her expedition. She was to appeal 
 to all for help and devotedness. Siie would spend, if need 
 be, her whole future in these new searches, in stimulating 
 by considerable rewards the zeal of those who would unite 
 their efforts to hers in a supreme attempt. 
 
 There was no lack of zeal in her cause. This colony 
 of South Australia is essentially the country of bold ex- 
 plorers. Thence the most celebrated pioneers have started 
 across the unknown territories of the interior. From there 
 went Warburton, John Forrest, Giles, Sturt, whose routes 
 intercross on the maps of this vast continent — routes 
 which Mrs. Branican would cut obliquely with her own. 
 It was thus that Colonel Warburton, in 1874, traversed 
 Australia in its entire width from east to north-west at 
 
J . 1-1 : r , 
 
A Historic Hat. 205 
 
 Nicholson Bay — that John Forrest, the same year, crossed 
 it in an opposite direction, from Perth to Port Augusta — 
 that Giles, in 1876, set out from Perth to Spencer Gulf, on 
 the 2Sth degree of south latitude. 
 
 It had been agreed that the different elements of the 
 expedition should be mustered, not at Adelaide, but at 
 the terminus of the railway which runs northward, up to 
 the latitude of Lake Eyre. Five degrees crossed in this 
 way would be a gain of time and a saving of fatigue. 
 Amid the districts furrowed by the orographic system of 
 the Flinders Ranges, they could muster the number of 
 vehicles and animals necessary for this campaign, the horses 
 of the escort, the cattle for the transport of the victuals 
 and camp effects. On these interminable deserts, these 
 immense steppes of sand, deprived of vegetation, almost 
 without water, provision had to be made for the wants 
 of a caravan, which would comprise forty persons, count- 
 ing the servants and the little escort for assuring safety 
 to the travellers. 
 
 Her preparations Dolly made in Adelaide. She found 
 a constant and firm friend in the governor of South Aus- 
 tralia, who put himself entirely at her disposal. Thanks 
 to him, thirty men well mounted, well armed, some of 
 them natives, some chosen among the European colonists; 
 accepted service under Mrs. Branican. She guaranteed 
 then;, very high pay for the whole campaign, and a bonus 
 of -a hundred pounds apiece when it was over, no matter 
 what the result might be. They were commanded by an 
 old officer of the colonial police — Tom MarlXT^rrobust and 
 resolute fellow, aged about forty, whom the governor 
 unhesitatingly recommended. Tom Marix had chosen his 
 men with care, from among the strongest and most trust- 
 worthy of those who volunteered in great numbers. There 
 was every reason, therefore, to trust to the devotedness 
 of this escort, which was recruited under the best con- 
 ditions. 
 
 The working staff of the expedition would be eventually 
 under the orders of Zach Fren, and it would not be his 
 
2o6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 fault \t " men and beasts did not march squarely and 
 roundly," as he said. 
 
 Above Tom Marix and Zach Fren, the true chief was 
 Mrs. Branican, the soul of the expedition. 
 
 By means of the correspondents of Mr. Wiriiam Andrew, 
 a considerable credit had been opened for Mrs. Branican, 
 at the Bank of Adelaide, and she could draw on it as she 
 pleased. 
 
 The preparations being completed, it was agreed that 
 Zach Fren should set out on the 30th at latest, for the 
 station at Farina Town, where Mrs. Branican would rejoin 
 him with the staff when her presence was no longer neces- 
 sary at Adelaide. 
 
 " Zach," said she, " you will see that our caravan is ready 
 to start at the end of the first week in September. Pay 
 for everything, no matter at what cost. The provisions 
 you can send on from here by railway, and we can put 
 them on the drays at Farina Town. We must neglect 
 nothing to ensure the success of our campaign." 
 
 " All shall be ready Mrs. Branican," said the boatswain. 
 " When you arrive, all you will have to do will' be to give 
 the signal of departure." 
 
 One can easily imagine that Zach Fren did not fail in 
 his task during the last few days he passed at Adelaide. 
 In sailor style he worked away with such activity that 
 on the 29th he could take his ticket for Farina Town. 
 Twelve hours afterwards, when the railway had deposited 
 him at this terminal station of the line, he informed Mrs. 
 Branican, by telegram, that a part of the stores of the expe- 
 dition had already been collected. 
 
 Dolly, aided by Tom Marix, took as her share of the 
 work all that concerned the escort, its armament, and its 
 clothing. It was important for its horses to be carefully 
 chosen, and the Australian breed furnished excellent 
 animals, broken to fatigue, inured to climate, and of re- 
 markable docility. While they were crossing the forests 
 and the plains, there was no reason to trouble about their 
 food, grass and water being available for them. But 
 
A Historic Hat. 207 
 
 beyond, across the sandy deserts, they would have lo be 
 replaced by camels, arid this would be done as soon as 
 they reached Alice Spring. From that point onwards, 
 Mrs. Branican and her companions .would learn to struggle 
 against the material obstacles which render the explora- 
 tion of Central Australia so formidable. 
 
 The occupations to which this energetic woman had 
 devoted herself, had rather distracted her attention from 
 the later incidents of the voyage on the Brisbane. She 
 was so absorbed in this display of activity, that she had 
 not an hour of leisure. Of that illusion to which her imagi- 
 nation had for an instant abandoned her, of that epheme- 
 ral hope which the intervention of Zach Fren had broken 
 in one word, there remained only the remembrance. Now 
 she knew that her child slept in a corner of the cemetery 
 of San Diego, and she could go and weep over his grave. 
 But yet that boy's resemblance — and the images of John 
 and Godfrey seemed to run together in her mind. 
 
 But since the arrival of the steamer, Mrs. Branican had 
 not thought of the boy. If he had endeavoured to meet 
 with her during the first days which followed her landing, 
 she knew it not. In any case it did not seem that Godfrey 
 had presented himself at the hotel in King William Street, 
 and why should he have done so ? After her last inter- 
 view with him, Dolly had shut herself up in her cabin, 
 and had not sent for him again. Besides, Dolly knew that 
 the Brisbane had gone back to Melbourne, and that, when 
 she returned to Adelaide, the expedition would have 
 started. 
 
 While Mrs. Branican was urging on her preparations, 
 another personage was no less steadily busy in preparing 
 for a similar journey. He had put up at a hotel in Hindley 
 Street. An apartment in the front of the hotel, a bed- 
 room looking on the interior court, united under one roof 
 those singular representatives of the Aryan race and the 
 Yellow race — the Englishman, Jos Meritt, and the China- 
 man, Gin-Ghf. 
 \ Whence came these two types, one from furthest Asia, 
 
2o8 Mistress Branican. 
 
 the other from furthest Europe ? Where were they going ? 
 What did they do at Melbourne, and what were they going 
 to do at Adelaide ? In short, under what circumstances 
 were this master and servant associated, to run about the 
 world together ? Let us be present at a conversation in 
 which Jos Merittand Gin-Ghi took part in the evening of 
 the 5th of September, a conversation which will complete 
 our brief explanation. 
 
 And, to begin with, if a few traits of character, a few 
 eccentricities, the singularity of his attitudes, the way in 
 which he expressed himself, have permitted us to glance 
 at the profile of the Anglo-Saxon, it is as well to know 
 also this Celestial in his service, who had retained the tra- 
 ditional vestments of the Chinese country, the shirt "han 
 chaol," the tunic " ma coual," the gown " haol," buttoned 
 on the flank, and the baggy trousers with the stuff belt. 
 If he was called Gin-Ghi, he deserved the name, which 
 properly means "lazy man." And he was a lazy man, 
 to a rare degree, in work as well as in danger. He would 
 not take ten steps to execute an order, and he would not 
 take twenty to avoid a peril. It follows that Jos Meritt 
 had an unusual dose of patience for him to keep such a 
 servant. It is true it was a matter of habit, for they 
 had travelled together for five or six years. They had 
 met each other at San Francisco, where the Chinese swarm, 
 and Jos Meritt had made the Chinaman his servant only 
 " on trial," as he said — a trial which would doubtless last 
 until the final separation. It should be mentioned that 
 Gin-Ghi was brought up at Hong-Kong, and spoke English 
 like a native of Manchester. 
 
 And Jos Meritt hardly ever lost his temper, being of a 
 phlegmatic temperament. If he threatened Gin-Ghi with 
 the most frightful tortures in use in the Celestial Empire, 
 where the Minister of Justice is literally called the Minister 
 of Executions, he never gave him a slap. When his 
 orders were not executed, he executed them himself. 
 That simplified the situation. Perhaps the. day was not 
 far distant when he would wait on his se'ryant Probably 
 
A Historic Hat. 209 
 
 the Chinaman thought so, and from his point of view that 
 would only be equitable. It is true that while he was wait- 
 ing for this agreeable reverse of fortune, Gin-Ghi was com- 
 pelled to follow his master wherever his vagabond fancy 
 might take him. On that point, Jos Meritt would stand 
 no nonsense. He had carried on his shoulders Gin-Ghi's 
 portmanteau rather than leave Gin-Ghi behind when the 
 train or steamer was ready to start. Whether he liked it 
 or not, the " lazy man " had to hurry up and be ready to 
 sleep on the road with the most perfect laziness. In this 
 way one had accompanied the other along thousands and 
 thousands of miles, over the new and old continents ; and 
 it was in consequence of this system of continupus locomo- 
 tion that they now found themselves in the capital of 
 South Australia. 
 
 " Good ! oh, very good ! " Jos Meritt had said on 
 this occasion. " I think our arrangements have all been 
 made?" ' 
 
 And we can hardly explain why he questioned Gin- 
 Ghi in this way, for he had had to do everything v.'ith his 
 own hands. But he never failed to do so, on principle. 
 
 " Ten thousand times finished,'' replied the Chinaman, 
 who had not been ab'e to drop the roundabout expres- 
 sions held in honour by the inhabitants of the Celestial 
 Empire. 
 
 " Our portmanteaux ? " 
 
 " Are strapped." ; 
 
 " Our arms ? " 
 
 " Are ready." 
 
 " Our boxes of provisions .'" 
 
 " You yourself, Master Jos, took them to the railway 
 station. And besides, what is the use of taking food when 
 any day we may be eaten ourselves ? " 
 
 "Be eaten, Gin-Ghi ? Good! oh! very good 1 You 
 are always thinking of being eaten ! " 
 
 " That will happen sooner or later, and it would not 
 take much for us in the next six months to end our 
 travelling in some cannibal's inside — me in particular ! " 
 
 PART II. P 
 
210 Mistress Branican. r 
 
 " You, Gin-Ghi ! " 
 
 " Yes, for the excellent .reason that I am fat, while you, 
 Master Jos, are lean ; those fellows would always give me 
 the preference." 
 
 " The preference ? Good ! oh ! very good ! " 
 
 " And the Australian natives have a particular liking 
 for the yellow flesh of the Chinese, which is all the 
 more delicate owing to their feeding on rice and vege- 
 tables." 
 
 " That is why I have always advised you to smoke, 
 Gin-Ghi," quietly replied Jos Mcritt. " You know that 
 cannibals do not like the flesh of smokers." 
 
 And this the prudent Celestial did, smoking not opium, 
 but the tobacco with which Jos Meritt supplied him in 
 abundance. The Australians, it seems, as well as iheir 
 cannibalistic brothers of other countries, have an invincible 
 repugnance to human flesh when it is impregnated with 
 nicotine. That is why Gin-Ghi worked so conscientiously 
 to make himself uneatable. 
 
 But was it true that he and his master were destined to 
 figure at a cannibal banquet, and not in the position of 
 guests ? Yes, on certain parts of the African co-st, Jos 
 Meritt and his servant had nearly ended their adventurous 
 existence in this fashion. Ten months before, in Queens- 
 land, west of Rockhampton and Gracemere, a few hundred 
 miles from Brisbane, their peregrinations had taken them 
 among the most ferocious of the native tribes. There, 
 cannibalism is, so to speak, endemic. And so Jos Meritt 
 and Gin-Ghi, fallen into the hands of the blacks, would cer- 
 tainly have perished had it not been for the intervention of 
 the colonial police. Rescued in time, they had been able to 
 regain the capital of Queensland, and then Sydney, whence 
 the steamer had just brought them to Adelaide. And as 
 that had not put a stop to this propensity of the English- 
 man to run the risk of being eaten together with Gin-Ghi, 
 they were now preparing to visit the centre of the Austra- 
 lian continent. 
 
 "And all that for a hat!" said th= China-.r.an. "Ay 
 
A HisTorac Hat. 211 
 
 ya! Ay ya ! When I think of that) my tears fall like 
 drops of rain on the yellow chrysanthemums." 
 
 "When you have finished dropping, Gin-Ghi," said Jos 
 Mcritt, frowning with his Britannic brows. 
 
 " But this hat, if yQu ever find it. Master Jos, will be 
 only a rag." 
 
 " Enough, Gin-Ghi ! Too much ! I forbid your talk- 
 in^ in that way of this hat and every other hat ! You 
 understand ? Good ! oh ! very good ! If you begin 
 again, I shall have to administer forty or fifty cuts with 
 the cane on the soles of your feet." 
 
 " We are not in China," retorted Gin-Ghi, impudently. 
 
 " I will stop your food V 
 
 " That will make me thin." 
 
 " I will cut your pigtail off close to your crown." 
 
 " Cut off my pigtail ? " 
 
 " I will put you on a tobacco diet." 
 
 " The god Fo protect me I " 
 
 " He will not protect you ! " 
 
 And at this last threat Gin-Ghi became submissive and 
 respectful. 
 
 But what was this hat they were talking about, and 
 why did Jos Meritt spend his life running about after a 
 hat? 
 
 This eccentric individual was, as we have said, an 
 Englishman, of Liverpool, one of those inoffensive 
 maniacs who do not only belong to the United Kingdom. 
 They are met with on the banks of the Loire, the Elbe, 
 the Danube and the Scheldt as well as in the regions 
 watered by the Thames, the Clyde and the Tweed. Jos 
 Meritt was very rich and well known in Lancashire and 
 the neighbouring counties as an eccentric collector. It 
 was not pictures, nor books, nor objects of art, nor nick- 
 nacks, that. he collected at great effort and great cost. 
 No ! it was hats — a collection of historic head gear — men's 
 hats, women's hats, four-cornered, three-cornered, two- 
 cornered, petases, calashes, slouches, cocks, operas, helmets, 
 floppetics, sailors, cardinals, burgundians, skulls, turbans, 
 
 P 2 
 
212 Mistress Branican. - ,• 
 
 toques, caroches, caps, fezzes, shakoes, kcpis, cidares, 
 busbies, tiaras, mitres, tarbouches, schapskas, ottomans, 
 mortar boards, Inca llantus, Mediaeval hermins. Sacerdotal 
 infulas, Oriental smokers, Venetian doges. Baptismal 
 chrisms, &c., &c., in hundreds, and more or less dilapi- 
 dated, tattered, crownlcss and brimlcss. As may be 
 imagined, he possessed many precious historical curiosities 
 ' — the helmet of Patroclus when that hero was killed by 
 Hector at the siege of Troy, the bonnet worn by Themis- 
 tocles at the battle of Salamis, the caps of Galen and 
 Hippocrates, the hat which the wind blew off Caesars 
 head as he crossed the Rubicon, the head-gear of Lucrezia 
 Borgia at each of her three marriages with Sforza 
 Alphonso d'Este and Alfonso of Aragon^ the hat of 
 Tamerlane when he crossed the Sind, that of Genghis 
 Khan, when he destroyed Bokhara and Samarcand, the 
 cap of Elizabeth at her coronation, that of Marie Stuart 
 when she escaped from Loch Leven, that of Catherine, 
 when she was anointed at Moscow, the suroet of Peter 
 the Great, when he worked in the shipyard at Saardam', 
 the cocked hat worn by Marlborough at the battle of 
 Ramillies, that of Olaus, King of Denmark, who was 
 killed at Sticklcstad, Gessler's cap to which William 
 Tell refused to bow, the toque of William Pitt, when he 
 entered the twenty-third year of his ministry, the cocked 
 hat of Napoleon the First at the battle of Wagram, and a 
 hundred others not less authentic. His greatest grief was 
 at not having discovered the cap worn by Noah on the 
 day the ark grounded on the summit of Mount Ararat, 
 and the bonnet worn by Abraham, when the patriarch 
 was about to sacrifice his son Isaac. But Jos Meritt did 
 not despair of finding them some day. As to the head- 
 gear worn by Adam and Eve, when they were driven out 
 of Eden, he had given up seeking for them, as historians 
 worthy of credit had proved that the first man and woman 
 went about bare-headed. 
 
 It will be seen from this brief description of the curiosi- 
 ties in Jos Meritt's museum in what utterly childish 
 
A Historic Hat. 213 
 
 occupations he spent his life.. In no way doubting of the 
 authenticity of his finds, he had travelled in every country, 
 visited the towns and villages, ransacked every store and 
 shop, interviewed the marine-store dealers and rag-men, 
 and spent both time and money. The whole world he 
 requisitioned to put his hand on some undiscoverable 
 object, and after exhausting the stocks of Europe, Africa, 
 Asia, America, and Oceania by himself, his correspondents, 
 his agents, his commercial travellers, he had arrived here 
 to explore the most inaccessible retreats of the Australian 
 continent. 
 
 He had a reason for that — a reason which others might 
 have considered insufficient, but which appeared serious 
 enough for him. H.aving been informed that the nomads 
 of Australia wore hats — in what a state of dilapidation we 
 may imagine — 'knowing from another source that cargoes 
 of this old rubbish were regularly exported to the coast- 
 towns, he had concluded that he might perhaps get " a 
 good thing or two," in the language of antiquarian 
 collectors. He was in fact a prey to a fixed idea, tor- 
 mented by the desire which possessed him, which 
 threatened to drive him quite mad, for he was half mad 
 already. This time he was after a hat which he believed 
 would be the gem of his collection. 
 
 What was this marvel? By what ancient or modern 
 maker had this hat been turned out ? On what head of 
 royalty, nobility, bourgeoisie, or commonalty had it been 
 placed and under what circumstances ? Whatever it was, 
 owing to valuable information, and by following the trail 
 with the ardour of a Chingachgook or a Reward Subtil, he 
 had arrived at the conviction that the said hat, after a long 
 series of vicissitudes, ought to be ending its career on the 
 cranium of some notable of an Australian tribe in doubly 
 justifying his title of " cover chief." If he succeeded in 
 discovering it, Jos Meritt would pay whatever was asked 
 for it, or he would steal it if he could not purchase it. It 
 would be the trophy of the campaign which would take him 
 to the north-east of the continent ; and not having sue- 
 
214 Mistress Braxican. 
 
 cecdcd in his first attempt, he was prepared to brave the 
 very real dangers of an expedition into Central Australia. 
 That is why Gin-Ghi was again about to risk finishing his 
 life in the jaws of cannibals — and what cannibals ! The 
 most ferocious of those whose teeth he had hitherto braved ! 
 But it is as well to note that the servant was so attached 
 to his master — the attachment of two mandarin ducks — 
 as much by interest as affection, that he would not leave 
 him. 
 
 " To-morrow morning we leave Adelaide by the express," 
 said Jos Mcritt. 
 
 " At the second watch > " replied Gin-Ghi. 
 " At the second watch, if you like ; and see that every- 
 thing is ready for our departure." 
 
 " I will do my best, Master Jos ; but I beg you to 
 observe that I have not ten thousand hands like the goddess 
 K\van-in ! " 
 
 " I do not know if the goddess Kwan-in has ten thousand 
 hands," replied Jos Meritt ; " but I know that you have 
 two, and I desire you to use them in my service." 
 " Until I am eaten ! " 
 " Good ! Oh ! Very good ! " 
 
 And doubtless Gin-Ghi did not use his hands more 
 actively than usual, preferring to leave the work to his 
 master ; and on the morrow the two oddities left 
 Adelaide, and the train took them full speed towards the 
 unknown, where Jos Mcritt hoped to discover the hat which 
 he required for his collection. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TRAIN TO ADELAIDE. 
 
 A FEW days later Mrs. Branican also left the capital of 
 South Australia. Tom Marix had just completed the 
 escort, which consisted of fifteen white men who had been 
 in the local militia, and fifteen natives who had been in 
 the service of the colony in the governor's police. This 
 escort was intended for the protection of the caravan 
 against the nomads, and not for fighting the tribe of the 
 Indas. It would not do to forget what Harry Felton said: 
 it was better to rescue Captain John at the cost of a ransom 
 than to take him by force from the natives who held him 
 prisoner. 
 
 Provisions in sufficient quantity for the victualling of 
 forty persons for a year filled two of the trucks unloaded 
 at Farina Town. Every day a letter from Zach Fren, 
 dated froni the station^ kept Dolly informed of all that 
 passed. The cattle and horses bought by him wcro 
 mustered there under the charge of the drivers. The 
 vehicles which were at the railway station were ready to 
 receive the boxes of provisions, the bales of clothing, the 
 utensils, ammunition, tents, in a word all that composed 
 the baggage of the expedition. Two days after the 
 arrival of the train the caravan could begin its march. 
 
 Mrs. Branican had fixed her departure from Adelaide 
 for the 9th of September. In a last inteiview she had with 
 the governor of the colony he had not hidden from the 
 intrepid woman the dangers she was about to face. 
 
 "The dangers are of two kinds, Mrs. Branican," he 
 
2i6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 said, "those that come from the ferocious tribes in the 
 regions over which we have no control, and those resulting 
 from the very nature of those regions. Denuded of all 
 resources, notably deficient of water, for the rivers and 
 wells are already dry from the drought, terrible sufferings 
 are in store for you. On this account it might have been 
 better had you started six months later at the end of the 
 hot season^" 
 
 " I know that," said Mrs. Branican, " and I am prepared 
 for all. Since my departure from San Diego, I have 
 studied the Australian continent, reading again and again 
 the narratives of travellers who have been through it; Burke, 
 Stuart, Giles, Forrest, Sturt, Gregory, Warburton. I have 
 been able to get the account of the intrepid David Lind- 
 say, who from September, 1887, to September, 1888, 
 crossed Australia from Port Darwin in the north to 
 Adelaide in the south. No ! I am fully aware of the 
 dangers of the enterprise. But I must go where duty 
 calls me." 
 
 " The explorer David Lindsay," replied the governor, 
 " only journeyed through regions that were known, for the 
 telegraph line crosses them. And he only took with him 
 a young native and four pack horses. You, on the con- 
 trary, Mrs. Branican, are in search of nomad tribes, and 
 will be obliged to take your caravan away from the line, to 
 venture into the north-west of the continent as far as the 
 deserts of Tasman Land or De Witt Land — " 
 
 " I will go wherever it may be necessary," said Mrs. 
 Branican. "What David Lindsay and his predecessors 
 have done was in the interest of civilization, of science, or 
 of trade. What I will do is to rescue my husband, now 
 the only survivor of the Franklin. After his disappear- 
 ance, and against the opinion of everyone, I maintained that 
 John Branican was alive, and I was right. For six months, 
 for a year if necessary, I will travel in these territories, con- 
 vinced that I shall find him, and I shall again be right. I 
 trust to the zeal of my companions, and our motto will be, 
 • Never behind ! '" 
 
The Train to Adelaide. 217 
 
 "That is the Douglas motto, and I have no;doubt it will 
 lead you to the same end — " ' — 
 
 " Yes ! With the help of God ! " 
 
 Mrs. Branican took leave of the governor, after thanking 
 him for the aS-sistarfco he had rendered her since her 
 arrival at Adelaide, That evenlng^the 9th of September 
 — slie left the capital of South Australia. 
 
 The railways of Australia are welt managed ; comfort- 
 able carriages run without jolting, and the permanertt way 
 is firm and level. The train consisted of six carriaffer, 
 including the two baggage trucks. Mrs. Braniean occu- 
 pied a reserved compartment with a woman named 
 Harriett, half English half native, whom she had taken into 
 her service. Tom Marix and the men of the escort occu- 
 pied the other compartment. 
 
 The train only stopped to take in water and coals, and 
 made but short stoppages at the principal stations. The 
 duration of the journey was thus shortened by about a 
 quarter. 
 
 Beyond Adelaide the train steamed towards Gawler 
 through the district of the same name. On thfe right of 
 the line rose a few wooded heights which dominate this 
 part of the colony. The mountains of Australia arfe not 
 distinguished by their altitude, which rarely exceeds two 
 thousand metres, and they are generailly situated on the 
 edge of the continent. A very old geological origin is 
 attributed to them, their composition consisting chiefly of 
 granite and the Silurian rocks. 
 
 This part of the country is very varied and cut into by 
 gorges, obliging the railroad to make numerous curves, 
 sometimes along narrow valleys, sometimes through thick 
 forests where the multiplication of the eucalyptus is truly 
 exuberant. A few degrees further on, when it enters the 
 ci.ntral plains, the railway continues in the imperturbable 
 straight line .which is the characteristic of the modern iron 
 road. 
 
 Beyond Gawler, where a branch runs off to Great Bend, 
 the great river Murray describes a sudden curve towards 
 
2i8 Mistress Branican. 
 
 the south. The train, after leaving and skirting the 
 boundary of the Light district, reaches the Stanley district 
 in the thirty-fourth degree of latitude. If it had not been 
 night, a view might have been had of the top of Mount 
 Bryant, the highest of the orographic cluster extending 
 along the east of the line. From that point the elevations 
 of the ground are more to the west, and the line skirts the 
 irregular base of the chain, the principal summits of which 
 are Mounts Bluff, Remarkable, Brown and Ardon. Their 
 extreme ramifications die out on the shores of Lake 
 Torrens, a vast sheet of water doubtless in communication 
 with Spencer Gulf which deeply indents the Australian 
 coast. 
 
 Next morning at sunrise the train passed in sight of 
 the Flinders Ranges, of which Mount Serle forms the 
 farthest projection of any importance. Through the 
 windows of her carriage Mrs. Branican looked out over these 
 regions so new to her. This, then, was Australia which has 
 so justly been called the Land of Paradoxes, whose centre 
 is a vast depression below the level of the ocean, where the 
 streams for the most part rise in sands and are lost be- 
 fore they reach the sea, where the humidity is as absent in 
 the air as in the soil, where multiply the strangest animals 
 the world knows, where wander the ferocious tribes which 
 frequent the centre and the west. There to the north and 
 west extend the interminable deserts of Alexandra Land 
 and Western Australia, amid which the expedition was to 
 search for traces of Captain John. What clue would she 
 find to guide her when she had advanced beyond the towns 
 and villages and was reduced to the vague indications 
 obtained by the bedside of Harry Felton ? 
 
 And with regard to this a difificiilty had been suggested 
 to Mrs. Branican. Was it likely that Captain John during 
 the nine years he had been held prisoner by the Australian 
 blacks had never found an opportunity of escape ? To 
 this objection Mrs. Branican had but one reply; that, ac- 
 cording to Harry Felton, he and his companion had only 
 had one chance of escape during this long period — the 
 
The Train to Adelaide. 219 
 
 chance of which- John had been unable to avail himself. 
 With regard to the argument based on the statement that 
 it was not the custom of the natives to respect the lives of 
 their prisoners, it was clear that they had done so in the 
 case of the survivors of the Franklin, and Harry Felton 
 had proved it. Besides, was there not a precedent in the 
 case of the explorer, William Classen, who had disappeared 
 for thirty-eight years, and who was still believed to be with 
 one of the tribes in Northern Australia .'' Well ! was not 
 that exactly the fate of Captain John, inasmuch as in addi- 
 tion to mere hypothesis, there was the formal declaration 
 of Harry Felton ? There were other travellers, too, who 
 had never reappeared, though there was nothing to show 
 they had succumbed. Who knows if these mysteries 
 would not some day be cleared up ? 
 
 However, the train ran along rapidly, without stopping 
 at the smaller stations. If the railroad had curved a little 
 more towards the west it would have skirted the shore of 
 Lake Torrens, which is in the form of a bow — a long nar- 
 row lake near which begin the first undulations of the 
 Flinders Ranges. The weather was warm. The tem- 
 perature was the same as in the northern hemisphere in 
 the month of March in the countries along the thirtieth 
 parallel, such as Algeria, Mexico, or Cochin China. There 
 was to be feared a heavy rain or even one of those violent 
 storms the caravan would pray for in vain when it was 
 well out on the plains of the interior. This was the state 
 of the weather when Mrs. Branican, at three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, reached the station at Farina Town. 
 
 There the railroad stops, and the Australian engineers 
 are busy carrying it further northwards in the direction of 
 the Overland Telegraph, Line which extends to the shore 
 of the Arafura Sea. If the railroad continues to follow it, 
 it will have to bend off towards the west so as to pass 
 between Lake Torrens and Lake Eyre. On the contrary, 
 it will have to keep to the east of the lakes if it does not 
 leave the meridian which passes through Adelaide. 
 
 Zach Fren and his men were mustered at the railway 
 
220 Mistress Branican. 
 
 station when Mrs. Branican descended from her carriage; 
 They welcomed her with much sympathy and re3pectful 
 cordiality. The brave boatswain was deeply affected. 
 Twelve days, twelve long days ! without having seen the 
 widow of Captain John, such a thing had not happened 
 since the last return of the Dolly Hope to San Diego. 
 Dolly was very happy to again find her cpntpahion,-her 
 friend, Zach Fren, whose devetion to the very last she 
 could reckon upon. She smiled as she pressed his hand 
 — and she did not often smile. - '■■' •' ' ' -<■ 
 
 This station of Farina Town is of recent origin. Ev&n 
 on modern maps it does^ not appear. One recognizes In -it 
 the embryo of one of those towns which- Efiglisli-i or 
 American railways produce on their passage as trees pro- 
 duce fruits ; but they ripen -quickly, these fruits, thanks to 
 the ready practical genius of the Saxon race. And such 
 of these stations as are still but villages show in their 
 general plan in the arrangement of their sqtiares, and r-oads, 
 and boulevards that they will become towns in a very 
 short time. 
 
 Such was Farina Town, forming at this time the terminus 
 of llie Adelaide Railway. 
 
 Mrs. Branican had no occasion to remain long at the 
 station. Zach Fren had shown himself as intelligent as 
 he was active. The material of the expedition which he 
 had mustered comprised four bullock drays and their 
 drivers, and two buggies, drawn by a pair of good horses, 
 with their drivers. The drays had already received many 
 of the camp fittings which had been s:nt on from Adelaide. 
 When the railway trucks had disgorged their contents 
 they would be ready to start, and this would be an affair 
 of twenty four or thiity-six hours. 
 
 From the very first Mrs. Branican examined this material 
 in detail. Tom Marix approved the measures' taken by 
 Zach Fren. With such an outfit they would easily reach 
 the extreme boundary of the region where the^ horses and 
 cattle find the pasture necessary for thdr food, and above 
 all things water, which is farely met with in the deserts of 
 the centre. 
 
The Train to Adelaide. 221 
 
 " Mrs. Branican," said Tom Marix, " while we follow 
 the telegi'aph line the country will give us food, and our 
 animals will not have much to endure. But, beyond, 
 when the caravan turns to the westward, we shall have to 
 replace the horses and bullocks by pack and riding camels. 
 These animals alone can stand the burning regions and 
 find enough in the wells, which are often several days' 
 march apart." 
 
 "I know it, Tom Marix,"^said Dolly, "and will trust to 
 your experience. We will reorganize the caravan as soon 
 as we reach Alice Spring, where I hope to be as soon as 
 possible." ' 
 
 "The camel drivers have been gone four days with the 
 drove of camels," added Zach Fren, "and they will be 
 waiting for us at the statioii." 
 
 "And then," said Tom Marix, "the real difficulties of 
 the expedition will begin." 
 
 "We shall know how. to overcome them," said Mrs. 
 Branican. 
 
 And so, in conformity: with the plan carefully decided 
 upon, the first part of the voyage, consisting of about three 
 hundred and hfty mile?, would be accomplished with 
 horses, buggies and tuUock drays. Of the thirty men of 
 tlie escort the whites, to the number of fifteen, would be 
 mounted ; but these thick forests, these capricious'y hilly 
 regions, not, allowing of long stages, the blacks would 
 without difficulty be. able to follow the caravan on foot. 
 When the. new start was made from Alice Spring, the 
 camels would be reserved for the whites on duty as scouts, 
 collecting information from the wandering tribes or dis- 
 covering the wells scattered over the face of the desert. 
 
 It should be inentioned here that explorations under- 
 taken across the Australian continent have been managed 
 in this way ever since camels have been so advantageously 
 introduced into Australia, Travellers of the time of 
 Burke, Stuart, and Giles would have had much less to 
 undergo had they had these animals at their disposal. It 
 was in 1S66 that Mr. Elder imported from India a suf- 
 pciently large number, with their equipment of Afghan 
 
222 Mistress Branican. 
 
 cam el drivers ; and the breed has prospered. Thanks to 
 their employment, Colonel Warburton was able to bring 
 to a satisfactory conclusion his bold expedition which set 
 out from Alice Spring and reached Rockburn, on the coast 
 of De Witt Land. If David Lindsay had afterwards 
 succeeded in crossing the continent from north to south 
 with pack-horses, it was because he had only occasionally 
 left the district through which the telegraph line runs and 
 found the water and grass which so frequently fail in the 
 Australian solitudes. 
 
 And with regard to these hardy explorers who did not 
 hesitate to brave every sort of peril and fatigue, Zach Fren 
 was led to say, — 
 
 " You know, Mrs. Branican, we are anticipated in our 
 advance on Alice Spring.?" 
 
 '• Anticipated, Zach ? " 
 
 " Yes, madam. Do you not remember that Englishman 
 and his Chinese servant, who were on the Brisbane from 
 Melbourne to Adelaide .? " 
 
 " I do," said Dolly. " But did not they land at Adelaide ? 
 Did they not stop there ? " 
 
 " No, madam ; three days ago, Jos Merritt — that is his 
 name — arrived at Farina Town by railway. He even 
 asked me for information concerning our expedition, as to 
 the road we were going to take, and contented himself 
 with replying, 'Good! Oh, very good!' while his 
 Chinaman shook his head and seemed to say, ' Bad ! Oh, 
 very bad ! ' and next morning they left Farina Town, 
 going northwards." 
 
 "And how did they travel ? " asked Dolly. 
 
 " They travelled on horseback, but when they reached 
 Alice Spring they were going to change their means of 
 transport." 
 
 " Is the Englishman an explorer .' " 
 
 " He does not look it ; I thought the gentleman was 
 crazy." 
 
 " And did he not say why he was venturing into the 
 Australian desert .? " 
 
The Train to Adelaide. 223 
 
 "No, madam. But alone with his Chinaman I do not 
 suppose he* intends to risk much danger beyond the in- 
 habited portion of the province. We shall probably find 
 him at Alice Spring ! " 
 
 Next day, the nth of September, at five o'clock in the 
 afternoon, the last preparations were completed. The 
 drays had received their load of provisions in sufficient 
 quantity for the necessities of the long journey. This 
 consisted of preserved meats and vegetables of the best 
 American brands, flour, tea, sugar, salt, and the contents 
 of the medicine chest. The reserve of whiskey, gin-, and 
 brandy filled a certain number of kegs, which would later 
 on be placed on the backs of the camels. 
 
 A large stock of tobacco figured among the articles of 
 consumption — a stock all the more indispensable as it 
 was required not only for the staff, but as a medium of 
 exchange with the natives, among whom it is used as 
 currency. With tobacco and brandy whole tribes in West- 
 ern Australia could be bought. A large reserve of this 
 tobacco, a few rolls of printed calico, a number of objects 
 of Birmingham manufacture formed the ransom destined 
 for the purpose of the freedom of Captain John! 
 
 As to the camp necessities, the tents, the coverings, the 
 boxes containing the clothes and linen, all that belonged 
 to Mrs. Branican and the woman Harriett, the. belongings 
 of Zach Fren and the captain cf the escort, the utensils 
 required for the preparation of tiie food, the paraffin used 
 for cooking, the ammunition, consisting of ball cartridges 
 and shot cartridges for the guns carried by Tom Marix 
 and his men, all this found its 'place on the bullock 
 drays. 
 
 The preparations being over, nothing remained but to 
 give the signal of departure. Mrs. Branican, impatient to 
 be off, fixed the departure for the morning. It was 
 decided that at daybreak the caravans would leave Farina 
 Town, and go along the route, of the telegraph line. 
 The drivers and escort made up a force of forty men, 
 enrolled under the command of Zach Fren and Tom 
 
224. Mistress Branican. 
 
 Marix ; and all were told to be ready first thing in the 
 morning. 
 
 That evening, about nine o'clock, Dolly and the woman 
 Harriett with Zach Fren had just gone into the house they 
 occupied near the railway station. The door was shut, 
 and they were about to retire to their rooms when a gentle 
 knock was heard. 
 
 Zach Fren returned to the door, opened it, and could 
 not restrain an exclamation of surprise. 
 
 Before him, with a little bundle under his arm and his 
 cap in his hand, stood the boy from the Brisbane. 
 
 In truth, it seemed that Mrs. Branican had guessed who 
 it was. Yes ! And how can we explain it ? Although 
 she had no expectation of .seeing this boy, had she re- 
 membered that he wished to be near her ? Anyhow, his 
 name escaped instinctively from her lips, — 
 
 "Godfrey!" 
 
 Godfrey had arrived about half-an-hour before by the 
 train from Adelaide. 
 
 A few days before the departure of the mail boat he 
 had asked the captain of the Brisbane to pay him his wages 
 and had left the ship. 
 
 Once on shore, he had made no attempt to present him- 
 self at the hotel in King William Street, where Mrs. 
 Branican was staying. But how many times had he scon 
 her ! How many times he had followed her, without her 
 seeing him, without his seeking to speak to her ! 
 
 Hearing all about the preparations, he knew that Zach 
 Fren had gpne on to Farina Town to organize a caravan ; 
 and, as soon as he learned that Mrs. ]3ranican had left 
 Adelaide, he took the train and resolved to find her. 
 
 What, then, did Godfrey want, and what was the object 
 of this proceeding .? , 
 
 What he wanted Dolly soon ascertained. 
 
 Godfrey, admitted into the house, found himself in Mr.<-. 
 Brariican's presence. 
 
 " Is it you, my child ! You, Godfrey ! " she said, taking 
 his hand. 
 
The Train to Adelaide. 225 
 
 " It is he, and what does he want ? " growled Zach Fien, 
 with very obvious vexation, for tlic boy's presence seemed 
 to liim extrcmclv re, rettabie. 
 
 " What do I want ? " said Godfrey. " I want to go with 
 you, madam ; to go with you as far as you go, and never 
 to leave you ! I want to go in search of Captain Branican, 
 to find h'ni. to bring him back to San Diego, to his friends, 
 to his country." 
 
 Dolly could only restiain herself with difficulty. The 
 child's fcatur..s,- his voice, were all John — her wed-bclovcd 
 John! 
 
 Godfrey fell on his knees, and stretched out his hands 
 to her, and beseechingly said, — 
 
 " Take me, iriadam, take me ! " 
 
 " Come, my child, omc I " said Dolly, claspinj him iw 
 her breast. 
 
 PART II. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ACROSS SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 
 
 The departure of the caravan took place on the I2th of 
 September hi the early morning. 
 
 The weather was fine, the heat being tempered by a 
 gentle breeze. A few light clouds moderated the ardour 
 of the solar rays. In this thirty-first degree of latitude at 
 this time of the year, the warm season had fairly set in on 
 the Australian continent. The explorers knew only too 
 well how formidable was its intensity when there was 
 neither rain nor shade to cool the central plains. 
 
 It was regrettable that circumstances had not allowed 
 ]\Irs. Branican to undertake her expedition five or six 
 months later. During the winter the ordeal of such a 
 journey would have been more supportable. The cold 
 season, during which the thermometer sometimes goes 
 down to freezing-point, is less to be feared than the hot 
 one, which raises the mercurial column above forty degrees 
 centigrade. Previously to the month of May the vapours 
 dissolve into abundant showers, the creeks revive, the 
 wells fill. There is no need of travelling for days in search 
 of brackish water under a burning sky. The Australian 
 desert is more fatal to caravans than the desert of Africa ; 
 the Sahara has its oases, the y\ustralian desert has none. 
 
 But Mrs. Branican had no choice of place or time. She 
 went because she had to go ; she would risk these terrible 
 chances of climate because she had to risk them. The 
 finding of Captain John and his rescue from the natives 
 admitted of no delay, even if she were to succumb in the 
 
Across Souts Australia, 227 
 
 endeavour as Harry Felton had succumbed. It Is true 
 that the privations which this unfortunate man had borne 
 were not in store for this expedition, which was organized 
 in such a way as to overcome all difficulties, at least such 
 as were probable. 
 
 We know the composition of the caravan, which, since 
 Godfrey had joined it, consisted of forty-one persons. 
 The following was the order of march adopted north of 
 Farina Town, through the bush and along the creeks, 
 where there was no obstacle to bar the progress. 
 
 At the head went the fifteen Australians, clothed in 
 trousers and shirt of striped cotton, wearing straw hats, 
 and with naked feet as usual. Armed each of them with 
 a gun and revolver, and with a cartridge belt round their 
 waist, they formed the vanguard under the leadership of a 
 white man who acted as scout. / 
 
 After them in a buggy drawn by two horses, driven by 
 a native coachman, went Mrs. Branican and the woman 
 Harriett. A hood fitted to the light vehicle, so as to be 
 raised or lowered, afforded shelter from rain or storm. 
 
 In a second buggy were Zach Fren and Godfrey. 
 However much Zach had resented the boy's arrival, he had 
 soon taken a great liking to him when he saw how fond he 
 was of Mrs. Branican. 
 
 The four bullock drays came next, driven by the four 
 teamsters, and the progress of the caravan was regulated 
 by the pace of these animals, whose introduction into 
 Australia is of recent date, and which are valuable auxi- 
 liaries in matters of transport and agriculture. 
 
 On the flanks and in the rear of the little troop rode Tom 
 Marix's men, dressed like their leader, with their trousers 
 tucked into their boots, a linen jacket and belt, a white 
 cloth cap, a light mackintosh slung over their shoulders, 
 and armed like their native companions. These men, 
 being mounted, were to be of service in reconnoitring the 
 road, choosing the halting places at noon, or for the camp 
 at night when the second stage of the day's work neared 
 its end. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 Mistress Branican. 
 
 In this way the caravan was in a position to travel 
 twelve or thirteen miles a day over rough ground, occa- 
 sionally through patches of thick forest where the drays 
 could only get along slowly. In the evening the task of 
 pitching the camp fell to Tom Marix, who was accustomed 
 to that sort of thing. Then all would rest duiing the 
 night and start at sunrise. 
 
 The journey between Farina Town. and Alice Spring, 
 about three hundred and fifty miles, promised to be fre2 
 fi-om serious danger or fatigue, and wouldprobably occupy 
 thirty days. The station where the caravan would have 
 to be remodelled, in view of the exploration of the western 
 desert, would thus be reached during the first tliird of the 
 ^onth of October. 
 
 On leaving Farina Town the expedition for a certain 
 number of miles followed the works in progress for the 
 prolongation of the railway, and then to the westward 
 entered the Williouran Ranges, taking the direction 
 already staked out by the posts of the Overland Telegraph 
 Line. 
 
 On the road Mrs. Branican asked Tom Marix, who was 
 riding near the buggy, for a few particulars regarding this 
 line. 
 
 " It was 1870," said Tom Marix, "sixteen years after 
 the declaration of the independence of South Australia, 
 that the colonists had the idea of making this line between. 
 Port Adelaide and Port Darwin, from the south to the 
 north of the continent. The works were carried'on with 
 such activity that they were fi nished by the middle of 1 872." 
 
 " But," said Mrs. Branican, " had not the continent to 
 be explored right through ? " 
 
 "Just so," said Tom Marix, "and ten years before, in 
 i860 and 1861, Stuart, one of our most intrepid explorers; 
 had crossed it, and pushed out reconnaissances east and 
 west." 
 
 " And who was the originator of this line ? " asked Mrs. 
 Branican. 
 
 " An cnijii-.c:r as bold as he is intelligent, Mr. Todd, the 
 
Across South Australia. 2-29 
 
 director of posts and telegraphs, one of our fellow- citizens 
 whom Australia honours as he deserves." 
 
 " Did they find the material here for the work ? " 
 
 " No," said Tom Marix ; " they had to bring from 
 Europe the insulators, the wire, and even the posts for the 
 line. The colony ought really to be in a position to 
 furnish the material for any industrial enterprise." 
 
 " Did the natives let the works go on without intejr- 
 fcr-ing with them ? " 
 
 "At first they did rather more than interfere with it, 
 Mrs. Branican. They destroyed the stores, taking the 
 wire for the sake of the iron, and using the posts ^for 
 making axes out of. Along eighteen hundred and fifty 
 miles there were constant encounters with the Australians, 
 although they were always beaten off. They returned to 
 the charge again and again, and I think the affair would 
 have had to be given up if Mr. Todd had not had an idea, 
 not only ingenious, but of genius. He seized a few 
 chiefs of the tribes and gave them a few electric shocks, 
 and this so frightened them that neither they nor their 
 comrades ever dared go near the thing again. The line 
 was then finished and is now at regular work." 
 
 " Is it not guarded ? " asked Mrs. Branican. 
 
 "Yes, by the black police as we call them in this 
 country." 
 
 " And does not this police ever go into the central or 
 western regions ? " 
 
 "Never, or at least very seldom. There are so many 
 scoundrels, bushrangers and others to look after in the 
 inliabited districts." 
 
 " But why have they not thought of putting the black 
 police on the track of the Indas, when they know that 
 Captain Branican has been their prisoner for fifteen 
 years ? " 
 
 " You forget, madam, that we did not know it, and that 
 yoii j'ourself only knew it from Harry Felton a few weeks 
 agti." ' -■' - - 
 
 " That is so," said Dolly, " a few weeks ago ! " 
 
230 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " Besides," said Tom Marix, " I know that the black 
 police have had orders to explore in Tasman Land, and 
 that a strong detachment is to be sent there, but I am 
 afraid—" 
 
 Tom Marix stopped. Mrs. Branican did not notice his 
 "hesitation. 
 
 Resolved as he was to fulfil to the end the duties hz had 
 undertaken, he had, it should be said, very great doubts as 
 to the result of the expedition. He knew how difficult 
 these wandering tribes of Australia are to get hold of, and 
 had no share in Mrs. Branican's ardent faith, nor Zach 
 Fren's conviction, nor Godfrey's instinctive confidence. 
 However, we may repeat, he would do his duty. 
 . On the evening of the 15 th at the turn of the Deroy 
 Hills the caravan camped at the town of Boorloo. To the 
 north rose the summit of Mount Attraction, beyond which 
 extend the Illusion Plains. From this connection of- 
 names it may be thought that while the mountain attracts 
 the plain deceives. Anyway, Australian cartography offers 
 many of these designations, which are at the same time 
 physical and moral. 
 
 It is at Boorloo that the telegraph line runs off at almost 
 a right angle towards the west. Twelve miles away it 
 crosses Cabanna creek. But what is a simple matter for 
 aerial lines stretched from post to post, is more difficult for 
 a body of travellers on foot and horseback. It was neces- 
 sary to find a ford. The boy would not leave to others 
 the task of discovering it. Throwing himself resolutely 
 into the rapid, tumultuous river, he found a shallow place 
 by which the drays and carriages could reach the left bank 
 without getting over their axles. 
 
 On the 17th the caravan camped on the last spurs of 
 Mount North-West, which rises about twelve miles to the 
 south. 
 
 The country being inhabited, Mrs. Branican and her 
 companions received a cordial welcome at one of the large 
 farms, which had several thousand acres under tillage. 
 The raising of sheep in considerable flocks, the growing of 
 
Across South Australia. 231 
 
 corn on the wide, treeless plains, the cultivation on a large 
 scale of sorghum and millet, immense fallows ready for 
 sowing during the coming season, practical forestry, 
 plantations of olive trees and other species suitable for 
 these warm latitudes, many hundreds of beasts of labour 
 and draught, the staff required for such enterprises, a staff 
 submitted to qjuasi-military discipline which reduces men 
 almost to a state of slavery— all this can be met with on 
 these estates, which yield the wealth of the colonies of the 
 Australian continent. If Mrs. Branican's caravan had not 
 been amply provisioned at the start, she would here have 
 obtained everything she wanted, thanks to the generosity 
 of the rich farmers, of the free-selectors, the proprietors of 
 these agricultural stations. 
 
 These large industrial establishments are increasing. 
 Immense tracts, which the absence of water rendered 
 unproductive, are being brought into cultivation, and the 
 ground then being crossed by the caravan a dozen miles 
 south of Lake Eyre was intersected by liquid streams 
 from the newly dug artesian wells, which yield three hun- 
 dred thousand gallons a day. 
 
 On the i8th of September, Tom Marix camped for the 
 night on the southern point of South Lake Eyre, a consi- 
 derable sheet of water joining North Lake Eyre. On its 
 wooded banks was a flock of those curious water-fowl of 
 which the jabiru is the most remarkable specimen, and a 
 few flocks of black swans, with a few cormorants, pelicans, 
 and herons. 
 
 A curious geographical arrangement is that of these 
 lakes. They extend from the south northward — Lake 
 Torrens, the curve of which is followed by the railway, 
 I^ittle Lake Eyre, Great Lake Eyre, Lakes Frane, Blanche, 
 Amadeus — and are sheets of salt water, the old natural 
 basins in which linger the remains of an inland sea. 
 t In fact, geologists are inclined to admit that the Austra- 
 lian continent was formerly divided into two islands, at a 
 period not very remote. It has been observed that the 
 coast of the continent has a tendency to rise above sea- 
 
232 Mistress Branican. 
 
 level, and there seems to be no reason for supposing 
 that the centre is not subject to a similar continuous 
 elevation. The old basin will thus close in in time, and 
 bring about the disappearance of these lakes, which lie 
 between the hundred and thirtieth and hundred and fortieth 
 degrees of latitude. 
 
 From the point of South Lake Eyre to the station of 
 Emerald Spring, where they arrived in the evening of the 
 20th of September, the caravan advanced about seventeen 
 miles across a country of imagnificent forest, the trees of 
 which reached two hundred feet in height. 
 
 Accustomed as Dolly was to the forest marvels of Cali- 
 fornia, amongst others its gigantic sequoias, she could 
 not but have admired this astonishing vegetation if her 
 thoughts had not been far away in the north and west, 
 among the arid deserts, where the sandy hills barely 
 suppok a few miserable shrubs. She saw nothing of those 
 giant ferns of which Australia possesses the most remark- 
 able species, nothing of those enormous masses of euca- 
 lyptus, with weeping foliage, grouped on the gentle 
 undulations of the ground. .. _ 
 
 It is a curious fact that brushwood is absent from the 
 foot of these trees ; the ground is clear of brjars and thorns, 
 and their lower branches are not thrown out below twelve 
 or fifteen feet from the ground. All that remains is a 
 golden-yellow grass, which is never dried up. Animals 
 have destroyed the young shoots, and fires lighted by the 
 squatters have cleared away the bushes. Consequently, 
 although there are no roads cut through these vast forests 
 — so different to the African forests, in which you can 
 travel for six months without reachihg the end — there is no 
 difficulty in moving about. The buggies and drays passed 
 easily between the trees and under the high roof of their 
 foliage. 
 
 Besides, Tom Marix knew the country, having several 
 times crossed it when in command of the Adelaide 
 colonial police. Mrs. Branican could not have trusted 
 to a safer or more devoted guide. No leader of an 
 
Across South Australia. 233 
 
 escort could have joined so much zeal to so much intelli- 
 gence. 
 
 And, to help him, Tom Marix found an auxiliary, j-ounj^, 
 active, determined, in the lad who had so ardently attached 
 himself to Dolly ; and it is not to be wondered at that he 
 shared in the ardour of this boy of fourteen years. Godfrey 
 talked of going alone, if necessary, into the interior. If 
 any traces of Captain John were discovered, it would be 
 difficult, even impossible, to keep him back. Everything 
 about him — his enthusiasm when he spoke of the captain, 
 his assiduity in consulting the maps of Central Australia, 
 in taking notes, in gaining information during the halts, 
 instead of giving himself over to rest after the fatigue of 
 the day — all denoted in this impassioned soul an effer- 
 vescence which nothing could temper. Very strong for 
 his age, hardened already to the hardest trials of a sailor's 
 life, he was often ahead of the caravan and out of sight. 
 If he remained in his place it was only at Dolly's precise 
 orders. Neither Zach Fren nor Tom Marix, although 
 Godfrey showed much friendship for them, could get fiom 
 him what she got by a look. Abandoning herself to her 
 instinctive feelings in the presence of this child, who was 
 John's physical and mental portraitj. she felt for him the 
 affection of a mother. If Godfrey was not her son, if he 
 was not so according to the laws of nature, he could at 
 least be so by adoption. Godfrey should not leave her 
 again. John would love him as she loved him, and with 
 the same love. 
 
 One day, after an absence during which he had been 
 some miles in advance of the caravan, — 
 
 " My child," she said, " I want you to promise me not 
 to go so far away without my consent. When I see you 
 go I am quite uneasy until you come back. You leave us 
 for hours without any news of you." 
 
 " It is necessary I should collect information," said the 
 boy. " There was a' report of a tribe of wandering natives 
 encamped on Warmer Creek. I wahted to see the chief 
 of the tribe, to question him." . 
 
23 1 MisTRiiss Branican. 
 
 " And what did he say ? " asked Dolly. 
 
 " He had heard of a white man coming from the west 
 and making for Oueenskmd." 
 
 " Who was he }" 
 
 " I understood at last that he was talking of Harry 
 Fclton, and not of Captain Branican. But we shall find 
 litm — yes, we shall find him! Ah! I love him as I love 
 }'ou, who are a mother to me ! " 
 
 "A mother!" murmured Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " But I know you, while Captain John I have never 
 seen ; and without that photograph you gave me, which I 
 always carry about with me — the portrait which speaks to 
 me, which seems to answer me — " 
 
 " You will know him one day, my child," said Dolly, 
 "and he will love thee as I love thee." 
 
 On the 24th September, after having camped at Strang- 
 way Spring, beyond Warmer Creek, the expedition halted 
 at William Spring, forty-two miles to the north of Emerald 
 Station. It will be seen from this qualification of " spring " 
 that the water system is of great importance in the districts 
 crossed by the telegraph line. The hot season was already 
 far enough advanced for these springs to be drying up, 
 and it was not difficult to find fords by which the creeks 
 could be crossed with the teams. 
 
 At the same time, the strong vegetation gave no signs 
 of decreasing. If the villages were only met with at longer 
 intervals, the farms still succeeded each other from stage 
 to stage. Hedges of spiny acacia, which scented the air, 
 mingled with a few sweetbriars, formed the impenetrable 
 enclosures. In the forests, now more scattered, European 
 trees, such as the oak, the plane, the willow, the poplar, 
 the tamarind, were taking the place of the eucalyptus and 
 the gum-trees which are called "spotted gums" by the 
 Australians. 
 
 " What sort of a tree is that ? " asked Zach Fren the 
 first time he saw some fifty of these gums in a clump. 
 " It looks as if their trunks were painted in all the colours 
 of the rainbow," 
 
Across South Australia. 235 
 
 "What you take for a coat of paint," said Tom Marix, 
 " is the natural colour. The bark of those trees colours 
 according to whether the vegetation is early or late.^ Some 
 are white, some are pink, some are red. Look ! there is 
 one with the trunk striped with blue, another with yellow 
 plates." 
 
 " One more drollery to distinguish your continent, Tom 
 Marix." 
 
 " Drollery, if you like ; but believe me, Zach, you are 
 paying my countrymen a compliment in repeating that 
 their country resembles no other. And it will not be 
 perfect — " 
 
 " Until there remains not a single native ; that is under- 
 stood ! " replied Zach Fren. 
 
 It was equally noticeable that, in spite of the insufficient 
 shelter of tliese trees, the birds gathered there in great 
 numbers. There were magpies, parrots, cockatoos of 
 startling whiteness, laughing birds (which, according to 
 M. D. Charnay, would be more appropriately called sob- 
 bing birds), red-necked tandalas, whose cackle is inex- 
 haustible, flying squirrels (amongst others the polatouchc, 
 which sportsmen" attract by imitating the cry of nocturnal 
 birds), birds of paradise, and especially the rifle bird, of 
 velvet plumage, which is held to be the finest specimen of 
 Australian ornithology ; and, finally, on the surface of the 
 lagoons or swampy places, pairs of cranes, and lotus birds 
 the conformation of whose feet permits of their running on 
 the leaves of the water-lily. 
 
 In addition, there was an abundance of hares, and there 
 was no harm in knocking them over, to say nothing of 
 partridges and wild ducks, which enabled Tom Marix to 
 economize with the provisions of the expedition. This game 
 was plainly grilled or roasted every evening at the camp- 
 fire. Occasionally, too, iguana eggs were dug up, which 
 are excellent, and better than the iguana with which the 
 blacks of the expedition regaled themselves. 
 
 The creeks still yielded perch, a few long-nosed pike, 
 and a number of those mullets so active as to jump over 
 
236 Mistress Branican. 
 
 tlie fisherman's head, and in addition to these were myriads 
 of cols. At the same time, a constant look-out had to be 
 kept for crocodiles, which are very dangerous in their 
 aquatic surroundings.- From all of which it follows tliat 
 lines or nets are articles with which the traveller in Aus- 
 tralia should be furnished, in accordance with the expressed 
 recommendation of Colonel Warburton. 
 
 On the morning of the 29th the caravan left Uoiburn 
 Station and entered on hilly ground, very rough for the 
 Walkers. Forty-eight hours afterwards, to the west of 
 Denison Ranges, it -reached the Peak Station, recently 
 established for the requirements of the tclegrapiiic 
 service. 
 
 From a detailed account of the journeys of Stuart, given 
 by Tom Marix, Mrs. Branican learnt that it was from this 
 point that the explorer had started for the north, through 
 country almost unknown before. 
 
 After this station, for a distance of some sixty miles, the 
 caravan had a foretaste of the fatigues in store for them 
 in the Australian desert. Very arid ground had to be 
 traversed up to the banks of the Macumba River, and 
 beyond, for about the same distance, a no less wearisome 
 stretch to Lady Charlotte Station. 
 
 On these vast undulatiffg plains, varied here and there 
 by a few clumps of trees with discoloured foliage, game, if 
 it can all be called so, did not fail. There leapt the kan- 
 garoo, of a small species known as the wallaby, which 
 escaped at many an enormous bound. There ran the 
 tipossums of the bandicoot and dyasuran varieties, whjch 
 ihestle— that is the word — at the top of the gum trees. 
 Several pairs of cassowaries were seen with as proud and 
 defiant a look as an eagle, but with the advantage over 
 the king of birds, that their flesh is fat and nourishing and 
 Very like beef. The trees were bunga-bungas, a kind of 
 araucaria, which in the western regions of Queensland 
 attain a height of two hundred and fifty feet. These pines, 
 which are trees of more moderate height, yield a large 
 nutritious kernel, which is eaten by the Australians. 
 
Across South Australia. 237 
 
 Tom Marix v^arncd his, companions asjainst a possible 
 meeting vvitli some of the bears which take up their abode 
 in the hollow trunk of the gum trees. And this did 
 happen, but these plantigrades, called by the name of 
 " potorous," were no more formidable than the long" 
 clawed marsupials. 
 
 As to the natives, the caravan had hardly met with any 
 up to then. In fact, it is to the north, and east, and west 
 of the Overland Telegraph Line, that the tribes wander 
 from camp to camp. 
 
 In traversing these more and more barren countries, 
 Tom Marix would have to profit by the peculiar instincf 
 of the bullocks yoked to the drays. This instinct, which 
 seems to have become developed in the breed since its in- 
 troduction to the Australian continent, causes these 
 animals to move towards the creeks in which they can 
 satisfy their thirst. It is sejldom that they are deceived, 
 and the men have only to follow them. And their instinct 
 in another matter is under certain circumstances of great 
 value. 
 
 In fact, on the morning of the 7th of October, the bul- 
 locks of the leading dray suddenly stopped, and werj 
 immediiitely imitated by the other teams. The drivers 
 prodded them with thfeir goads, but could not make thciii 
 advance a step. 
 
 Tom Marix noticing this, at once rode up to Mrs. 
 Branican's buggy. 
 
 " I know what it is," he said ; " if we have not yet met with 
 lilacks on our road, we are nqw cro.'ssing one of the tracks 
 they arc accustomed to take, and our bullocks have scented 
 the trail and refuse to go beyond." 
 
 " And why ? " asked Dolly. 
 
 "The reason we do not really know," said Tom Marix, 
 " but the fact is no less indisputable. What I believe is, 
 that the first cattle imported into Australia were badly 
 treated by the natives, and recollection of the ill-treatment 
 has been retained and transmitted from generation to 
 generation." 
 
238 Mistress Branican. 
 
 Whether this peculiarity of atavism, pointed out by the 
 chief of the escort, was or was not the reason of their mis- 
 trust, it is certain that the cattle could not be prevailed 
 upon to continue their advance. They had to be unyoked 
 and turned round, and then, with blows of the whip and 
 goad, backed for about twenty yards, so as to cross the path 
 contaminated by the passage of the blacks. And when 
 they were again yoked up the drays resumed their journey 
 to the north. 
 
 When the caravan arrived on the borders 'of the Macumba 
 River, everyone found plenty to slake his thirst with. It 
 is true the water was already low, owing to the great heat. 
 But where there was not water enough to float a skiff, there 
 was enough to satisfy forty men and twenty cattle. 
 
 On the 6th the expedition crossed Hamilton Creek on 
 the half-covered stones which strewed its bed ; on the 8th, 
 Mount Hammersley was left to the east ; on the lOth, in 
 the morning, a halt was made at the station of Charlotte- 
 town, aficr accomplishing three hundred and twenty miles 
 since leaving Farina Town. 
 
 Mrs. Branican then found herself on the border between 
 South Australia and Alexandra Land, also called the 
 Northern Territory. This is the country discovered by 
 the explorer Stuart in 18(0, when he followed the hundred 
 and thirty-first meridian up to the twenty-first degree of 
 iatilude. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. 
 
 Tom Marix had asked Mrs. Branican for a rest of 
 twenty-four hours at Lady Charlotte Station. Although 
 the journey had been accomplished without obstacles, the 
 heat had fatigued the cattle. The journey to Alice Sprinsj 
 was a long one, and it was important that the drays should 
 be certain of reaching its end. 
 
 Dolly gave in to the reason advanced by the chief of 
 the escort, and the best arrangements possible were made. 
 A few shanties form the station, the population of which 
 was tripled for a day by the caravan's arrival. It was 
 therefore necessary to camp. But the squatter, who 
 owned a large farm in the neighbourhood, came to offer 
 Mrs. Branican more comfortable hospitality, and he was 
 so pressing that she accepted his invitation to. Waldck 
 Hill, where very suitable lodgings were placed at her 
 disposal. 
 
 This squatter was only the tenant of one of those vast 
 domains called " runs " in Australia. These rung com- 
 prise no less than six hundred thousand hectares, and even 
 more, particularly in the colony of Victoria. AlthougJi 
 that at Waldek Hill was not quite as large as this, )ct 
 it was of considerable, size. .Surrounded by paddocks, 
 or enclosures, it was specially devoted to the raising 
 of sheep — requiring a certain number of men, shepherds 
 employed in looking after the flocks, and savage dogs 
 whose barking resembled that of the wolf. 
 
 The nature of the ground determines the choice of the 
 
240 Mistress Bbanican. 
 
 station when a run is to be formed, the preference bcin^ 
 j^iven to the plains in which the salt-bush grows. These 
 bushes with nutritive juices, in some ways resembling the 
 asparagus, in others the aniseed, ^re greedily sought after 
 by the sheep, who belong to the pig-face variety. As 
 soon as the land has been found fit for pasture, it is put 
 under grass. Then cattle aie put on it to take the first 
 growth, while the sheep, which are rnore difficult to feed, 
 take the second growth. 
 
 It will not be forgotten that it is to the wool produced 
 by the sheep that the great wealth of the Australian 
 colonies is due ; and there are np less than one hundred 
 millions of these representatives of the ovine race. 
 
 On the run at WalJek Hill, around the- principal 
 house and the huts of the men, were large ponds well 
 supplied with water from a creek, and used for the 
 washing of the sheep before shearing. In front of these 
 were the sheds in which the, squat' er stored the woolpacks 
 before sending them off to Adelaide. 
 
 At the time the operation of shearing was in full 
 swing. For some days a gang of wandering shearers had, 
 according to custom, come to work at this lucrative trad6. 
 
 When Mrs. Branican, accompanied by Zach Fron, had 
 passed the barriers, she was struck with the astonishing 
 animation that reigned within the enclosure. The men at 
 piece work did not lose a moment, and, as the most skilful 
 could shear a hundred fleeces a day, they were sure of 
 earning a sovereign in that time. The snipping of the 
 large shears in the hands of the shearer, the bleating of 
 the sheep when they received some ill-directed blow, the 
 shouting of the men one to another, the coming and going 
 of those engaged in carrying the wool to the sheds, made 
 up a curious scene. And above this tumult rose the 
 shouts of the little boys, " Tar ! tar ! " as they carried the 
 bowls of tar with which to wash the wounds made by the 
 unskilful shearers. 
 
 Over all this there have to be overseers to ensure the 
 work being properly done. And some of these were at 
 
Jhcarin" in full swinq 
 
 R 
 
An Unexpected Meeting. 241,; 
 
 Waldek Hill, independently of those engaged in keeping 
 the accounts, that is to say, a dozen men and women who 
 thus obtained their living. 
 
 And what was Mrs. Branican's surprise — more than 
 surprise, stupefaction — when she heard her name pro- 
 nounced a few yards behind her. 
 
 A woman had just run up. She had thrown herself on 
 her knees, with her hands stretched out, and looking 
 appealingly, — 
 
 It was Jane Burker — Jane, aged less by years than by 
 trouble, grey-haired, pale of face, almost unrecognizable, 
 but whom Dolly recognized. 
 
 " Jane ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 She had risen, and the two cousins were in each other's 
 arms. 
 
 What then had been the life of the Burkers for the last 
 twelve years ? A miserable life — and even a criminal 
 life, at least so far as regards the husband of the unfortu- 
 nate Jane. 
 
 When he left San Diego in-a hurry to escape from the 
 pursuit of his creditors, Len Burker had taken refuge at 
 Mazatlan, one of the ports on the west coast of Mexico. 
 As will be remembered, he left at Prospect House the 
 mulatto No, with orders to watch over Dolly Branican, 
 who had not at that t^me recovered her reason. But 
 shortly afterwards, when the unhappy maniac had been 
 placed in the asylum of Doctor Brumley, owing to the 
 influence of Mr. William Andrew, the mulatto having no 
 more occasion to remain at the chalet, had escaped to 
 rejoin her master, whose retreat she knew. 
 
 It was under an assumed name that Len Burker had 
 been in hiding at Mazatlan, where the Californian police 
 had been unable to find him, for he had only re- 
 mained a few weeks in that town. Two or three thou- 
 sand piastres — all that remained of what he had run 
 through, and all that remained of the little fortune of 
 Mrs. Branican-^was all that he possessed. To begin 
 business again in the United States was no longer pos- 
 
242 Mistress ERAXICA^r. 
 
 sible, and he resolved to leave America. Australia 
 appeared to offer an opportunity of again tempting fortune 
 before he was reduced to his last dollar. 
 
 Jane, always under the complete dominion of her hus- 
 band, had not strength of mind enough to resist him. 
 Mrs. Branican, her only relative, was now deprived of 
 reason. As far as Captain John was concerned, there 
 was no longer any doubt as to his fate. The Franklin 
 had perished with all hands. John would never return 
 to San Diego. Nothing could henceforth save Jane from 
 the destiny to which Len Burker was dragging her, and 
 under these conditions she accompanied him to the 
 Australian continent. 
 
 Len Burker had landed at Sydney. There he spent 
 all he had in launching forth into new speculations, in 
 which he made fresh dupes, and displayed more ability 
 than he had done at San Diego. And then he ventured 
 on other speculations, in which he lost the few profits he 
 made at the outset. 
 
 Eighteen months after he had taken refuge in Australia, 
 Len Burker had had to leave Sydney. A prey to poverty 
 bordering on destitution, he was compelled to seek his 
 fortune elsewhere. But matters were no more favourable 
 to him at Brisbane, whence he soon escaped to take refuge 
 in the most out-of-the-way districts of Queensland. 
 
 Jane followed him. Resigned to her fate, she was even 
 reduced to work with her hands for money to assist in the 
 payment of the household expenses. Harshly treated by 
 the mulatto, who continued to be Len Burker's evil genius, 
 she had many times thought of running away from this 
 miserable life, and putting an end to its vexations and 
 humiliations 1 But that was beyond her weak, indecisive 
 character. The poor dog is beaten, and yet dare not 
 leave its master's house 1 
 
 At this time Len Burker had learnt from the newspapers 
 of the attempts that were being made to discover the 
 survivors of the Franklin. The two expeditions of the 
 Dolly Hope, undertaken by Mrs. Branican, had informed him 
 
An Unexpected Meeting. 243 
 
 of the new state of affairs : i. Dolly had recovered her 
 reason after a^period of four years, during which she had 
 remained in Doctor Brumley's asylum ; 2. During that 
 period her uncle Edward Starter had died in Tennessee, 
 and the enormous fortune she had inherited from him had 
 enabled her to organize these two expeditions in the seas 
 of Malaysia and on the coasts of Northern Australia. As 
 to their definitive result, it had been settled that the 
 remains of the Franklin had been found on Browse 
 Island, and the last survivor of the crew had died on that 
 island. 
 
 Between Dolly's fortune and Jane, her sole heiress, there 
 now remained but a mother who had lost her child, a wife 
 who had lost her husband, and whom a combination of 
 misfortunes had shaken in her sanity. So said Len 
 Burkcr to himself. To resume family intercourse with 
 Mrs. Branican was impossible. To ask for assistance 
 through the mediation of Jane he was afraid, for he was 
 still wanted by the police, and at the mercy of an extradi- 
 tion treaty which would have handed him over to punish- 
 ment. But if Dolly died, by what means could he prevent 
 her fortune failing to reach Jane, that is to say, himself? 
 
 It will not have been forgotten that about seven years 
 had elapsed between the return of the Dolly Hope, after 
 her second expedition, up to the meeting with Harry 
 Felton, which had revived the question of the Franklin 
 disaster. 
 
 During this period Len Burker's life had become more 
 miserable than ever. From the illegal acts he had com- 
 mitted without remorse, he had glided down the slope of 
 criminality. He had now no fixed home, and Jane had 
 been compelled to submit to her wandering life. 
 
 The mulatto, N6, was dead ; but Mrs. Burker received 
 no benefit from the death of the woman whose influence 
 had been so fatal to her husband. As the companion of a 
 criminal, she was obliged to follow him over these vast 
 territories, where so many crimes remain unpunished. 
 After the exhaustion of the gold-mines of the colony of 
 
244 Mistress Eranican. 
 
 Victoria, and the- dispersal of thousands of diggers, who 
 found themselves without work, the country was invaded 
 by a population little accustomed to submission and respect 
 for the law on the diggings ; and now there was a formid- 
 able class of the unclassed, of people without standing, 
 known in the districts of South Australia under the name 
 of " larrikins." These scoured the country, indulging their 
 criminal propensities, and driven from the towns by the 
 police. 
 
 Such were the companions ,with whom Len Burker 
 associated when his notoriety forbade him access to the 
 towns. Then, as he was gradually driven out into the 
 less protected regions, he associated with the ^angs of 
 wandering scoundrel', among others with the fjrocious 
 bushrangers, who date from the early years of colonization, 
 and whose race is not yet extinct. 
 
 To that step in the social ladder Len Burker had 
 descended. During the last few years, in how many cases 
 he had taken part in robbing farms, in highway robbery, 
 in all the crimes that justice was impotent to repress, he 
 alone could tell. Yes, he alone; for Jane, almost always 
 abandoned in some village, was not admitted into the. 
 secret of his abominable actions. And perhaps blood had 
 been shed hy the hand of the man she iio longer respected, 
 but whom she would never betray. 
 
 Twelve years had elapsed when the reappearance of 
 Harry Fclton renewed the public excitement. The news 
 was spread by the newspapers, and notably by the nu- 
 merous journals of Australia. Len Burker learnt it as he 
 read a number of the Sydney Morning Herald in a little 
 village in Queensland, where he had then taken refuge 
 after a matter of pillage and incendiarism which, thanks to 
 the intervention of the police, had not turned out precisely 
 to the advantage of the bushrangers. 
 
 At the same time as he learnt the facts regarding Harry 
 Felton, Len Burker learnt that Mrs. Branican had left San 
 Diego to come to Sydney and put herself in communica- 
 tion with the m^te of the Franklin. Almost immediately 
 
An Unexpected Meeting. 245 
 
 came the rumour that Harry Felton had died after giving 
 certain indications relative to Captain John. Then, a few- 
 days later, Len Burker was informed that Mrs. Branican had 
 landed at Adelaide, with the object of organizing an ex- 
 pedition, in which she would take part, and which had for 
 its object the visiting of the deserts of the centre and north- 
 west of Australia. 
 
 When Jane heard of her cousin's arrival on the continent 
 her first feeling was to run away and seek a refuge with 
 her. But Len Burker had guessed her intentions, and, 
 owing to his threats, she dare not carry out her plan. 
 
 Then it was that the scoundrel, without hesitating, re- 
 solved to make the best of the position. The hour was 
 decisive. To meet Mrs. Branican on the road, to again 
 ingratiate himself with her by means of calculated hypocrisy, 
 to accompany her amid the Australian solitudes, nothing 
 could be less difficult, or tend more surely to his object. 
 It was hardly probable that Captain John, even admitting 
 that he still lived, would be discovered among the wandering 
 natives, and it was possible that Dolly would succumb in 
 the course of this dangerous campaign. All her fortune 
 would then revert to Jane, her only relative. Who knows ? 
 There are such profitable opportunities when one has the 
 talent for originating them. 
 
 Be it understood Len Burker was careful not to tell 
 Jane of his intention to renew his relations with Mrs. 
 Branican. He separated from the bushrangers, though 
 prepared to call on them for their good offices later on, if 
 he had need of them. Accompanied by Jane, he left 
 Queensland, making for Lady Charlotte station, which is 
 only about a hundred miles away, and through which the 
 caravan must necessarily pass on its way to Alice Spring. 
 
 And that is why,' for the last three weeks, Len Burker 
 had been at Waldek Hill, where he fulfilled the duties of 
 overseer. There he was waiting for Dolly with his mind 
 fully made up to shrink from no crime in his attempt to 
 get possession of her fortune. 
 
 On her arrival at Lady Charlotte station Jane suspected 
 
245, Mistress Branican. 
 
 nothing. And what were her feelings in the irresistible 
 and thoughtless movement to which she yielded, when she 
 found herself in the presence of Mrs. Branican, and thus 
 helped on Len Burker's plans far more than he had ever 
 hoped. 
 
 Len Burker was then forty-five years of age. Having 
 aged but little, he was still erect and vigorous, and still 
 had the fugitive, false look, and the features stamped with 
 dissimulation, which inspired distrust in him. Jane ap- 
 peared to be quite ten years older, her colour all faded, 
 her hair white at the temples, her body crushed down. 
 But her look, almost extinguised by misery, lighted up 
 when she saw Dolly. 
 
 After clasping her in her arms Mrs. Branican had taken 
 Jane into one of the rooms put at her disposal by the 
 squatter of Waldek Hill. There the two women could 
 abandon themselves to their feelings. Dolly only remem- 
 bered the cares with which Jane had surrounded her at 
 the chalet of Prospect House. She had nothing to re- 
 proach her with, and she was ready to pardon her husband 
 M"he would consent to separate them from one another no 
 ]|)nger. 
 -They talked./or some time. ,_Jane only told her what 
 she could of her past life w^hout compromising Len 
 Bur.ker,.^nd Mrs. Branican was*t*'ery-'Treserved in questipn- 
 '"g;'"%er on the subject.' She felt how much the poor 
 creamre had suffered and was still suffering. Was not 
 that plough to render her worthy of all her pity, of all her 
 affectiqii ? The position of Captain John, the unshakable 
 assurance that she would soon recover him, the efforts she 
 was making to succeed in, doing so, that is what she spoke 
 of above everything, and then of the child she had lost— 
 of little Wat. And when she recalled the remembrance 
 always, living in her, Jane became so pale, her face under- 
 went such an alteration, that Dolly believed the unfortunate 
 woman was about to faint. 
 
 Jane managed to recover herself, and then had to tell of 
 her life since the fatal day on wh'eh her cpusjn had gone 
 
An Unexpected Meeting. 24; 
 
 tnad up to the time when Len Burker was compelled to 
 leave San Diego. 
 
 " Is it possible, my poor Jane," said Dolly, " is it possible 
 that during these fourteen months, when you were taking 
 such care of me, that there came a lucid interval to my 
 mind? Is it possible that I had no recollection of my 
 poor John ? Is it possible that I never pronounced his 
 name, nor that of our dear little Wat ? " 
 
 " Never, Dolly, never I " murmured Jane, who could not 
 restrain her tears. 
 
 "And you, Jane, you my friend, you who are of my 
 blood, you never read my mind ? Ycu never noticed 
 neither in my words nor my looks that I was conscious of 
 the past ? " 
 
 " No, Dolly ! " 
 
 " Well, Jane, I am going to tell you what I have told 
 nobody else. Yes — when I returned to sanity — yes — I 
 had a presentiment that John was alive, that I was not a 
 widow, and it seemed to also — " 
 
 "Also? "said Jane. 
 
 Her eyes filled with inexplicable terror, her looks wild 
 with fright ; she waited for what DQjly- was about to say. 
 
 "'•Yes,. Jane," continued Dojly, "I had the feeling that I 
 was still a mother ! " ■ '■' 
 
 Jane rose, her hands^ \>eat the air as thqugh she would 
 chase away some horrible image, her lips worked without 
 her being able to articu'ate_a word. Dolly, absorbed in 
 her own thoughts, did not observe this agitation, and Jane 
 had begun to resume lier self-possession when her husband 
 appeared at the door of the room. 
 
 Len Burker remained in the doorway looking at his 
 wife, and seeming to say to her, — 
 
 " What have you been saying ? " 
 
 Jane fell back utterly powerless before this man — the 
 invincible domination of a strong spirit over a weak one. 
 Jane was annihilated under Len Burker's look. Mrs. 
 Branican understood. The sight of Len Burker recalled 
 the past, and reminded her of what Jane must have en- 
 
248 Mistress Branican. 
 
 dured from Iiim. But this revolt of her heart lasted t)ut 
 a moment. Dolly was resolved to sacrifice her recrimina- 
 tion, to overcome her repulsion, in order to be no more 
 separated from the unfortunate Jane. 
 
 " Len Burker," she said, " you know why I have come 
 to Australia. It is a duty to which I shall devote myself 
 until I see John, for John is alive. As chance has placed 
 you in my road, as I have again found Jane, the only rela- 
 tive left to me, leave her to me and allow her to come 
 with me, as she desires." 
 
 Len Burker did not at once reply. Knowing what there 
 was against him, he wished Mrs. Branican to complete her 
 proposal by asking him to join the caravan. But, as Dolly 
 remained silent, he had to take the initiative. 
 
 "Dolly," said he, " I willanswer without circumlocution 
 to your offer, and I will add that I expected it. I will not 
 refuse, and I willingly consent that my wife should remain 
 with you. Ah! life has been hard for both of us since 
 mischance forced me to leave San Diego. We have 
 suffered much during the fourteen years which have 
 elapsed, and you see fortune has not favoured me on 
 Australian soil, as I am reduced to work for my bread 
 from day to day. When the shearing is over at Waldek 
 Hill I do not know where I shall get other work. And, 
 as also it will be painful for me to part with Jane, I, in my 
 turn, ask you to permit me to take an active part in your 
 expedition. I know the natives of the interior, with whom 
 I have had some experience, and I can be of some use to 
 you. Do not doubt it, Dolly, I shall be happy to join my 
 efforts to those of your companions, and help you to 
 deliver John Branican." 
 
 Dolly saw that this was the condition on which Len 
 Burker would consent to leave her Jane. There was no 
 disputing with such a man ; besides, if he really meant 
 what he said, his presence would not be useless, inasmuch 
 as, for a number of years, his wandering life had led him 
 through the central regions of the continent. Mrs. 
 Branican thus had to reply, but coldly enough, — 
 
An Unexpected Meeting. 249 
 
 " That is agreed, Len Burker ; you shall be one of us , 
 and get ready to start, for we leave Lady Charlotte 
 station first thing to-morrow morning." 
 
 " I will be ready," said Len Burker, who retired without 
 having dared to offer his hand to Mrs. Branican. 
 
 When Zach Fren learnt that Len Burker was to join 
 the expedition he showed very little satisfaction. He 
 knew the man, he knew from Mr. William Andrew how 
 this solemn personage had abused his functions in dissi- 
 pating Dolly's patrimony. He knew under what conditions 
 this faithless trustee, this broken broker, had had to leave 
 San Diego ; he had no doubt whatever but that his life had 
 been suspicious during the fourteen years he had been in 
 Australia. But, at the same time, he said nothing, looking 
 upon it as a fortunate circumstance that Jane was near 
 Dolly. But in his heart he resolved to keep a good look- 
 out on Len Burker. 
 
 The day ended without other ijicident. Len Burker 
 was not again seen, but was busy in his preparation for 
 departure after arranging with the, squatter of Waldek 
 Hill. The arrangement gave rise to no difficulty, and the 
 squatter even undertook to provide him with a horse, so 
 that he might be in a state to follow the caravan to Alice 
 Spring, where the re-organization was to take place. 
 
 Dolly and Jane remained together during the afternoon 
 and evening at Waldek Hill. Dolly avoided speaking of 
 Len Burker, and made no allusion to what he had been 
 doing since his departure from San Diego, feeling that he 
 had done things Jane could not mention. 
 
 During this evening neither Tom Marix nor Godfrey, 
 who were collecting information among the natives whose 
 huts were in the neighbourhood, came to Waldek Hill, 
 It was early in the morning that Mrs. Branican had an 
 opportunity of introducing Godfrey to Jane, telling her 
 he was her adopted son. 
 
 Jane was extraordinarily struck with the resemblance 
 which existed between Captain John and the boy. Her 
 impression was, indeed, so profound that she scarcely dared 
 
250 Mistress Branican. 
 
 to look at him. And how can wc express what she felt 
 when Dolly told her all about Godfrey, how she liad inct 
 him on the Brisbane, how he was a child found in the 
 streets of San Diego, how he had been brought up at Wat 
 House, how he was about fourteen years old. 
 
 Jane sat listening to this story motionless and dumb, 
 pale as death, her heart scarcely beating in the intensity 
 of her anguish. 
 
 And when Dolly left her alone, she fell on her knees 
 and clasped her hands. Then the life came back to her 
 features, and her face was as if transfigured. 
 
 " Him I him ! " she screamed, " him ! Near her I God, 
 then, has willed it so ! " 
 
 A moment afterwards Jane had left the house atWaldek 
 Hill, and, crossing the interior yard, was rushing towards 
 the hut where she lived, to tell her husband everything. 
 
 Len Burker was there packing a portmanteau with the 
 few articles of clothing and other objects he was going to 
 take on his journey. Jane's arrival in this extraordinary 
 state of trouble made him jump back. 
 
 " What is the matter ? " he said, sharply. " Speak 1 Will 
 you speak ? What is the matter ? " 
 
 " He is alive 1 " said Jane. " He is here ! Near his 
 mother — him we thought — " 
 
 " Near his mother — alive — him ? " said Len Burker, who 
 was thunderstruck at the revelation. 
 
 He understood too well to whom this word "hiin" 
 applied. 
 
 " Him ! " said Jane, " him ! The second child of John 
 and Dolly Branican !" 
 
 A short explanation will be sufficient to relate what 
 had taken place fifteen years before at Prospect Hou«e. 
 
 A few months after taking up their abode at the chalet, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Burker had noticed that Dolly, then for some 
 weeks out of her mind, was in a situation of which she 
 herself was ignorant. Narrowly watched by the mulatto, 
 No, and in spite of Jane's supplications, Dolly was, so to 
 speak, sequestered, withdrawn from the sight of her friends 
 
An UNE-trEcTED Mi.eting. 251 
 
 and neighbours under the pretext of her malady. Seven 
 months later, while still insane and without even a trace of 
 memory, she had brought into the world a second child. 
 At this time, when Captain John's death was generally 
 admitted, the birth of this child interfered with Len 
 Barker's plans regarding Dolly's future fortune. He had, 
 therefore, resolved to keep the birth secret. It was in 
 view of this eventuality that for several months the servants 
 had been sent a\\ay from the chalet, and visitors refused 
 admittance, which Jane, compelled to yield to her 
 husband, was unable to prevent. The child, when only a 
 few hours old, had been abandoned by No on the highway, 
 where it was fortunately found by a passer-by, who took 
 it to a hospital. Later on, after the opening of Wat House, 
 it was taken there, and thence at eight years it came out 
 to go to sea as a cabin boy. And now all is explained, 
 the resemblance of Godfrey to Captain John, his father, 
 the instinctive feelings continually experienced by Dolly — 
 Dolly a mother without knowing it ! 
 
 " Yes, Len," said Jane. " It is his son ! . And we must 
 confess everything — " 
 
 But at the thought of a recognition which would 
 endanger the plan on which his future reposed, Len Burker 
 made a threatening gesture, and oaths escaped from his 
 lips. Seizing the unfortunate Jane by the hand, and 
 looking into her eyes, he said in a low voice, — 
 
 " For Dolly's sake as well as for Godfrey's sake, I advis2 
 you, Jane,-to be silent." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NORTHWARDS, 
 
 There could be no mistake ; Godfrey was, indeed, the; 
 second child of John and Dolly Branican. The affection 
 Dolly felt for him was merely the mother's instinct. But 
 she did not know that the boy was her son, and how could 
 she ever discover it, if Jane, afraid of the threats of Len 
 Burker, were compelled to remain silent in order to assure 
 Godfrey's safety? To speak was to put the boy at the 
 mercy of Len Burker, and the scoundrel who had once 
 before abandoned him, would know how to get rid of him 
 during this perilous expedition. It was therefore neces- 
 sary that the mother and son should continue to be ignor- 
 ant of the tie which attached them to each other. 
 
 When he saw Godfrey, and compared the facts relative 
 to his early life, and assured himself of the striking resem- 
 blance the boy bore to John, Len Burker had no doubt as 
 to his identity. And thus, when he had made up his mind 
 that John Branican was irretrievably lost, this is what had 
 come about. Well ! Woe to Godfrey if Jane spoke ! 
 But Len Burker was not uneasy. Jane would not speak. 
 
 On the nth of October, the caravan resumed its journey 
 after a day's rest. Jane took her place in the buggy 
 occupied by Mrs. Branican. Len Burker moved about on 
 rather a good horse, sometimes in front, sometimes behind, 
 talking with Tom Marix about the districts through which 
 he had travelled along the telegraph line. He did not 
 seek the company of Zach Fren, who showed a marked 
 dislike to him. And he avoided Godfrey, the sight of 
 whom annoyed him. When the boy came to take part in 
 
Northwards. 253 
 
 the conversation between Dolly and Jane, Len Burker 
 retired so as to have nothing to do with him. 
 
 As the expedition advanced, the aspect of the country 
 gradually changed. Here and there were a few farms 
 devoted entirely to the raising of sheep, extensive prairies 
 stretching away out of sight, groups of trees, gum trees or 
 eucalyptus, forming a few isolated clumps in no way 
 resembling the forests of South Australia. 
 
 On the 1 2th of October, at six o'clock in the evening, 
 after a long stage which the heat rendered very tiring, 
 Tom Marix pitched the camp on the bank of Finke 
 River, not far from Mount Daniel, whose summit rose to 
 the westward. 
 
 Geographers are now agreed in considering this river 
 Finke — called the Larra-Larra by the natives — as the 
 principal stream in the centre of Australia. During the 
 evening Tom Marix called Mrs. Branican's attention to 
 this subject, while Zach Fren, Len and Jane Burker were 
 in her company under one of the tents. 
 
 "The question is," said Tom Marix, "if Finke River 
 pours its waters into thej vast Lake Eyre, which we left 
 beyond Farina Town. To settle this question the explorer 
 David Lindsay devoted the end of the year 1885. After 
 reaching the station of The Peak, which we passed, he 
 followed the river to the place wjiere it is lost in the sands 
 to the north-east of Dalhousie. But he was led to believe 
 that in the floods of the rainy season its waters ran into 
 Lake Eyre." 
 
 "And how long is Finke River?" asked Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " It is estimated as not being less than nine hundred 
 miles," replied Tom Marix. 
 
 " Shall we follow it far ? " 
 
 " Only for a few days, for it makes several bends and 
 turns off westward through the James Ranges." 
 
 " But I knew this David Lindsay you are speaking of," 
 said Len Burker. 
 
 " You knew him ? " said Zach Fren, in a tone which 
 denoted a certain amount of incredulity. 
 
254 MtSTRliSS fiRANlCAN\ 
 
 "And what is there astonishing in that ?" said- Lcrl' 
 Burker. " I met Lindsay just as he reached Dalhousie. 
 , station. He was on-thc West Queensland frontier, which 
 I was visiting on account of a Brisbane house." 
 
 " That," said Tom Marix, " is the Way he went. Then 
 having reached Alice Spring and rounded the MacDcnnell 
 Ranges, he made a complete exploration of the Herbert 
 River, and struck up towards the Gulf of Carpentaria, 
 where he finished his second voyage from south to north 
 across the Australian continent." 
 
 " I will add," said Len Burker, "that David Lindsay 
 was accompanied by a ; German botani::>t of the name of 
 Dietrich. Their caravan consisted of a few camels for. 
 transport purposes. That, Dolly, I believe, is how you are 
 going to have yours beyond Alice Spring, and I am surii 
 you will succeed as David Lindsay succeeded." 
 
 " Yes, we will succeed, Len," said Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " No one doubts that ! " added Zach Fren. 
 
 In short it appeared to be true that Len Burker had 
 met David Lindsay under- the circumstances he said, and, 
 besides, Jane corroborated him. But if Dolly had asked 
 him for what Brisbane house he was then travelling, he 
 would have been rather ernbarrassed. 
 
 During the few hours that Mrs. Branican and her com- 
 panions passed on the banks of Finke River, they indirectly 
 had news of the Englishman Jos Meritt and Gin Ghi, hi.5 
 Chine?e servant. Both were then about a dozen stages 
 ahead of the caravan, and they were gradually gaining on 
 them along the same road, 
 
 It was from the natives^ that the news came regarding 
 this famous collector of hats. Three days before Jos 
 Meritt and his servant had stopped in the village of Kilna, 
 a milefrom the station. . 
 
 Kilna contains many hundred blacks, men, women and 
 children, who live in shapeless bark huts. The c huta avj 
 cal'cd " villums " in the Australian language, and it js worth 
 while to note the singular. resemblance of this native word 
 to the words vi/.'a and villages of Latin dciivatiou. 
 
Northwards, 255 
 
 These natives were worth lookuig at. Some of them 
 were tall, well-built fellows, lithe and strong, and of- inde- 
 fatigable constitution. For the most part they are charac- 
 terized by the peculiar depressed facial angle common to 
 savage races ; the eyebrows are very prominent, the hair is 
 waved rather than woolly, with a narrow forehead retreat- 
 ing under its locks ; the nose is flat, the nostrils large, the 
 mouth is enormous and the teeth like those of wild animals. 
 The usual large bodies and thin legs were not noticed 
 among these men, making them quite exceptional among 
 Australian negroes. 
 
 Where did the natives of this fifth part of the world come 
 from ? Did there formerly exist, as some learned men — 
 too learned, perhaps — have stated, a Pacific continent, of 
 which there remain only the summits in the form of islands 
 scattered over the surface of that vast ocean ? Are 
 these Australians the <lescendants of the numerous races 
 who peopled this continent at a remote epoch ? Such 
 theories are likely enough as mere hypotheses. But if 
 the explanation is correct, it must be admitted that the 
 abor'ginat race has considerably degenerated, mentally 
 and physically. The Australian has remained a savage 
 in manners and tastes, and with his ineradicable habits of 
 cannibalism — at least among certain tribes — he is on the 
 lowest step of the human ladder, and hardly above the 
 carnivora. In a country where there are no lions or tigers 
 or panthers, it can be claimed that he replaces them in a 
 man-eating point of vi&w,. The ground these Australians 
 leave uiicultivated ; they barely clothe themselves with a 
 rag ; they have not the simplest culinary utensils ; their 
 weapons are the most rudimentary, their spears being of 
 wood hardened at the point; their axes are of stone, and 
 they have the nolla-nolla, a kind of mace of very hard 
 wood, and the famous boomerang of the helicoidal form, 
 which maJcds it return to the thrower after it has been 
 b-urled forward by a vigorous hand. The Australian black, 
 we repeat, is a savage in every sense of the word. 
 
 To such beings nature has given the woman most suitable 
 
 s 
 
2S6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 to them — the " lubra " — strong enough to stand the fatigue 
 of the wandering life/ submit to the most laborious work, 
 and carry the younger children and the materials for the 
 camp. These unfortunate creatures are old at twenty-five 
 years of age, and not only old but hideous, chewing the 
 leaves of the pituri, which over-excite them during their 
 interminable marches, and help them to Support the long 
 abstinences from food. 
 
 And, will it be believed ? Those who have dealings with 
 the European colonists in the towns are beginning to 
 follow the European fashions. Yes! They must have 
 gowns and trains to their gowns ; they must have hats and 
 feathers in their hats. The men even cannot do without 
 European headgear, and gratify their tastes by ransacking 
 the shops of the sellers of old clothes. 
 
 Doubtless Jos Meritt had heard of the remarkable voy- 
 age made by Carl Lumholtz in Australia ; and probably 
 remembered this paragraph from the hardy Norwegian 
 who stayed for six months among the wild cannibals of 
 the north-east : — " ' 
 
 "I met the two natives half-way. They had made 
 themselves look very fine ; one of them strutted about in 
 a shirt, the other wore a woman's' hat. These things were 
 thought a great deal of by the Australian negroes, and had 
 passed from one tribe to another, from the more civilized, 
 who" live in the neighbourhood of the colonists, to those 
 who have never had any intercourse with the whites. 
 Many of my men used to borrow the hat, and were quite 
 proud'of taking their turn in Wearing it. Oneofthem who 
 walked in-front of me in puris naturalibtis, sweating under 
 the weight of my gun, was really an absurd sight in this 
 hat, which he wore cross ways. What travels this hat had 
 made during its long voyage from the country of the 
 whites to the mountains of the blacks! " 
 
 Jos Meritt must have known of this, and perhaps it 
 would be among some Australian tribe, on the head of 
 some chief of the northern or north-western territories, 
 that he would find this remarkable hat>;the search for 
 
Northwards. 257 
 
 which had sent him, at the risk of his life, among the can- 
 nibnls of the Australian continent. But it should be noted 
 that, if he had not succ.eeded among the natives of Queens- 
 land, he might meet with more success among the natives 
 of Kilna, and so had resumed his adventurous peregrina- 
 tions into the central desert. 
 
 On the 13th of October Tom Marix gave the signal 
 to start at sunrise. The caravan resumed its usual order 
 of march. It was a great satisfaction for Dolly to have 
 Jane near her. The buggy, which carried them, and in 
 which they could be alone, permitted of their exchanging 
 their thoughts and confidences. Why should Jane have 
 to journey to the end without daring to speak ? Occa- 
 sionally, when she saw the mutual affection, maternal and 
 filial, which manifested itself every moment, by a look, a 
 question, a word, between- Dolly and Godfrey, it seemed 
 to her that her secret was about to escape her. But Leh 
 Burker's threats returned to her mind, and from fear of 
 losing the boy, she even affected a certain quasi-indiffer- 
 ence towards him which Mrs. Branican did not notice 
 without vexation. 
 
 We can easily imagine how she feit when Dolly said to 
 her one day, — 
 
 " You can understand, Jane, that with this very striking 
 resemblance, and the instincts I felt so persistent within 
 me, I had believed that my child had escaped death with- 
 out Mr. Andrew or any of his friends knowing of it ; and, 
 hence, I thought that Godfrey was our son, John's son and 
 my son. But no ! Poor little Wat now lies in the ceme- 
 tery at San DiegO." 
 
 " Yes, it was there we laid him, dear Dolly," said Jane. 
 "There is his grave among the flowers." 
 
 "Jane, Jane," exclaimed Dolly, "if God did not give 
 me back my child He will give me back his father ; He 
 will give me back John." • . 
 
 On the isth of October, at six o'clock in the evening, 
 after leaving Mount Humphries behind, the caravan halted 
 on the bank of Palmer Creek, one of the affluents of the 
 
258 Mistress Branican. ' 
 
 Finke River. This creek was then almost dry, it being 
 fed, like most of the streams in these regions, solely by the 
 rains. It was thus very easy to cross, as was also Hughes' 
 Creek, three days afterwards, thirty-four miles to the 
 northward. 
 
 In that direction the Overland Telegraph Line stretches 
 ifcj aerial wires — the threads of Ariadne, which lead 
 from station to station. Occasionally a few groups of 
 houses were met with, and more rarely farms, where 
 Tom Marix, by paying well, could procure fresh meat. 
 Godfrey and Zach Fren went out in search of news. 
 The squatters were only. too glad to give news con- 
 cerning the wandering tribes that frequent these terri- 
 tories. Had they ever heard of a white man kept as a 
 prisoner among the Indas to the northward or westward .'' 
 Did they know if any travellers had recently ventured 
 across these distant regions ? The replies were in the 
 negative. No trace, not the vaguest, could be discovered 
 to put them on the track of Captain John. And hence 
 the need of haste to reach Alice Spring, from which the 
 caravan was still eighty miles away at least. 
 
 After leaving Hughes' Creek progress became more 
 difficult. The country was very mountainous, the road lay 
 through narrow gorges, one after the other, cut through 
 by hardly practicable ravines, which wound among the 
 ramifications of the Water House ranges. Tom Marix 
 and Godfrey were ahead, seeking out the best passes. 
 The travellers on foot and horseback easily found a 
 passage, even the buggies were drawn through without 
 difficulty by the horses, and there was no need to be 
 anxious about them ; but the heavily laden drays could 
 only be dragged along by the bullocks at the cost of 
 extreme fatigue. The main thing was to avoid accidents, 
 such as the breakage of wheels or axle-trees, which would 
 take a long time to repnir, if they did not necessitate the 
 abandonment of the vehicle. 
 
 It was in the morning of the 19th of October that the 
 caravan entered these territories, where the telegraph 
 
Northwards. 259 
 
 wires could no longer retain their rectilinear direction. 
 The character of the ground had already caused them 
 to incline towards the West, and this direction Tom 
 Marix took. 
 
 But if the region offered a capriciously irregfular surface, 
 unfitted for a quick and steady advance, it had again 
 become thickly wooded owing to the vicinity of the 
 mountain masses. These " brigalow scrubs " had continu- 
 ally to be skirted, being impenetrable thidcets consisting, 
 for the most part, of the prolific family of acacias. On 
 the banks of the streams were clumps of casuarinas as 
 stripped of leaves as if the winter wind had shaken theif 
 branches. At the mouth of the gorges were a few of 
 those calabash trees the trunks of which thick.n out 
 in the form of a bottle, and which the Australians call 
 bottle-trees. In the same way as the eucalyptus, which 
 empties a well when the roots reach into it, the calabash 
 tree pumps up all the humidity from the ground, and its 
 spongy wood is so impregnated with it that the starch it 
 contains can be used for the nourishment of cattle. 
 
 Marsupials live in great numbers under the brigalow 
 shrubs, among others the wallabies, which are so swift in 
 their flight that often the natives, when they wish to catch 
 them, are obliged to surround them with a circle of flame 
 by setting light to the grass. In certain places were 
 swarms of kangaroo rats, and those giant kangaroos 
 which the whites hunt only for the pleasure of hunting, 
 inasmuch as you must be a negro, and an Australian 
 negro, to care to be fed on their coriaceous flesh. Once or 
 twice Tom Marix and Godfrey managed to shoot two or 
 three couples of these animals, the speed of which is that 
 of a horse at a gallop. It need not be said the tail of 
 these kangaroos makes excellent soup, which everyone 
 enjoyed at the evening meal. 
 
 That night there was an alarm. The camp was troubled 
 by one of those invasions of rats common in Australia 
 at the time these rodents migrate. No one could sleep 
 without risking being bitten, and no one did sleep. 
 
^p Mistress Branican. 
 
 .-Mrs. Branican and her companions departed in the 
 morninj, that of October 22. At sundown the caravan, 
 had reached the last spurs of the MacDonnell ranges, 
 Hcnc^forvvard the travelling conditions would be much 
 more favourable. Forty miles more, and the first part 
 of the campaign would end at Alice Spring. 
 
 The expedition resumed its march at dawn on the 
 23rd. Immense plains extended up to the horizon. A 
 few undulations varied the view. Clumps of trees relieved 
 the monotonous aspect. The drays could easily follow the 
 narrow road traced at the foot of the telegraph po'es, 
 which runs from station to station, .situated at long dis- 
 tances apart. It is alpiost incredible that the line, which 
 is very s ightly guarded in these desert countries, could be 
 respected by the natives. And to the observations made 
 with regard to this, Tom Mari.\ replied, — 
 
 " These nomads, I have said, were electrically punished 
 by our engineer, and they believe that tlic thunder runs 
 along the wires, and take care not to touch them. They 
 even believe that the two ends are attached to the sun and 
 Ihe moon, and that those big balls would fall on their 
 heads if they tried to drag them down." 
 
 At eleven o'clock, according to custom, the first stage of 
 the journey came to an end. The caravan stopped near a 
 clump of eucalyptus, the leaves of which, falling like the 
 crystal pendants of a lustre, gave hardly any shadow. A 
 creek flowed by, or rather a thread of water, hardly 
 enough to wet the pebbles in its bed. On the opposite 
 bank the ground rose abruptly and barred the surface of 
 the plain for a length of many miles from east to west. 
 Behind these could still be seen the distant profile of the 
 MacDonnell ranges-above the horizon. 
 
 The midday halt generally lasted till two o'clock. In 
 this way there was avoided the necessity of journeying 
 during the warmest part of the year. Properly speaking, 
 it was a halt,-not an encampment, ■ All that Tom Marix 
 did was to unyoke the bullocks and unsaddle the horses. 
 These animals fed on the spot. No tents were pitched : 
 
Northwards. 25 i 
 
 no fires lighted. Cold venison or tinned moat served for 
 the second meal, which had been preceded by the break- 
 fast at sunrise. 
 
 Everyone had come,- as usual, to sit or lie on the grass 
 with which the hillside was covered. After the first half 
 hour, the drivers and the men of the escort, white and 
 black, had satisfied their hunger and were asleep until the 
 time of departure. - ■ 
 
 Mrs. Branican, Jane, and Godfrey, formed a group apart. 
 The native servant, 'H'afri€tt,..had brought them a basket 
 containing a few provisions. As they were eating they 
 were talking of their arrival at Alice Spring. The hope 
 which had never abandoned Dolly the boy shared to the 
 full, and, even if the;re had been no room for hope, nothing 
 could have shaken their convictions. Both were fuH of 
 faith in the success of the campaign, their fixed resolu- 
 tion being not to leave Australian soil until they had 
 satisfied themselves of the fate of Captain John. 
 
 Len Burkcr, pretending to cherish the same ideas, was not 
 unsparing of his eTicouragements when he had the oppor- 
 tunity. - That entered into his game, for it was his interest 
 that Mrs. Branican should not return to America while he 
 was forbidden, to go there. Dolly, suspecting nothing of 
 his odious plots, was very grateful for his support 
 
 During the halt, Zach Ffcn and Tom Marix had a talk 
 with regard to the new formation of the caravan after 
 leaving Alice Spring. A serious question this. Was it 
 not then that there-would commence the real difficulties 
 of an expedition across Central Australia ? 
 
 It was about half-past one w-heu a dull noise was heard 
 to the northward. It seemed liked a prolonged uproar, a 
 coritinuous roll borne-from the distance up to the encamp- 
 ment. . ^ . — . 
 
 Mrs. Branican, Jane, and Godfrey, who had stood up, 
 began to listen. : -- -,;. - ■ , ; ' 
 
 Tom Marix and Zach Fren had just come near them and 
 were also listening; • . ' . • 
 
 •' What is the meaning of that noise ? " asked Dolly. 
 
252 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " A storm, doubtless," said the boatswain. 
 
 " It is more like the beating of the waves on the beach,' 
 said Godfrey. 
 
 However, there was no sign of a storm, and the at- 
 mosphere disclosed no electric intensity. As to any out- 
 burst of furious waters, that could only be produced by a 
 sudden inundation due to the creeks being too full. But 
 when Zach Fren would have explained the phenomenon 
 in this way, Tom Marix replied, — 
 
 " An inundation in this part of the continent, at this 
 time, after such a drought ? Be assured, it is impos- 
 sible ! " 
 
 And he was right. 
 
 After violent storms, there occasionally come floods 
 caused by the excessive abundance of the pluvial waters, 
 and the liquid sheets will spread themselves over the low 
 lands, and they often do in the wet seasons ; but at the 
 end of October this hypothesis was inadmissible. 
 
 Tom Marix, Zach Fren, and Godfrey climbed the slope 
 of the hill and looked away northward and eastward. 
 
 There was nothing in view over the immense extent of 
 gloomy desert plain ; but, just above the horizon, there 
 was a cloud of strange shape, which could not be confused 
 with the mists the long heat had accumulated on the peri- 
 pheric line between the earth and sky. It was not a cloud 
 of mist in the vesicular state, it was rather an agglomera- 
 tion of those outlined volutes caused by the discharges of 
 artillery. As to the noise which came from the cloud of 
 dust — and how could they doubt it was a cloud of dust ? — 
 it increased rapidly, and seemed to have a regular beat, a 
 sort of colossal gallop echoed by the elastic ground of the 
 immense prairie. Whence did it come ? 
 
 " I know — I have seen it before — it's sheep ! " said Tom 
 Marix. 
 
 " Sheep ? " replied Godfrey, laughing. " If those are 
 only sheep — " 
 
 " Do not laugh, Godfrey ! " said the chief of the escort ; 
 "there are, perhaps, thousands and thousands pf sheep 
 
Northwards. 263 
 
 who are seized with panic. If I am not mistaken, they 
 will pass us like an avalanche and destroy everything on 
 their passage." 
 
 Tom Marix did not exaggerate. When these animals 
 go mad from some cause or other, which occasionally hap- 
 pens in these runs, nothing can stop them; they destroy the 
 fences and escape. An old proverb says, " The king's 
 carriage stops before the sheep," and it is the case that a 
 flock of these stupid beasts will be annihilated rather than 
 give way ; but, if they are annihilated, they also annihilate 
 when they precipitate themselves on anything in their 
 enormous masses. And this was what had happened. 
 
 The cloud of dust covered a .space of between two and 
 three leagues, and there could not be less than a hundred 
 thousand sheep, which a blind panic was hurling down the 
 caravan road. Coming from north to south they were 
 opening out like a flood on the surface of the plain, and 
 would not stop until they fell exhausted by their madness. 
 
 " What is. to be done ? " asked Zach Fren. 
 
 " To get into shelter as well as we can along the foot of 
 the hill," said Tom Marix. 
 
 There was nothing else to do, and the three went down. 
 Insufficient as were the precautions indicated by Tom 
 Marix, they were at once put into execution. The ava- 
 lanche of sheep was but two miles from the encampment. 
 The cloud rose in great spirals into the air, and from the 
 cloud came a tumult of formidable bleatings. 
 
 The drays were run into shelter against the slope. The 
 horses and cattle were compelled by their riders and 
 drivers to lie on the ground so as to better resist the 
 assault which might pass over without reaching them. 
 The men leant against the slope, Godfrey placed himself 
 near Dolly so as to protect her more efficaciously, and 
 they waited. 
 
 Tom Marix went up the edge of the hill to look out over 
 the plain, which was rolling like the sea under a strong 
 breeze. The flock came along with a great noise and at 
 great speed, and stretched over a third of the horizon. 
 
264 Mistress Branican. 
 
 As Tom Marix had said, the sheep could be counted by 
 hundreds of thousands. In less than, two minutes they 
 would be in the encampment. 
 
 " Look out 1 " said Tom Marix. 
 
 And he slipped' rapidly down the hill to where Mrs. 
 Tranican, Jane, Godfrey, and Zach Frcn* were huddled 
 together. 
 
 Almost immediately the first line of .sheep appeared on 
 the crest. They did not stop, they could not stop. The 
 animals at the head fell — some hundreds — in a heap, when 
 the ground failed them. To the bleatings were added the 
 neighing_ of the. horses, the bellowing of bullocks now 
 terror-stricken. Everything ' was effaced amid a thick 
 cloud of dust, while the avalanche poured over the hill in 
 irresistible impulse — a regular torrent of sheep. 
 
 It lasted five minutes. The first who got up were Tom 
 Mari.K, Godfrey, and Zach Fren.and they saw the frightened 
 mass with the last lines undulating towards the south. 
 
 " Up, up ! " exclaimed the chief of th? escort. 
 
 Everyone arose. A few contusions, a little confusion in 
 the drays — that was all the damage amounted to, thanks to 
 the shelter of the slope. 
 
 Tom Marix, Godfrey, and Zach Fren at once climbeJ 
 the hill again. 
 
 To the south the flying flock was disappearing behind 
 a curtain of sand. To the north extended the plains with 
 footprints all over its surface. 
 
 Suddenly Godfrey exclaimed, " There, there ! look ! " 
 
 Fifty yards from the hill two bodies lay on the ground 
 —two natives, doubtless, .carried away, thrown down, and 
 probably killed by this flight of sheep. 
 
 ,Tom Marix and Godfrey ran towards these bodies. 
 
 What was their surprise ! Jos Meritt and his servant, 
 Gin-Ghi, were there, motionless, unconscious. 
 
 But they still breathed, and with a littleattention soon 
 recovered from this rough assault. They had scarcely 
 opened their eyes than they got on their feet, althoujh 
 CQVcred with bruises. 
 
Northwards. 265 
 
 " Good ! Oil, very good ! " said Jos Meritt. Then he 
 turned round. " And Gin-Ghi ? " he asked. 
 
 " Gin-Ghi is here — or rather what remains of him ! " re- 
 plied the Chinaman, rubbing his back. " Decidedly too 
 many sheep, my master Jos, a thousand and ten thousand 
 times too many ! " 
 
 " Never too many legs, never too many chops, Gin-Ghi ; 
 then never too many sheep ! " said the gentleman. " It is 
 a pity we did not catch one as they went by — " 
 
 "Console yourself, Mr. Meritt," said Zach Fren ; "at 
 the foot of the slope there are a few hundred • at your 
 service." 
 
 "Very good ! Oh, very good ! " concluded the phlegmatic 
 personage solemnly. 
 
 Then he addressed his servant, who after rubbing his back 
 was now rubbing his shoulders, — 
 
 "Gin-Ghi!" 
 
 "Master Jos!" 
 
 " Two chops for this evening," he said ; " two chops^ 
 underdone ! " 
 
 Jos Meritt and Gin-Ghi then related what had passed. 
 They were travelling about three miles in advance of the 
 caravan when they were surprised by this charge of sheep. 
 Their horses took flight and they could not stop them. 
 Thrown off and trodden on, it was a miracle they were not 
 killed, and it was a lucky chance al; o that Mrs. Branican 
 and her companions arrived in time to help them. 
 
 And so, after having escaped this very serious danger, 
 a start was made, and at six o'clock in the evening the 
 caravan reached Alice Spring. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BEYOND ALICE SPRING. 
 
 Next day was October 24, and Mrs. Branican was busy 
 iti rearranging the expedition in view of a campaign that 
 would prot)ably be long, difficult, and dangerous, inasmuch 
 as it would be in the almost unknown regions of Central 
 Australia. 
 
 Alice Spring is but a station on the Overland Telegraph 
 Line, consisting of some twenty houses and hardly worth 
 ihe name of a village. 
 
 In the first place Mrs. Branican went in search of the 
 head of the station, Mr. Flint. He might, perhaps, have 
 .some information regarding the Indas. Did this tribd of 
 Western Australia, among whom Captain John was kept 
 I risoner, ever come down into these central regions .' 
 
 Mr. Flint had no information on the subject except that 
 the Indas occasionally moved about in the west of "Alex- 
 andra Land. He had never heard of John Branican. As 
 to Harry Felton, all that he knew was that he had been 
 found about eighty miles east of the telegraph line 
 on the Queensland frontier. According to him, the best 
 thing to do was to follow the instructions the unfortunate 
 man had given just before he died, and take the expedition 
 obliquely acros.s the regions of Western Australia. He 
 hoped that it would end favourably, and that Mrs. Branican 
 would succeed where he, Flint, had failed six years before 
 in searching for Leichhardt — a project which the inter-tribal 
 wars of the natives had soon compelled him' to abandon. 
 He put himself at Mrs. Branican's disposal to provide her 
 
Beyond Alice Spring. 257 
 
 with all the resources of Alice Spring, and that, he added, 
 was what he had done for David Lindsay when that 
 traveller stopped there in 1886, before starting for Lake 
 Nash and the eastern spurs of the MacDonnell ranges. 
 
 At this period the part of the Australian continent 
 which the expedition was preparing to explore on the way 
 north-westwards was as follows : — 
 
 At two hundred and sixty miles . from the station of 
 Alice Spring, on the hundred and twenty-seventh meridian, 
 runs the rectilinear frontier which from south to north 
 separates South Australia, Alexandra Land, and Northern 
 Australia, from that colony known as Western Australia, 
 of which Perth is the capital. It is the largest, the 
 least known, and the least populated of the seven great 
 divisions of the continent. In reality, it is only geo- 
 graphically surveyed along the coasts, which comprise 
 Nuyts Land, Leeuwin Land, Vlaming Land, Eendraght 
 Land, De Witt Land, and Tasman Land. . 
 
 Modern cartographers indicate in the interior of this 
 territory, the distant solitudes of which the wandering 
 natives are the only people to traverse, three distinct 
 deserts. 
 
 1. To the south the desert comprised between the 
 thirtieth and twenty-eighth degree of latitude, explored 
 by Forrest, in 1869, from the coast up to the twenty-third 
 meridian, and which Giles traversed in its entirety in 1875. 
 
 2. The Gibson Desert, between the twenty-eighth and 
 twenty-ninth degrees, the immense plains of which were 
 crossed by Giles during the year 1876. 
 
 3. The Great Sandy Desert, comprised between the 
 twenty-third degree and the northern coast, which Colonel 
 Warburton crossed from east to north-west in 1873, at the 
 cost of the dangers we know of. 
 
 It was through this region that Mrs. Branican's expedi- 
 tion was to carry on its search. Colonel Warburton's 
 itinerary was the one it was best to follow after the in- 
 formation given by HarryFelton. From the station at 
 Alice Spring to the shore of the Indian Ocean^ the journey 
 
268 Mistress Branican. 
 
 of this bold explorer had occupied not less than four 
 months out of the fifteen "between September, 1872, and 
 January, 1874. How much time would the one take 
 which Mrs. Branican and her companions were about to 
 attempt ? 
 
 Dolly requested Zach Fren and Tom Marix not to lose 
 a day, and, very actively helped by Mr. Flint, thiey were 
 enabled to obey her orders. 
 
 Under the guidance of the Afghan drivers, the camels, 
 to the number of thirty, had been at Alice Spring for a 
 fortnight after having been bought at a high price 011 
 account of Mrs. Branican. 
 
 The introduction of camels into Australia dates only 
 from the last thirty-two years. It was in i860 that Mr. 
 Elder imported a few from India. These useful animals 
 are abstemious and robust, and ofvery rough appearance, 
 but are capable of bearing a load of one hundred and fifty 
 kilogrammes and travelling forty kilometres in twenty- 
 four hours " at their own pace." Besides, they can remain 
 a week without eating, and without drinking for six days 
 in winter and three days in summer. They have con- 
 sequently been called upon to render the same services in 
 this arid continent as in the burning regions of Africa. 
 There as here they endure almost with impunity the priva- 
 tions due to want of water or to excessive heat. The 
 Desert of the Sahara and the Great Sandy Desert, are they 
 not traversed by the corresponding parallels of the two 
 hemispheres .' 
 
 Mrs. Branican had thirty camels, twenty for riding and 
 ten for the packs. There were more males than females, 
 most of them being young and in good condition as regards 
 strength and health. Just as the escort had Tom Marix 
 for its chief, so the animals had for chief the oldest male 
 . camel, whom the others willingly obeyed. He directed 
 them, mustered them at the halts, and prevented them 
 running off with the females. With him dead or ill the 
 troop was in danger of disbandmcnt, and the drivers would 
 be powerless to keep good order. It was therefore natural 
 
Beyond Alice Sprixg. 269 
 
 that this valuable animal should be assigned to Tom Marix, 
 and these two chiefs — the one carrying the other ^had 
 their place assigned to them at the head of the caravan. 
 
 It goes without saying that the horses and bullocks 
 which had brought the expedition from Farina Town to 
 Alice Spring had to be left with Mr. Flint, with whom 
 they will be found with the buggies and drays on the 
 return. There was every likelihood that the expedition 
 would return to Adelaide along the road marked by the 
 pos'.s of the Overland Telegraph Line. 
 
 Dolly and Jane were to occupy a " kihitka," a sort of 
 tent almost identical with that of the Arabs, and which 
 was borne by one of the strongest camels. They could 
 find shelter from the rays of the sun behind the thick 
 curtains, and even obtain protection against the rains 
 which the violent storms discharge — too rarely, it is true 
 — on to the central plains of the continent. 
 
 Harriett, the waiting woman to Mrs. Branican, accus-. 
 tomed to the long journey of the nomads, preferred to 
 follow on foot. These huge beasts, with two humps, 
 seemed rather more adapted for carrying packages than 
 human creatures. 
 
 Three saddled camels were reserved for Ten Burker, 
 Godfrey, and Zach Fren, who would soon learn to accustom 
 themselves to their rough jolting gait. Besides, there was 
 no question of adopting another rate of travel, as a portion 
 of the expedition was to be unmounted. The trot would 
 only become necessary when it was required to advance 
 in front of the caravan to discover some vvell or spring 
 during the crossing of the Great Sandy Desert. 
 
 As to the whites of the escort, it was for them that the 
 other fifteen saddle camels were required. The blacks 
 destined to lead the ten pack camels would journey on 
 foot the twelve or fourteen miles of which the two daily 
 stages would consist ; that would not be too much for them. 
 
 In this way the caravan was reorganized in view of the 
 inherent difficulties of this second pefeiod of the voyage. 
 All had been arrangedj with Mrs. Branican's approval. 
 
270 MiSTRUSS Branican. 
 
 to be equal to tlic exigencies of the campaign, long as it 
 might be, with due consideration for the beasts and the 
 men. Better provided with the means of transport, better 
 furnished with victuals and camp effects, working under 
 conditions more favourable than had ever been those of 
 the Australian explorers, there was some ground for 
 lioping that it would attain its object. 
 
 It remains to be said what was to become of Jos 
 Meritt. Was that gentleman, with his servant Gin-Ghi, 
 to remain at Alice Spring ? If he left it, would it be to 
 continue along the telegraph line northwards .■' Would 
 he not rather go to the east or the west in search of the 
 native tribes.'- That was when the collector would have 
 a chance of discovering the undiscoverable hat, the track 
 of which he had been on for so long. But now that he 
 was deprived of his mount, dispossessed of his baggage, 
 denuded of his provisions, how could he continue his 
 journey .' 
 
 On many occasions Zach Fren had questioned Gin-Ghi 
 about this. But the Celestial had replied that he never 
 knew what his master would do, and that even his master 
 did not know himself It was certain, however, that Jos 
 Meiitt would not consent to remain behind so long as his 
 monomania remained unsatisfied, and he, Gin-Ghi, native 
 of Hong-Kong, was no nearer seeing the country " where 
 the young Chinamen, clothed in silk, gather with their 
 pointed fingers the flower of the water-lily." 
 
 It was now, however, the eve of departure, and Jos 
 Meritt had said nothing of his plans, when Mrs. Branican 
 was informed by Gin-Ghi that the gentleman requested 
 the favour of a private interview. 
 
 Mrs. Branican, glad to be of as much service to this 
 eccentric individual as possible, replied that she begged 
 he would come to Mr. Flint's house, where she had stayed 
 since her ar-rival at the station. 
 
 Jos Meritt went there immediately — it was in the after- 
 noon of October 25 — and as soon as he had sat him- 
 self down in front of Dolly, began as follows, — ■ 
 
I^EYOND Alice Spuing. 271 
 
 " Mrs. Branican ! Good ! Oh, very good ! I have 
 no doubt — no — I do not doubt for a moment that you 
 will find Captain John, and I am just as certain of putting 
 my hand on the hat to the discovery of which I have 
 devoted all the efforts of a very active life. Good ! Oh, 
 very good! You of course know why I have come to 
 ransack the most secret regions of Australia ? " 
 
 " I do know, Mr. Meritt/' replied Mrs. Branican, " and 
 on my part I do not doubt that some day you will be 
 repaid for so much perseverance." 
 
 " Perseverance ? Good ! Oh, very good 1 The reason 
 is that the hat, you see, is the only one in the world ! " 
 
 " And you want it in your collection } " 
 
 " Regrettably, and I would give my head to be able to 
 put it on ! " 
 
 " Is it a man's hat ? " asked Dolly, who was interested, 
 more out of kindness than curiosity ,in the innocent hobby 
 of this maniac, 
 
 " No, madam, no. A woman's hat. But what woman's ! 
 Yqu will excuse me if I keep the secret of her name and 
 position, for fear of exciting competition. Think, madam, 
 if anybody else-c-" 
 
 " Then you have some clue ? " 
 
 "Clue? Good! Oh, very good ! I have ascertained 
 from much correspondence, inquiry, and peregrinations, 
 that this hat has emigrated to Australia, after exciting 
 vicissitudes, and that, descended from high places — yes, 
 very high places ! it now graces the head of the sovereign 
 of a native tribe." 
 
 « But this tribe ? " 
 
 " One of those wandering in the north or west of the 
 continent. Good ! Oh, very good ! If necessary, I will 
 visit them all, I will ransack them all. And as it is of 
 no consequence which I begin with, I ask your permission 
 to follow your caravan to the Indas." 
 
 " Willingly, Mr. Meritt," replied Dolly, " and I will give 
 orders, if possible, two extra camels shall be procured." 
 
 " One will do, one for my servant and myself; that will 
 
 T 
 
272 Mistress Branican. 
 
 be quite enough. I will ride the animal, and Gin-Ghi can 
 walk," 
 
 " You know, we start to-morrow mornmg, Mr. Meritt ? " 
 
 " To-morrow ? Good ! Oh, very good ! I am not 
 the man to delay you, Mrs. Branican. But it is under- 
 stood, is it not, that I have nothing to do with anything 
 concerning Captain John ? That is your business. My 
 business is my hat." 
 
 "Your hat, it is understood, Mr. Meritt!" replied 
 Dolly, 
 
 Thereupon Jos Meritt retired, declaring that this in- 
 telligent, energetic, and generous woman deserved to 
 discover her husband as much at least as he himself 
 deserved to set hands on the jewel whose conquest would 
 completer his collection of historic head-gear. 
 
 Gin-Ghi received orders to be in readiness for the 
 morning, and had to be busy in packing up the few things 
 which had e.Scaped disaster after the affair of the sheep. 
 As to the animal which the gentlernan was to share with 
 his servant, in the manner stated above, Mr. Flint man- 
 aged to procure it, and that was worth a " Good ! Oh, 
 very gOod ! " on the part of the very grateful Jos Meritt. 
 
 On the morning of the 26th of October, the signal for 
 departure was given, after Mrs. Branican had taken leave 
 of the chief of the station. Tom Marix and Godfrey took 
 the head of the whites of the escort, who were mounted. 
 Dolly and Jane took their seats in the kibitka, having 
 Len Burker on one side, Zach Fren on the other. Then 
 came, majestically astride between the two humps of his 
 camel, Jos Meritt, followed by Gin-Ghi. Following these 
 were the pack-camels and the blacks forming the second 
 half of the escort. 
 
 At six o'clock in the morning the expedition, leaving 
 the Overland Telegraph Line and Alice Spring to the 
 west, disappeared behind one of the outliers of the 
 MacDonnell Ranges. 
 
 In Australia during the month of October the heat is 
 excessive ; and consequently Tom Marix had .decided to 
 
Beyond Alice Spring, n-ji 
 
 travel only during the early hours of the day — from four 
 to nine o'clock in the morning — and during the afternoon 
 from four to eight o'clock. Even the nights began to be 
 suffocating, and long halts were needful to acclimatize the 
 caravan to the fatigues of the central regions. 
 
 They were not yet in the desert, with the aridity of its 
 interminable plains, its creeks entirely dry, its wells con- 
 taining only brackish water when the dryness of the 
 soil has not completely exhausted them. At the base of 
 the mountains extends that varied region where the 
 ramifications of the MacDonnell and Strangways Ranges 
 rise in an entanglement, and across which runs the tele- 
 graph line curving to the north-west. This direction the 
 caravan had to abandon, so as to bear more to the west- 
 ward, almost along the parallel of the tropic of Capricorn. 
 This was almost the same route Giles had followed in 
 1872, and it cut that of Stuart twenty-five miles north:- 
 ward of Alice Spring. 
 
 The camels went very slowly over this hilly country. 
 A few threads of creeks watered it here and there. Under 
 the shelter of the trees running water could be found, 
 fairly fresh, of which the animals drank sufficient to last 
 them for many hours. 
 
 Skirting the scattered thickets, the sportsmen of the 
 caravan, whose duty it was to provide the venison, were able 
 to bring down several kinds of game — rabbits among others. 
 
 It will be remembered that the rabbit of Australia is 
 what the locust is to Africa. These too prolific rodents 
 will finish by eating up everything if care is not taken. 
 Up to then the men of the caravan had rather despised 
 them from an alimentary point of view, as real game 
 abounds in the plains and forests of South Australia. 
 There would be time enough to take to this rather insipid 
 meat when the hares, the partridges, the bustards, the 
 ducks, the pigeons and other fur and feather gave out. 
 But on this riverain region of the MacDonnell Ranges 
 they had to be content with what they could get, and that 
 meant these rabbits, which were in swarms. 
 
274 Mistress Branican. 
 
 And in the evening of the 31st of October when 
 Godfrey, Jos Meritt and Zach Fren were together, con- 
 versation worked round to these animals, the destruction 
 of which cannot come too soon. And Godfrey having 
 asked if there had always been rabbits in Australia, Tom 
 Marix said, — 
 
 " No, my boy. They Were imported about thirty years 
 ago. That was a nice present they made us ! Tiie 
 animals have so multiplied as to devastate the country. 
 Certain districts are so infested that neither sheep nor 
 cattle can be raised on them. The fields are riddled with 
 their holes like a colander, and the grass is eaten off 
 down to the roots. It is absolute ruin, and I am ready 
 to believe that it will not be the colonists who will eat the 
 rabbits, but the rabbits who will eat the colonists." 
 
 " Have they not used any strong measure to get rid of 
 them ? " said Zach Fren, 
 
 " Useless measures," said Tom Marix, " for the numbers 
 increase instead of diminishing. I know a man who spent 
 forty thousand pounds in the destruction of the rabbits 
 that ravaged his run. The Government has put a price on 
 their head as they have done with tigers and serpents in 
 British India. Bah ! It is like a hydra ; the heads spring 
 up as fast as you cut them down, and even in greater 
 numbers. Strychnine has been used, which has poisoned 
 them in thousands, and nearly started a plague in the 
 country. Nothing has succeeded." 
 
 " Have I not heard," said Godfrey, " that a French 
 scientist. Monsieur Pasteur, proposed to destroy these 
 rodents by giving them a disease ? " 
 
 " Yes, and the means might have been efficacious. But 
 it failed — to be used, although a reward of twenty thousand 
 pounds was offered with that object in view. Queensland 
 and New South Wales have just set up a wire fence eight 
 hundred miles long to protect ihe east of the continent 
 against the invasion of the rabbits. The rabbit is really 
 a calamity ! " 
 
 " Good ! Oh, very good ! Quite a calamity ! " said Jos 
 
Beyond Alice Spring. 275 
 
 Meritf, " like the Yellow race, which will end by invading 
 the five parts of the world. The Chinese are the rabbits 
 of the future." 
 
 Luckily Gin-Ghi was not there, for he would not have 
 allowed to pass, without protest, this offensive comparison 
 to the Celestials. Or rather, he would have shrugged his 
 shoulders and laughed the peculiar laugh of his race, which 
 is merely a long, noisy inspiration. 
 
 " And so," said Zach Frcn, " the Australians have given 
 up the battle ? " 
 
 " And in what way can they continue it ? " asked Tom 
 Marix. 
 
 " It seems to me," said Jos Meritt, " that there is one 
 sure way of getting rid of these rabbits." 
 
 " And what is that ? " asked Godfrey. 
 
 " To get the British Parliament to pass an Act that only 
 beaver hats should be used in the United Kingdom and its 
 dependencies. Then, as beaver hats are always made of 
 rabbit skin — good ! Oh, very good ! " 
 
 And in that way Jos Meritt finished the sentence with 
 hii usual exclamation. 
 
 Meanwhile, until the British Parliament passed the Act, 
 the best to be done was to feed on the rabbits shot on the 
 journey. There would be so many fewer in Australia, and 
 thtro could be no harm in knocking them over. 
 
 The other animals were of no use for food ; but a few 
 wore seen of a peculiar species of great interest to natural- 
 ists. The one was an echidna of the monotreme family — 
 an animal with a snout in the form of a beak, with horny 
 lips, a body bristling with quills like a hedgehog, whose 
 chief food consists of the insects it catches with its thread- 
 like tongue stretched out of its burrow. The other was an 
 ornithorhyncus, with the mandibles of a duck, and fur of a 
 ruddy brown, covering a small body measuring a foot in 
 length. The animals of both these species have the pecu- 
 liarity of being ovoviviparous ; they are hatched from eggs, 
 and when they come out of the eggs they are fed from the 
 breast. 
 
276 Mistress Braxican. 
 
 One day Godfrey, who distinguished himself among the 
 sportsmen, was lucky enough to sight and shoot an " iArri," 
 a sort of kangaroo, which being only wounded, managed 
 to get away among the neighbouring thickets. The boy 
 had little to be sorry for, as, if Tom Marix was to be be- 
 lieved, the marsupial has no value beyond that due to the 
 difficulty of getting near him. It was not the same with a 
 " bungari," an animal of larg^ size, with a blackish coat, 
 \yho was climbing among the higher branches -in marsu- 
 pial fashion, hanging on with his cat-like claws and svving- 
 iing his long tail. This animal is essentially nocturnal and 
 hides himself so artfully among the branches that it is 
 difficult to see him. 
 
 Tom Marix observed that the bungari is excellent gams, 
 the meat being very much superior to that of kangaroo 
 when grilled over the embers. Unfortunately there were 
 no means of testing this, and it was probable that bungaris 
 would become rarer and rarer as they approached the 
 desert. Evidently, as they advanced westwards, the 
 caravan would be reduced to live entirely on its own 
 resources. 
 
 However, in spite of the difficulties of the ground, Tom 
 Mari.^ managed to maintain the required rate of from 
 twelve to fourteen miles a day — the rate on which the 
 advance of the expedition was based. Although the heat 
 wr.s already very great — thirty to thirty-five degrees cen- 
 tigrade in the shade — the expedition bore it very comfort- 
 •ably. During the day, it is true, there were still occasional 
 groups of trees under which they encamped under accep- 
 table conditions. And there was no lack of water, although 
 there was little more than a streamlet in the bed of the 
 creeks. The halts regularly took place from nine o'clock 
 till four o'clock in the afternoon, giving sufficient rest to 
 the men and animals after the fatigue of the journey. 
 
 The- country was uninhabited. The last runs had been 
 left behind. There were no more paddocks, no more en- 
 closures, no more of those numerous .sheep, which the short, 
 dry grass could not feed. And only a few natives werq 
 
Beyond Alice Spring. 277 
 
 met with on ihcir way to the stations of the Overland 
 Telegraph Line. 
 
 On the 7th of November, in the afternoon, Godfrey, 
 who was about half a mile in advance, signalled the pre- 
 sence of a horseman. This horseman was following a 
 narrow path at the foot of the MacDonnell Ranges, whose 
 base consists of quartz and metamorphic grit. Noticing 
 the caravan, he put his spurs to his horse and came up to 
 it at a gallop. 
 
 The camp had just been pitched under some slender 
 eucalyptus trees, a group of two or three, giving but little 
 shade. A little creek Xvent curving by, fed by springs in 
 the central chain, and the roots of the eucalyptus had 
 drunk up all the water. 
 
 Godfrey brought the man into the presence of Mrs. 
 Branican. She began by offering him a bumper of whiskey, 
 for which he seemeJ very grateful. 
 
 He was an Australian white, aged about thirty-five, one 
 of those splendid horsemen, accustomed to the" rain, which 
 glides off their shining skin as if olf a waterproof, accus- 
 tomed to the sun, which has no more to brown on tlieir 
 thoroughly browned faces. He was a travelling postman, 
 and fulfilled his duties with zeal and good humour, tra- 
 versing the districts of the colony, distributing the letters, 
 carrying the news from station to station, and to the 
 villages scattered east and west of the telegraph line. He 
 was then returning from P2mu Spring, a station on the 
 southern slope of the Bluff Ranges, after crossing the 
 region extending up to the MacDonnell hills. 
 
 The postman, who belonged to the class of " roughmen," 
 might be compared to the typical .good fellow, such as the 
 olj postillion in France. He knew how to endure hunger 
 and thirst. Sure of a cordial welcome wherever he stopped, 
 even when he had no letter to draw from his bag, resolute, 
 brave, strong, his revolver in his belt, his gun slung on his 
 shoulder, mounted on a swift, powerful horse, he travelled 
 night and day with no fear of misadventure. 
 
 Mrs. Branican took pleasure in talking to him, in asking 
 
278 Mistress Branican. 
 
 him fur informaticn concerning the native tribes with whom 
 he had come in contact. 
 
 The postman replied simply and obligingly. He had 
 heard — like everybody else — of the wreck of the Franklin ; 
 but he did not know that an expedition, organized by 
 John Branican's wife^ had left Adelaide to explore the cen- 
 tral regions of the Australian continent. Mrs. Branican 
 told him that, according to the revelations of Harry Felton, 
 it was among the people of the tribe of the Indas that 
 Captain John had been kept as prisoner for fourteen 
 jcars. 
 
 " And in your journeys," she asked, " did you ever come 
 into contact with natives of that tribe ?" 
 
 " No, madam, although the Iiidas have occasionally come 
 near Alexandra Land," replied the postman, " and 1 have 
 often heard of them." 
 
 " Perhaps you can tell us where they arc no.v ? " asked 
 Zach Frcn. 
 
 " With the wandering tribes that is difficult. One season 
 they arc here, another there — " 
 
 " But where were they last.?" asked Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " I can tell you," said the postman, " that six months 
 ago the Indas were in the north-west of Western Australia, 
 on the banks of the Fitzroy River. The natives of Tas- 
 nian Land are often in those regions. You know what it 
 means to get there ; you will have to cross the dtstrts of 
 the centre and the west, and I need not tell you what risks 
 you run. After all, with courage and energy, one can go 
 far. Then be prepared for it^ and a pleasant journey to 
 you, Mrs. Branican ! " 
 
 The postman accepted another large glass of whiskey, 
 and even a few tins of provisions he slipped into his 
 holsters. Then, mounting his horse, he disappeared round 
 the last spur of the MacDonnell Ranges. 
 
 Two days afterwards the caravan passed the last outlier 
 of the chain dominated by the summit of Mount Liebig. 
 It was now on the edge of the desert, one hundred and 
 thirty miles north-west of Alice S|.ring. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MRS. BRANICAN's JOURNAL. 
 
 The word " desert" recalls to the mind the Sahara, with it3 
 immense sandy plains dotted with fresh and green oases. 
 However, the central regions of the Australian continent 
 liave nothing in common with the northern regions of 
 Alrica, unless it is the rarity of water. " The water is in 
 the shadow," say the natives, and the traveller is reduced 
 tn run from spring to spring, often situated at considerable 
 di tances from each other. However, although the sand, 
 whether extending in immense plains or relieved by hills, 
 covers a large part of the Australian soil, this soil is not 
 absolutely barren. Shrubs adorned with little flowers, a 
 few scattered trees, gum trees, acacias or eucalyptus, 
 make it look rather more cheerful than the nakedness of 
 the Sahara. But these tree.s, these shrubs, yield neither 
 edible ffuits nor leaves for the caravans, which are obliged 
 to carry their victuals with them ; and animal life is but 
 poorly represented in these solitudes by the flight of birds 
 of pas-age. 
 
 Mrs. Branican kept with perfect regularity and exacti- 
 tude her journal of the journey. A few extracts from this 
 journal will inform us more clearly than a simple narrative, 
 regarding the incidents of this toilsome journey. They 
 will reveal also Dolly's ardent soul, her firmness under 
 trial, her unshakable and never-despairing tenacity, even . 
 at the moment when the greater part of her companions 
 despaired around her. And from them we shall see of 
 what a woman is capable when she devotes herself .to the 
 acco-nplishrnsnt of a duty. 
 
2So Mistress Branican. 
 
 " \oth Noveviher. — We left our camp at Mount Licbi'g at 
 four o'clock In the morning. The postman gave us vahi- 
 p.ble information. It agreed with that of poor Fclton. 
 Yes, it is in the north-west and more specially on the 
 banks of the Fitzroy River that we must look for the tribe 
 of the Indas. Nearly eight hundred miles to cross ! We 
 will cross them. I will get there, even if I get there alone, 
 even if I become the prisoner of this tribe. At least, I 
 shall be with John ! 
 
 " We will go north-west, almost on Colonel Warburton's 
 track. Our road will be almost the same as his up to 
 Fitzroy River. May we not have to undergo the trials he 
 underwent, nor leave behind us any of our companions 
 dead of exhaustion ! Unfortunately, the circumstances 
 are not so favoiarablc. It was in the month of April that 
 Colonel Warburton had left Alice Spring, whicli answers 
 to the month of October in North America, that is to say, 
 towards the end of the warm season. Our caravan, on the 
 contrary, started from Alice Spring at the end of October, 
 and we are in November, that is to say, at the beginning of 
 the Australian summer. The heat is already excessive, 
 being nearly thirty-five degrees centigrade in the shade. 
 And for that all we can do is to wait for a cloud to pass 
 over the sky or for some shelter under a group of trees. 
 
 " The order of march adopted by Tom Marix is very 
 practical. The duration and the times of the stages arc 
 well proportioned. Between four and eight o'clock in the 
 morning we do our first stage ; the second stage lasts 
 from four o'clock to eight o'clock in the evening, and we 
 rest during the night. In this way we avoid travelling 
 during the burning noon. - But what time is lost, what 
 delay ! Even supposing we meet with no obstacle, it will 
 take us quite three months to reach the Fitzroy River. 
 
 " I am well satisfied with Tom Marix. Zach Fren and 
 he are two resolute men on whom I can depend in all cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 "Godfrey frightens me with his impassioned nature. 
 He is always in front and oficn out of sight. I caq 
 
Mistress Branican's Journal. 281 
 
 scarcely keep him with me, and yet this boy loves mc as if 
 he were my son. Tom Marix has been lecturing him 
 on his temerity. I hope he will benefit by it. 
 
 " Len Burker is almost always in the rear of the caravan, 
 and seems to seek the company of the blacks of the escort 
 rather than that of the whites. He has been lon^ 
 acquainted with their tastes, their instincts, their customs. 
 When we meet with natives he is very useful, for he speaks 
 their language well enough to understand them and be 
 understooc^. Would that my poor Jane's husband had 
 seriously reformed, but I am afraid he has not ! His look 
 has not changed ; he has one of those looks without frank- 
 ness, which turn away from you." 
 
 * * , * * * 
 
 " i3//i Ncvcmhcr. — Tliere is nofliing new during the last 
 three days. What a comfort and consolation it is to have 
 Jane near me! What a deal we have to say to each 
 other in the kibitka when we are both shut in. 1 have 
 made Jane share in my conviction ; she no longer doubts 
 that I shall find John. But the poor woman is alvv.ijs 
 sorrowful. I have not said anything to her regarding the 
 time when Len Burker forced her to follow him to 
 Australia. Can quite see she could not tell me everything. 
 It seems sometimes as though she was about to tell mc 
 something, but Len Burker watches her, and when she 
 sees him, when he approaches, her manner changes and 
 her face becomes uneasy. She is afraid of him. It 
 is certain that this man is her master, and at a gesture 
 from him she would follow him to the end of the world. 
 
 "Jane appears to have a great affection for Godfrey, and 
 when the dear boy comes near our kibitka to talk to us 
 she dare not say a word to him ; not even to answer him. 
 Her eyes turn away from him, she lowers her head. One 
 would say she is in pain in his presence. 
 
 "To-day we crossed a long, marshy plain during the 
 morning stage. We met with a few pools of water, 
 brackish water, almost salt. Tom Marix toid us these 
 ciar.shes are the remains of ancient lakes which were 
 
282 Mistress Branican. 
 
 formerly connected with Lake Eyre and Lake Torrens, 
 forming a sea which divided the continent. Fortunately 
 we had some fresh water at our camp last night, and our 
 camels quenched their thirst abundantly. 
 
 " It appears that many of these lagoons are found, not 
 only in the low ground, but also in the more elevated 
 regions. 
 
 "The ground is damp; the feet of the camels leave a 
 sticky mud after treading in the saline crust which covers 
 the pools. Sometimes the crust resists the pressure, and 
 when the foot comes down roughly and breaks through 
 there is a splash of liquid slime. 
 
 " We had great trouble in getting across the marshes, 
 which extend for twelve miles towards the north-west. 
 
 " We have met with snakes since our departure from 
 Ade'aide. They are widely spread in Australia, and are 
 in great numbers on the surface of these lagoons, which 
 are dotted with dwarf trees and shrubs. One of the men 
 of our escort was even bitten by one of these venomous 
 reptiles, which are about three feet long, brown in colour 
 and hair. I am told the scientific name is Trimesurus 
 ikalieca. Tom Marix at once cauterized the wound with 
 a pinch of powder dropped on the man's arm and lighted. 
 The man, who was a white, did not even utter a cry. I 
 held his arm during the operation. He thanked me. I 
 gave him an extra glass of whiskey. We have reason to 
 believe the wound will not end fatally. 
 
 "We must take care where we tread. Even on a camel 
 one is not completely out of the reach of these snakes. I 
 am always afraid that Godfrey will commit some impru- 
 dence, and I tremble when I hear the blacks shouting 
 ' Vin'dohe I ' which is the word for snake in the native 
 language. 
 
 '•This evening, while pitching tents for the night, two of 
 our natives killed a reptile of large size. Tom Marix said 
 that if two-thirds of the snakes which swarm in Australia 
 are venomous, there are only five species whose venom is 
 dangerous to man. The snake they have just killed mea- 
 
Mistress Branican's Journal. 28,3 
 
 sures twelve feet long; it is a sort of boa. Our Aus- 
 tralians wished to cook it for supper. And we had to let 
 them. 
 
 " This is what they did. 
 
 " They dug a trough in the sand and a native put into it a 
 lot of stones he had previously warmed up in a fire, and then 
 they strewed fragrant leaves. The snake, with its head and 
 tail cut off, was laid, in this trough and covered with similar 
 leaves, the heat being given by the hot stones. The earth 
 is covered in and beaten down thick enough to prevent 
 the steam of the cooking from escaping. 
 
 "We watched this culinary operation not without disgust ; 
 but, when the snake was cooked and taken out of this 
 improvised oven, we agreed that its flesh exhaled a delicibus 
 odour. Neither Jane nor I cared to taste it, although 
 Tom Marix assured us that, though the white flesh of 
 these reptiles. is a little insipid, their liver is a very savoury 
 morsel. 
 
 " ' It has been compared,' he said, ' to the finest among 
 the game birds, particularly the hazel grouse.' 
 
 " ' The hazel grouse ! Good ! Oh, very good ! Deli- 
 cious, the hazel grouse ! ', So said Jos Meritt. 
 
 " And after being served with a little piece of the liver, he 
 returned for a larger one, and he would have ended by 
 eating the lot. What would you have ? 
 
 " There was no need to ask Gin-Ghi. A good slice of 
 smoking snake flesh, which he ate like an epicure, put him 
 in the best of humours. 
 
 " ' Ai ya r he exclaimed with a long sigh of regret, 
 ' with a few Ning Pc oysters and Tao Ching wine one 
 would think we were in Tie-Coung- Vuan.' 
 
 " Godfrey and Zach Fren, mastering their repugnance, 
 took a few slices of snake. They thought it rather nice ; 
 I preferred to trust to their word. • 
 
 " The reptile was devoured to the last bit by the natives 
 of the escort. They did not even leave the few drops 
 of grease the animal had yielded while it was being 
 cooked. 
 
284 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " During the night our sleep was troubled by a dreadful 
 howling from some distance off. It was a pack of dingoes. 
 The dingo might be called the Australian jackal, for he is 
 half dog and half wolf. He has a yellowish or reddish 
 brown fur, and a. long ornamental tail.' Fortunately 
 these dingoes kept to howling and did not attack the 
 encampment. In a very large number they might be 
 
 dangerous." 
 
 * * , «, * * 
 
 " i^th November. — The heat is becoming more and more 
 overwhelming, and the creeks we meet wilh arc almost 
 entirely dry. We have to dig down into their beds if we 
 want a little water to fill our kegs. Before long we shall 
 have to trust entirely to the springs, for the creeks will have 
 disappeared. 
 
 " I am obliged to notice that there exists a truly inexpli- 
 cable antipathy, almost instinctive, between Len Burker 
 and Godfrey. Never do they address a word to each 
 other. It is certain they avoid each other as much as 
 possible. 
 
 " I was talking about this to Godfrey one day. 
 
 " ' You do not like Len Burker ? ' I said. 
 
 " ' No," said he, ' and do not ask me to like him.' 
 
 " 'But he is a connection of mine,' I said ; 'he is my 
 relative, Godfrey, and if you were to like me — ' 
 
 " ' Mrs. Branican, I like you, but I shall never like him.' 
 
 " Dear Godfrey ! what is then the presentiment, the secret 
 
 reason which makes him speak thus \ " 
 
 # « « # « 
 
 " 2Tlh November. — To-day we have seen a large stretch, 
 an immense monotonous steppe, covered with spinifex. 
 This is a spring herb appropriately called the vegetable 
 porcupine. We have had to get through the clumps, 
 which are sometimes five feet high, and the sharp thorns 
 might have wounded our camels. The spinifex is already 
 of a yellow colour and unfit for the animals to feed on. 
 When they are young and green, camels do not refuse to 
 eat them. But that is not the case now, and our only 
 
Mistress Branican's Journal. 2S5 
 
 anxiety was to get along without being pricked by the 
 bushes. 
 
 " Under these circumstances our progress was very 
 painful. We must get accujtomed to it though, for wc 
 lave hundreds of miles to go over these spinifcx plains. 
 It is the shrub of the desert, the only one that will grow 
 on the barren lands of the centre of Australia. 
 
 " The heat is gradually increasing, and there is no shade. 
 Our men on foot are visibly suffering from this excessive 
 temperature. And will it be believed that, five months 
 later, according to Colonel Warburton, the thermometer 
 may sink below freezing point, and the creeks will be 
 covered with ice an inch thick ? 
 
 " Then the creeks are numerous ; now, however deep tho 
 bed may be, we cannot find a drop of water. 
 
 " Tom Marix has given orders to the mounted men to give 
 up their mounts occasionally to their companions on foot. 
 This measure has been taken with the object of satisfying 
 the complaints of the blacks. I see with regret that 
 Len Burker was their spokesman in this matter. Certainly 
 the men had cause to complain ; to march on foot among 
 tufts of spinifex in a temperature hardly supportable in 
 cither evening or morning is extremely fatiguing. But in 
 any case it was not for Len Burker to excite their jealousy 
 against the squadron of whites. He interfered with what 
 did not concern him, and I told him so.. 
 
 •' ' What I did, Dolly,' he replied, 'was in the interest of 
 all.' 
 
 " 'That I wish to believe,' I replied. 
 
 " ' The burden should be justly shared — ■' 
 
 "' Leave that to me, Mr. Burker,' said Tom Marix, who 
 intervened in the discussion. ' I will take what measures 
 I think necessary.' 
 
 " I saw that Len Burker went off with ill-disguised vexa- 
 tion and gave us an evil look. Jane noticed it, but her 
 husband's eyes fixed on hers, and the poor woman turned 
 away her head. 
 
 " Tom Marix promised me to do all he could to save the 
 
286 Mistress Branican. 
 
 men of the escort, white and black, from having to com- 
 plain again." 
 
 " ^th December. — During our halts we are much tormented 
 by white ants. These insects swarm in myriads. They 
 are invisible liVider the fine sand, and it requires the pres- 
 sure of the foot to make them appear on the surface. 
 
 "'My slcin is hard and h^jrn}^,' said Zach Ficn, 'a 
 regulnr shark skin, but these ants make nothing of it.' 
 
 " The truth is that the skin of animals is not thick enough 
 to nsist the bite of their mandibles. We cannot lie doun 
 without being immediately attacked. To escape these 
 insects we must get out in the rays of the sun, and they 
 are so hot we can hardly support them, so that it is only 
 changing one evil for another. 
 
 " The one who seems less ill-treated than any of us by 
 these insects is the Chinaman. Is he too indolent for their 
 importunate slings to triumph over his indolence ? I do 
 not know ; but, while we are fidgeting and writhing about 
 half mad, the privileged Gin-Ghi, stretched in the shade of 
 a spinifex bush, never moves, and sleeps peacefully as if 
 these wretched insects respected his yellow skin. 
 
 "Jos Meritt is just as patient, although his long body 
 offers his assailants a huge field to devour. He never 
 complains. Automatically and regularly his two lips open 
 and shut again, and .mechanically slaughter thou.sands of • 
 ants, and he is content to say, looking at his servant quite 
 free from any b'te, — 
 
 " ' These Chinese are really exceptionally favoured by 
 nature. Gin-Ghi!' 
 
 " ' Sir ! ■ 
 
 " ' We shall have to change skins.' 
 
 " ' Certainly,' said the Celestial, ' if we change places at 
 the same time.' 
 
 "'Good! Oh, very good! But to begin the change of skin, 
 one of us must be skinned first, and I will begin on you.' 
 
 " ' Ah, we will talk of that at the third moon/ said Gin- 
 Ghi. 
 
- Mistress Branican's Journal. 2S7' 
 
 " And he resumed his sleep at the fifth watch, to use his 
 poetic language ; that is to say, at the moment the caravan 
 was about to resume its journey." 
 
 :): 4: ;): :); 4= 
 
 " loth December. — This torment only ceases when Tom 
 Marix gives the signal for departure. It is lucky that the 
 ants do not think of climbing up the legs of the camels. 
 Our walkers are never free from these insupportable 
 insects. 
 
 " Besides, during the march, we are almost devoured by 
 enemies of another kind and no less disagreeable. These 
 are the mosquitoes, which constitute one of the most for- 
 midable plagues of Australia. At their sting, particularly 
 during the rainy season, cattle, as if they were struck by 
 an epidemic, grow thin, waste auay,. and even die, without 
 it being possible to save them. 
 
 " But what would we give to be here in the rainy season. 
 It is nothing, this plague of ants or mosquitoes, after the 
 tortures of thirst caused by the heats of our Australian 
 November. The want of water brings about the annihila- 
 tion of all the intellectual faculties and all the physical 
 strength. And our reserves are being exhausted and our 
 kegs sound empty. We filled them at the last creek, and 
 what they contain now is but a warm liquid, thick and 
 shaken about, and it does not quench the thirst. Our 
 position will soon be that of the Arab stokers on board 
 the steamers in the Red Sea, the miserable men who fall 
 half-fainting in front of the boiler fires. 
 
 *' What is no less alarming is that our camels begin to 
 crawl instead of keeping up their usual pace. Their necks 
 are stretched out towards the horizon around the long, wide, 
 level plain broken by no undulation or variation of the 
 ground. Always the vast steppe covered by arid spinifex 
 growing from its roots deep down in the sand. There is 
 not a tree in sight, not a trace by which we can discover 
 the presence of a well or a spring." 
 
 "A" 5p ^C *p JfC 
 
 " l6th December. — In two stages our caravan has not 
 
 U 
 
S88 Mistress Branican. 
 
 moved nine miles to-day. For some days I have noticed 
 that our day's work has become less and less. Notwith- 
 standing their strength, our camels advance but weariediy, 
 particularly those carrying^ the packs. 
 
 "Tom Marix is in a rage when he sees the men stop 
 before he has given the signal to halt. He goes up to the 
 pack camels and hits them with his whip, the lash of 
 which has but kittle effect on the s^in of these rugged 
 animals. 
 
 "JosMeritt, with that dryness which« never leaves him, 
 said with regard to this, — 
 
 '" Good ! Oh, very good, Mr. Marix ! But I will pivc 
 you a bit of advice ; it is not the camel you should whip, 
 but its rider.' 
 
 " And certainly Tom Marix would not have been dis- 
 pleased to follow the advice if I had not interfered. To 
 the fatigues our men have to undergo we must have the 
 prudence at least not to give them ill-treatment. Some of 
 them might dpsert. I am afraid that that will happen, 
 particularly if the idea occurs to any of the blacks ; but 
 Tom Marix assures me there is no danger." 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 "From the \'jtli lo the 27/k December. — The journey 
 continues under these conditions. During the fiist da\ s 
 of the week the weather changed with the wind, which 
 blew briskly. A few clouds came up from the norlh in 
 the form of rounded volutes, as if they were huge bombs 
 which a spark had exploded. That day, the 23rd, the 
 s)ark came. A flash cleft the sky. Noisy claps of 
 thunder of rare intensity were heard without the pro- 
 longed roll which the 'echoes give out in mountainous 
 countries. At the same tinie the atmospheric currents 
 wi re set free with such violence that we could not keep 
 on the camels. We had to get do\yn and even to lie on 
 the ground. Zach Fren, Godfrey, Tom Marix, and Lcn 
 Burker had much difficulty in saving our kibitka from 
 being blown away. As lo camping under these circum- 
 stances or raising our tents among the tufts of spinifex, it 
 
" It is not ihe camel )-cu shou'.d whip." 
 
Mistress Branican's Journal. 289 
 
 was impossible to thinlc of it. In an instant all the things 
 would have been scattered, torn, and rendered useless. 
 
 " ' This is nothing,' said Zach Fren, rubbing his hands ; 
 • a storm is soon over.' 
 
 "'Hurrah for the storni if it brings us water!' said 
 Godfrey. 
 
 " Godfrey was right. * Water, water ! ' is our cry. But 
 will it rain ? That is the question. 
 
 "Yes, that is all the question, for an abundant rain would 
 be for us like the manna of the desert. Unfortunately, the 
 air is so dry — as we can see by the curious sharpness of the 
 thunder-claps — that the water of the clouds might remain 
 in a state of vapour and not dissolve in rain. But it would 
 have been difficult to imagine a more violent storm or a 
 more deafening exchange of flashes and thunderings. 
 
 " I have been able to observe what I had heard regarding 
 the Australian aborigines during these storms. They had 
 no fear of being struck, they did not shut their eyes at the 
 lightning, nor did they tremble at the thunder. In fact, the 
 blacks of our escort uttered exclamations of joy. They 
 were in no way affected like every other living creature 
 when the air is charged with electricity at the moment when 
 this electricity is manifested by the tearing asunder of the 
 clouds in the heights of the sky. 
 
 "Assuredly, the nervous organization of these primitive 
 beings cannot be very sensitive. Perhaps, after all, they 
 greeted in the storm the flood it might send them. And 
 in truth, the waiting for this was quite a Tantalus' task. 
 
 " ' It is really water,' said Godfrey to me, ' good, pure 
 water, the water of the sky, which is hanging over our 
 heads ! There is the lightning cleaving the clouds, and yet 
 nothing falls.' 
 
 " ' A little patience, my child,' I replied ; ' let us not 
 despair.' 
 
 " ' That is it,' said Zach Fren. ' The clouds are thicken- 
 ing, and coming down at the same time. Ah ! if the 
 wind would only drop, this poise would soon end in 
 cataracts j ' 
 
290 Mistress Branican. 
 
 " It was to be feared that the storm would sweep away 
 the mass of vapour towards the south without giving us a 
 drop of water. 
 
 " About three o'clock in the afternoon it seemed that the 
 northern horizon had begun to clear, and that the storm 
 would soon end. This would be a cruel deception. 
 
 " ' Good 1 Oh, very good 1 ' 
 
 "Jos Meritt had uttered his usual exclamation. Never 
 was this phrase of approval more appropriate. The 
 Englishman had stretched out his hand and found it 
 moistened with a few large drops. 
 
 " We had not to wait long for the deluge. We had to be 
 quick in getting into our mackintoshes. Then without 
 losing a minute we were ready to receive the beneficent 
 shower. Everything was laid out on the ground, even 
 blankets, towels and sheets, from which we could squeeze 
 the water when they were soaked — the water for the 
 camels to drink. 
 
 " But the camels were soon able to quench the thirst 
 which tortured them. Streamlet and pools were quickly 
 formed between the tufts of spinifex. The plain threatened 
 to be transformed into a vast marsh. There was water for 
 everybody. We were at first delighted at this abundant 
 flood, which the dried ground absorbed like a sponge, and 
 the first drops of which the sun, which had reappeared on 
 the horizon, turned into vapour. 
 
 " Our reserve was assured for many days. There was a 
 possibility of resuming our daily stages, with the men 
 revived in body and. soul, and the animals firmly set on 
 their feet again. The kegs were filled to the bung. Every- 
 thing that could hold anything was used as a recipient. 
 The camels did not neglect to fill the interior pouch, with 
 which nature has provided them, and in which they can 
 provision themselves with water for some time. And sur- 
 prising as it may be, this pouch contains about fifteen 
 gallons. 
 
 "Unfortunately these storms are rare, at least at this 
 
 nprind of thf? vear when 1-Vip cnmmpi- Vioaf Ic o«- it-^ rr^a„i-r,^i- 
 
Mistress Branican's Journal. 291 
 
 It is, therefore, a fortunate chance on which it would be 
 imprudent to reckon for the future. The storm hardly 
 lasted three hours, and the burning beds of the creeks soon 
 absorbed the waters of the sky that had been poured into 
 them. The springs, it is true, derived more benefit from 
 the storm, and we shall have to congratulate ourselves if 
 it has not been merely local. Let us hope it has refreshed 
 the Australian plain for hundreds of miles round." 
 
 S|! w SjC S|! SfC 
 
 " 29/-^ December. — Following almost the same route as 
 Colonel Warburton, we have now reached Waterloo 
 Spring, one hundred and forty miles from Mount Liebig. 
 Our expedition has now reached the hundred and twenty- 
 sixth degree of longitude. It has just covered the con- 
 ventional straight line running from, south to north which 
 divides the neighbouring colony from that vast portion of 
 the continent called Western Austiaiia," 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A FEW MOKE EXTRACTS. 
 
 " WaTeri.00 Spring is not a town ; it is not even a village, 
 A few native huts, abandoned at this time, and that is all. 
 The wandering natives only stop while the rainy season 
 feeds the watercourses of this region — so that they stay 
 there for a certain time. Waterloo in no way justifies the 
 addition of -the word 'Spring,' which is common to all 
 the stations in the desert. No spring flows up from the 
 ground, and if, as we have said, we meet "in the Sahara 
 with fresh oases sheltered by trees, and watered by run- 
 ning streams, it is in vain we seek such things in the 
 Australian desert." 
 
 Such is the observation entered in Mrs. Branican's journal, 
 from which wc will make a few more extracts. Better than 
 more precise description, they are of a nature to make the 
 country known, and show in all their horror the trials in 
 store for the daring explorers who venture into it. They 
 will_ also help us to appreciate the mental strength and 
 indomitable energy of their author, her unshakable resolu- 
 tion to attain her object at the cost of no matter what 
 sacrifice. 
 
 30^/2 Decemler. — We have to stay a day at Waterloo 
 Spring. These delays make me miserable, when I think 
 of the distance which still separates us from the valley in 
 which flows the Fitzroy. And "who knows if we may 
 not have to seek beyond this valley for the tribe of Indas. 
 Since Harry Felton left him, what has been the existence 
 
A Few more Extracts. 293 
 
 of my poor John? Did the natives avenge on him the 
 flight of his companion ? It will never do to think of that. 
 The thought would kill me. 
 
 " Zach Fren tries to reassure me. 
 
 "'Inasmuch,' he says, 'as Captain John and Harry 
 Felton were the prisoners of these Indas for so many 
 years, they must have some interest in keeping them, as 
 Harry Felton led you to think. These natives must have 
 recognized in the captain a white chief of great value, and 
 they are waiting for an opportunity of surrendering him for 
 a ransom in proportion to his importance. In my opinion 
 the flight of his companion would not have made the 
 position of Captain John any worse.' 
 
 " Would to God it is so ! 
 
 "Today ends the year 1890. Fifteen years ago the 
 Franklin left San Diego. Fifteen years 1 And it is four 
 months and five days only since our caravan left Adelaide ! 
 This year, which begins for us in the desert, how will it 
 end? 
 
 " My companions would not allow the day to pass without 
 offering me their good wishes for the new year. My dear 
 Jane embraced me, a prey to the keenest emotion, and for 
 a long time I held her in my arms. Zach Fren and Tom 
 Marix came to shake hands with me. I know that I have 
 in them two friends who would die for me. Our people 
 all surrounded me, tendering their affectionate felicitations. 
 I say all, to the exclusion, however, of the blacks of the 
 escort, whose discontent is shown on every occasion. It is 
 clear that Tom Marix only keeps them in order with great 
 trouble. 
 
 " Len Burker spoke to me with his habitual coolness, 
 assuring me of the success of our enterprise. He had no 
 doubt that we should attain our object. At the same time 
 he asked if we were doing wefl in making for the Fitzroy 
 River. The Indas, as far as his knowledge goes, are 
 nomads, who are most frequently met with in the regions 
 neighbouring on Queensland, that is to say in the east of 
 the continent. It is true, he added, we are going where 
 
294 Mistress Branican. 
 
 Harry Feltbn left his captain, but how were we to know 
 that the Indas had not moved off", etc., etc. 
 
 All this is said in a tone which inspires no confidence, 
 the tone certain people adopt when they speak without 
 looking at you. 
 
 But it was Godfrey whose greeting most affected mc, 
 lie had made a nosegay of the little wild flowtrs that grow 
 among the tufts of spinifcx. He offered it me with such 
 good grace, and said such loving things to me, that the 
 tears came into my eyes. As I embraced him, and as his 
 kisses replied to mine, why did the thought occur to me 
 that my little Wat would be just his age, that he would be 
 just likehim. 
 
 Jane was there, she was so affected, and became so pale 
 in Godfrey's presence that I thought she was going to faint. 
 But she recovered and her husband took her away ; I dared 
 not keep her. 
 
 We resumed our journey to-day at four o'clock in the 
 afternoon, the sky being overcast. The heat is ^ little 
 more bearable. The saddle camels and pack camels, 
 sufficiently rested from their fatigue, arc going better. 
 We even have had to check them so that the men on foot 
 can follow them. 
 
 :¥ :i: * * * 
 
 \^th January. — For some days we have kept on at this 
 increased speed. Two or three times the rain has fallen 
 rather abundantly. We have not had to suffer thirst, and 
 our reserve has been completely replenished. The most 
 serious of all questions is this of water, and it is also the 
 most alarming when w€ are travelling across these deserts. 
 It means constant anxiety. In fact the springs appear to 
 be few on the road wc are following. Colonel Warburton 
 noticed this on his journey which ended on the west coast 
 of Tasman Land. * 
 
 We are now living on our provisions, and on them only. 
 It is not worth reckoning on what we can shoot, for the 
 game has all fled from these miserable solitudes. A few 
 flocks of pigeons are all we see, and these we cannot get 
 
A Few more Extracts. 295 
 
 near. They only rest among the tufts of spinifex after a 
 long flight when their wings can no longer support them. 
 Nevertheless our food is assured for many months, and on 
 that point I am at ease. Zach Fren carefully sees that 
 the food, the preserves^ the flour, tea, coffee, etc., are dis- 
 tributed with method and regularity. We ourselves have 
 to share with the rest ; there are no exceptions. The 
 blacks of the escort cannot complain that we are treated 
 better than they are. 
 
 Here and there flit about a few sparrows dispersed over 
 these regions, but they are not worth the trouble and 
 fatigue of going after. 
 
 All the time there are these myriads of white ants, 
 making our halting hours miserable ; as to mosquitoes, the 
 country is too dry for them to annoy us. We shall find 
 them in the damp places, as Tom Marix observes. Well, 
 we had better have their bites ; and we shall not pay too 
 dearly for the water which attracts them in thousands. 
 
 We reached Mary Spring, ninety miles from Waterloo, 
 on the 23rd of January. 
 
 A group of slender trees rises in this place, a few 
 eucalyptuses, which have exhausted the water in the ground 
 and are evidently suffering. 
 
 . " Their foliage hangs like tongues dry with thirst," said 
 Godfrey. 
 
 And the comparison was very good, 
 
 I notice that this young-, ardent and 'resolute boy has lost 
 nothing of the gaiety of his age. His health is not affected 
 as I feared it would be, for he is just at the age when a 
 lad begins to shape into a man. And this incredible like- 
 ness which troubles me. It is the same look when his 
 eyes are fixed on mine, the same intonations when he 
 speaks to me. And he has a way of saying things, of 
 expressing his thoughts, which reminds me so of my poor 
 John. 
 
 One day I drew Len Burker's attention to this pecu- 
 liarity. 
 
 " No, Dolly," he replied, " it is a pure illusion on your 
 
296 Mistress Branican. . . ^ 
 
 part. I confess I am in no way struck with this resem- 
 blance. In my opinion it only exists in your imagination. 
 It matters little, after all, and if it is for that reason you 
 take so much interest in this boy — " 
 
 " No, Len," I replied, " if I feel such a lively affection 
 for Godfrey, it is that I have seen his enthusiasm in what 
 is the only object of my life, the finding and rescuing of 
 John. He begged me to take him with me, and, touched 
 by his persistence, I consented. And besides, he is one of 
 my San Diego children, one of those poor boys without 
 father or mother who have been brought up at Wat 
 House. Godfrey is like a brother of my little Wat." 
 
 " I know, I know, Dolly," Len Burker replied, " and to 
 a certain extent I understand you. May Heaven grant 
 you will not have cause to repent of an act in which 
 your sentiment has had more share than your reason." 
 
 " I do not like to hear you talk like that, Len Burker," 
 I replied with vivacity. " Such observations wound me. 
 What have you to complain of about Godfrey ? " 
 
 "Oh! nothing, nothing as yet. But who knows.' later 
 on, perhaps, he will abuse the affection which is a httle too 
 pronounced regarding him. A child is picked up, no one 
 knows whence he comes or who he is, what blood runs in 
 his veins — " 
 
 " It is the blood of brave and honest men, I will answer 
 for it!" I exclaimed. "On board the Brisbane he was 
 liked by all, by his masters and his comrades, and the 
 captain Wmself told me Godfrey had never had to be 
 spoken to. Zach Fren, who knows him well, appreciates 
 him as much as I do. Tell me, Len Burker, why you do 
 not like this boy ? " 
 
 " I — Dolly ? I do not like him or dislike him ; I am 
 quite indifferent to him, that is all. My friendship I do 
 not give to the first comer, and I think only of John and 
 his rescue from the natives." 
 
 If Len Burker wished to give me a lesson, I did not 
 accept it, for he aimed badly. I do not forget my hus- 
 band for this child, but I am happy in thinking that 
 
A Few more Extracts. 297 
 
 Godfrey joins his efforts to mine. I am sure that John 
 would approve of what I have done, and what I intend to 
 do in the future for this boy. 
 
 When I told Jane of this conversation the poor woman 
 bowed her head and said nothing. 
 
 For the future I shall say nothing. Jane will not and 
 cannot say Len Burker is in the wrong. I understand 
 this reserve ; it is her duty. 
 
 ■1% «fC r^ « 5|C 
 
 2gt& /aniiary. — We have reached the shore of a small 
 lake, a kind of lagoon, which Tom Marix believes to be 
 White Lake. It justifies its name of White Lake, for in 
 place of the water, which has evaporated, a layer of salt 
 occupies the bed. Again a remnant of that interior 
 sea which once separated Australia into two large islands. 
 
 Zach Fran made up our stock of salt, but we should 
 have preferred drinking water. 
 
 There are in these parts a large number of rats, smaller 
 than the ordinary rats. We have to provide against their 
 attacks during our halts. They are so voracious that they 
 gnaw everything within range. 
 
 But the blacks in no way despise them as food. They 
 caught a few dozen of them, prepared them, cooked them, 
 and regaled themselves with the objectionable meat. We 
 shall have to run very short of provisions before we have 
 recourse to that food. Heaven grant we may never be 
 reduced to that ! 
 
 We are now on the borders of the desert known as the 
 Great Sandy Desert. 
 
 During the last twenty miles the ground has been 
 gradually changing. The tufts of spinifex are fewer and 
 this meagre vegetation is disappearing. Is the soil so 
 barren that it cannot support this not very exacting vege- 
 tation ? Who would not believe it if he saw the immense 
 plain undulating with a few hillocks of red sand, and 
 without any trace of the bed of a creek? One would 
 suppose it never rained on these territories devoured by 
 the sun, not even in the winter. 
 
298 Mistress Branican. 
 
 Amid this mournful aridity, this disquieting dryness, 
 there is not one of us who has not been seized with the 
 most mournful presentiments. Tom Marix shows me these 
 desolate solitudes on the map ; it is nearly a blank space 
 crossed by the routes of Giles and Gibson. Towards the 
 north, that of Colonel Warburton shows clearly the uncer- 
 tainties of his march by the numerous turns and zigzags 
 necessitated by his search for springs. Here his men 
 were ill, exhausted, and almost dead ; there his camels 
 were decimated, his son dying. Better not read the 
 account of his journey if we wish to follow him — the 
 bravest recoiled. But I have read it and I will read it again. 
 I must not let myself be frightened. What this explorer 
 did for the study of the unknown regions of the Australian 
 continent, I will do to find John. The only object of my 
 
 life is that, and I will accomplish it ! 
 
 « * * « « 
 
 yd February. — For the last five days we have had to 
 shorten our- stages. So much more time lost on the long 
 road we are travelling. It is extremely regrettable. Our 
 caravan, retarded by hilly ground, is incapable of follow- 
 ing the straight line. The ground is very hilly and obliges 
 us to ascend and descend some very steep slopes. In 
 many places it is cut up into sand-hills round which the 
 camels have to work, as they cannot climb tlicm. There 
 arc also some sandy hills a hundred feet high, at intervals 
 of six or seven hundred feet ; the men on foot sink into 
 the .'and, and the advance becomes more and more 
 laborious. 
 
 The heat is overwhelming. It is impossible to imagine 
 the intensity with which the sun darts down its rays. They 
 are arrows of fire which pierce you in a thousand places. 
 Jane and I can hardly remain under the shelter of our 
 kibitka. What must our companions endure during the 
 morning and evening stages ? Zach Fren, strong as he is, 
 buffers much from these fatigues, but he does not complain ; 
 he has lost nothing of his good humour, this devoted friend 
 whose existence is bound up with mine ! 
 
A Few more Extracts. 299 
 
 Jos Meritt bears up with a quiet courage, a resistance 
 to privation, one is tempted to envy. Gin-Ghi, less 
 patient, complains without its having any effect on his 
 master. And when one thinks that this eccentric man is 
 suffering all this for the sake of a hat ! 
 
 " Good ! Oh ! very good ! " he replies, when anythfng 
 is said about this. " But also what a rarity of a hat ! " 
 
 " Some old mountebank's rag I " said Zach Fren; shrug- 
 ging his shoulders. 
 
 " Some old .rubbish you would hot even wear on your 
 feet ! " retorted Gin-Ghi. 
 
 Between eight o'clock and four o'clock it would be im- 
 possible to move a step. We camp anywhere ; we put up 
 two or three tents. The men of the escort, black and 
 white, stretch themselves where they can in the shade of 
 the camels. The worst of it is that the water is beginnin.; 
 to fail. What will become of us if we meet with only dry 
 springs .' I know Tom Marix is very uneasy, although he 
 tries to hide his uneasiness. He is wrong, he would do 
 better to tell me everything, I could bear everything, and 
 I should not be afraid. 
 
 fv "A" 5|» S|C •!! 
 
 14/A February. — Eleven days have passed during which 
 we have had but two hours' rain. We could hardly re- 
 plenish our kegs after the men had had enough to satisfy 
 their thirst, and the animals had taken enough for their 
 store. Under these circumstances we have reached Emily 
 Spring, which is quite dry. Our camels are exhausted ; 
 Jos Meritt does not know what to do to get his camcf 
 along. He will not strike it, however, and merely appeals 
 to its feelings. I heard him say, — 
 
 " Look here, you poor brute, if you are in pain, at least 
 you have no grief ! " 
 
 But the poor brute did not seem to understand the dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 We will resume our journey more uneasy than we have 
 ever been. 
 
 Two camels arc sick. 'They are crawling alonr, and 
 
300 Mistress Branican. - 
 
 will not be able to last. The provisions carried by the 
 pack camel have been shifted on to a saddle camel. 
 
 Luckily the male camel, ridden by Tom Marix, has kept 
 its strength up to now. Without him, the others, more 
 particularly the females, would disband, and nothing 
 would stop them. 
 
 We have found it necessary to leave behind the two 
 which fell sick. To leave them to die of hunger and thirst, 
 a prey to a long agony, would have been more inhuman 
 than to end their misery at a blow. 
 
 The caravan journeys on and turns round a sand-hill. 
 There are two reports. Tom Marix returns to rejoin us, 
 and the journey continues. 
 
 What is more alarming is that the health of two of our 
 people gives us much uneasiness. They have been 
 seized with fever, and we have dosed them well with sul- 
 phate of quinine, with which the- medicine-chest is well 
 supplied. But a burning thirst devours them. Our store 
 of water is exhausted, and nothing indicates that we arc in 
 the proximity of a spring. 
 
 The invalids are on their backs on two camels which 
 their companions lead by the hand. Man cannot be left 
 behind like camels. We must look after them ; it is our 
 duty, and we will not fail in it. But this pitiless tempera- 
 ture is gradually devouring them. 
 
 Those of us who stand fatigue best, who can bear ex- 
 cessive heat without suffering, are the blacks of our 
 escort. 
 
 But though they have less to bear, their discontent in- 
 creases daily. In vain Tom Marix busies himself in tran- 
 quillizing them. The most excited keep apart when we 
 halt, and talk together, and the signs of an approaching 
 revolt are only too evident. 
 
 During the 2ist, all, with one accord, refused to continue 
 the journey to the north-west, giving as a reason thai they 
 were dying of thirst. The reason was only too well 
 founded. For twelve hours there had not been a single 
 drop-of water in our kegs. We are reduced to alcoholic 
 
A Few more Extracts. 301 
 
 drinks, the effect of which is deplorable, as they get into 
 cur heads. 
 
 I had to personally intervene among these obstinate 
 natives. I had to make them understand that to stop 
 imder such conditions was not the way to put an end to 
 their sufferings. 
 
 " What we want," said one of them, ""is to go back." 
 
 "Back? Whereto?" 
 
 " To Mary Spring." 
 
 " To Mary Spring ! " I answered, " there is no water 
 there, and you know it." 
 
 " If there is no water at Mary Spring," replied the black, 
 " we may find it a little further up, near Mount Wilson, 
 in the direction of Sturt Creek." 
 
 I looked'at Tom Mari.x. He went to look at the special 
 map of the Great Sandy Desert. We consulted it. In 
 fact, north of Mary Spring there is a somewhat important 
 watercourse which might not perhaps be entirely dry. 
 But how could the native have known of the existence of 
 this watercourse ? I interrogated him en the subject. 
 He hesitated at first, and at last told me Mr. Burker had 
 spoken to him about it. It was from him that the pro- 
 position of heading for Sturt Creek had come. 
 
 I am much anno}'cd that Len Burker has had the im- 
 prudence — ^was it only imprudence .' — to instigate a part 
 (. f the escort to return towards the east. It will not only 
 lead to delay, but to a serious modLficaJion of our route, 
 which will take us a long way from Fitzroy River. 
 
 I told him what I thought rather strongly. 
 
 " What would you have, Dolly ? " he replied. " Bettor 
 submit to delays and go a litllc way round, than to obsti- 
 nately follow a road where.there are nc wells." 
 
 "In that case, Mr. Burker," said Zach Fren, sharply, 
 " you should have spoken to Mrs. Branican, and not to 
 the blacks." 
 
 " You are carrying on with the blacks in such a way," 
 sa'd Tom Marix, " that I have no control over them. Are 
 vnu in command of them. Mr. Burker. or am I ? " 
 
302 Mistress Branican. 
 
 "I think that observation is rather unseemly, Tom 
 Marix," said Len Burker. 
 
 "Unseemly or not, it is justified by your proceedings, 
 sir, and you would do well to think over it." 
 
 " I take orders from nobody here but from Mrs. Brani- 
 can—" 
 
 " Be it so, Len Burker," I replied ; " but for the future, 
 if you have any observations to make, I' beg you will 
 make them to me and not to others." 
 
 "Mrs. Branican," said Godfrey, "shall I go on in 
 advance of the caravan in search of a well ? I am sure to 
 find one." 
 
 " A well without water ! " muttered Len Burker, shrug- 
 ging his shoulders. 
 
 I can easily imagine what Jane must have suffered as 
 she heard this discussion. Her husband's conduct, which 
 was so prejudicial to the good feeling which ought to exist 
 among our people might be the cause of serious difficulty. 
 I had to support Tom Marix in obtaining the consent of 
 the blacks not to persevere in their intention of returning 
 to the rear. We succeeded after considerable difficulty. 
 But they declared that if we did not find water in tiventy- 
 four hours, they would return to Mary Spring in order to 
 reach Sturt Creek. 
 
 ***** 
 
 22rd February.-. — What terrible sufTerings we have had 
 during the two days which followed. The state of our two 
 sick companions has become worse. Three camels fell, 
 never to rise again, their heads stretched out on the ground, 
 their bodies swollen, and incapable of making any move- 
 ment. We had to shoot them. Two of these were saddle 
 animals and one was a pack camel. Now four of the 
 whiles of the escort have to travel on foot. 
 
 And there is not a human creature in this Great Sandy 
 Desert, not an Australian in these regions of Tasman 
 Land to give us any information as to the position of the 
 wells. Evidently our caravan has diverged from Colonel 
 Warburton's route, for the colonel never had such long 
 
A Few more Extracts. £03 
 
 stages without being able to replenish his store of water. 
 Often, it is true, the springs were half-dry and contained 
 only a muddy, warm and barely drinkable liquid. But we 
 must be content. 
 
 To-day, at last, at the end of our first stage, we were 
 able to slake our thirst. ^ It was Godfrey who discovered 
 a spring near Emily Spring. 
 
 In the morning of the 23rd the brave boy went off some 
 miles in advance, and two hours afterwards we saw him 
 returning in all haste. 
 
 " A well ! a well ! " he shouted, as far ofif as we could 
 hear him. 
 
 At this cry our little world received new life. The 
 camels hurried on. It seemed as though ourGodfrey had 
 said to them, — 
 
 " Water ! water ! " 
 
 An hour afterwards the caravan halted under a group 
 of trees with dried foliage which shaded the well. Luckily 
 they were gum trees and not eucalyptuses, which would 
 have dried it up to the last drop. 
 
 But such wells a very few men would empty in an 
 instant. The water is not abundant and soon loses itself 
 in the sands. The wells have not been made by the hands 
 of man, they are merely natural cavities formed during the 
 rainy season. Rarely are they more than five or six feet 
 deep — ^just enough for the water, shaded from the solar 
 rays, to escape evaporation and remain during the long 
 heats of summer. 
 
 Sometimes these wells are without the group of trees to 
 distinguish them, and then it is only too easy to pass near 
 them without noticing them. A careful look-out has con- 
 sequently to be kept, as Colonel Warburton very justly 
 observes. This we remembered. 
 
 This time Godfrey had made a fortunate find. The 
 well, at which we encamped at eleven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, contained more water than was required for our camels 
 and our reserve. The water was limpid, for it was filtered 
 through the sand, and it had retained its freshness owing 
 
304 Mistress Branican. 
 
 to the cavity being at the foot of a sand-hill and shaded 
 from the direct rays of the sun. 
 
 It was with delight that we refreshed ourselves, and we 
 had to warn our companions to drink with moderation, 
 lest they should make themselves ill. 
 
 One cannot imagine the beneficent effect of water after 
 a long torture from thirst. The result is immediate, the 
 most exhausted are revived, strength returns instantly, and 
 courage with the strength. It is more than to live again, 
 it is to be born again. 
 
 Next day, at four o'clock in the morning, we resumed 
 our journey, and travelled north-w«st so as to reach 
 Joanna Spring, about one hundred and ninety miles from 
 Mary Spring. 
 
 * • * » * 
 
 These few notes extracted from Mrs. Branican's journal 
 are enough to show that her energy had not abandoned her 
 for an instant. We must now resume the account of this 
 journey, for which the future had in reserve such eventu- 
 alities impossible to foresee, and so serious in their conse- 
 quences. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 INDICATIONS AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 As we have seen from the last lines of Mrs. Branican's 
 journal, courage and confidence had returned to the men 
 of the caravan. Never had they been short of food, and 
 the provisions would last for many months. Water 
 alone had been wanting for a few stages ; but the well dis- 
 covered by Godfrey had yielded more than they wanted, 
 and they started from it in good spirits. 
 
 It is true they always had to face an overwhelming heat, 
 to breathe the fiery air of the surface of these interminable 
 plains, without trees and without shade. And the travellers 
 who can bear this excessive temperature are not very 
 numerous, particularly if they are not natives of Australia. 
 Where the native resists, the foreigner succumbs. The 
 man has to be made to suit this murderous climate. 
 
 The hills of red sand, with their long undulations and 
 symmetrical ripples, continued. The ground was so hot 
 that' the whites could not walk on it with naked feet. 
 The blacks were accustomed to it, and should have had no 
 reason to complain of it ; but they did complain, and their 
 ill-will showed itself every day more clearly. If Tom 
 Marix had not had to keep the escort at its full strength, in 
 case he had to defend the caravan against some wandering 
 tribe, he would have "assuredly asked Mrs. Branican to 
 dismiss the blacks from her service. 
 
 Every day he saw the difficulties inherent to such an 
 expedition increasing, and when he said to himself that 
 these fatieues were undersone and these dangers faced for 
 
3o6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 nothing, it was only natural that he could not completely 
 hide his thoughts. Zach Fren, however, was the only one 
 to discover this. 
 
 " Truly, Tom," said he one day, " I should not have 
 thought you were the man to be discouraged." 
 
 " Me discouraged ! You are mistaken, Zach, at least in 
 the sense that I shall fail in the courage that will make 
 me fulfil my undertaking. It is not crossing the desert I 
 am afraid of, but, after we have crossed it, tcT have to cross 
 it back again without having succeeded." 
 
 " Do you think, Tom, that Captain John has died since 
 Harry l'"elton left him ? " 
 
 " I know nothing about it, Zach, and you know no 
 more." 
 
 '■ 1 know it as well as I know that a ship goes to star- 
 board when you put her helm to port." 
 
 " There, Zach, you talk like Mrs. Branican andGodfrc}-. 
 You take your hopes for certainties. I hope you are right. 
 But if Captain John is alive, he is in the power of the Inday, 
 and where are the Indas ? " 
 
 " They are where they are, Tom, and that is where the 
 caravan will go if we box the compass for the next six 
 months. If we cannot find them on one tack, we will try 
 them on the other ; but we will get them at last." 
 
 " If we were at sea, yes ; but then we should know the 
 port to which we were bound. But in these regions who 
 knows where they will go ? " 
 
 " We shall not know by despairing." 
 
 " I am not despairing, Zach." 
 
 " Perhaps not, Tom ; but, worse than that, you will soon 
 lead people to suppose so. The man who does not hide 
 his anxiety makes a bad captain and discourages his crew. 
 Take care of you face, Tom, not for Mrs. Branican's sake, 
 for nothing can shake her, but for the whites of our 
 escort. If they are going to make common cause with 
 the blacks—" 
 
 " I will answer for them as I answer for myself—" 
 
 "And I will answer for you, Tom! But don't let 
 
Indications and Incidents, 307 
 
 us talk of hauling down the flag while the masts are 
 standing." 
 
 " Who is going to talk of that, unless it is Len Burker ? " 
 
 " Oh, ah, Tom ! If I had been captain he would have 
 been down in the hold long ago with a shot at each foot J 
 But as it is, look after him ; I have got my eye upon 
 him." 
 
 Zach Fren was right in keeping an eye on Len Burker. 
 If the expedition broke up, he would be the cause of it. 
 He it was who excited to disorder' the blacks of the escort 
 on whom Tom Marix had thought he could trust. This 
 was one of the things which might imperil the success of 
 the campaign. But, even if it had not existed, Tom Marix 
 retained hardly the trace of an illusion as to the possibility, 
 of meeting with the Indas and rescuing Captain John. 
 
 But if the caravan did not go quite at a venture in mak- 
 ing for the Fitzroy River, there was one circumstance 
 which might compel the Indas to leave Tasrhan Land, and 
 that was the chance of war. It is seldom that there is 
 peace between the tribes, which number from two hundred 
 and fifty to three himdred souls. There are inveterate 
 hatreds, blood rivalries, and these are kept alive with all 
 the more passion owing to war among cannibals being a 
 sort of hunting enterprise. The enemy is not only the 
 enemy, he is edible game, and the victor eats the van- 
 quished. Hence, battles, pursuits, retreats, which rriay 
 take the natives long distances. It was, therefore, of im- 
 portance to know if the Indas had left their territorits, 
 and the only way to do this was to catch an Australian 
 coming from the north-west. 
 
 This was the great object of Tom Marix, assiduously 
 assisted by Godfrey, who, in spite of the recommendations 
 and even the injunctions of Mrs. Branican, was often out 
 scouting for miles. When he was not looking for some 
 well he was looking for some blacks, but as yet without 
 success. The country was deserted, and, in fact, what 
 human being, however degraded he might be, would be 
 abl^ to exist without the mere necessities of existence i 
 
3oS Mistress Branican. 
 
 To venture beyond the telegraph line was to expose him- 
 self to the terrible experiences we have described. 
 
 At last, on the 9th of March, at half-past nine in the 
 morning, there was heard a call in the distance — a call 
 consisting of these two syllables, Coo-ceh ! 
 
 " There are blacks somewhere about," said Tom Marix. 
 
 " Blacks ! " said Dolly. 
 
 " Ye.s, madam, that is the way they call to each other." 
 
 " Let us get up with them," said Zach Fren. 
 
 The caravan advanced a hundred yards, and Godfrey 
 signalled two blacks among the sand-hills. To get hold 
 of them was not easy, for the Australians run away from 
 the whites as soon as they see them. These tried to hide 
 themselves among some tufts of .spinifex. But the escort 
 managed to surround them, and they were brought before 
 Mrs. Branican. 
 
 The one was about fifty ; the other was his son, aged 
 twenty. Both were on their way to Lake Woods station 
 on the telegraph line. A few presents of cloth and some 
 cakes of tobacco soon pacified them, and they were quite 
 ready to answer the questions put to them by Tom Marix, 
 their replies being at once translated for the benefit of 
 Mrs. Branican, Godfrey, Zach Fren, and their companions. 
 
 The Australians were at first asked where the)^ were 
 going, which was not of much interest. But Tom Marix 
 asked them where they came from, and this deserved 
 serious attention. 
 
 " We come from th.cre — far — very far,'' answered the 
 father, pointing to the north-west. 
 
 " From the coast ? " 
 
 " No. From the interior." 
 
 " From Tasman Land .■' " 
 
 " Yes. From Fitzroy River." 
 
 It was to this river, as we know, that the caravan was 
 bound. 
 
 "Of what tribe are you .? " asked Tom Marix, 
 
 " Of the tribe of the Goursis." . 
 
 " Is that a wandering tribe i " i 
 
Two blacks among the sand hills,. 
 
Indications and Incidents. 309, 
 
 The native did not understand what that meant, 
 
 " Does your tribe go from camp to camp," asked Tom, 
 " or does it live in a village ? " 
 
 "It lives in the village of Goursi,"said the son, who 
 seemed fairly intelligent. 
 
 " Is this village near the Fitzroy ? " 
 
 "Yes. Ten long days "from where it enters the sea." 
 
 This was in King's Sound into which the Fitzroy flows,, 
 and it was there that the voyage of the Dolly Hope had 
 ended in 1883. The ten days showed that the village of 
 Goursi was about a hundred miles from the coast. 
 
 This was at once pointed out by Godfrey on the map of 
 Western Australia — a map which showed the.course of the 
 Fitzroy for two hundred miles from its source in the 
 interior of Tasman Land. 
 
 " Do you know the tribe of the Indas .' " asked Tom 
 Marix. 
 
 The looks of father and son kindled at the name. 
 
 " Evidently these tribes are enemies ; they are at war 
 with each other," said Tom Marix to Mrs. Branican. 
 
 "That is very likely," said Dolly, "and perhaps these 
 Goursis can tell us where the Indas are now. Ask them, 
 Tom Marixj and get a reply as precise as possible. On 
 that reply the success of oUr efforts may depend." 
 
 Tom Marix put the question, and the elder of the blacks 
 replied without hesitation that the tribe of the Indas was 
 then on the upper course of the Fitzroy. 
 
 " How far are they from the village of Goursi 1 " asked 
 Tom Marix. 
 
 " Twenty days towards the rising sun," said the 
 younger. 
 
 This distance, on reference to the map, put the camp of 
 the Indas about two hundred and eighty miles from the 
 place then reached by the caravan. And the information 
 agreed with that previously given by Harry Felton. 
 
 "Your tribe is often at war with the Indas?" asked 
 Tom Marix. 
 
 " Always ! " replied the son. 
 
3IO Mistress Branican. 
 
 And his emphasis and gesture indicated the strength of 
 their cannibal hatreds. 
 
 " And we will pursue them," added the father, " and they 
 will be beaten when the white chief is no longer there to 
 give them his advice." 
 
 We can imagine what were the feelings of Mrs. Branican 
 and her companions when Tom Marix translated this reply. 
 This white chief, for so many years a prisoner of the Indas 
 — who could doubt that it was Captain John ? 
 
 And at Dolly's suggestion Tom Marix questipncd the 
 two natives closely. They could give but very little precise 
 information regarding this white chief. But they were able 
 to say that three months ago, during the last terrible fight 
 between the Goursis and the Indas, he was in the power 
 of the latter. 
 
 "And without him," said. the young Australian, "the 
 Indas would be only women." 
 
 That this was an exaggeration on the part of the natives 
 it mattered little. All that was wanted was known. John 
 Branican and the Indas were less than three hundred miles 
 away to the north-west. They would be met with on the 
 banks of the Fitzroy. 
 
 As the camp was about to break up Jos Meritt detained 
 for a moment the two men whom Mrs. Branican was about 
 to send away with more presents. And then the English- 
 man begged Tom Marix to ask them a question relative to 
 tlie hat of ceremony worn by the chief of the tribe of the 
 Goursis and the chief of the tribe of the Indas. 
 
 Ill truth, as he awaited their reply, Jos Meritt was no 
 less excited than Dolly had been during the examination 
 of the natives. 
 
 He had reason to be satisfied, had the worthy collector, 
 and the " Good ! Oh, very good ! " flashed from his lips 
 when he learnt that hats of foreign manufacture were not 
 uncommon among the peoples of the North-West. These 
 hats were habitually worn by the principal Austrahan 
 chiefs when they took part in grand ceremonies. 
 
 "You understand, Mrs. Branican," said Jos Meritt, 
 
Indications and Incidents. 311 
 
 "that to find Captain John is all very well, but to set 
 hands on the historic treasure I have been hunting for 
 through the five quarters of the globe is still better — " 
 
 " Evidently ! " replied Mrs. Branican. 
 
 " You heard, Gin-Ghi ? '' added Jos Meritt, turning to 
 his servant. 
 
 "I heard," said th,e Chinaman, "and when we have 
 found this hat — " 
 
 " We will return to England, we will return to Liverpool, 
 and then, Gin-Ghi, with a lovely black hat on your head, 
 and a red silk robe, draped with a macoual of yellow silk, 
 you will have nothing else to do than to show my collec- 
 tion. Are you satisfied ? " 
 
 " As the haitang flower which opens in the breeze when 
 the rabbit of Jade descends towards the west," replied 
 Gin-Ghi, poetically. 
 
 But at the same time he shook his head as if as little 
 convinced of his future happiness as if his master had told 
 him he would become a Mandarin of Seven Buttons. 
 
 Lcn Burkcr had been present at the conversation between 
 Tom Marix and the two natives, whose language he under- 
 stood ; but he had taken no part in it. Not a question 
 relative to Captain John had come from him. He listened 
 attcntivelj', noting in his memory the information regard- 
 ing the present position of the Indas. He saw on the 
 map the spot the tribe probably occupied on the upper 
 course of the Fitzroy river; he calculated the distance 
 the caravan would have to travel to get there, and the time 
 it would take. 
 
 It would be a matter of some \yceks if no obstacle arose, 
 if the means of locomotion did not fail, if the fatigues of 
 the journey and the sufferings due to the heat of the cli- 
 mate were happily surmounted. And so Len Burker, 
 feeling that the preciousness of this information would give 
 courage to all, was in a terrible rage. What ! The deliver- 
 ance of Captain John was to be accomplished, and, thcmks 
 to the ransom she was bringing, Dolly would rescue him 
 from the Indas ? 
 
312 Mistress Branican. 
 
 While Len Burker was reflecting on this chain of events, 
 Jane saw his brow become clouded, his eyes grow blood- 
 shot, and his whole physiognomy betray the detestable 
 thoughts which agitated him. She was terrified, she had 
 a presentiment of an approaching catastrophe, and at a 
 moment when her husband's eyes were fixed on hers she 
 felt herself fainting. 
 
 The unhappy woman had divined what was passing in 
 the mind of this man, who was capable of every crime to 
 make sure of the fortune of Mrs. Branican. 
 
 Len Burker said to himself that, if John and Dolly met, 
 his whole future was ruined. It would mean, sooner or 
 later, the discovery of Godfrey's relationship to them. The 
 secret would end by escaping from his wife, unless he 
 made it impossible for her to speak ; but it was necessary 
 Jane should be alive for the fortune to reach her after Mrs. 
 Branican's death. 
 
 It was thus necessary to separate Jane and Dolly, and, 
 with the object of making away with John Branican, reach 
 the Indas before the caravan. 
 
 With an unscrupulous and resolute man like Len Burker 
 this plan was quite possible, and besides, circumstances 
 soon helped him. 
 
 That day, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Tom Marix 
 gave the signal of departure, and the expedition lesumed 
 its march in the usual order. The past fatigues were 
 forgotten. Dolly had communicated to her companions 
 the energy which animated her. They were nearing their 
 object. Success appeared beyond doubt. The blacks of 
 the escort seemed to obey willingly, and probably Tom 
 Marix would have been able to reckon on their help to the 
 end if Len Burker had not been, there to incite the spirit 
 of treason and revolt. 
 
 The caravan, at a good rate of advance, had almost 
 resumed the route of Colonel Warburtori. The heat 
 increased and the nights were stifling. On, this plain, 
 without a single clump of trees, no shade could be found 
 but in the shelter of the sand-hills, and this shade was 
 
Indications and Incidents. 313 
 
 very narrow owing to the almost vertical! ty of the solar 
 rays. 
 
 And yet in thii lower latitude than the tropical line, 
 that is to say, well within the torrid zone, it was not so 
 much the excesses of the Australian climate the men had 
 to suflfer most from, but there was the more serious 
 question of water, which was daily present. Wells had to 
 be sought for at great distances, and that interfered with 
 the route, which was lengthened by a thousand deviations. 
 Oftcncst it was Godfrey, always ready — sometimes it was 
 Tom Marix,. always indefatigable — who took this duty. 
 Mrs. Branican never saw them ride off without a sinking 
 at the heart. But nolhing could be hoped for from the 
 storms which are extremely rare at this time of the year. 
 On the sky, which was clear from one horizon to the 
 other, there was not the sign of a cloud. Water could 
 only come from the ground. 
 
 When Tom Marix and Godfrey had discovered a well ih 
 was towards it that the caravan went. The stage was 
 resumed, the animals, were urged on by this goad of 
 thirst; and what was it that they of;enest found.' A 
 muddy liquid at the bottom of a cavity swarming with 
 ruts. If the blacks and the whites of the escort did not 
 hesitate to drink, Dolly, Jane, Godfrey, Zach Fren, and 
 Len Burker had the prudence to wait until Tom Marix 
 had cleared out the well, thrown away the dirt on the top, 
 and dug in the sands for less impure water. Then they 
 drank ; and then the kegs were filled which were to yield 
 enough to last till the next well was reached. 
 
 So the journey went on for eight day.s, from the lOth 
 to the 17th of March, without any incident, but with an 
 increase of fatigue which could not last much longer. 
 The state of the two sicl< men did not improve, and a fatal 
 issue was fiarcd. With five camels short, Tom Marix was 
 embarrassed by his transport difficulties. 
 
 He bc-gan to be very uneasy, and Mrs. Branican was 
 
 . quite as much so, although she let nothing appear. The 
 
 first on the march, the last to halt, she afforded an example 
 
3t4 Mistress Branicai^. 
 
 of the most extraordinary courage joined to a confidence 
 nothing could shake. 
 
 And what sacrifices wouM she not have made to avoid 
 these incessant delays, to shorten this interminable 
 journey ! 
 
 One day she asked Tom Marix why he did not make 
 direct for the upper course of the Fitzroy, where the 
 information given by the blacks placed the last encamp- 
 ment of the Indas. 
 
 " I thought of tl]at,' said Tom Marix, " but it is always 
 this question of water v\hich stops me and troubles me, 
 Mrs. Branican. In going towards Joanna Spring we are 
 sure of meeting a certain number of the wells reported by 
 Colonel Warburton.' 
 
 " And are there not any in t:ic rcgio:TS to the north ? " 
 
 " It is possible, but I am not certain ; and besides, we 
 must admit the possibility that these wells may now be 
 dry, while, by continuing to the west, we are rurc of reach- 
 ing Oakovcr River, where Colonel Wai burton halted. '1 his 
 river is a running stieam, andwe shall be sure of renewing 
 our supplies at it before reaching the valley of' the Fitz- 
 roy." 
 
 " Quite so, Tom Marix," said Mr.s. Branican, " and as 
 we can do no better, let us make for Joanna Spring." 
 
 This was done, and the fatigues of this part of the 
 journey exceeded anything the caravan had had to bear 
 up to then. Although the summer season was still in its 
 third month, the temperature maintained an intolerable 
 average of forty degrees centigrade in the shade, and by 
 this the shade of the night must be under:>tood. In 
 fact, a cloud would have been sought for in vain in the 
 higher zones of the sky, just as a tree would have been 
 vainly sought for on the surface of this plain. The advance 
 •was through an atmosphere that suffocated ; the wells did 
 not contain enough water for the needs of the expedition ; 
 not a dozen miles were traversed at a stage ; the men on 
 foot crawled along ; the attention that Dolly, assisted by 
 Jane and the woman Harriett^ although weak themselves, 
 
Indications and Incidents, 3x5 
 
 gave to the sick men, did them good. What ought 
 to be done was to stop, encamp in some village, take a 
 long rest, wait till the temperature became more clement. 
 And nothing of that sort was possible. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 17th of March two more pack 
 camels were lost, one of them laden with the articles of 
 barter intended for the Indas. Tom Marix had to 
 transfer these loads to saddle camels, and this necessitated 
 dismounting two more whites of the escort. These brave 
 fellows did not complain, and accepted without a word 
 this increase of fatigue. How different to the blacks, who 
 complained unceasingly and caused Tom Marix the most 
 serious uneasiness ! Was it not to be feared' that some 
 day these blacks would be tempted to abandon the caravan, 
 probably after pillaging it .■' 
 
 At last, in the evening of the 19th of March, near a well 
 the water of which was _six feet under the sand, the 
 caravan stopped about five miles from Joanna Spring. 
 It had been impossible to continue the stage beyond this. 
 
 The air was of extraordinary heaviness ; it burnt the 
 lungs as if it came from a furnace. The sky was very 
 clear and of a hard blue, such as it is in certain Mediter- 
 ranean regions when the mistral is about to burst, and its 
 aspect was strange and threatening. 
 
 Tom Marix regarded thjs state of the atmosphere with 
 an anxiety that did not escape Zach Fren. 
 
 " You scent something," said the boatswain, " and some- 
 thing you don't like ? " 
 
 " Yes, Zach," replied Tom Marix, " I expect a simoom 
 like those which ravage the deserts of Africa." 
 
 " Well, wind will bring wet, I suppose ? " said Zach Fren. 
 
 " Not at all, Zach ; it will bring a dryness worse than 
 now, and in the centre of Australia no one knows of what 
 a wind like that is capable." 
 
 This observation, coming from so experienced a man, 
 was enough to give great anxiety to Mrs. Branican and 
 her companions. 
 
 Precautions were then taken in view of the threatening 
 
3i6 Mistress Branican. 
 
 tempest. It was nine o'clock in the evening. The te 
 had not been pitched, being useless in these burning nig 
 amid the sand-hills of the plain. After quenching tl 
 thirst from the kegs, the people took their share of 
 provisions which Tom Marix had just distribuf 
 Scarcely any thought of satisfying their hunger ; what tl 
 wanted was fresh air, and the stomach suffered less tl 
 the organs of respiration. A few hours' sleep would h 
 done them more good than many mouthfuls of food ; 
 was it possible to sleep amid an atmosphere so stifl 
 that it seemed to be rarefied ? 
 
 Up to midnight nothing unusual took place. T 
 Marix, Zach Fren, and Godfrey took it in turns to mo 
 guard. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, got up 
 look at the horizon towards the north. This horizon i 
 of a clearness, and even of a purity, that boded ill. 1 
 moon, setting at the same time as the sun, had disappea 
 behind the hills. Hundreds of stars shone around 
 Southern Cross which glitters at the antarctic pole of 
 world. 
 
 About three hours after midnight this illumination 
 the firmament was blotted out. A sudden darkr 
 enveloped the plain from one horizon to the other. 
 
 " Look out 1 look out ! " shouted Tom Marix. 
 
 " What is the matter } " asked Mrs. Branican getting 
 suddenly. 
 
 Near her, Jane and the woman Harriett, Godfrey, ; 
 Zach Fren tried to look through the darkness. 
 camels stretched on the ground raised their heads i 
 uttered hoarse cries of terror. 
 
 " But what is it ? " asked Mrs. Branican. 
 , " The simoom ! " replied Tom Marix. 
 
 And those were the last words that were heard. Sj 
 was filled with such a tumult that the ear could no n 
 perceive a sound than the eyes could see a ray of 11 
 amid the thick darkness. 
 
 It was indeed the simoom, as Tom Marix had said, 
 of those sudden storms which devastate the Austra 
 deserts. An enormous cloud had risen in the south 
 
Indications and Incidents. 317 
 
 swooped down on to the plain, a cloud formed not only of 
 sand, but of cinders whirled up from the ground calcined 
 by heat. 
 
 Around the encampment, the sand-hills were in motion 
 like the surge of the sea, and broke, not in liquid spray, 
 but in impalpable dust which blinded, deafened and stifled. 
 It seemed as though the plain would be levelled by the 
 storm which had broken on the surface. If the tents had 
 been up, not a rag of them would have been left. 
 
 Everyone felt the irresistible torrent of air and sand 
 which passed them like a hail of musketry. Godfrey held 
 on to Dolly by both hands, not wishing to be separated 
 from her if this formidable attack swept the caravan 
 towards the north. 
 
 And this was what in- fact happened, and no resistance 
 was possible. 
 
 During this hour's torment — an hour which sufficed to 
 change the aspect of the country, by displacing the hills 
 and changing the general level of the soil — Mrs. Branican 
 and her companions, including the two invalids of the 
 escort, were driven along for a space of four or five miles, 
 rising only to fall again, and sometimes spun round like 
 straws in a whirlwind. They could neither see nor hear, 
 and risked being lost for ever. And in this way they 
 reached the neighbourhood of Joanna Spring, near the 
 banks of Oakover Creek, at the moment when, clearing 
 from the last mists, the day had begun to break under the 
 rays of the rising sun. 
 
 All were present to the roll-call } 
 
 All? 
 
 No. 
 
 Mrs. Branican, the woman Harriett, Godfrey, Jos Meritt, 
 Gin-Ghi, Zach Fren, Tom Marix, the whites remaining at 
 their post were there, and with them four saddle camels ; 
 but me blacks had disappeared — disappeared with the 
 twenty other camels, those that carried the provisions and 
 those that carried Captain John's ransom. 
 
 And when Dolly called Jane, Jane did not answer. 
 
 r»r» in 
 
 A To, 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE LAST EFFORTS. 
 
 Tins disappearance of the blacks, with the saddle cai 
 and the pack camels, made the situation nearly despe 
 for Mrs. Branican and those who remained faithfu 
 her. 
 
 "Treason " was the word pronounced first by Zach F 
 the word repeated by Godfrey, Treason was only 
 evident under the circumstances. Such was the opii 
 of Tom Marix, who did not forget the malign influe 
 exercised by Lcn Burker over the natives of the cscor 
 
 Dolly would still have doubted. She could not bel 
 in so much duplicity, in so much infamy. 
 
 " Len Burker could not have been swept away as 
 were ? " 
 
 " Swept away with the blacks,'' said Zach Fren, " af 
 same time as the camels with our provisions ! " 
 
 "And my poor Jane !" murmured Dolly, "separ 
 from me without my noticing it." 
 
 " Len Burker would not even let her remain with y 
 said Zach Fien, " the scoundrel 1 " 
 
 " Scoundrel I Good ! oh ! very good ! " said Jos M( 
 
 If all that is not treachery I will give up the search 
 -he historic hat which — " and he turned to Gin-G 
 
 What do you think, Gin-Ghi .' " 
 
 " Ai ya, Master Jos I I think I would rather a thou' 
 and ten thousand times never have set foot in so com 
 less a country ! " 
 
 " Perhaps so ! " replied Jos Meritt. 
 
The Last Efforts. 319 
 
 Treachery was so obvious, in short, that Mrs. Branicari 
 had to give in. 
 
 " But why have deceived me ? " slie asked ; " what have 
 I done to Len Burker ? Did I not forget the past ? Did 
 I not receive them like my relations, him and his unhappy 
 wife ? And he abandons us, he leaves us without resourccsj 
 he has stolen from me the price of John's freedom ! But 
 why?" 
 
 No one knew Len Burker's secret, and no one cou'd 
 answer Mrs. Branican. Jane alone could have revealed 
 wiiat she knew of her husband's abominable plans, and 
 Jane was not there. 
 
 It was only too true, however, that Len Burker had ju ^t 
 put in execution a plan he had long prepared, a plan whicii 
 Seemed to have every chance of success. Under promise 
 of being well paid, the blacks of the escort had easily 
 listened to him. At the height of the storm, wliile two of 
 the natives had dragged off Jane without its being po-siblo 
 ti> hear her screams, the others had puslied norihuards 
 with the camels around the encampment. 
 
 No one had seen them amid the profound obscurity, 
 deepened by the whirlwinds of dust, and before the day 
 Len Burker and his accomplices were several miles to the 
 east of Joanna Spring. 
 
 Jane being separated from Dolly, her husband had no 
 further .fear that, tortured by remorse, she would betray the 
 secret of Godfrey's birth. Besides, deprived of provisions 
 aiid the means of transport, there was reason to believe 
 that Mrs. Branican and her companions would'perish in 
 the solitudes of the Great Sandy Desert. 
 
 In fact, at Joanna Spring the caravan was still three 
 hundred miles from the Fitzroy. In the course of this 
 long journey how could Tom Marix provide for the wants 
 of tlie e.xptidilion reduced as it now was.' 
 
 Oakover Creek is one of the chief affluents of Grey 
 River, wliich Hows into the Indian Occa;i by one of the 
 estuaries in De Wilt Land. 
 
 Ou the banks of this river, which the excessive heat 
 
320 XVilSTRESS IJRANICAN. 
 
 never dries up, Tom Marix would find the same shat 
 the same country which Colonel Warburton eulogizes wi 
 such a burst of joy. 
 
 There verdure and running waters take the place of t 
 interminable plains of sand-hills and spinifex ! But 
 Colonel Warburton, arrived at thii point, was almc 
 i-ure of attaining his object, for he had only to descend t' 
 creek to the settlement of Rockborne on the coast, it w 
 not so with Mrs. Branican. Tlie situatirn would, on t! 
 contrary, become worse on traversing the arid rcgio 
 which separate the Oakovcr from the I'it/jroy. 
 
 The caravan now only consisted of twenty-two pcrso 
 out oi the forty-three which left Alice Spring — Dolly ai 
 the native woman Harriett, Zach Fren, Tom Mari 
 Godfrey, Jos Mcritt, Gin-Ghi, and with the"m the fiftei 
 whites of the escort, of whom two were seriously i 
 'I'here were only four camels, the others having be( 
 carried off by Len Burker, including the male which scrv( 
 as guide, and the one that carried the kibitka. The bru 
 whose good qualities Jos Meritt appreciated so much h; 
 also disappeared, and this obliged the Englishman 
 travel on fot)t like his servant. In the matter of provisio 
 there remained a very few tins of preserves found in a b( 
 which one of the camels had let fall. There was no floi 
 nor coffee, nor tea, nor sugar, nor salt; no alcoholic drinl 
 no medicines ; and how could Dolly attend to the m 
 who were suffering from the (ever? It was absolu 
 destitution in a country in v\hich no supplies could 
 had. 
 
 At once Mrs. Bianican called the men together. Tl 
 valiant woman had lost nothing of her«ener^^y, which w 
 really superhuman, and by her encouraging words manag 
 to raise the spirits of her companions. What she point 
 rut to them was their nearness to the object of the exf 
 dition. 
 
 The journey was resumed and under such painful con( 
 tions that the most confident of the men could not ho 
 it would end well. Of the four camels that remained, t\ 
 
The Last Efforts, 321 
 
 had been reserved for the sick, whom they could not 
 abandon at Joanna Spring, one of those uninhabited 
 stations of which Colonel Warburton found so many in 
 his journey. But would these poor fellows be strong 
 enough to bear being taken to the Fitzroy, whence it 
 might be possible to send them down to some settlement 
 on the coast ? This was doubtful, and Mrs. Branican's 
 heart almost broke at the idea that two more victims 
 would be added to those already due to the loss of the 
 Franklin. But Dolly did not give up her plans. No ; 
 she would not even delay her search. Nothing would 
 stop her in the accomplishment of her duty, even if she 
 alone remained. 
 
 Leaving the right bank of Oakovcr Creek, the bed of 
 \\;hich was crossed at a ford about a mile above Joanna 
 Spring, the caravan went north-north-cast. In taking 
 this direction Tom Marix hoped to strike the Fitzroy 
 at the nearest bend it makes before running into King's 
 Sound. I 
 
 The heat was more bearable. It required the niost 
 urgent persuasion, almost the command, on the part of 
 Tom Marix and Zach Fren, before Dolly would ride one 
 of the camels. Godfrey and Zach Frcn walked along at 
 a good pace ; so did Jos Meritt, whose long llegs were as' 
 rigid as a pair of stilts, and when Dolly offered him her 
 mount he declined, saying, — 
 
 "Good! Oh! very good! An Englishman is an 
 Englishman, madam, but a Chinaman is a Chinaman, and 
 I do not see why you should not make the same offer to 
 Gin-Ghi; — only T forbid him to accept it." 
 
 And so Gin-Ghi went on foot, not without grumbling, 
 thinking of the distant delights of Sou-Tcheow, the city 
 of the flower-boats,, the town adored by the Celestials. 
 
 The fourth camel was used by Tom Marix or Godfrey 
 when they went ahead reconnoitring. The water taken 
 from Oakover Creek would soon be consumed, and then 
 jthe well question would again become serious. 
 
 Leavj-ng the banks of the creek, the journey continued 
 
322 Mistress Branican. 
 
 towards the north over a gently undulating plain furro 
 by sand-hills, extending to the extreme limits of the hori 
 The tufts of spinifex were in closer clumps, and diffe 
 shrubs, made yellow by autumn, gave the region a 
 monotonous aspect. An opportunity might occur 
 shooting some game. Tom Marix, Godfrey, and 2 
 Frcn, who never laid aside their weapons, had fortuna 
 kept their guns and revolvers, and would know hov 
 use them. It is true there was very little ammunil 
 and it would have to be used with great care. 
 
 The advance continued for some hours ; a mori 
 stage and an afternoon stage. The bed of the en 
 which furrowed this territory were only strewn i 
 calcined pebbles among the vegetation discoloured by 
 drought. The sand showed not the least trace of humic 
 It was thus necessary to find a well, and to find 
 within twenty-four hours, as Tom Marix had no more I 
 at his disposal. 
 
 And so Godfrey went off right and left of the rout( 
 search of one. 
 
 " My child," said Mrs. Branican, " be careful ! Do 
 run into danger." 
 
 " Run into danger ! " said Godfrey, " when it cone 
 you and Captain John ! " 
 
 Owing to his devotion, and owing also to a cer 
 instinct which guided him, a few wells were discoverec 
 occasionally exploring several miles from the track. 
 
 Thus if sufferings from thirst were not quite spared tl 
 at least they were not excessive in this part ofTas: 
 Land between Oakover Creek and Fitzroy River. V 
 added to their fatigues were the insufficient mean 
 transport, and the meagre rations now reduced to a 
 preserves, the want of tea and coffee, the want of tob; 
 so painful^ to the men of the escort, the impossibilit 
 adding a few drops of alcohol to the brackish w. 
 After two hours on the road the strongest were attac 
 by lassitude, exhaustion, and misery. 
 
 And then the camels found scarcely anything to 
 
The Last Efforts. 323 
 
 among the brushwood which yielded no edible twig or 
 leaf. There were none of those dwarf acacias, the gum of 
 which is nutritious and sought for by the natives during 
 these periods of drought. Nothing but the thorns of the 
 slender mimosas and the tufts of spinifex. The camels, with 
 their heads thrust forward, their bodies limp, dragged their 
 feet along, and fell on their knees, and it was only by great 
 efforts they could be kept on their legs. 
 
 On the 25th, in the afternoon, Tom Marix, Godfrey, and 
 Zach Fren managed to obtain a little fresh food ; some 
 migrating pigeons flew by in flocks. Very wild and very 
 quick in escaping from among the mimosa clumps, they 
 were not easy of approach. But a few were shot. They 
 could not but be excellent, and they were so in reality, and 
 the famished travellers appreciated them as if they were 
 the most savoury game. They were grilled in front of a 
 fire of dry roots, and for a few hjDurs Tom Marix was able 
 to save the preserves. 
 
 But what was food for the man was not food for the 
 camels. And in the morning of the 26th, the one that 
 carried the sick, men fell heavily to the ground and had 
 to be abandoned, as nothing could get him to resume the 
 journey. 
 
 To Tom Marix fell the task of finishing him by a bullet 
 in the head. Then, not wishing to lose the flesh, which 
 represented food for some days, although the animal was 
 very much emaciated by privation, he set to work to cut him 
 up in Australian fashion. Tom Marix was not unaware 
 that every part of the camel could be used as food. -With 
 the bones and some of the skin which they boiled in the 
 only pot they had left, they obtained a soup which was 
 well received by the famished stomachs ; the brains, the 
 tongue, the cheeks, properly cooked, afforded more sub- 
 stantial nourishment. Even the flesh cut into thin strips 
 and quickly dried in the sun was kept, as were also the feet 
 which are the best part of the animal. It was a pity there 
 was no salt, for the salted flesh would have kept better. 
 
 The journey was continued under these conditions at 
 
324 MlSTRF-SS BrANICAN. 
 
 the rate of a few miles a day. Unfortunately tlin s 
 men grew no better, more owing to the want of reni^c 
 than the want of attention. All would not reach the s] 
 to which every effort of Mrs. Sranican was directed, to t 
 FitzToy HiYcr where the misery would in a certain deg 
 be relieved. 
 
 And in fact, on the 26th of March and the following c 
 the two men succumbed to their prolonged exhausti 
 They were natives of Adelaide, one being only twcnty-'i 
 years of age, the other being fifteen years older, and de; 
 had struck them both on this journey through the AusI 
 Han desert. 
 
 Poor fellows ! They were the first that perished at t 
 work, and their companions were very painfully affect 
 Was not the same fate awaiting all, since Len Burk( 
 treachery, abandoned amid these regions, where even ■ 
 animals could not find means of subsistence ? 
 
 And what could Zach Fren reply when Tom Marix s 
 to him, — 
 
 " Two men dead to save one, without reckoning th 
 who are still to go ! " 
 
 Mrs. Branican gave free vent to her grief, in which ev 
 one shared. She prayed for these two victims, and tl: 
 grave was marked by a little cross which the heat of 
 climate would soon reduce to dust. 
 
 .The caravan resumed its journey. 
 
 The three camels that remained would mount 
 most tired of the men in turn, so as not to delay th 
 companions, and Mrs. Branican refused to reserve one 
 the animals for her own use. During the halts the cam 
 were used in searching for wells, sometimes by Godfr 
 sometimes by Tom Marix, for not a solitary native \ 
 met with from whom information could be obtain 
 This appeared to indicate that the tribes had moved ii 
 the north-east of Tasman Land. In that case the In. 
 would have to be followed down the valley of the Fitzr 
 a very serious matter, inasmuch as it would add sevc 
 hundred miles to the length of the journey. 
 
The Last Efforts. 325 
 
 In the beginning of April Tom Marix noticed that the 
 provisions were nearly exhausted. It consequently became 
 necessary to sacrifice one of the three camels. A few 
 days' food being assured, they would doubtless be able to 
 reach Fitzroy River, from which the caravan could not 
 be more than fifteen stages away. 
 
 The sacrifice being indispensable, they had to resign 
 themselves to it. The animal least fit for service was 
 chosen. It was killed, cut up, and reduced to strips which, 
 dried in the sun, possessed fairly nutritive properties after 
 being cooked for some time. The other parts of the 
 animal, including the heart and the liver, were carefully 
 put by. s. 
 
 Meanwhile Godfrey managed to kill several brace of 
 pigeons — a poor addition, it is true, to the food of twenty 
 people. Tom Marix also noticed that clumps of acacia 
 began to reappear on the plain, and it was possible to use 
 the seeds as food if they were first roasted on the fire. 
 
 Yes ! It was time they were at the Fitzroy River, to 
 find there -the supplies they had vainly demanded from 
 this accursed country. A delay of a few days, and the 
 majority of the expedition would not have strength to 
 reach it. 
 
 On the Sth of April there remained none of the provi- 
 sions, and none of the camel meat. Mrs. Branican and 
 her companions were reduced to a few acacia seeds. 
 
 In fact Tom Marix hesitated to sacrifice the two last 
 camels. In consideration of the distance he had still to 
 traverse he could not make up his mind to kill them. 
 But he would have to do so tliat very evening, for nobody 
 had had anything to cat for fifteen hours. 
 . But just as they stopped one of the men ran up shout- 
 ing,— 
 
 " Tom Marix ! Tom Marix ! the two camels have 
 just fallen." 
 
 " Try to get them up." 
 
 " It is impossible." 
 
 •' Then we must kill them at once." 
 
32 J Mistress Branican. 
 
 " Kill them ? " answered the man. " But they arc d; 
 if they are not aheady dead." 
 
 " Dead ! " exclaimed Tom Marix. And he could 
 restrain a gesture of despair, for the flesh of these ani 
 is uni atable unless they are killed. 
 
 Followed by Mrs. Branican, Zach Fren, Godfrey 
 Jos Meritt, Tom Marix went to the spot where the 
 animals had just fallen. 
 
 There, stretched on the ground, they were shaking 
 vulsively, foaming at the mouth, their limbs contra 
 their stomachs panting. They were about to die, anc 
 of a natural death. 
 
 " What has happened to them .' " asked Doliy. " Tl 
 not fatigue : that is not exhaustion." 
 
 " No," replied Tom Marix, " I fear it is the effc 
 some noxious plant." 
 
 "■Good ! Oh ! very good ! I know what it is," 
 Jos Meritt ; " I have seen it in the eastern colonic: 
 Queensland. These camels have been poisoned." 
 
 " Poisoned ? " repeated Dolly. 
 
 "Yes," said Tom Marix, "poi.soned." 
 
 " Well," continued Jos Meritt, "since we have no ( 
 supplies, we must follow the example of the cann 
 unless we die of hunger. What would you have ? E 
 country has its usages, and. the best thing is to conioi 
 them." 
 
 The gentleman said these words in such a tone of i 
 that with his eyes enlarged by hunger, and his 
 thhiner than ever, he was quite alarming to look ate 
 
 Thus the two camels were dying of poison, anc 
 poison — for Jos Meritt was right — was due to a sp 
 of poisonous nettle somewhat rare on the plains c 
 north-west ; this is the Moroides laportea, producing ; 
 of raspberry, with the leaves bristling with sharp p 
 Even their contact causes intense and lasting pain, 
 fruit is a deadly poison, if not treated with the jui 
 Colocaria macrorhiza, another plant generally growi 
 tne same localities as the Moroides, 
 
TriE Last Efforts. 3. -'7 
 
 The instinct which prevents animals from touching hurt- 
 ful substances had been this time overcome, and the two 
 animals had not been able to resist feeding on these nettles, 
 and were dying in horrible suffering. 
 
 How the two following days passed neither Mrs. Erani- 
 can nor any of her companions can remember. They had 
 to abandon the two dead animals, for an hour afterwards 
 they were in a state of complete decomposition, so rapid 
 is the effect of the vegetable poison. Then the caravan, 
 crawling along towards the Fitzroy, tried to make out 
 the country that surrounds the valley. Would they all 
 reach it ? No, and some were asking to be killed on the 
 spot, so as to be spared the most frightful agony. 
 
 Mrs. Branican went from one to the other. She tried 
 to cheer them up. She begged them to make a last effort. 
 The end was not far off. A few more marches. Beyond 
 was safety. But what could she get from these unfortu- 
 nates ? 
 
 On the 8th of April, in the evening, no one had strength 
 enough to pitch the camp. The unfortunates crept to the 
 foot of the spinifex to chew the dusty leaves. They could 
 not speak — they could not go beyond. They had fallen 
 at this last halt. 
 
 Mrs. Branican still refused to give way. Kneeling near 
 her, Godfrey fixed his eyes on hers. He called her 
 " mother ! mother 1 " like a child begging of her who 
 bore him not to let him dia 
 
 And Dolly standing amid her companions swept the 
 horizon with a look, and shouted, " John ! John I " 
 
 As if it was from Captain John that the last help could 
 come. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AMONG TITK TNDAS. 
 
 The tribe of the Indas, composed of several hundreds of 
 natives, men, women and children, at this time occupied 
 the banks of the Fitzroy River, about one hundred and 
 forty miles from its mouth. These natives had returned 
 from the regions of Tasman Land which are watered by 
 the upper course of the river. For some days the chances 
 of their wandering life had brought them within five-and- 
 twenty miles of that part of the Great Sandy Desert, where 
 the caravan had reached its last halt, after a chain of 
 misery exceeding the power of man to bear. 
 
 It was among these Indas that Captain John and his 
 mate, Harry Fclton, had lived for nine years. With the 
 aid of the events which are to follow, we are able to 
 narrate their history during this long period, and complete 
 the story told by Harry Felton on his death-bed. 
 
 Between the years 1875 and 18S1 — it will not have been 
 forgotten — the crew of the Franklin had taken refuge on an 
 island in the Indian Ocean, Browse Island, situated about 
 two hundred and fifty miles from York Sound, the nearest 
 point on the coast which rounds off the Australian Conti- 
 nent on the <north-vvest. Two of the sailors had been lost 
 during the storm, and the shipwrecked men, to the number 
 of twelve, had lived for six years on this island, without 
 any means of leaving it, when a boat drifted on to the 
 shore. 
 
 Captain John, wishing to use this boat for the common 
 Safety, put it in a state to reach the Australian mainland, 
 and prepared it for a voyage of some weeks. But as the 
 
Among the Indas. 329 
 
 boat could only hold seven passengers, Captain John 
 and Harry Felton embarked in it with five of their com- 
 panions, leaving five others on Browse Island, to wait 
 until a ship was sent to them. We know how those un- 
 fortunates died before they were rescued, and under what 
 circumstances Captain Ellis discovered their remains 
 during the second cruise of the Dolly Hope in 1883. 
 
 After a dangerous passage through these detestable 
 regions of the Indian Ocean, the boat reached the continent 
 in the latitude of Cape Leveque, and entered the gulf into 
 which flows the Fitzroy. But misfortune willed it that 
 Captain John should be attacked by the natives, an attack 
 in which four of his men were killed in defending them- 
 selves. 
 
 These natives, belonging to the tribe of the Indas, 
 dragged away into the interior Captain John, Harry Fel- 
 ton and the sailor who escaped the massacre. The sailor, 
 who was wounded, could not be cured of his wounds. A 
 few weeks later, John Branican and Harry Felton were the 
 only survivors of the wreck of the Franklin. 
 
 Then commenced for them an existence which at first 
 was seriously menaced. , As we have said, these Indas, like 
 all the sedentary or wandering tribes of Northern Austra- 
 lia, are fierce and sanguinary. The prisoners made in their 
 incessant tribal wars are pitilessly killed and eaten. There 
 is no morp inveterate custom tiai cannibalism among 
 these aborigines, who are veritable wild beasts. 
 
 Why were Captain John and Harry Felton spared } 
 That depended on the circumstances. 
 
 We are not iinaware that among the natives of the inte- 
 rior and the coast, a state of war is perpetuated from gene- 
 ration to generation. The sedentaries attack village after 
 village, destroying and taking prisoners. So it is with 
 the nomads ; they pursue their enemies from camp lo 
 camp, and their battles always end with the most frightful 
 scenes of cannibalism. These massacres will i.ievitably 
 bring about the destruction of the Australian race as surely 
 as the proceedings of the Anglo-Saxons, which, under 
 
330 Mistress Branican. 
 
 certain circumstances, have been of unavowable barbarity. 
 How can we describe such acts ? Blacks chased by the 
 whites as if they were game, with all the refined emotions 
 derivable from this kind of sport, iires widely spread so 
 that the inhabitants would no longer be spared their bark 
 " gunyos " which serve them for dwellings. The con- 
 querors have even gone almost as far as poisoning them 
 with strychnine, so as to destroy them more rapidly. We 
 have only to quote this sentence from the pen of an Aus- 
 tralian colonist; "AH the men I meet on my pasturages 
 I shoot, because they are cattle-slayers ; all the women 
 because they bring cattle-slayers into the world, and all 
 the children because they will become cattle-slayers ! " 
 
 We can thus understand the hatred the Australians 
 have vowed against their executioners, a hatred which is 
 hereditary. It is seldom that the whites who fall into 
 their hands are not massacred without mercy. Why then 
 had the survivors of the Franklin been spared by the 
 Indas ? 
 
 If the sailor had not died soon after he was taken pri- 
 soner, he would very probably have suffered the usual fate. 
 But the chief of the tribe, a native named Willi, had had 
 dealings with the colonists on the coast, and knew enough 
 to notice that Captain Branican and Harry Felton were 
 two officers, out of whom he might make something in 
 two ways. As a warrior, Willi could make use of their 
 talents in his contests with his rivals ; and as a trader, 
 who knew how to trade, he saw the possibility of a lucra- 
 tive speculation in the shape of a substantial ransom for 
 the two prisoners, who consequently had their lives re- 
 spected, although they had to submit to a wandering exis- 
 tence, which was all the more painful from the constant 
 watch the Indas kept over them. Never out of sight day 
 or night, never allowed far away from the camp, they had 
 tried now and then to escape at the risk of their lives, but 
 all in vain. 
 
 In the meantime their advice was asked with regard to 
 the frequent tribal encounters, and their advice was valu- 
 
Among the Indas. 331 
 
 able to Willi, who derived much advantage from it, owing 
 to its always assuring him the victory. Thanks to his 
 successes, his tribe had become one of the most powerful 
 in the country of Western Australia. 
 
 These natives of the north-west are apparently a cross 
 between the Australians and the Papuans. Like the r 
 congeners, the Indas have long and curly hair ; their colour 
 is not so dark as that of the natives of the southern dis- 
 tricts, who seem to be a more vigorous race ; their height 
 is not so great, and rarely exceeds fifty-two inches. Tlic 
 men are more strongly built than the women ; if tlieir 
 forehead is somewhat retreating, their superciliary arches 
 are rather prominent — which, if ethnologists are to be 
 believed, is a sign of intelligence ; their eyes, the iris of 
 which is dark^ are remarkably brilliant in the pupil ;^ their 
 hair, very brown in colour, is not woolly like that of the 
 African negroes ; their skulls are not large, and nature 
 has not given them too much in the way of brains. They 
 are called blacks, although they have nothing of the 
 Nubian black in tiiem ; they are chocolate, if we may coin 
 a word which exactly describes their general colour. 
 
 The Australian negro is gifted with an extraordinary 
 keenness of scent, which rivals that of the best dogs of the 
 chase. They will recognize the traces of a human being 
 or any animal by the mere smell of the ground or of the 
 vegetation. Their auditory nerve is also of extreme sensi- 
 bility, and they can even distinguish, it would appear, the 
 sound of ants working in the interiorof an ant-hill. There 
 would be a certain amount of justice in classifying these 
 natives among the order of climbers, for there is no gum 
 tree too high or too smooth for them to climb by means of 
 a reed of flexible rattan, to which they give the name of 
 " kamin," and by the prehensile conformation of their 
 great toes. >* 
 
 As we have already noted with regard to the natives of 
 Finke River, the Australian woman is short-lived, and 
 rarely reaches forty years of age ; the men attaining about 
 twelve more in certain districts of Queensland. These 
 
33^ Mistress Branicajt. 
 
 unfortunate creatures have as their share the roughest 
 work of the household ; they are slaves, under the yoke 
 of their pitiless masters, compelled to carry the bundles, 
 the utensils, the weapons, and to seek for the edible roots, 
 and lizards, worms and snakes which form the food of the 
 tribe. But it is as well to mention that they take affec- 
 tionate care of their children, whom the fathers hardly 
 trouble themselves about, for the child is a burden to the 
 mother, who is thereby prevented from giving her exclu- 
 sive attention to the cares of this nomad existence ; hence 
 among some tribes the blacks have cut off the woman's 
 breasts in order to make it impossible for them to give 
 their children nourishment. And yet, horrible as the 
 custom may be, and discordant as it may appear with the 
 precautions taken to dimihish the numbers — these lit Ic 
 beings in time of famine are eaten in certain tribes where 
 cannibalism is still carried to excess. 
 
 Among the Australian blacks, who are scarcely worthy 
 of being called human, life is concentrated as one sole 
 object. " Ammeri ! ammeri ! " recurs incessantly in the 
 native speech, the word meaning " hungry." The most fre- 
 quent gesture of these savages consists in slapping the 
 stomach, which is only too often empty. In these lands, 
 without game and without cultivation, the people eat at 
 all hours of the day and night, when an opportunity offers, 
 on account of this constant fear of a near and lengthy 
 fast. And, after all, what food is there for these 
 aborigines — the most miserable, assuredly, of all those 
 whom nature has scattered over the globe .? A sort of 
 coarse cake called "damper," made of a little flour without 
 yeast, and cooked, not in an oven, but under glowing 
 embers — honey, which they sometimes collect by felling 
 the tree, at the summit of which the bees have established 
 their hives — " kadjerah," a kind of white porridge, made by 
 the" pounding of poisonous palm-roots, from which the 
 poison has been extracted by delicate manipulation — eggs of 
 the jungle birds laid in the ground — which the heat hatches 
 artificially — and of the pigeons, peculiar to Australia, 
 
Among the Indas: 333 
 
 which hang their nests from the end of the tree branches 
 — and, finally, certain kinds of the larvae of beetles, some 
 gathered among the boughs of the acacia trees, others dug 
 up from the rotten deposits about the roots of the 
 thickets. And that is all. 
 
 In this hourly struggle for existence, we have the ex- 
 planation of cannibalism, with all its horrible monstroisities. 
 It is not a sign of natural ferocity, but the. consequence of 
 the commanding necessity to which the Australian is given 
 to escape dying 6f hunger. 
 
 At the lower course of the Murray, and among the 
 tribes of the north, it is the custom to kill the children, 
 and feed on them, and to the mother is given the joint of 
 a finger of each child she is forced to hand over to these 
 cannibal feasts. It is dieadful to think that when the 
 mother has nothing else to eat, she has to devour her own 
 child, and yet travellers have heard these miserable women 
 talk of this abomination as if it were a most natural act. 
 
 But at the same time it is not hunger alone which forces 
 the Australian to cannibalism ; they have a decided taste 
 for human flesh, the flesh they call " talgoro," " the meat 
 that speaks," according to one of their horribly realistic 
 expressions. Tf they do not gratify this taste on the 
 people of their own tribe, they none the less do it by man- 
 hunting.. Their incessant wars had no other object than 
 talgoro, which they eat fresh^ as well as preserve for future 
 use. It is stated by Dr. Carl Lumholtz, that during his 
 daring journey across the North-Eastern Provinces, the 
 blacks were continually discussing this food question, 
 saying that " for Australians there was nothing like human 
 flesh," but this was not so much the flesh of the white man, 
 which had a saltish after-taste that was very disagree- 
 able. 
 
 There is another motive which predisposes these tribes 
 to exterminate each other. The Australians are extra- 
 ordinarily credulous. They are terrified at the voice of 
 the " Kvin'gan," an evil spirit which haunts the fields and 
 
334 MiSTRKSs Branican. 
 
 13 merely the melancholy call of a charming bird, one of 
 the mo:5t curious in Australian ornithology. But if they 
 believe in the existence of a superior and wicked being, 
 according to the best authorities, no native ever says a 
 prayer, and not a trace can be found of rehgious prac- 
 tices. 
 
 In reality they are very superstitious, and as they firmly 
 believe their enemies can kill them by witchcraft, they a're 
 eager to destroy them ; and this, added to the habit of 
 cannibalism, exposes these countries to constant depopu- 
 lation. 
 
 It may as well be noted, in passing, that some of the 
 Australians respect their dead ; they wrap the body in 
 strips of foliage or bark, and deposit it in a shallow grave, 
 with the feet towards the east, unless they bury it upright, 
 as they do among certain tribes. The grave of a chief is 
 then covered by a hut, the entrance to which is towards 
 the rising sun. It should also be said that among certain 
 tribes the strange belief prevails that blacks are rc-incar- 
 nated as whites, and, according to the observations of Carl 
 Lumholtz, the language of the country has the same word 
 for the spirit of a man, and a man of white colour. 
 According to another native superstition, the animals have 
 formerly been human creatures — which is metempsychosis 
 the wrong way round. 
 
 Such are the tribes of the Australian continent'destined 
 evidently to disappear, as have also the natives of Tas- 
 mania. Such were the Indas, into whose hands had fallen 
 John Branican and Harry Felton. 
 
 After the sailor's death, John Branican and Harry 
 Felton had had to follow the Indas in their continual pere- 
 grinations in the central and north-western regions. Some- 
 times attackinghostiletribes, sometimes attacked by them, 
 they obtained an incontestable superiority over them, 
 thanks to the advice of their prisoners, by which Willi 
 profited. Hundreds of miles were traversed from King's 
 Sound to Van Diemen's Gulf, between the Fitzroy Valley 
 and that of the Victoria, and even on the plains of Alex- 
 
Among the Indas. 35 
 
 andra Land. In this way Captain John and his mate 
 travelled across countries unknown to geographers, which 
 are left blank on modern maps, east of Tasman Land, and 
 Arnheim Land and the' confines of the Great Sandy- 
 Desert. 
 
 Although these interminable journeyings appeared ex- 
 tremely laborious to them, the Indas made nothing of it. 
 This was their usual mode of life, taking no notice of 
 either distance or time, of which they have hardly a 
 notion. In fact an event which could only take place 
 within five or six months would be- described by a native 
 in all good faith as taking place in two or three days, or 
 the next week. They have no notion of age ; and know 
 of no time but the hour that exists. It would seem as 
 though the Australian belongs to a special division in 
 the scale of beings^as do certain animals of the 
 country. 
 
 In these customs John Branican and Harry Felton were 
 obliged to conform. To these fatigues due to the daily 
 movements, they had to submit. With this food, often so 
 insufficient, and always so repugnant, they had to be con- 
 tented. To say nothing of those frightful scenes of 
 cannibalism, the horrors of which they never could miti- 
 gate, after the battles in which the enemies fell in 
 hundreds. 
 
 And in thus submitting, the intention of Captain John 
 and Harry Felton was to lull the vigilance of the tribe to 
 sleep until an opportunity for flight presented itself. 
 That an escape into the deserts of the north-west had its 
 chances we have seen in the case of the mate of the 
 Franklin. But the two prisoners were watched so closely 
 that opportunities of flight were extremely rare, and 
 hardly one presented itself during the nine years. Once 
 only — the very year preceding Mrs. Branican's expedi- 
 tion — escape might have succeeded, and that under these 
 circumstances. 
 
 After a series of battles with the tribes of the interior, 
 the Indas were in camp on the shores of Lake Amadeus, 
 
336 Mistress Branican. 
 
 in the south -west of Alexandra Land. It was not often 
 they advanced so far into the centre of the continent. 
 Captain John and Harry Felton, knowing they were 
 within three hundred miles of the Overland Telegraph Line, 
 thought the opportunity was favourable, and resolved to 
 take advantage of it. After reflection it seemed best to 
 escape separately, and meet a few miles from the camp. 
 Outwitting the vigilance of the aborigines, Harry Felton 
 was fortunate in gaining the spot where he was to wait 
 for his companion. Unfortunately John had been sum- 
 inoned to Willi, who required him to attend to a wound 
 he had received in the last engagement. John could not 
 get away, and, Harry Felton waited for him in vain for 
 some days. Then, thinking he might reach one of the 
 villages in the interior, or on the coast, and there organize 
 an expedition for the deliverance 'of his captain, Felton 
 set off towards the south-west. But such were the fatigues, 
 privations and misery he had to undergo, that four months 
 after his departure he fell dying on the banks of the 
 Parroo, in the Ulakara district of New South Wales. 
 Taken to the hospital at Sydney, he had lingered for some 
 weeks and then died, after being able to tell Mrs. Branican 
 what he knew concerning Captain John. 
 
 It was a terrible trial for John to be Avithout his com- 
 panion, and his energy of mind had to equal his physical 
 energy, or he would have given way to despair. To 
 whom now could he talk of what had been so dear 
 to him — his country, San Diego, the loved creatures he 
 had left there, his courageous wife, his son Wat growing 
 up far from him, and whom he would never probably know, 
 Mr. William Andrew, and all his friends, in fact ? For 
 nine years John had been the prisoner of the Indas ; and 
 how many years would roll by before his liberty was 
 restced to him .' However, he never lost hope, being 
 sustained by the hope that he would succeed in reaching 
 one of the towns of the Australian coast, and that Harry 
 Felton would do all that was humanly possible to rescuq 
 his captain. 
 
Among the Indas. 337 
 
 During the early period of his captivity John had 
 learnt to speak the native language, which by the logic of 
 its grammar, the precision of its terms, the delicacy of its 
 expressions, seemed to show that the Australian abori- 
 gines must at one time have enjoyed a certain amount of 
 civilization. He had often spoken to Willi of the advan- 
 tages he would gain by leaving his prisoners free to return 
 to Queensland or South Australia, where he would be in 
 a position to send him any ransom that might be required. 
 But Willi was not of a trusting nature, and would not 
 entertain the idea. If the ransom arrived he would give 
 John and his mate their liberty. As to trusting to their 
 promises, judging probably that others were like himself, 
 he would never consent to it. 
 
 It naturally followed that Harry Felton's escape, which 
 made him furiously angry, rendered Willi more severe 
 towards Captain John. He stopped him from moving 
 about during the halts or marches, and put him under the 
 euard of a native, who had to answer for him with his 
 life. 
 
 Long months elapsed, and the prisoner had received no 
 news from his companion. Was there not every proba- 
 bility that Harry Felton had died on the journey ? If the 
 fugitive had succeeded in reaching Queensland or Adelaide, 
 would he not have already made some attempt to rescue 
 him from the Indas ? 
 
 During the first three months of the year 1891 — that is to 
 say at the beginning of the Australian summer — the tribe 
 had returned to the Fitzroy Valley, where Willi generally 
 passed the hottest period of the summer season, and 
 where he found the requisite resources for his tribe. 
 
 The Indas were there in the first days of April, and 
 their camp occupied a bend of the river, Into which flowed 
 a small affluent from the northern plains. 
 
 Since the tribe had taken up their quarters here. Captain 
 John, knowing they were near the coast had thought of 
 reaching It. If he could do so, It would not perhaps be 
 impossible for him to take refuge in one of the stations 
 
338 Mistress Branican. 
 
 more to the south, where Colonel Warburton had ended 
 his journey. 
 
 John had resolved to risk everything to put an end to 
 this hateful life, even if he died in the attempt. 
 
 Unfortunately a change in the plans of the Indas nipped 
 in the bud the^prisoner's hopes. During the first fortnight 
 in April it was evident that Willi was preparing to depart 
 so as to fix his winter encampment on the upper part of 
 the river. 
 
 What had happened, and to what was to be attributed 
 this change in the habits of the tribe ? 
 
 Captain John managed to learn, but not without some 
 trouble : the tribe was to move further east, because the 
 black police had been reported on the lower CQurse of the 
 Fitzroy. 
 
 It will not have been forgotten that Tom Marix had 
 spoken about these black police, who, since Harry Felton's 
 revelations, had been ordered into the north-west territories. 
 
 These police are much feared by the natives, and display 
 a keenness of which we can have no idea when they are 
 in pursuit of them. They are commanded by a captain 
 called a " mani," having under his orders a sergeant, thirty 
 white men and eighty blacks mounted on good horses, 
 and armed with guns, swords and pistols. Known under 
 the name of the native police, they are sufficiently strong 
 to guarantee the security of the inhabitants of the regions 
 they visit at different times. Pitiless in their repression of 
 the aborigines, they are blamed by some in the name of 
 humanity, and approved by others in the name of public 
 safety. They are most active in their movements, and 
 journey from place to place with incredible rapidity. The 
 natives fear to meet them, and that is why Willi, when he 
 learnt they were in his neighbourhood, was preparing to 
 ascend the course of the Fitzroy. 
 
 But what was a danger for the Indas might be the 
 r^afety of Captain Branican. If he could join a detach- 
 ment of this police, his deliverance was assured and his 
 return home certain. When the camp was being struck 
 
Among the Indas. 339 
 
 could he not find it possible to elude the vigilance of the 
 natives ? 
 
 Willi, it would seem, had some suspicion of the prisoner's 
 plans, for on the morning of. the 20th of April the door of 
 the hut in which John was confined was not opened at the 
 usual hour. A native was on guard close to the hut. To 
 the questions John put to him he made no reply. When 
 he asked to be taken to Willi they refused to comply with 
 his request, and the chief did not even come to visit him. 
 
 What had happened ? Were the Indas hastening their 
 preparations- to leave their encampment ? It was pro- 
 Isable, and John heard them rushing about in front of the 
 hut, where Willi had sent him some food. 
 
 A whole day went by, then another. No change took 
 place in his position. The prisoner was narrowly 
 watched all the time. But during the night of the 22nd 
 and 23rd of April he noticed that the noise outside had 
 ceased, and he wondered if the Indas had definitely 
 abandoned their project of camping on Fitzroy River. 
 
 At daybreak next morning the door of the hut suddenly 
 opened. 
 
 A man — a white — appeared before Captain John. 
 
 It was Lcn Burker. 
 
CIIArTER XIV. 
 
 LEN BURKER'S game, 
 
 TniRTY-TWO days had passed since the night of the 22n'l 
 of March, when Len Burker had separated from Mrs. 
 l^ranican and her companions. The simoom so fatal to the 
 caravan, had given him an opportunity of executing his 
 plans. Dragging away Jane, and followed by the blacks 
 of the escort, he had driven in front of him the healthy 
 camels, and among them those which carried Captain 
 John's ransom. 
 
 Len Burker found himself in more favourable circum- 
 stances than Dolly for meeting the Indas in the valley 
 watered by the Fitzroy. Already during his wandering 
 life he had had frequent intercourse with the Australian 
 nomads, with whose language and customs he was 
 acquainted. The ransom he had stolen assured him a 
 warm welcome from Willi, and Captain John, once rescued, 
 would be in his power, and then — 
 
 On abandoning the caravan Len Burker had hastened 
 north-west, and at sunrise he and his companions were 
 many miles away. 
 
 Jane implored her husband, and begged of him not to 
 abandon Dolly and her people in the desert ; she reminded 
 him it was another crime added to that committed at 
 Godfrey's birth, and besought him to atone for his abomin- 
 able conduct in taking the child from its mother by joining 
 his efforts to those being made for the rescue of Captain 
 John. 
 
 Jane gained nothing. It was in vain. To prevent Len 
 
Len Burker's Game. 341 
 
 Burker from advancing towards his object was in no one's 
 power. A few days more and he would have reached it. 
 Dolly and Godfrey dead of privation and misery, John 
 Branican disappeared, Edward Starter's inheritance would 
 pass into the hands of Jane, that is to say into his own, 
 and he would know how to use those millions well. 
 
 Nothing was to be expected from this rascal. He 
 ordered his wife to be silent, and she had to yield, 
 knowing well that if he had not need of her to enter into 
 possession of Dolly's fortune, he would have abandoned 
 her long ago, and perhaps worse. As to getting away 
 and attempting to reach the caravan, how could she think 
 of it ? What would have become of her, all alone ? 
 Besides, two of the blacks had orders not to leave her for an 
 instant. 
 
 We need not dwell on the incidents which Lcn Barker 
 met with on his journey. Neither camels nor provisions 
 failed him. In this way he was able to make long stages 
 as he approached the Fitzroy with men accustomed to 
 the life, and who had suffered less than the whites since 
 the departure from Adelaide. 
 
 In seventeen days, on the 8th of April, Len Burker had 
 reached the left bank of the river, on the very day that 
 Mrs. Branican and her companions made their last halt. 
 
 On the river bank Len Burker met with a few natives, 
 and obtained information from them regarding the position 
 of the Indas. 
 
 Learning that the tribe had followed the valley more to 
 the westward, he resolved to go down it so as to enter into 
 communication with Willi. 
 
 The task was not difficult. During the month of April, 
 in this part of Northern Australia, the climate is less 
 excessive, however low it may be in latitude. It was 
 evident that if Mrs. Branican's caravan could reach the 
 Fitzroy its miseries would be at an end in a few days. 
 She could enter into communication with the Indas, for 
 scarcely eighty-five miles then separated John and Dolly 
 from each other. 
 
342 Mistress Branican. 
 
 When Len Burker was certain that he had only two or 
 three days more to travel he stopped. To take Jane with 
 him among the Indas, to bring her face to face with 
 Captain John, to run the risk of being denounced by her, 
 did not at all suit him. By his orders a halt was organized 
 on the left bank, and, in spite of her supplications, there 
 the unfortunate woman was left in charge of the two 
 blacks. 
 
 When that was done, Len Burker and his companions 
 continued their journey towards the west, with the saddle 
 camels and the two beasts laden with the articles of 
 barter. 
 
 It was on the 20th of April that Len Burker met the 
 tribe who were then in a state of alarm at the neighbour- 
 hood of the black police, whose presence had been 
 reported a dozen miles down the river. Willi was already 
 preparing to leave his camp to seek refuge in the upper- 
 regions ofArnheim Land, which belongs to the province 
 of Northern Australia. - 
 
 At this moment, by Willi's orders, and with a view to 
 prevent any attempt at escape on his part, John was shut 
 up in a hut, so that he could learn nothing of the com- 
 munications entered into between Len Burker and the 
 chief of the Indas. 
 
 These communications occasioned no difficulty. Len 
 Burker had had previous acquaintance with these natives. 
 He knew their chief, and had only to treat concerning the 
 amount of Captain John's ransom. 
 
 Willi was disposed to surrender the prisoner for a ransom. 
 The display of what Len Burker had brought in fabrics, 
 toys, and, above all, in the stock of tobacco that was offered, 
 favourably impressed him. But, like an experienced 
 merchant, he required a higher price, as he could not 
 separate without regret from a man of as much importance 
 as Captain John, who for so many years had lived with 
 the tribe and rendered it such valuable services, etc., etc. 
 Besides, he knew that the Captain was an American, and 
 he was not ignorant that an expedition had been formed 
 
Len Burker's Game. 343 
 
 ;h a view of obtaining his deliverance — which Len 
 rker confirmed by observing that he was the chief of 
 it expedition. Then, when he learned that Willi was 
 sasji: at the presence of the black police on the lower 
 jrse of the Fitzroy, he took advantage of the circum- 
 nce to urge him to complete the bargain without 
 ay. In fact, for his own interest it was necessary that 
 ptaiii Branican's rescue should remain secret, and if he 
 t him away from the Indas there was every probability 
 his actions remaining unknown. The final disappear- 
 :e of John Branican could not be imputed to him, and 
 ;he men of his escort could not keep silent on the matter 
 would know how to make sure of their silence. 
 It follows that as the ransom was accepted by Willi the 
 rgain was concluded on the 22nd of April. That very 
 iningthc Indas abandoned their camp and went away 
 the Fitzroy River. 
 
 That is what Len Burker had done, that was how he 
 d attained his object, and. now we have to see how he 
 Dfited by it. 
 
 It was about eight o'clock iri the morning when the 
 or of the hut opened and John Branican found himself 
 Len Burker's presence. 
 
 Fourteen years had elapsed since the day when the 
 ptain had given him the last shake of the hand at the 
 parture of the Franklin from San Diego bay. He did 
 t recognize him, but Len Burker was struck with the 
 le change that had taken place in him. He had, of 
 irse, aged — he was then forty-three — but less than could 
 believed after so long a stay among the natives ; he 
 i the same well-marked features, the same resolute look, 
 : fire of which was not at all dulled, and his hair was 
 1 as thick, although it had whitened. He had remained 
 DOg and robust, and better, perhaps, than Harry Felton 
 lid have borne the fatigues of a journey across the 
 stralian desert — fatigues to which his companion had 
 cumbed. 
 A'^hen he saw Len Burker, Captain John stepped back. 
 
344 Mistress Branican. 
 
 It was the first time he had found himself face to face 
 with a white since he had been the prisoner of the Indas. 
 It was the first time a stranger had come to say a word to 
 him. 
 
 " Who are you ? " he asked. 
 
 " An American of San Diego." 
 
 " Of San Diego ? " 
 
 " I am Lcn Burker." 
 
 "You!" 
 
 Captain John threw himself on Len Burker. -He took 
 him by the hands, he clasped him in his arms. What ! 
 This man was Len Burker. No ! It was impossible. It 
 was only an appearance. John had not clearly heard. 
 He was under the influence of some hallucination." Lcn 
 Burker — Jane's husband — 
 
 And at that moment John hardly thought of the 
 antipathy with which Len Burker had formerly inspired 
 him, of the man whom he had so justly suspected. 
 
 " Len Burker ? " he repeated. 
 
 " Myself, John." 
 
 "Here — in these parts ! Ah, you also, Len — you have 
 been taken prisoner." 
 
 How could John in any other way explain the presence 
 of Len Burker in a camp of the Indas ? 
 
 " No ! " quickly replied Len Burker. " No, John, I 
 came here to ransom you from the chief of this tribe — to 
 rescue you — " 
 
 " To rescue me ! " 
 
 Captain John could only control himself by a violent 
 effort. It seemed that he had . gone mad, that his 
 reason was at the point of leaving him. 
 
 Then when he had become master of himself bethought 
 of darting out of the hut. He dared not. Len Burker 
 had spoken of his deliverance. But was he free ? And 
 Willi ? And the Indas ? 
 
 " Speak, Len, speak ! " said he, crossing his arms as if 
 he would keep his chest down. 
 
 Then Lcn Burker, faithful to the plan he had formed to 
 
Len Buricer's Game. 345 
 
 tell him only a part of the story, and attribute to himself 
 all the merit of this campaign, began to relate the facts in 
 his way, when John, in a voice strangled by emotion, 
 cried, — 
 
 "And Dolly? Dolly?" 
 
 " She is living, John." 
 
 " And Wat, my child ? " 
 
 " Living — both of them — at San Diego." 
 
 "My wife — my son!" murmured John, his eyes filling 
 with tears. 
 
 Then he added, — 
 
 " Nqw speak — Len — speak ! I have strength to listen 
 to you." 
 
 And Len Burker, coolly looking him in the face all the 
 time, said, — 
 
 "A few years ago, John, when no one had any furthei 
 doubt about the loss of the Franklin my wife and I had to 
 leave San Diego and America. Business matters celled 
 me to Australia, and I came to Sydney, where I started 
 an office. Since our departure Jane and Dolly never 
 ceased their correspondence, for you know the affection 
 they bore each other, an affection which neither time nor 
 distance could weaken. 
 
 "Yes! I know!" replied John. "Dolly and Jane 
 were friends, and the separation must have been cruel to 
 them." 
 
 " Very cruel, John," said Len Burker, " but after some 
 years the day came when this separation was about to 
 end. About eleven months ago we were preparing to 
 leave Australia for San Diego, when an unexpected piece 
 of news put an end to our plans of departure. We then 
 learnt what had become of the Franklin, in what parts she 
 had been lost, and at the same time the rumour spread 
 that the sole survivor of the wreck was the prisoner of 
 the Australian tribe, and that was you, John." 
 
 " But how did you know that, Len? Was it through 
 Harry Fclton ? " 
 
 "Yes, the news was brought by Harry Fclton. 
 
3iO MistRESS BraKican. 
 
 Almost at the end of his journey your companion had 
 been met with oti the banks of the Parroo, in the south of 
 Queensland, and brought to Sydney — " 
 
 " Harry — my brave Harry!" exclaimed Captain John. 
 " Ah ! I knew well he would never forget me ! As soon 
 as he got to Sydney he organized an cxped.tion — " 
 
 " He is dead ! " said Lcn Eurkcr; "dead of the fatigues 
 he had endured." 
 
 "Dead!" said John. "My God— dead ! Harry 
 Felton — Harry !" 
 
 And the tears (lowed from his eyes. 
 
 " But before he died," continued Lcn Burker, " Harry 
 Felton related all that occurred after the wreck of the 
 Franklin, the wreck on Browse Island, your reaching the 
 west of the continent. It was at his bedside that I — I 
 learnt this from his lips — all. And' as his eyes dosed, 
 John, he uttered your name." 
 
 "Harry, my poor Harry!" murmured John, as he 
 thought of the terrible miseries to which the faithful 
 companion had succumbed, whom he would never sec 
 again. 
 
 "John," continued Len Burker, "the loss of the 
 Franklin, of which there had been no news for fourteen 
 years, made a considerable sensation. You may judge of 
 the effect produced by the news that you were alive, and 
 that Harry Felton had left you a fi w months before a 
 prisoner with a northern tribe. I immediately telegraphed 
 to Dol,ly, informing her that I was getting ready to rescue 
 you from the hands of the Indas, for it could only be 
 a question, of ransom after what Harry Felton had said. 
 Then, having organized a caravan, of which I took the 
 command, Jane and I left Sydney. That was seven 
 months ago. It has taken us all that time to teach the 
 I'itzroy. At last here we are at the camp of the Indas." 
 
 "Thanks, Len, thanks!" said Captain John. "What 
 30U have done for mc — " ■ ' 
 
 "You would have done fcr me under similar circum- 
 stances," repl.cd Len Burker. 
 
Len Burker's Game. 347 
 
 " Certainly ! And your wife, Len, this courageous Jane, 
 who has not feared to face such fatigue — where is she ? " 
 
 " Three days' march up the river with two of my men," 
 replied Len Burker. 
 
 " I will go and see her." 
 
 " Yes, John, and if she is not here it is because I did 
 not wish her to accompany me, not knowing what sort of 
 welcome the natives would give our little caravan — " 
 
 " But you did not come alone ? " asked John. 
 
 " No ; I had my escort, composed of a dozen blacks. 
 We arrived in the valley two days ago — " 
 
 "Two days?" 
 
 "Yes, and I have spent them in concluding my bargain. 
 The Willi thought much of you, my dear John. He 
 knew your importance, or rather your value. It took a 
 lot of talking to obtain your liberty in exchange for the 
 ransom — " 
 
 "Then I am free ? " 
 
 " As free as I am." 
 
 " But the natives .' " 
 
 " They have all gone off with thciir chief, and art no 
 longer in the camp." 
 
 " Gone .'' " exclaimed John. 
 
 "Look!" 
 
 Captain Branican bounded out of the hut. On the 
 bank of the river there were only the blacks of Len Bur- 
 ker's escort : the Indas were there no longer. 
 
 It will be seen what was true and what was false in Len 
 Burker's story. Of Mrs. Branicain's madness he had said 
 nothing. Of the fortune which had fallen to Dolly 
 through Edward Starter's death he had said nothing; 
 nothing of the voyages of the Dolly Hope in the sea of 
 the Philippines and Torres Straits during the years 1 879 
 and 1882 ; nothing of what had passed between Mrs. 
 Branican and Harry Felton on his deathbed ; nothing of 
 the expedition organized by this intrepid woman, now 
 abandoned in the Great Sandy Desert, the whole credit of 
 which the ..unworthy Len Burker had taken to himself. 
 
 A a 
 
348 Mistress Branican. 
 
 It was he who had done all, he who, at the risk of his life, 
 had delivered Captain John ! 
 
 And why should John doubt the truth of the story ? 
 Why should he not thank with effusion him who after so 
 many perils had just snatched him from the Indas, and 
 who was going to take him home to his wife and child ? 
 
 This he did, and in terms which would have touched a 
 less hardened being. But remorse had never troubled 
 Len Burker's conscience, and nothing would hinder him 
 from carrying out his criminal projects. Now John 
 Branican would go with him to the camp where Jane 
 was waiting for him. Why should he hesitate .■' And 
 during this journey Len Burker would find an opportunity 
 of getting rid of him, without being suspected by the 
 blacks of his escort, who could not afterwards bear witness 
 against him. 
 
 Captain John was impatient to set out, and it was 
 agreed that the departure would take place that very day. 
 His great wish was to see Jane, the devoted friend of his 
 wife, to talk to her about Dolly and his son, about Mr. 
 William Andrew, and all those he would meet again at 
 San Diego. 
 
 They started during the afternoon of the 23rd of April. 
 Len Burker had provisions for several days. During the 
 journey the Fitzroy would yield the water necessary for 
 the little caravan. The camels on which John and Len 
 Burker were mounted would permit them to get several 
 stages in advance of their escort. That would facilitate 
 Len Burker's designs. It would not do for Captain 
 John to reach the camp, and he would not reach it. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the evening Len Burker pitched his 
 camp on the left bank of the river for the night. He was 
 still too far off to put into execution his plan of getting on 
 in advance of his escort, amid regions where dangers were 
 always to be feared. 
 
 At daybreak the march was resumed. 
 
 The following day was divided into two stages, divided 
 by a halt of two hours. It was not always easy to follow 
 
Len Burker's Game. 34O 
 
 the course of the Fit^roy, the banks of which were oft^^n 
 cii£ into by deep ravines, and sometimes barred by in- 
 extricable masses of gum trees and eucalyptus, obliging 
 the caravan to go round them. 
 
 Itjvas a hard day's march, and after their meal the 
 blacks went to sleep. 
 
 A few moments later Captain John was plunged in a 
 deep slumber. 
 
 Here was an opportunity of which Len Burker. might 
 take advantage, for he was not asleep. To kill John, 
 drag his body about twenty yards, and throw it into the 
 river — it seemed as though circumstances had united to 
 facilitate the perpetration of the crime. Then in the 
 morning Captain Branican would be sought for in vain. 
 
 About two o'clock Len Burker got up noiselessly, and 
 crept towards his victim, knife in hand. He was just 
 about to strike when John awoke. 
 
 " I thought you called me," said Len Burker. 
 
 "No, my dear Len," replied John, "just as I awoke I 
 was dreaming of my dear Dolly and our child." 
 
 At six o'clock John and Len Burker resumed their 
 journey along the Fitzroy. 
 
 During the midday halt Len Burker resolved to accom- 
 plish his purpose, for they would reach the camp that 
 night He proposed to John to ride on in advance of the 
 escort. 
 
 John agreed, for he was anxious to get to Jane and be 
 able to speak to her more intirnately than he had done to 
 Len Burker. 
 
 The two were starting when one of the blacks descried 
 a white advancing with a certain amount of precaution, 
 about a hundred yards off. 
 
 An exclamation escaped Len Burker. 
 
 He had recognized Godfrey. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE LAST ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 Impelled by a sort of instinct, and almost unconscious of 
 what he did, Captain John had rushed up to the boy. 
 
 Len Burker had remained immovable, as if his feet were 
 nailed to the ground. 
 
 Godfrey was face to face with him — Godfrey, the son of 
 Dolly and of John 1 Then Mrs. Branican's caravan had 
 not succumbed ? She was, then, a few miles away — a few 
 yards away, perhaps — unless Godfrey was the sole survivor 
 of those the scoundrel had abandoned.? 
 
 In any case, this meeting, so unexpected, must shatter 
 Len Burker's plan. If the boy spoke, he would say that 
 Mrs. Branican was at the head of this expedition. He 
 would say that Dolly had dared a thousand fatigues, a 
 thousand dangers, amid the Australian deserts to bring 
 help to her husband. He would say that she was there — 
 that she was following him up the course of the Fitzroy. 
 
 And she was there. « 
 
 On the morning of the 22nd of March, after Ten Burker 
 had abandoned her, the little caravan had resumed its 
 march towards the north-west. On the 8th of April, as we 
 know, the poor people, exhausted from hunger and tortured 
 by thirst, had fallen half dead. 
 
 Sustained by her superior strength, Mrs. Branican had 
 endeavoured to revive her companions, imploring them to 
 continue their advance, to make a last effort to reach the 
 river, where they might obtain rclio. It was as if she 
 were speaking to corpses, and even Godfrey was uncon. 
 scious. 
 
The Last Encampment. 351 
 
 But the soul of the expedition survived in Dolly, and 
 Doliy did what her companions could not do. Towards 
 the north-west was their course ; it was towards the north- 
 west that Tom Marix and Zach Fren had stretched their 
 sinking arms. Dolly set off in that direction. 
 
 Across the plain, which stretched away out of sight 
 towards the west, without food, without the means of trans- 
 port, what could this energetic woman hope ? Was her 
 object to reach the Fitzroy, to seek assistance among the 
 whites of the coast, or among the wandering natives ? She 
 did not know, but she struggled on for some miles — twenty 
 in three days. Then her strength failed her ; she fell, and 
 she would have died if help had not arrived,.providentially, 
 as one may say. 
 
 At this time the black police were out on the boundary 
 of the Great Sandy Desert. Leaving thirty of them near 
 the Fitzroy, their chief, the mani, had started off on a 
 reconnaissance into these parts with sixty of his men. 
 
 He it was who fell in with Mrs. Branican. As soon as 
 she recovered consciousness she was able to tdl him where 
 her companions were, and she took him to them. The 
 mani and his men revived the poor fellows, whom they 
 would not have found alive twenty-four hours later. 
 
 Tom Marix, who had known the mani in Queensland, 
 told him what had happened since they left Adelaide. 
 The officer was acquainted with the object of the expedi- 
 tion in these distant countries of the north-west, and, as 
 Providence had brought him to its help, he offered to join 
 it. When Tom Marix asked him about the Indas, he 
 replied that they were then on the banks of the Fitzroy, 
 about sixty miles off. 
 
 There was no time to lose if they wished to spoil Len 
 Burker's plans, whom the mani was already after for some 
 bushranging crime in Queensland. He did not doubt that 
 if Len Burker succeeded in rescuing Captain John, who 
 had no reason to mistrust him, it would be impossible to 
 get on his track. 
 
 Mrs, Branican might reckon on the mani and his men, 
 
352 Mistress ErvANicAN. 
 
 who shared their provisions with her companions and lent 
 them their horses. The party set off that evening, and in 
 the afternoon of the 2ist of April were in sight of the 
 heights of the valley, near the seventeenth parallel of 
 latitude. 
 
 Here the mani picked up his men who had been on the 
 watch along the Fitzroy. They told him that the Indas 
 were then in camp a hundred miles further up the river. 
 It was important to come up with them as soon as possible, 
 although M-rs. Branican had no objects of exchange with 
 which to ransom her husband. But the mani, reinforced 
 by his whole detachment, assisted by Tom Marix, Zach 
 Fren, Godfrey, Jos Meritt, and their companions, would 
 not hesitate to employ force to rescue Captain John from 
 the Indas. But when they reached the native camp it had 
 been abandoned. The mani followed up the natives, halt 
 by halt, and it was in this way that, on the 25th of April, 
 Godfrey, wlio had gone on lialf a mile in advance, found 
 himself suddenly in Captain John's presence. 
 
 Len Burlcer had begun to recover himself, looking at 
 Godfrey without uttering a word, waiting for what the boy 
 was going to do or say. 
 
 Godfrey had not even seen him. He could not take his 
 eyes off the captain. Although he had never seen him, he 
 knew his features from the photograph Mrs. Branican had 
 given him. No doubt was possible. This man was 
 Captain John. 
 
 On his part, John looked at Godfrey with an emotion 
 none the less extraordinary. Although he could not ima- 
 gine who the boy was, he devoured him with his eyes, he 
 held out hands to him, he called him with a trembling 
 voice — yes, he called him as if he were his son. 
 
 Godfrey threw himself into his arms, exclaiming,— 
 
 " Captain John ! " 
 
 "Yes, I; it is I!" said Captain John. "But you, my 
 child, who are you.' Whcie do yoU come from? How 
 do you know my name ? " 
 
 GoJlrcy could not r>-ply. IJc became fr'ghlfully pale as 
 
The Last Encampment, 353 
 
 he caught sight of Len Burker, and could not conceal the 
 horror he felt at seeing the scoundrel. 
 
 " Len Burker ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 Len Burker, after reflecting on the consequences of this 
 meeting, could not but congratulate himself. Was not 
 this a lucky chance which had given him over both Godfrey 
 and John ? Was it not incredible luck to have at his 
 mercy both father and child ? Turning to the blacks, he 
 made a sign to them to separate John and Godfrey, and 
 seize them. 
 
 " Len Burker ! " repeated Godfrey. 
 
 " Yes, my boy," answered John. " It is Len Burker, who 
 has saved me — " 
 
 " Saved !" said Godfrey, "No, Captain John, no. Len 
 Burker has not saved you ! He wants to destroy you, he 
 ran away from us, he stole your ransom from Mrs. 
 Branican — " 
 
 At this Jiame John answered with a cry, and, seizing 
 Godfrey's hand, said, " Dolly ? Dolly ? " 
 
 " Yes. Mrs. Branican, Captain John— your wife, who is 
 close by here ! " 
 
 "Dolly?" said John. 
 
 " This boy is mad ! " said Len Burker, approaching 
 Godfrey. 
 
 " Yes ! mad ! " murmured Captain John. " The poor 
 child is mad ! " 
 
 "Len Burker!" said Godfrey, trembling with passion, 
 " you 'are a traitor ; you are a murderer ! And this 
 murderer is here. Captain John, to make away with you 
 after abandoning Mrs. Branican and her companions." 
 
 " Dolly ! Dolly ! " exclaimed Captain John. " No— you 
 are not mad, my boy! I believe you! I believe you! 
 Come! come !" 
 
 Len Burker and his men threw themselves on John and 
 Godfrey, who, taking a revolver from his belt, shot one of 
 the blacks in the chest. But John and he were seized, 
 and the blacks were dragging them towards the river. 
 
 Fortunately the report was heard. Shouts came in reply 
 
354 iVlISTKESS IiKAN-I(JAN. 
 
 from a few hundred yards down stream, and almost imme- 
 diately the mani and his men, Tom Marix and his com- 
 panions, Mrs. Brahican, Zach Fren, Jos Meritt and 
 Gin-Ghi came running lip. 
 
 Len Burker, and his blacks were not strong enough 
 to make any resistance, and a moment afterwards John 
 was in Dolly's arms. 
 
 'I'he game was up for Len Burker. If they captured 
 him he could expect no mercy; and, followed by his 
 blacks, he fled up the river. 
 
 The mani, Zach Fren, Tom Marix, Jos Meritt and 
 twelve of the police went off in pursuit. 
 
 How can we paint the feelings, how can we describe the 
 emotion which overflowed in the hearts of Dolly and 
 John ? They wept, and Godfrey shared in their embraces, 
 their kisses, and their tears. 
 
 So great was Dolly's joy and so much had she suffered, 
 that her strength abandoned her and she fainted away. 
 
 Godfrey knelt near her and helped H arriett to revive her. 
 John did not know it, but they knew that once before 
 Dolly had lost her reason through excess of grief. Would 
 she now lose it under excess of joy ? 
 
 "Dolly! Dolly! "said John. 
 
 And Godfrey, taking her hands, called, " Mother I 
 mother ! " 
 
 Dolly's eyes opened. Her hand clasped that of her 
 husband, whose joy was overflowing, and who held out his 
 arms to Godfrey, saying, — 
 
 " Come, Wat ! Come, my son ! " 
 
 But Dolly could not have him thus mistaken in believ- 
 ing that Godfrey was his child. 
 
 " No, John ! " said she, " no, Godfrey is not our son. 
 t)ur poor little Wat is dead— dead soon after you lef 
 us." 
 
 " Dead ! " exclaimed John, still keeping his eyes on 
 Godfrey. 
 
 Dolly was about to tell him of the misfortune which had 
 befallen fifteen yearg before, when there was the sound of a 
 
The Last Encampment. 355 
 
 shot in the direction taken by the mani in pursuit of Len 
 Burker. 
 
 Had justice been done on the rascal, or had hs added 
 another to his long list of crimes ? 
 
 Almost immediately they all came into view on the 
 bank of the Fitzroy. Two of the police were holding up 
 a woman from whom the blood was flowing from a large 
 wound and reddening the ground. 
 
 It was Jane. 
 
 What had happened was this. 
 
 Notwithstanding the swiftness of his flight, the pursuers 
 had not lost sight of Len Burker, and a few hundred yards 
 only separated them from him wlien he stopped as he 
 caught sight of Jane. 
 
 During the evening before this wretched woman had 
 managed to escape, and she had fled along the Fitzroy. 
 She went as chance led her, and when the first shot was 
 heard she was not a quarter of a mile from the spot where 
 John and Godfrey had just met. She hastened her pace 
 and immediately found herself in presence of her husband, 
 who was running towards her. 
 
 Len Burker, seizing her by the arms, would have dragged 
 her away with him. At the thought that Jane would 
 again meet Dolly, and reveal the secret of Godfrey's birth, 
 his anger reached its height. And as Jane resisted he 
 stabbed her. 
 
 The next moment there was the report of a gun, accom- 
 panied by these words — appropriate enough on this 
 occasion, — 
 
 " Good ! Oh ! very good !" 
 
 It was Jos Meritt, who had coolly aimed at Len Burker 
 and' rolled him over into the water of the Fitzroy. 
 
 And that was the scoundrel's end, shot dead in the 
 heart by the hand of the gentleman. 
 
 Tom Marix ran towards Jane, who still breathed, but 
 feebly. Two of the police took the unhappy woman 
 between them and brought her to Mrs. Branican. 
 
 Seeing Jane in this state, Dolly uttered a heartrending 
 
336 Mistress Branican, 
 
 shriek. Leaning over the dying woman, she tried to 
 listen to the beating of her heart, to feel the breath 
 escaping from her mouth. But Jane's wound was mortal, 
 the knife had been driven into her lungs, 
 
 " Jane 1 Jane ! " said Dolly, loudly. 
 
 At this voice, which recalled the only love she had ever 
 known, Jane opened her eyes, looked at Dolly, and smiled 
 Eis she murmured, — 
 
 ." Dolly ! dear Dolly 1 " 
 
 Suddenly life came into her look. She had just seen 
 Captain John. 
 
 " John — you — John ! " she said, but so feebly they could 
 hardly hear her. 
 
 "Yes, Jane!" said the captain, "it is I — I, whom Dolly 
 has come to save." 
 
 "John — John is there ! " murmured she. 
 
 "Yes — with us, Jane/' said Dolly. "He will leave us 
 no more. Wo will take him back with you, with you — 
 there—" ' 
 
 Jane heard no longer. Her eyes seemed to be looking 
 for someone, and she uttered the name, — 
 
 "Godfrey! Godfrey!" 
 
 And anguish was depicted on her features, already 
 drawn with agony. 
 
 Mrs. Branican made a sign to Godfrey, who came near. 
 
 "Him! Him! At last! "said Jane, rising with a last 
 effort. 
 
 Seizing Dolly's hand, — 
 
 " Come near, Dolly ! come near ! " she said. "John and 
 you listen to what I have still to tell you." 
 
 And they leant over her so as not to lose any of her 
 words. 
 
 "John, Dolly," she said, " Godfrey— Godfrey who is 
 tlicre — Godfrey is your child." 
 
 "Our child !" murmured Dolly. And she became as 
 pale as if she were dying, the blood having violently flowed 
 back to her heart. 
 
 " We have a son no longer," said John, " he's dead,'' 
 
The Last Encampment. 357 
 
 "Yes!" said Jane, "little Wat — over there — in San 
 Diego Bay. But you had a second child, and that child • 
 is Godfrey." 
 
 In a few sentences, broken by the^aspings of death, she 
 told them what had happened after John's departure ; of 
 Godfrey's birth at Prospect House, of Dolly deprived of 
 reason, a mother without knowing it, of the little child 
 abandoned by Len Barker's orders, found a few hours 
 afterwards, brought up atterwards at Wat House under the 
 name of Godfrey. 
 
 AnJ Jane added, — 
 
 " If I am guilty of not having had the courage to tell 
 you all, Dolly, forgive me — forgive me, John ! " 
 
 ' Do you need forgiveness, Jane — you, who have just 
 given us back our child ? " 
 
 " Yes — your child ! " said Jane. " Bt fore God — John, 
 Dolly, I swear it — Godfrey is your child." 
 
 And seeing them both cla.-p Godfrey in their arms, Jane 
 smiled with happiness, and the smile died away with hci 
 l^t breath. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 We need not linger over the incidents with which this 
 adventurous journey across the Australian continent came 
 to an end, nor dwell on the different conditions which 
 marked the return to Adelaide. 
 
 At the outset the question was discussed : Should they 
 make for the settlements on the coast by going down the 
 Fitzroy — among others that of Rockbourne — or should 
 they go to Prince Frederick harbour in York Sound ? 
 But some time might elapse before a ship visited the coast, 
 and it seemed preferable to return by the route they had 
 come. Escorted by the black police, abundantly supplied 
 with provisions by the mani, having at its disposal the 
 saddle and pack camels recovered from Len Burker, the 
 caravan had nothing to fear from anything it niight meet. 
 
 Before they started, the body of Jane Burker was laid 
 in a grave dug at the foot of a group of gum trees. Dolly 
 knelt at the grave and prayed for the poor woman's soul. 
 
 Captain John, his wife, and their companions left the 
 camp on the Fitzroy on the 25th of April, under the 
 direction of the mani, who offered to accompany them as 
 far as the nearest station of the Overland Telegraph line. 
 
 Everyone was so happy that none felt the fatigues of tho 
 journey, and Zach Fren, in his joy, said to Tom Marix, — 
 
 " Well, Tom, we have found the captain ! " 
 
 " Yes, Zach, but to what was it due .? " . 
 
 "To Providence having put the helm down, and w?, 
 should always reckon on Providence." 
 
 However, there was a black spot on Jos Meritt's horizon. 
 If Mrs. Branican had found Captain John, the famous 
 collector had riot found the hat, the search after which had 
 cost him so much trouble and sacrifice. To be just within 
 range of the Indas, and not enter into communication with' 
 this Willi, who was perhaps wearing the historic head-gear- 
 
" Godfrey is your child ! " 
 
The End. 3 §9 
 
 what misfortune ! Jos Meritt found some consolation, it 
 is true, in hearing from the mani that the fashion of 
 European head-coverings had not extended to the people 
 of the north-west, contrary to what Jos Meritt had already- 
 observed among the natives of the north-east. Thus his 
 desideratum could not be realized among the tribes of 
 Northern Australia. On the other hand, he could con- 
 gratulate himself on the splendid shot with which he had 
 disembarrassed the Branican family of " that abominable 
 Len Burker," as Zach Fren called him. 
 
 The return was made as rapidly as possible. The 
 caravan had no more to suffer from thirst, for the wells 
 were already replenished by the heavy showers of autumn, 
 and the heat was not insupportable. Acting on th^ 
 mani's advice, they headed direct for the regions crossed by 
 the telegraph line, where there was no scarcity of well- 
 provisioned stations nor of means of communication with 
 the capital of South Australia. Thanks to the telegraph, 
 it was soon known all over the world that Mrs. Branican 
 had brought her daring expedition to a successful end. 
 
 It was in the latitude of Lake Wood that Dolly and her 
 companions reached a station on the Overland Telegrap!i 
 line. There the mani and the black police took leave of 
 John and Dolly Branican. They did not depart without 
 having received the cordial thanks they deserved, to be 
 followed by the reward the captain would send them as 
 soon as he reached Adelaide. There was now no more to 
 do than to pass south through Alexandra Land to Alice 
 Spring, where the caravan arrived on the 19th of June, 
 after a seven weeks' journey. 
 
 There, under the care of Mr. Flint, the chief of the station, 
 Tom 'Marix recovered the means of transport he had left 
 behind, the cattle, the drays, the buggies, the horses for 
 the distance remaining to be traversed. And on the 3rd 
 of July the expedition reached the railway at Farina Town, 
 and the next day arrived in Adelaide. 
 
 What a welcome awaited Captain John and his 
 courageous wife ! The whole town turned out to receive 
 them, and when Captain John Branican appeared between 
 
36o Mistress Branican. 
 
 his wife and child on the balcony of the hotel in King 
 William Street,. the cheers were so terrific that, according 
 to Gin-Ghi, they might have been heard at the other end 
 of the Celestial Empire. 
 
 The stay at Adelaide was not of long duration. John 
 and Dolly were eager to return to San Diego, to see their 
 friends and take up their abode at Prospect House, where 
 happiness awaited them. They parted from Tom Marix 
 and his men, who were liberally rewarded, and whose 
 services could never be forgotten. 
 
 Neither did they forget that character, Jos Meritt, who 
 also resolved to leave Australia with his faithful domestic. 
 
 But how about the hat he had not found ? Did he find 
 it ? Where ? In a royal palace, where it was kept with 
 all the respect which was its due. Yes ! Jos Meritt, led 
 astray on a false scent, had been running about the five 
 parts of the world in vain to find a hat which was all the 
 time in Windsor Castle, as he learned six months later. 
 It was the hat worn by Her Gracious Majesty at the visit 
 of King Louis Philippe in 1845, and he must have been 
 mad at the very least, to have supposed that this master- 
 ]iiece of a Parisian milliner woiild have finished its career 
 on the woolly cranium of an Australian savage [ 
 
 The peregrinations of Jos Meritt consequently ceased, to 
 the extreme joy of Gin-Ghi, but to the extreme displeasure 
 of the celebrated curio-hunter, who returned to Liverpool, 
 much amazed that he had not been able to complete his 
 collection by the acquisition of the only hat of its kind 
 in the world. Three weeks after leaving Adelaide, where 
 they embarked on the Abraham Lincoln, John, Dolly, and 
 Godfrey Branican, accompanied by Zach Fren and th2 
 woman Harriett, arrived at San Diego. 
 
 There Mr. William Andrew and Captain Ellis received 
 them amid the inhabitants of that generous city, prcud cf 
 having recovered Captain John, and welcoining in him 
 one ol the mo^t glcrious of its children. ■ 
 
 THE END.