"No, no, Aguinili," cried Hobart, handing him a glass of spirits. "We have plenty of time for that. Have the shell been moving much?"
"No. Shells grow there. No currents; no monsoons; deep, deep coral bottom. No shell on sixteen-fathom bottom here."
"Well, gentlemen," finally said Hobart, "we have seen the result of the G.B. comes out first. I will cable to Singapore to send down some more of them, and I will see that Gentleman James, Captain Biddies, and the others get to know of its good points. Who knows what fortunes we may now obtain from these deep neglected sounds."
Two hours afterwards the Electron was sailing down King Sound towards the Indian Ocean, and on my venturing to ask where we were bound for, Hobart informed me that he had received word from Derby that the bubonic plague had broken out afresh in Fremantle, and it was therefore obvious that the Australind would not now call at the northern port; for if she did so she would assuredly be quarantined at Singapore through not having been sufficient time at sea since leaving Australian waters.
"We are going to put you on board now," he added, "and Mackenzie is going up to Raffles with you to see about the new dresses. Meanwhile the men are opening the shells from the deep level, and I hope that we will find a memento to give you of your visit to this coast."
Early in the afternoon a long hanging cloud of black smoke became visible away on the southern horizon, and knowing that it must be issuing from the funnels of the Australind or the Adelaide Steamship Co.'s trader Albany, we steered out to investigate, and, if need be, to intercept. It proved to be the former vessel, and in due course she answered our signal and hove to.
"Well, goodbye then, lad. I hope you will come back to this coast when you are tired of the old country," were Hobart's parting words as Mackenzie and I clambered up the sides of the Australind.
"If you see a lugger cheap at Singapore you might buy it for me," cried Quin, throwing me a miner's gold-bag; "and, I say, you might send me the second part of the book you gave me to read when we were coming up through the monsoon on the Bessie. I am darned curious to know the wind-up."
"And here's a pair of the deep shells; take care of them," cried Hobart, fastening a couple into the sling in which my baggage was being hoisted.