"'It is a beautiful picture we have spread before us, is it not?'
"'It is, indeed,' I answered. 'And what a diversity of shipping!'
"'You may well say that,' he continued. 'It would be an interesting study, would it not, to make a list of all the craft that pass in and out of this harbour in a day—to put down the places where they were built and whence they hail, the characters of their owners and commanders, and their errands about the world. What a book it would make, would it not? Look at that man-o'-war in Farm Cove; think of the money she cost, think of where that money came from—the rich people who paid without thinking, the poor who dreaded the coming of the tax collector like a visit from the Evil One; imagine the busy dockyard in which she was built—can't you seem to hear the clang of the riveters and the buzzing of the steam saws? Then take that Norwegian boat passing the fort there; think of her birthplace in far Norway, think of the places she has since seen, imagine her masts growing in the forests on the mountain side of lonely fiords, where the silence is so intense that a stone rolling down and dropping into the water echoes like thunder.'
"He went on like this for some time, until I said: 'You seem to have studied it very carefully.'
"'Perhaps I have,' he answered. 'I am deeply interested in the life of the sea—few more so. Are you a stranger in New South Wales?'
"'Quite a stranger,' I replied. 'I only arrived in Australia a few days since.'
"'Indeed! Then you have to make the acquaintance of many entrancing beauties yet. Forgive my impertinence, but if you are on a tour, let me recommend you to see the islands before you return home.'
"'The South-Sea Islands, I presume you mean?' I said.
"'Yes; the bewitching islands of the Southern Seas! The most entrancingly beautiful spots on God's beautiful earth! See them before you go. They will amply repay any trouble it may cost you to reach them.'
"'I should like to see them very much,' I answered.