"To John Macklin,
Sydney.
"Schooner arrived. Man dead. Woman remains here."
PART II.
CHAPTER I.
JOHN RAMSAY TAKES UP THE TALE.
It seems that when I induced my cousin by marriage, Luke Sanctuary, to write the first part of this history, I pledged myself to continue the work at the point where I became personally interested in it. That time, he tells me, has now arrived, and so it comes to pass that I find myself sitting before a blank sheet of paper, holding a brand-new pen in my hand, and wondering how on earth I'm going to set down all the extraordinary things I have to tell.
One assertion I can safely make, and that is that this is the first time I have ever undertaken such a contract. For writing was always a trouble to me; and now I come to think of it, it was that very hatred of penmanship which resulted in my being concerned in what I shall always call that "Chilian Mystery." For, had I proved an apt writer, I should in all probability have made a good clerk; and had I turned out a good clerk, I should never have become a sailor; and to continue the argument ad infinitum, had I not become a sailor, I should certainly never have known anything of the story my cousin has begun, and which I am now called upon to continue.