The master of the schooner shook his head.
'Haven't heard of her, and haven't seen her. She always lies at Cuthbert's slip up here in Darling Harbour. She's expected, I know.'
'Well, we shall soon know if Tom came in the Virago, anyway,' said Mr. Wallis, as the William the Fourth rounded Miller's Point, and headed for her wharf; 'we'll drive to Biffen and Chard's as quick as a hansom can take us.'
As soon as the steamer was made fast, Mr. Wallis told Casalle--who had made some very judicious changes in his personal appearance, changes which made him appear ten or a dozen years younger--to go to Petty's Hotel and await him there; and then he and Tom jumped into a hansom and drove to his agent's office in Pitt Street.
The moment he gave his name to one of the clerks, a big, stout man with a round red face, merged into one vast smile, rushed out of an office marked 'private' and seizing his hand, wrung it with such vigour that Mr. Wallis fairly winced.
'My dear Mr. Wallis,' he said, almost dragging his visitor into his room, 'what a happy meeting! I've glorious, glorious news for you! Your son Tom----'
'I know, my dear Biffen. Tom is alive. Is he here?'
The big man gasped in astonishment. 'Here! No, of course he's not here; but how did you----'
'I know that he was picked up by the Lady Alicia, and he sent me a letter viâ Queensland, saying that it was possible he might get a passage to Sydney in the Virago from Noumea.'
'Well, the Virago has arrived, and has brought you another letter from him. Here it is; but before you read it let me tell you that the first lieutenant brought it here himself. He told me that your boy was looking splendid. You must go and see him.'