"The shock will be too much for her," said Barry, "you ought to warn her, it's not fair."
The night before they were to sail, Jack sat on the verandah of Barry Tuxford's house thinking over all that had happened during the past few years. Fortune had indeed favoured him, and the words of the gypsy woman had come true. Very few men he knew had done so much, or met with such success in so short a time. His meeting with Harry Marton in London, appeared to him like a direct intervention of Providence in his favour, and then came Barry Tuxford, a crowning blessing upon his career. Jack Redland was grateful for all his good luck, and felt that he ought to be thankful all his life.
It seemed almost impossible that he should be a rich man, and yet such was the case, for when the new mine was floated, many thousands would be at his disposal. He did not pretend to misunderstand Barry Tuxford when he said he regarded him as a son. He knew Barry's wealth was great, and that in all probability he would leave him the bulk of it. He hoped Barry would live for many long years, but in the natural order of things the older man would go first. The voyage would do him good, add many years to his life, the doctor said, and Jack looked forward with pleasure to presenting his generous friend to Sir Lester and Winifred.
His pearl fishing experiences seemed like a dream; it was a rough time, but he did not dislike it, nay, he had enjoyed it while it lasted, but he would not care to go through it again.
The black pearl would always recall those days, when he saw Winifred wearing it.
And Winifred, she was waiting for him, he was sure of that, and yet no words of love had passed between them, no bond bound them to each other. Yes, there was a bond, although not a tie, the bond of unspoken love, and Jack looked forward to the time when he could put his real feelings into words, and pour them into Winifred's willing ears.
How would she look, what would she do when she first saw him? The picture he conjured up was wonderfully pleasant, and he kept it to himself.
The "Falcon" steamed out of Fremantle harbour, and commenced her voyage to England with Jack Redland and Barry Tuxford on board. As Jack looked at the fast receding headlands, he wondered if he would ever see them again. It was hard to say, but the chances were he was leaving Australia for ever. It seemed ungrateful to cast off the country that had done so much for him, and yet his lines were cast in other places, and he could not avoid his fate, a pleasant one, if he would.
Every year, men who have succeeded in life, leave the land in which they have toiled, to come home to that small spot so blessed amongst the nations of the earth. They give of their best to other lands, but take toll in return, and then when the time comes, and Fortune's smiles are at their best they turn to home, to England, which every son of her soil regards with a veneration too deep for words.
Jack Redland felt something of this as the "Falcon" steamed on her way.