"What sort of a place is Fremantle?" asked Jack, changing the subject.
"It's not much like Brighton," replied Captain Seagrave, laughing. "You'll find a vast difference, but there's worse places than Fremantle on the face of the globe. It's an old convict settlement, at the mouth of the Swan river, about a dozen miles from Perth. It's not one of the best of harbours, but I have never met with any mishap there. It has been improved a lot of late years. It will seem a very dull place to you, I am afraid. May I ask what you are going to do when you arrive there. It's not a good place to be stranded in."
"My friend, Harry Marton, is going out at the request of Barry Tuxford——" commenced Jack.
"Barry! well, I'm blest. Barry Tuxford, you'll be all right with him. There's no cleverer man than Barry in Western Australia, he can make money out of anything he touches. What do you think his latest move is?"
"Something out of the common," ventured Jack.
"Rather! He's revived the pearl fishing again, and what's more, he's had his usual luck.
"That is what he wants us for; I say us because he told Harry to take a friend out with him. We are going pearl fishing."
Captain Seagrave laughed.
"Barry will get the pearls and you will do the hard graft, but he will treat you fairly, he's a square man is Barry Tuxford. I reckon you'll go up to Shark's Bay and round that quarter, it is an outlandish place. I fancy life on a station would suit you best; anyway, I'd give it a chance if the pearling does not agree with you. They'll be glad to have a 'jackaroo' like you, who can ride, on any sheep station."
"What is a jackaroo?" said Jack.