After a voyage of four months one evening the captain shortened sail, though the breeze was fair and the night clear.  Upon being asked the reason of this strange order he said knowingly, “If you get up with the sun perhaps you will see the reason.”

Curiosity being excited, one or two did rise before the sun.  Just as he emerged from the sea a young seaman called Patterson, who was in the foretop, hailed the deck.

“What is it?” roared the mate.

“Land on the weather bow,” sung out the seaman in reply.

Land!  In one moment the word ran like electric fire through all the veins of the Phoenix; the upper deck was crowded in a minute, but all were disappointed.  No one saw land but Mr. Patterson, whose elevation and keen sight gave him an advantage.  But a heavenly smell as of a region of cowslips came and perfumed the air and rejoiced all the hearts; at six o’clock a something like a narrow cloud broke the watery horizon on the weather bow.  All sail was made and at noon the coast of Australia glittered like a diamond under their lee.  Then the three hundred prisoners fell into a wild excitement—­some became irritable, others absurdly affectionate to people they did not care a button for.  The captain himself was not free from the intoxication; he walked the deck in jerks instead of his usual roll, and clapped on sail as if he would fly on shore.

At half-past one they glided out of the open sea into the Port Jackson River.  They were now in a harbor fifteen miles long, land-locked on both sides, and not a shoal or a rock in it.  This wonderful haven, in which all the navies that float or ever will float might maneuver all day and ride at anchor all night without jostling, was the sea avenue by which they approached a land of wonders.

It was the second of December.  The sky was purple and the sun blazed in its center.  The land glittered like a thousand emeralds beneath his glowing smile, and the waves seemed to drink his glory and melt it into their tints, so rich were the flakes of burning gold that shone in the heart of their transparent, lovely blue.

“Oh! what a heavenly land! and after four months’ prison at sea.”

Our humble hero’s heart beat high with hope.  Surely in so glorious a place as this he could make a thousand pounds, and then dart back with it to Susan.  Long before the ship came to an anchor George got a sheet of paper and by a natural impulse wrote to Susan a letter, telling her all the misery the Phoenix and her passengers had come through between London Bridge and Sydney Cove, and as soon as he had written it he tore it up and threw it into the water.  “It would have vexed her to hear what I have gone through.  Time enough to tell her that when I am home again sitting by the fire with her hand in mine.”