And so the
very last kisses and handclasps exchanged, the travellers climbed down
into a boat already deep in the water with other cuddy-passengers and
their luggage, and were rowed out to where lay that good clipper-ship,
the RED JACKET. Sitting side by side husband and wife watched, with
feelings that had little in common, the receding quay, Mary fluttering
her damp handkerchief till the separate figures had merged in one dark
mass, and even Tilly, planted in front, her handkerchief tied flagwise
to the top of Jerry's cane, could no longer be distinguished from the
rest.
Mahony's foot met the ribbed teak of the deck with the liveliest
satisfaction; his nostrils drank in the smell of tarred ropes and oiled
brass. Having escorted Mary below, seen to the stowing away of their
belongings and changed his town clothes for a set of comfortable baggy
garments, he returned to the deck, where he passed the greater part of
the day tirelessly pacing. They made good headway, and soon the ports
and towns at the water's edge were become mere whitey smudges. The hills
in the background lasted longer. But first the Macedon group faded from
sight; then the Dandenong Ranges, grown bluer and bluer, were also lost
in the sky. The vessel crept round the outside of the great Bay, to
clear shoals and sandbanks, and, by afternoon, with the sails close
rigged in the freshening wind, they were running parallel with the Cliff
--"THE Cliff!" thought Mahony with a curl of the lip.
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