Tom Wallis: A Tale of the South Seas

A swift shadow passed over the visitor's countenance, but he answered quietly-

'I call myself Charles Brown; that is not my real name, which I have only uttered once in the past five years, and that was when I gave it to the master of the brig which rescued your son. But I will not conceal it from you. My name is Henry Casalle.'

Both father and son started.

'Casalle!'

The man smiled bitterly. 'Ah, you know it. Yes, I am Henry Casalle, who, with four other prisoners, escaped from New Caledonia to Wreck Reef. I suppose the police are looking for me?'

In an instant Mr. Wallis was on his feet, closed the door, and turned the key. The man watched him with the utmost calmness.

'You ask me,' said Mr. Wallis in a low voice, 'if I know the name of Casalle.' He placed his hand on the visitor's shoulder. 'I do know it. That little girl there is the daughter of a man who has become a dear friend of mine. His name is Ramon Casalle.'

The stranger's swarthy face paled visibly, and his lips twitched.

'I had a brother Ramon. I have never seen him since we were children together. Where is he?'

'At sea; but he will be in Sydney in a month. He told me he had never seen you since you were a boy of eight.'

The ex-convict passed his hand across his brow, as if trying to recall the past; then looking at the little girl, who was regarding him intently with her lustrous dark eyes, he said almost in a whisper-

'Will she come to me? She is my brother's child, and has our mother's face.'

Jack led Nita over to him. Casalle took her little hand in his for a moment, drew her gently to him, and kissed her. Then he leant back in his chair, and covered his face with his hands.

When he had recovered himself a little, and Jack had taken Nita away to Kate, Mr. Wallis, as clearly and briefly as possible, told him the story of the wreck of the Bandolier, and all that had happened since.

Casalle heard him with the deepest interest to the end, and then told him his own story, beginning with the account of his trial and conviction at Bordeaux, and the horrors of his prison life at Noumea. Here he broke down, and Mr. Wallis placed his kindly hand on his knee.

'Tell me no more, Casalle. It pains you to tell, and me to hear it. That you are an innocent man I believe.'

'As God is above us I am! The captain and I did not get on well together, and one day in a moment of passion I forgot myself under his repeated insults, and threatened his life. He was a gross tyrant, his chief mate almost as bad, and the crew were later on goaded into mutiny. I was asleep in my bunk when both captain and mate were stunned and tossed overboard. The ship was then within sight of the coast of Portugal, and the mutineers, headed by the steward, took to the boats and made for the land, leaving me alone on board. A few hours later I was in irons on a Spanish man-of-war. I was sent to Bordeaux, and the very men whom I had often endeavoured to save from brutal ill-usage swore my life away.'

'Forget it all, Casalle, forget it all, or think of it only as some bad dream. You are safe here with me. To-morrow we will decide what is best to be done.'

In calmer tones the ex-convict then related his adventures and wanderings after leaving Wreck Reef. He and his companions had followed old Sam Hawkins's instructions, and had safely reached the Queensland coast, where they separated, three making for the Port Curtis goldfield, and Casalle and another shipping as seamen on a vessel bound to Port Adelaide, in South Australia. From Adelaide he had steadily worked his way northward again to Sydney, and there made inquiries as to the best way of sending a letter to Port Kooringa. He found that the William the Fourth was leaving in a few days, and decided to bring the letter on to Mr. Wallis himself.

'I swore that you should have the letter safely,' he added, 'and there were no means of sending it to you from Port Curtis.'

'Come, father,' said Jack, 'Kate is waiting to bring in dinner. Then we must go through the papers which have come, and see if there is anything about the Virago, or the Lady Alicia. Perhaps they are both in Sydney Harbour this very moment, dad, and Tom might have only just missed the William the Fourth.'

Such a happy evening had not been spent in the old house for many a long month. Jack, too excited to eat any dinner, set to work on the papers at once, but could find no mention of either Lady Alicia or the Virago, beyond the fact that both were in the list of 'expected arrivals.'

'Never mind, Jack,' said his father cheerfully, 'the latest of those papers is a week old, and Tom is on board one or the other ship. Casalle, my dear fellow, to-night you shall sleep in the room that your brother slept in when he first came to us with little Nita.'

CHAPTER XII

HENRY CASALLE ALSO HEARS GOOD NEWS

No one slept much that night in that happy household, for the news of Tom's escape had spread like wildfire among the townspeople of the quaint old port, and until long past midnight there were many callers, some coming on foot and some on horseback. Most of them were men and women who had known Tom since his infancy, and who had felt a deep and sincere sympathy for his father in the time of his affliction. And all were welcome.

Mr. Wallis, being a shrewd man, was at first rather concerned that the servants had already made it known that their visitor was a brother of Captain Casalle; but it was now too late to remedy the matter. On second thoughts, however, he felt sure that there was no danger to his guest at Port Kooringa, the people of which hardly knew that there was such a place as New Caledonia, and that sometimes convicts escaped from there to Australia. In Sydney, there would be some danger of Henry Casalle being recognized and recaptured, and sent back to a life of misery. This, however, was a matter to which he would attend; and indeed he had already outlined his plans to his guest.

It was nearly dawn before the last of the visitors had left, and then Mr. Wallis, his son, and Henry Casalle went out upon the verandah facing the sea, and had a quiet talk.

Cheerfully as he had spoken to Jack at dinner about the surety of Tom's return, Mr. Wallis was secretly anxious. As far as he could glean from the letter brought by Casalle, the Lady Alicia was returning to Sydney as soon as she had discharged her cargo at Noumea, but there was a possibility of Tom obtaining an earlier passage to Australia by the Virago. But the Lady Alicia should have been back in Sydney two months ago! What could have happened to her? he thought.

He decided to go to Sydney as quickly as possible, and announced his determination to Jack and Henry Casalle.

'We shall go to Sydney, Mr. Casalle-you, Jack, Nita, and I-and wait for your brother and the Malolo, and Tom and the Lady Alicia. I could not bear to remain here in suspense. The William the Fourth leaves to-night at six. Let us make our preparations at once.'

That evening, as the old Puffing Billy, as she was nicknamed, floundered and gasped and rolled sponsons under against the sweeping seas of the bar, and her long thin funnel sent up clouds of black smoke, Jack, his father, and Casalle waved their hands in farewell to old Foster and Kate, who, with the rest of the servants, were standing on the bluff to watch the steamer pass out. Little Nita was below with her maid-one of the stockmen's daughters.

Early one morning, after a tedious passage of nine days along the coast, Jack came on deck, and saw right ahead the bold outline of the North Head of Sydney, and in another hour the little steamer, which always seemed to be at her last gasp when there was the least sea on, groaned her way through the noble entrance into fair Sydney Harbour. The captain, a rough old sea dog, something after the style of old Sam Hawkins, beckoned to Jack to come up on the bridge, where he was soon joined by his father, both being anxious to see what men-of-war were lying in Farm Cove.

In half an hour they were abreast of the Cove, which lay embosomed in the vivid green of the loveliest gardens in the southern hemisphere, and presently Jack uttered a shout as several men-of-war were seen-one of which was a paddle-wheel barque-rigged steamer.

'That's the Virago, father. I've seen her twice passing Port Kooringa.'

'Ay, ay, that's her, Mr. Wallis,' said the captain. 'She ain't much to look at, neither. If I was to give the old Billy's funnel a coat o' yellow wash, she'd be just as good-looking.'

Hailing a passing schooner, the captain inquired how long the Virago had been in port.

'Three days about.'

'Has the Lady Alicia arrived?'

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.'

Mr. Wallis nodded. 'Of course I shall, at once. Now let me see what Tom says.'