How Captain Manton came to Sydney, and how he received a welcome of the heartiest1 description on all sides, is well known throughout the colony. His marvellous escape and subsequent adventures, and the strange discovery of him at Tana by Edgar Foster and Wal Jessop, have been related over and over again. His examination by the Marine2 Board was thoroughly3 satisfactory, and Captain Fife said no man could have done more than Captain Manton to save his ship.
The tall, commanding form of Captain Manton, and the pretty child accompanying him wherever he went, soon became familiar figures in the parks of Sydney. The big, stalwart seaman4 was wrapped up in his child, and his intense love for her was shown in every word and action.
They sat together for hours on the grassy5 slopes of the Botanical Gardens overlooking the harbour, and watched the big steamers pass to and fro, and the sailing vessels6 towed out from their snug7 berths8 to face the perils10 of an ocean voyage to some far-distant land. Those were halcyon11 days for little Eva Manton, and she often thought of them in after years, when the business of life had commenced for her in real earnest.
Leaving Captain Manton to rejoice in his new-found happiness, Edgar Foster took a trip out West to Yanda, in order to bid good-bye to his friends before finally departing for England.
They were all very pleased to see him at Yanda, and Ben Brody could not refrain from relating wonderful and improbable yarns12 about his experiences with Edgar in London.
‘It’s grown into a mighty13 big place,’ said Ben. ‘You fellows have no idea what London is like. Bless me if the people are not thicker on the pavements than sheep in a catching14 pen!’
‘What’s the mutton like over there?’ asked Jim Lee solemnly.
‘Nearly as juicy as it is here,’ said Ben, with a wink15, and a smack16 of the lips that betokened17 fond remembrances of sundry18 succulent London chops.
Yacka made quite a scene when he discovered that Edgar had returned. He summoned all the blacks in the neighbourhood, and a great corroboree took place in his honour.
To Edgar’s inquiries19 Yacka said he had resolved never to return to the country of the Enooma, or to the cave of the White Spirit, now no longer there.
Yacka was contented20 to live and die at Yanda, where Ben Brody and the hands were kind to him, and where he could idle away most of his time, and spend a savage21 life such as the blackfellow loves.
‘Would you not like to become civilized22,’ asked Edgar, ‘and cultivate the ways of the white man?’
‘No,’ said Yacka; ‘to be civilized means rum and ruin. Yacka loves his freedom, and wants no civilization.’
It was in vain Edgar endeavoured to induce Yacka to leave Yanda, and go to Sydney with him. The black was firm in his resolve never to quit Yanda again, and many years after Edgar learned that Yacka died at the station, and was much regretted, not only by the blacks, but also by the hands.
Before Edgar left Sydney he was entertained by the cricketers of the city at a banquet, and the speeches made on that memorable23 occasion were treasured by him. They were not mere24 after-dinner displays, but real, genuine words spoken from the heart, and Edgar accepted them as such.
Edgar made many attempts to induce Captain Manton to return to England with him.
The captain, however, was firm in his determination not to leave Sydney.
‘I want to end my days here in peace,’ he said to Edgar; ‘I have only Eva to live for, and I feel we shall be happy here with our good friends the Jessops. You will tell your father how much I thank him for all his kindness to me and mine.’
‘I am sorry you have decided25 to remain here,’ said Edgar; ‘we should all be so pleased to welcome you home.’
‘I feel I must remain, my lad,’ said Captain Manton. ‘I want to be near the place where I lost my wife and my ship, and all the poor souls who went down with her. God knows I did my best to save them, but it was not to be. I feel it to be my duty to stay here—a duty I owe to the dead who lie buried fathoms26 deep off this spot. At Watson’s Bay I hope to end my days, and I am thankful Eva has been restored to me to keep me from being lonely in my declining years.’
Wal Jessop became more reconciled to parting with Edgar Foster when he heard that Captain Manton had decided to remain and take a small cottage at Watson’s Bay.
‘I should have been lost without one of you,’ he said, ‘and I don’t know what the wife would have done without Eva. She loves that bairn as much as if she were her own.’
The day that Edgar sailed for home Captain Manton and Eva stood on the cliffs at Watson’s Bay, and watched the great steamer pass slowly through the Heads. They waved their handkerchiefs, and Captain Manton, looking through his glasses, spied Edgar leaning over the rails of the upper-deck also waving a farewell.
As he saw those two figures on the cliffs, Edgar Foster felt a sadness creep over him at the thought that he might never see them again. He watched them as the steamer ploughed its way south, until they were mere specks27 against the sky-line.
As for Captain Manton and Eva, they stood there until the steamer had disappeared, and only a faint line of smoke denoted where she had sunk below the horizon. Then the captain took Eva by the hand, and led her gently down the rough, steep, pathway to Wal Jessop’s cottage. He did not feel lonely, for he had his child to comfort him, and he knew the remainde............