A LOST FORTUNE 



dreamed so much about that fortune that when I 

 looked up I could just see a faint speck on the sky-line. 

 That was the bullock- wagon. 



" So I picked up my heavy stone and started in 

 pursuit. But, as you know, once a bullock- wagon 

 gets ahead, even if only a very short distance, it is 

 almost an impossibility for a man on foot to catch it up. 

 I tried hard to do so, but in spite of throwing away my 

 heavy burden I didn't overtake it for many hours, so 

 I missed my mine and my fortune. I couldn't go 

 back to find the stone, but I know now that 

 thereabouts is the richest gold mine in the world." 



Without being deterred or downcast by our terrible 

 experiences, we set out again for Penguin Island. The 

 weather was still very bad, and when we were a few 

 miles out the skipper gave orders to the " crew " to 

 put the sail up in order to steady the boat. The block 

 stuck with the sail half up. The skipper went forward 

 to move it, while I peeped out from the ladder of the 

 engine house cabin. He yelled to me to get to the 

 tiller, which was just above the deck, when the boom 

 swung across, striking my head, and knocking me 

 down into the little cabin. However, I got up and 

 caught hold of the tiller. The sail being set, the boat 

 steadied, and away she flew straight for some dangerous 

 reefs beyond which lay Penguin Island, on which 

 we could see the lighthouse. Upon reaching the reefs 

 we shot through a wall of spray, and finding a 



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