d in high spirits sat
down to partake of what we hoped would be our last meal but one before
we should find ourselves once more at sea.

The meal over, we proceeded to get the quarter boat hoisted to the
davits, which, heavy boat though she was for three men to handle, we
soon accomplished with the assistance of a couple of watch-tackles, in
the employment of which we had by this time, through much usage, become
experts. Then came the loosing and setting of the canvas. We decided
that, as before, we would rely upon the three topsails and the fore
topmast staysail to carry us to our destination, that being as much
canvas as we could conveniently handle; and an hour and a half sufficed
us to get these sails set to our satisfaction and braced ready for
casting the ship. Then, sending Grace Hartley aft to the wheel, which
she was now able to manipulate as deftly as any of us, Gurney and I
stood by the fore braces, while Saunders, armed with an axe, proceeded
to the forecastle and stood by to sever the hawser by which the ship
rode. At the proper moment the word was given, the axe fell once,
twice, and we were once more adrift, the ship gathering stern-way and
paying off with her helm hard a-starboard and the port fore braces
flattened in. She made a stern board until she was heading about south-
south-west, when the squared main and mizen topsails began to fill and
checked her, whereupon the head yards were squared, the staysail sheet
hauled over, the helm steadied, and the old _Mercury_ began to forge
ahead, not to stop again, as we hoped, until she should arrive in Sydney
Harbour.

And now the most ticklish part of our task lay before us, for we had to
navigate some forty-five miles of narrow, winding channel, and negotiate
several very awkward places, where the slightest mistake meant disaster,
before we should find ourselves once more rising and falling in safety
on the swells of the open Pacific. But we had talked the matter over a
dozen times or more before reaching this stage of our adventure, and
knew exactly what was best to be done. We therefore proceeded forthwith
to do it, for there is no time for hesitation when a ship is under way
in narrow waters; whatever has to be done must be done smartly and on
the instant. The channel which we had to traverse, and toward the
entrance of which the ship was now heading, started by heading due west
for a short distance, then it swerved to about south-west, then loo