ous paroxysm, which so alarmed and terrified the happy bridegroom,
that, when he recovered his senses, he found himself on the far, blue
ocean, with the adorable Celestina's marriage-portion, consisting of the
snug sum of fifty thousand dollars, wrapped up in a blue netting-purse
in his coat pocket. How the great bank-bills grinned at him, as if to
charge him with the wanton robbery and desertion! He gazed around in a
bewildered manner, and the first face that met his eye was that of his
brother-in-law, Jack Camford, who advanced with a woeful smile
distorting his fine features, and exclaimed,

"Upon my word, you're a lucky dog, Gilbert!"

"How so?" demanded the latter.

"To have married my sister the day before father failed, and thus
secured a pretty fair sum of money; and now to have escaped a tedious
wife and got safely off with it in your pocket," said Jack, with a
theatrical flourish of manner.

"But what does all this mean? Why are you here, and where is this ship
bound?"

"Well, I'm here--hum--I don't know why, save that life was intolerable
at home after the smash-up, and Winnie Morris heard I was getting wild,
and turned a cold shoulder on me, I fancied. As to this craft, that
reels and tumbles about like a reef of drunkards, she is bound for
Australia; so I suppose, in due time, you and I will be landed on the
shores of the golden Ophir, if we don't get turned into Davy Jones'
locker by some mishap."

"Australia!" exclaimed Gilbert, "what the deuce am I going there for;
and how came I in this place?"

"All I know is, I found you here asleep when I came aboard, and here you
have been asleep for the last three days, wearing off the effects of
your wedding-feast, I suppose. I thought best not to disturb you, as at
sea one may as well be sleeping as waking."

"But, Jack Camford! I cannot go to Australia," said Gilbert, still half
confounded.

"How are you going to avoid it?" asked Jack, laughing.

"True! but what will my bride say? Here I hold her fortune in my hand."

"Exactly! Divide it with me, if you please, and we'll increase it
four-fold e'er a year in the golden land."

"But I don't like the idea of going to Australia!" pursued Gilbert.

"Neither do I, very well," answered Jack; "but when folks can't do as
they will, they must do as they can, I've heard say."

Thus we leave our Australian adventurers and return to the land from
which they are so rapidly receding. We didn't know what else t