wandered off into the bush again and spent the night
alone.

My next move was in the direction of Mount Margaret; and along the road
which I traversed I came across an interesting variety of picks, shovels,
and other mining tools, which had evidently been discarded by
disappointed prospectors. I decided not to enter this town but to go
round it; then I continued my tramp alone towards Coolgardie and thence
to Southern Cross.

After working for some time in the last-named town (my impressions of
"civilisation" would make another whole book), I made my way to Perth,
the capital of Western Australia. In Perth I was advised that it would
be better for me to go to Melbourne, as I would stand a much better
chance there of getting a ship on which I might work my passage to
Europe. Accordingly I proceeded to Melbourne as soon as I could, and the
only noteworthy incident there was my humorous interview with the French
Consul. I addressed that dignified functionary in execrable French,
telling him that I was a French subject and wanted to be sent back to
Europe. I bungled a great deal, and when my French failed I helped
myself out with English. The Consul waited patiently till I had
finished, stroking his beard the while, and looking at me in the most
suspicious manner.

"You claim this because you are a Frenchman?" he said.

"That is so," I replied, involuntarily relapsing into English once more.

"Well," he said coldly, as he turned away, "the next time you say you are
a Frenchman you had better not use any English at all, because you speak
that language better than I do."

I tried to argue the point with him, and told him I had been shipwrecked,
but when I went on to explain how long ago that shipwreck was, he smiled
in spite of himself, and I came away. From Melbourne I went to Sydney,
and from Sydney to Brisbane.

About May 1897, I found myself in Wellington, New Zealand, where I was
advised I stood an excellent chance of getting a ship to take me to
England. I sailed in the New Zealand Shipping Company's _Waikato_, and
landed in London in March 1898.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF LOUIS DE
ROUGEMONT***

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