Page 172 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

CHAPTER VII. THE LAST OF

MACQUARIE HARBOUR.

ufus Dawes was believed to be dead by the party on
Rboard the Ladybird, and his strange escape was un-
known to those still at Sarah Island. Maurice Frere, if he
bestowed a thought upon the refractory prisoner of the
Rock, believed him to be safely stowed in the hold of the
schooner, and already half-way to Hobart Town; while not
one of the eighteen persons on board the Osprey suspected
that the boat which had put off for the marooned man had
returned without him. Indeed the party had little leisure
for thought; Mr. Frere, eager to prove his ability and en-
ergy, was making strenuous exertions to get away, and kept
his unlucky ten so hard at work that within a week from
the departure of the Ladybird the Osprey was ready for sea.
Mrs. Vickers and the child, having watched with some ex-
cusable regret the process of demolishing their old home,
had settled down in their small cabin in the brig, and on
the evening of the 11th of January, Mr. Bates, the pilot, who
acted as master, informed the crew that Lieutenant Frere
had given orders to weigh anchor at daybreak.
At daybreak accordingly the brig set sail, with a light
breeze from the south-west, and by three o’clock in the af-
ternoon anchored safely outside the Gates. Unfortunately

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