There is but little more to tell, for the rescue of the _Golden Gates_ crew proved to be the last adventure that befell us on this extraordinarily eventful voyage. We made a very rapid run across to the China coast, and were detained but a short time in the Canton river, freights happening to be rather high and tonnage somewhat scarce--for a wonder--about the time of our arrival; I therefore met with no difficulty in obtaining a freight, with quick despatch, and within three weeks of our arrival we were once more at sea, this time Homeward-Bound! I must not forget to mention, by the way, that almost my first act, upon arriving at Hong Kong, was to write home two somewhat lengthy letters--one to my mother, acquainting her with the successful result of my quest, together with a full and detailed narrative of my adventures since leaving Sydney; and the other to my old and trusty friend, Mr Richards, acquainting him also with my success, and requesting him to undertake certain rather delicate negotiations for me, as well as to make certain preparations against the time of the _Esmeralda's_ arrival in the English Channel. Our homeward passage was as prosperous as it was uneventful. We were no sooner clear of our moorings than we caught a favourable breeze that followed us all the way until we had rounded the Cape of Good Hope and had caught the south-east trades, which in their turn carried us right up to, and indeed a few miles to the north of, the Line. Here we met with the usual light baffling airs, with plenty of rain and perhaps rather more than the average allowance of thunder and lightning. But this weather lasted only a trifle over forty-eight hours, when a small easterly air came to our rescue and fanned us along to the northward until we finally fell in with the north-east trades, the beneficent influence of which carried us as far north as the parallel of twenty-eight degrees. Here again kind Fortune favoured us; for when at length the trade-winds failed us, the wind gradually hauled round from the southward, and thence from the westward and north-west, hardening all the time, until at length it blew quite a fresh gale, which sent us bowling and staggering away to the northward and eastward under single-reefed topsails with topgallant sails over them, reeling off our fourteen knots hour after hour, and enabling us to hold our own for a whole day with one of the West Indian mail-boats, homeward-bound, much, no doubt, to the chagrin and astonishment of her officers. The breeze continued to freshen, however, and the sea to rise, necessitating first the handing of our topgallant sails, and, a little later on, the further reefing down of our topsails, when the great steamer gradually drew away from us, and by next morning was out of sight. This slant lasted us for four days, when the wind gradually softened into a moderate sailing breeze, veering all the time until it finally worked round from the southward once more, bringing with it