CHAPTER XXXVI.
SYDNEY.
Antelope sailed into Port Jackson, the body

of water leading to the city of Sydney. The
sun was rapidly sinking toward the horizon,

 

hanging up all sorts of cloud-fabrics in the west,
THE caLM or sunser. gay as the Christmas display that a dry-goods
dealer makes in his windows. Uneasy waters were subsiding for
the night, and near the shore there were surfaces as smooth and
glistening as gray polished steel. The shining waters of the harbor
widened on either hand. ‘The land sloped down to the water, jutting
out in points. and making charming little nooks where pretty villages
were cradled. From one of these villages a steamer was shooting
away, its bow headed for the city that is four miles from the ocean.
“How calm it is getting to be, Doctor Walton,” said Rick as he
watched the water.
“Yes; it would seem as if sunset ought to bring calm. We are
thinking then of rest.”
“< Sydney is the oldest city in Australia,” said the doctor to the boys.
“The very first settlement ?” inquired Ralph.
“Tet me explain. When the British government knew it could
not use the American colonies as a kind of sewer into which to drain
the bad blood of its society, that is to say, their convicts, they thought

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