Boats were put off from the Deal beach. The boatmen there rightly
calculated that lucky gold-diggers wouldn't mind paying a pound a-piece
to get ashore, so they charged that, and got plenty of customers
notwithstanding.
On Sunday, the 27th of February, I again set foot on my native land. It
was evening when we reached the shore, and there was only an open
vehicle to convey us to the town of Deal itself. The evening was
bitterly cold, and the snow lay upon the ground. As we proceeded along,
the sounds of the Sabbath bell broke softly on the air. No greeting
could have been more pleasing or more congenial to my feelings.
Chapter XVIII.
CONCLUSION
As I trust that, in the foregoing pages, I have slightly interested my
readers in "our party," the following additional account of their
movements, contained in letters addressed to me by my brother, may not
be quite uninteresting.
The Ovens diggings are on the river of the same name, which takes its
rise in the Australian Alps, and flows into the Murray. As these Alps
separate New South Wales from Victoria, these diggings belong to the
latter province. They are about forty miles from the town of
Albury.
