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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00022092502 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 In the series of narratives to which his vol- 
 ume pertains, we offer to the readers of the 
 RoUo Books a continuation of the history of 
 our little hero, by giving them an account of 
 the adventures which such a boy may be sup- 
 posed to meet with in making a tour in Europe. 
 The books are intended to be books of instruc- 
 tion rather than of mere amusement; and in 
 perusing them, the reader may feel assured 
 that all the information which they contain, 
 not only in respect to the countries visited, and 
 to the customs, usages, and modes of life that 
 are described, but also in regard to the general 
 character of the incidents and adventures that 
 the young travelers meet with, is in most strict 
 accordance with fact. The main design of the 
 narrative is, thus, the communication of use- 
 ful knowledge ; and everything which they con- 
 tain, except what is strictly personal, in rela- 
 tion to the actors in the story, may be 
 depended upon as exactly and scrupulously 
 true. 
 
 3 
 
 95B479 
 
PRINCIPAL PERSONS OF THE STORY. 
 
 RoLLO : twelve years of age. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Holiday : Rollo's father and mother, trav- 
 eling in Europe. 
 Thanny: RoUo's younger brother. 
 
 Jane: Rollo's cousin, adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Holiday. 
 Mr. George: a young gentleman, RoUo's uncle. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEE, PAOB. 
 
 I. Taking Passage 7 
 
 II. The Embarkation 22 
 
 III. Departure 38 
 
 IV. Getting Settled 50 
 
 V. On Deck 63 
 
 VI. A Conversation 75 
 
 VII. Incidents 90 
 
 VIII. The Storm 109 
 
 IX. The Passengers' Lottery 128 
 
 X. The End of the Lottery 149 
 
 XL The Arrival 160 
 
 6 
 
\ 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 TAKING PASSAGE. 
 
 When RoUo was about twelve years of age, 
 he made a voyage to Europe under rather ex- 
 traordinary circumstances. He went alone; 
 that is to say, he had no one to take care of 
 him. In fact, in addition to being obliged to 
 take care of himself, he had also his little sis- 
 ter Jane to take care of; for she went with 
 him.* The way it happened that two such 
 children were sent to sea on such a long voy- 
 age, without any one to have them in charge, 
 was this : 
 
 Rollo's father and mother had gone to 
 Europe to make a tour, a year before this 
 time, and had taken Rollo's brother Nathan, 
 or Thanny, as Rollo used most frequently to 
 call him, with them. They had gone partly 
 
 *It ought here to be stated, that Jane was not really 
 Rollo's sister, though he always called her and consid- 
 ered her so. She was really his cousin. Her father and 
 mother had both died when she was about six years old, 
 and then Mr. and Mrs. Holiday had adopted her as their 
 own child, so that ever since that time she had lived 
 with Rollo and Nathan as their sister. She was very 
 nearly of the same age with Nathan. 
 
 7 
 
8 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 for pleasure, but more especially on account of 
 Mr. Holiday's health, which was not good. It 
 was thought that the voyage, and the recrea- 
 tion and pleasure of traveling in Europe, would 
 be a benefit to him. In certain cases where a 
 person's health is impaired, especially when 
 one is slowly recovering from past sickness, 
 nothing is found to have a more beneficial 
 effect upon the patient than for him to go away 
 somewhere and have a good time. It was de- 
 termined to try the effect of this remedy upon 
 Mr. Holiday, and so he went to Europe. Mrs. 
 Holiday went with him. They took Thanny, 
 too, to be company for them on the way. 
 Thanny was at this time about seven years 
 old. 
 
 A child of that age, for a traveling compan- 
 ion, is sometimes a source of great pleasure, 
 and sometimes, on the other hand, he is the 
 means of great annoyance and vexation. This 
 depends upon whether he is obedient, patient, 
 quiet, and gentle in his manners and demeanor, 
 or noisy, inconsiderate, wilful, and intractable. 
 A great many children act in such a manner, 
 whenever they take a journey or go out to ride 
 with their parents, that their parents, in self 
 defense, are obliged to adopt the plan of almost 
 always contriving to leave them behind. 
 
 It was not so, however, with Nathan. He 
 was an excellent boy in traveling, and always 
 made the ride or the journey more .pleasant 
 for those who took him with them. This was 
 the reason why, when it was determined that 
 Mr. and Mrs. Holiday should go to England, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 9 
 
 that Mrs. Holiday was very desirous that Na- 
 than should go, too. And so far as Nathan 
 was concerned, the voyage and the tour proved 
 to be all that Mr. and Mrs. Holiday expected 
 or desired. In regard to other points, how- 
 ever, it was less successful. Mr. Holiday did 
 not improve in health, and he did not have a 
 good time. Mrs. Holiday was anxious about 
 her husband's health, and she was uneasy, too, 
 at being separated so long from her other two 
 children — RoUo and little Jane, especially lit- ^ 
 tie Jane — whom she had learned to love as if 
 she were really her daughter. So, before the 
 year was ended, they both heartily Wished 
 themselves back in America again. 
 
 But now Mr. Holiday's health grew worse, 
 and he seemed too ill to return. This was in 
 the month of May. It was decided by the 
 physician, that it would not be best for him to 
 attempt to return until September, and per- 
 haps not until the following spring. Mrs. Hol- 
 iday was herself very much disappointed at 
 this result. She, however, submitted to it very 
 cheerfully. J|rJ rnii<;t be as good as Thanny, " 
 said she. * gayskbmits patiently to his disap- 
 pointments, and why should not I submit to 
 mine. His are as great, I suppose, for him to 
 bear as mine are for me. " 
 
 When Mrs. Holiday found that she could not 
 go to her children, she began to be very desir- 
 ous that her children should come to her. She 
 was at first almost afraid to propose such a 
 thing to her husband, as she did not see how 
 any possible plan could be formed for bringing 
 
10 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 RoUo and Jane across the wide and boisterous 
 Atlantic alone. She, however, at length one 
 day asked Mr. Holiday whether it would not 
 be possible in some way to accomplish it. 
 
 Mr. Holiday seemed half surprised and half 
 pleased when he heard this proposal. At first 
 he did not appear to know exactly what to say, 
 or even to think. He sat looking into the fire, 
 which was blazing in the grate before him, 
 lost apparently in a sort of pleasing abstrac- 
 tion. There was a faint smile upon his coun- 
 tenance, but he did not speak a word. 
 
 **That is an idea!" he said, at length, in a 
 tone of satisfaction. **That is really an idea!*' 
 
 Mrs. Holiday did not speak. She awaited in 
 silence, and with no little anxiety, the result 
 of her husband's meditations. 
 
 **That is really quite an idea!*' he said at 
 length. **Let us get RoUo and Jane here, and 
 then we shall feel entirely easy, and can re- 
 turn to America whenever we get ready, be it 
 sooner or later. We shall be at home at once 
 where we are. ' ' 
 
 **I suppose it will cost something to have 
 them come over," said Mrs. Holiday. She 
 was not so anxious to have the children come 
 as to desire that the question should be decided 
 without having all the objections fully consid- 
 ered. Besides, she was afraid that if the ques- 
 tion were to be decided hastily, without proper 
 regard to the difficulties that were in the way, 
 there would be danger that it would be recon- 
 sidered after more mature reflection, and the 
 decision reversed. So she wished that every- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 11 
 
 thing that could be brought against the project 
 should be fully taken into the account at the 
 outset. 
 
 '*I suppose," said she, *'that their expenses 
 in coming out, and in returning, and in remain- 
 ing here with us, in the interim, would amount 
 to a considerable sum.'* 
 
 **Yes,** said Mr. Holiday, **but that is of no 
 consequence." 
 
 **I don't know what we should do about hav- 
 ing them taken care of on the passage, ** added 
 Mrs. Holiday. 
 
 *'0, there would be no diJBficulty about that, " 
 said Mr. Holiday. George could easily find 
 some passenger coming out in the ship, who 
 would look after them while at sea, I have no 
 doubt. And if he should not find any one, it 
 would be of no consequence. Rollo could take 
 care of himself. *' 
 
 **And of Jane, too?" asked Mrs. Holiday. 
 
 •*Yes," replied Mr. Holiday, '*and of Jane, 
 too; that is, with the help of the chamber- 
 maids. They have excellent chambermaids on 
 board the Atlantic steamers." 
 
 So it was concluded to send for Rollo and 
 Jane to embark on board the steamer at New 
 York, and sail for Europe. Mr. Holiday wrote 
 to Rollo's uncle George, requesting him to 
 make the necessary arrangements for the voy- 
 age, and then to take the children to New 
 York, and put them on board. He was to com- 
 mit them, if possible, to the charge of some 
 one of the passengers on board the ship. If, 
 for any reason, he should not succeed in find- 
 
12 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 ing any passenger to take care of them, he was 
 to state the case to the captain of the ship, 
 that he might see to them a little from time to 
 time ; and, in addition to this, he was to put 
 them tinder the special charge of one of the 
 chambermaids, promising her that she should 
 be well rewarded for her services, on the ar- 
 rival of the ship in Liverpool. 
 
 The important tidings of the determination 
 which had been made, that Rollo and Jane 
 should actually cross the Atlantic, were first 
 announced to the children one evening near 
 the end of May. They were eating their sup- 
 per at the time, seated on a stone seat at the 
 bottom of the garden, where there was a 
 brook. Their supper, as it consisted of a 
 bowl of bread and milk for each, was very 
 portable, and they had accordingly gone 
 down to their stone seat to eat it, as they 
 often did on pleasant summer evenings. The 
 stone seat was in such a position that the set- 
 ting sun shone very cheerily upon it. On this 
 occasion, Rollo had finished his milk, and was 
 just going down to the brook by a little path 
 which led that way, in order to see if there 
 were any fishes in the water; while Jane was 
 giving the last spoonful of her milk to their 
 kitten. On the stone near where Jane was sit- 
 ting was a small bird-cage. This cage was one 
 which Jane used to put her kitten in. The 
 kitten was of a mottled color, which gave to 
 its fur somewhat the appearance of spots ; and 
 so J ane called the little puss her tiger. As it 
 War> obviously proper that a tiger should be 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 13 
 
 kept in a cage, Jane had taken a canary bird- 
 cage, which she found one day in the garret, 
 and had used it to put the kitten in. As she 
 took the precaution never to keep the prisoner 
 shut up long at a time, and as she almost 
 always fed it in the cage, the kitten generally 
 made no objections to going in whenever Jane 
 desired it. 
 
 **Here comes uncle George," said Rollo. 
 
 Jane was so busy pouring the spoonful of 
 milk through the bars of the cage into a little 
 shallow basin, which she kept for the purpose 
 within, that she could not look up. 
 
 *' He is coming down through the garden," 
 said Rollo; "and he has got a letter in his 
 hand. It's from mother, I know." 
 
 So saying, Rollo began to caper about with 
 delight, and then ran off to meet his uncle. 
 
 Jane finished the work of pouring out the 
 milk as soon as possible, and then followed 
 him. They soon came back again, however, 
 accompanying their uncle, and conducting him 
 to the stone seat, where the children sat down 
 to hear the letter. 
 
 ** Rollo," said Mr. George, **how should you 
 like to go to England?" 
 
 **To go to England?" said Rollo, in a tone of 
 exultation; **very much, indeed." 
 
 '* Should you dare to go alone?" said Mr. 
 George; ''that is, with nobody to take care of 
 you?" 
 
 •*Yes, indeed!" said Rollo, emphatically. 
 ••I should not need anybody to take care of 
 me." 
 
14 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 **I don't know but you will have togo, " 
 said Mr. George; *'and not only take care of 
 yourself, but of Jane besides/* 
 
 *'Why, am I to go, too?" asked Jane. As 
 she said this, she began to look quite alarmed. 
 
 *'How should you like the plan?" said Mr. 
 George. 
 
 **0, I should not dare to go, *' said Jane, 
 shaking her head with a very serious air. **I 
 should not dare to go at all, unless I had some- 
 body to take care of me bigger than Rollo. " 
 
 **Ha!" exclaimed Rollo, ''I could take care 
 of you perfectly well. I could buy the tickets 
 and show you down to supper, and help you 
 over the plank at the landings, and everything 
 else." 
 
 Rollo's experience of steamer life had been 
 confined to trips on Long Island Sound, or up 
 and down the Hudson River. 
 
 **I suppose you would be dreadfully sick on 
 the way," said Mr. George. 
 
 '*0, no," said Rollo, should not be sick. 
 What's the use of being sick? Besides, I never 
 am sick in a steamboat." 
 
 **No," said Jane, shaking her head and look- 
 ing quite anxious; *'I should not dare to go 
 with you at all. I should not dare to go unless 
 my mother were here to go with me ; or my 
 father, at least." 
 
 **I am afraid you will have to go," said Mr. 
 George, ** whether you are afraid to or not." 
 
 **That I shall have to go?" repeated Jane. 
 
 •'Yes," replied Mr. George. **Your father 
 has written me that he is not well enough to 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC, 15 
 
 come home, and I am to send you and Rollo 
 out in the next steamer. So that you see you 
 have nothing to say or to do about it. All you 
 have to do is to submit to destiny." 
 
 Jane did not know very precisely what was 
 meant by the phrase, submitting to destiny ; 
 but she understood very well that, in this case, 
 it meant that she must go to England to join 
 her father and mother, whether she liked the 
 the plan or not. She was silent a moment, 
 and looked very thoughtful. She then put 
 forth her hand to her kitten, which was just at 
 that moment coming out of the cage, having 
 finished drinking the milk which she had put 
 there for it, and took it into her lap, saying at 
 the same time : 
 
 **Well, then, I will go; only you must let me 
 take my Tiger with me. * * 
 
 *'That you can do," said Mr. George. **I am 
 very willing to compromise the matter with 
 you in that way. You can take Tiger with 
 you, if you choose. * ' 
 
 **And the cage, too?" said Jane, putting her 
 hand upon the ring at the top of it. 
 
 **Yes," said Mr. George, **and the cage, too." 
 
 **Well!" said Jane, speaking in a tone of 
 great satisfaction and joyousness, **then 1 will 
 go. Get into the cage, Tiger, and we'll go 
 and get ready." 
 
 The steamer was to sail in about a week 
 from this time. So Mr. George proceeded 
 immediately to New York to engage passage. 
 When Rollo's aunt, who had had the care of 
 him and Jane during the absence of Mr. and 
 
16 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 Mrs. Holiday, heard how soon the steamer 
 would sail, she said that she did not think 
 that that would afford time enough to get the 
 children ready. 
 
 **0, it takes no time," said Mr. George, •'to 
 get people ready to go to Europe. Put into 
 a trunk plenty of plain common clothing for 
 the voyage, and the work is done. As for the 
 rest, people can generally find pretty much 
 everything they want on the other side." 
 
 Mr. George went to New York to engage the 
 passage for the children. And inasmuch as 
 many of the readers of this book who reside 
 in the country may never have had the oppor- 
 tunity of witnessing the arrangements con- 
 nected with Atlantic steamers, they may per- 
 haps like to know how this was done. In the 
 first place, it was necessary to get a permit to 
 go on board the ship. The crowds of people 
 in New York, who are always going to and 
 fro, are so great, and the interest felt in these 
 great steamships is so strong, that if everybody 
 were allowed free access and egress to them, 
 the decks and cabins of the vessels would be 
 always in confusion. So they build a bar- 
 ricade across the great pier at which the ships 
 lie, with ponderous gates, one large one for 
 carts and carriages, and another smaller one 
 for people on foot, opening through it, and no 
 one is admitted without a ticket. Mr. George 
 went to the office in Wall Street and procured 
 such a ticket, wliich one of the clerks in at- 
 tendance there gave him, on his saying that 
 
ROtLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 11 
 
 he wished to go on board to select a state room 
 for some passengers. 
 
 Provided with this ticket, Mr. George took 
 an omnibus at Wall Street and rode up to 
 Canal Street. At Canal Street he took another 
 omnibus, which carried him nearly to the 
 East River. There he left the omnibus, and 
 proceeded the rest of the way on foot. The 
 crowd of people on the sidewalks going and 
 coming, and of carts, drays, wagons, and 
 coaches in the street, was immense. There 
 was one crossing where, for some time, Mr. 
 George could not get over^ so innumerable 
 and closely wedged together were the vehicles 
 of all descriptions that occupied the way. 
 There were many people that were stopped 
 with him on the sidewalk. Among them was 
 a servant girl, with a little boy under her 
 charge, whom she was leading by the hand. 
 The girl looked very anxious, not knowing how 
 to get across the street. 
 
 '*Let me carry the child across for you, *' said 
 Mr. George. 
 
 So saying he took the child up gently, but 
 quickly, in his arms, and watching a momen- 
 tary opening in the stream of carriages, he 
 pressed through, the servant girl following 
 him. He set the boy down upon the sidewalk. 
 The girl said that she was very much obliged 
 to him, indeed: and then Mr. George went on. 
 
 Just then a small and ragged boy held out 
 his hand, and with a most woe-begone expres- 
 sion of countenance and a piteous tone of voice, 
 begged Mr. George to give him a few pennies, 
 
 2 Atlantic 
 
1§ ROLLO on the ATLANTIC. 
 
 to keep him from starving. Mr. George took 
 no notice of him, but passed on. A moment 
 afterward he turned round to look at the boy 
 again. He saw him take a top out of his 
 pocket, and go to spinning it upon the side- 
 walk, and then, suddenly seeing some other 
 boys, the young rogue caught up his top and 
 ran after them with shouts of great hilarity 
 and glee. He was an imposter. Mr. George 
 knew this when he refused to give him any 
 money. 
 
 Mr. George then went on again. He came, 
 at length, to the great gates which led to the 
 pier. There was a man just within the gate, 
 walking to and fro, near the door of a sort 
 of office, or lodge, which he kept there. Mr. 
 George attempted to open the gate. 
 
 *' Please show your ticket, sir,*' said he. 
 
 Mr. George took out his ticket and gave it to 
 the porter, whereupon the porter opened the 
 gate and let him in. 
 
 Mr. George found himself under an enor- 
 mous roof, which spread itself like a vast 
 canopy over his head, and extended from side 
 to side across the pier. Under this vast shed 
 laborers were wheeling boxes and bales of 
 merchandise to and fro, while small steam 
 engines of curious forms and incessant activity 
 were at work hoisting coal on board the ships 
 from lighters alongside, and in other similar 
 operations. There were two monstrous steam- 
 ships lying at this pier, one on each side. Mr. 
 George turned toward the one on the left 
 There was v. long flight of steps leading up 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 19 
 
 from the pier to the decks of this ship. It was 
 formed by a staging, which extended from the 
 pier to the bulwarks of the ship, like a stair- 
 case, with a railing on each side. Mr. George 
 ascended these steps to the bulwarks, and 
 thence descended by a short flight of steps to 
 the deck itself, and then went along the deck 
 till he came to the door leading to the cabins. 
 
 He found within quite a number of cabins, 
 arranged on different floors, like the different 
 stories of a house. These cabins were very 
 resplendent with gilding and carving, and 
 were adorned with curtains and mirrors on 
 every side. They presented to Mr. George, 
 as he walked through them, a very imposing 
 spectacle. Along the sides of them were a 
 great many little bed rooms, called state 
 rooms. These state rooms were all very beau- 
 tifully finished, and were furnished with every 
 convenience which passengers could require. 
 Mr, George selected two of these state rooms. 
 They were two that were adjoining to each 
 other, and they were connected by a door. 
 There were two beds, or rather bed places, in 
 each state room, one above the other. Mr. 
 George chose the lower berth in one state 
 room for Rollo, and the lower one in the next 
 state room for Jane. When he had chosen 
 the berths in this manner, he wrote the name 
 of each of the children on a card, and then 
 pinned the cards up upon the curtains of the 
 respective berths. 
 
 ''There!" said he. ''That is all right. Now 
 perhaps some lady will take the other berth 
 
20 
 
 ROLLO ON THE AtLANTIC 
 
 in Jane's room, and some gentleman that in 
 Rollo's. Then they will both have company 
 in their rooms. Otherwise I must find some- 
 body to take care of them both." 
 
 Mr. George then left the ship and went back 
 to the office in Wall Street, to engage the 
 berths and pay the passage money. The office 
 was spacious and handsomely furnished, and 
 there were several clerks in it writing at 
 desks. 
 
 There were two rooms, and in the back room 
 was a table, with large plans of the ship upon 
 it, on which all the cabins and state rooms of 
 the several deciis were represented in their 
 proper positions. The names of the various 
 passengers that had engaged passage in the 
 ship were written in the several state rooms 
 which they had chosen. The clerk wrote the 
 names. Master Holiday and Miss Holiday, in 
 the state rooms which lAr. George pointed out 
 to him, and, when he had done so, Mr. George 
 looked over all :.he other names that had been 
 written in before, to see if there were any 
 persons whom he knew among them. To his 
 great gratification he found that there were 
 several such. 
 
 **Yes," said he, as he rose up from the exam- 
 ination of the plan, ** there are several gentle- 
 men there who will be very ready, under the 
 circumstances of the case, to do Mr. Holiday 
 the favor of looking after his children during 
 the voyage." 
 
 Being thus, in a measure, relieved of all solic- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 21 
 
 itude, Mr. George walked about the room a 
 few minutes, examining the pictures of the 
 several steamers of the line which were hang- 
 ing on the walls, and then went away. 
 
22 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE EMBARKATION. 
 
 The time fixed for the sailing of the steamer 
 was on Tuesday morning; and Mr. George, 
 in order to have time to communicate with 
 some of the gentlemen to whose care he in- * 
 tended to intrust the two children, planned 
 his journey to New York so as to arrive there 
 in good season on Monday. He supposed that 
 he should be able, without any difficulty, to 
 find one or the other of them in the afternoon 
 or evening of that day. 
 
 '*And if worst comes to the worst,** added 
 he to himself, in his reflections on the subject, 
 **I can certainly find them at the ship, by going 
 on board an hour or two before she sails, and 
 watching the plank as the passengers come up 
 from the pier.** 
 
 Worst did come to the worst, it seems ; for 
 when Mr. George came home at nine o'clock 
 in the evening, on Monday, and RoUo came 
 up to him very eagerly in the parlor of the 
 boarding house, to ask him whom he had 
 found to take charge of them, he was forced 
 to confess that he had not found any one. 
 
 **I am glad of it!** exclaimed Rollo, joyfully. 
 '*I am glad of it! I like it a great deal bet- 
 ter to take care of ourselves." 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 23 
 
 He then began dancing about the room, and 
 finally ran off in great glee, to inform Jane 
 of the prospect before them. Rollo was very 
 ambitious of being considered a man. 
 
 He found Jane sitting on the stairs with 
 another child of her own age, that she had 
 become acquainted with at the boarding house ; 
 for it was at a boarding house, and not at a 
 hotel, that Mr. George had taken lodgings for 
 his party. This child's name was Lottie; 
 that is, she was commonly called Lottie, though 
 her real name was Charlotte. She was a beau- 
 tiful child, with beaming black eyes, a radiant 
 face and dark glossy curls of hair hanging down 
 upon her neck. Jane and Lottie were playing 
 together in a sort of recess at a landing of the 
 stairs, where there was a sofa and a window. 
 They had Tiger and the cage with them. The 
 door was open and Tiger was playing about 
 the cage, going in and out at her pleasure. 
 
 '*Jane,*' said Rollo, **uncle George cannot 
 find anylDody to take care of you, and so I am 
 going to take care of you. * ' 
 
 Jane did not answer. 
 
 **Are you going to England?" asked Lottie. 
 
 •*Yes," replied Jane, mournfully; **and 
 there is nobody to go with us, to take care 
 of us.'* 
 
 *'I went to England once," said Lottie. 
 **Did you?" asked Jane; *'and did you go 
 across the Atlantic Ocean?" 
 **Yes," said Lottie. 
 
 ** Of course she did," Sraid Rollo; '* there is 
 jio other way." 
 
24 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 **And how did you get along?** said Jane. 
 
 *'0, very well,** said Lottie; '*we had a very 
 good time playing about the decks and cabins." 
 
 Jane felt somewhat reassured by these dec- 
 larations of Lottie, and she even began to think 
 that if there was nothing to be done in cross- 
 ing the Atlantic but to play about the decks 
 and cabins all the way, there was a possibility 
 that Rollo might be able to take care of her. 
 
 "My uncle is going on a voyage, too, to- 
 morrow,** added Lottie. 
 
 **What uncle?*' asked Jane. 
 , '*My uncle Thomas,'* said Lottie. ''He 
 lives in this house. He is packing up his trunk 
 now. He is going to Charleston. I wish I 
 were going with him.'* 
 
 **Do you like to go to sea?** asked Jane. 
 
 **Yes,** said Lottie, pretty well. I like to 
 see the sailors climb up the masts and rig- 
 ging ; and I like the cabins, because there are 
 so many sofas in them, and so many places to 
 hide.'* 
 
 Little Jane felt much less uneasiness at the 
 idea of going to sea after hearing Lottie give 
 such favorable accounts of her own experience. 
 Still she was not entirely satisfied. As for 
 Rollo, his eagerness to go independent of all 
 supervision did not arise wholly from vanity 
 and presumption. He was now twelve years 
 of age, and that is an age which fairly qualifies 
 a boy to bear some considerable burdens of 
 responsibility and duty. At any rate, it is an 
 age at which it ought to be expected that the 
 powers and characteristics of manhood should, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 25 
 
 at least, begin to be developed. It is right, 
 therefore, that a boy at that age should begin 
 to feel something like a man, and to desire that 
 opportunities should arise for exercising the 
 powers which he finds thus developing them- 
 selves and growing stronger every day within 
 him. 
 
 The fact that Lottie's uncle Thomas was 
 going to embark for Charleston on the same 
 day that had been fixed for Rollo's embarka- 
 tion for Europe might seem at first view a very 
 unimportant circumstance. It happened, how- 
 ever, that it led, in fact, to very serious conse- 
 quences. The case was this. It is necessary, 
 however, first to explain, for the benefit of 
 those readers of this book who may never have 
 had opportunities to become acquainted with 
 the usages of great cities, that there are two 
 separate systems in use in such cities for the 
 transportation respectively of baggage, and 
 of persons, from place to place. For bag- 
 gage and parcels, there are what are called 
 expresses. The owners of these expresses 
 have offices in various parts of the city, where 
 books are kept, in which a person may go and 
 have an entry made of any trunk, or bag, or 
 other package which he may wish to have con- 
 veyed to any place. He enters in the book 
 what the parcel is, where it is, and where he 
 wishes to have it taken. The express man 
 then, who has a great number of wagons 
 employed for this purpose, sends for the parcel 
 by the first wagon that comes in. 
 
 For persons who wish to be conveyed from 
 
26 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 place to place, there are carriages all the time 
 standing at certain points by the sides of the 
 streets, ready for any one who calls them, and 
 there are also stables where carriages are 
 always in readiness. Now, it so happened 
 that Lottie's uncle Thomas had concluded to 
 have his trunk taken down to the Charleston 
 ship by the express, intending to walk to the 
 pier himself from his office, which was in the 
 lower part of the city, not far from the pier 
 where his ship was lying. So he went to an 
 express office, and there, at his dictation, the 
 clerk made the following entry in his book — 
 
 Trunk at 780 Broadway, to steamer Caro- 
 lina, Pier No. 4, North River. To-morrow, at 
 half past nine o'clock. 
 
 On the other hand, Mr. George, as he 
 required a carriage to take the children down, 
 did not go to the express office at all. He 
 intended to take their trunk on the carriage. 
 So he went to the stable, and there, at his 
 dictation, the clerk made on the book there the 
 following entry — 
 
 Carriage at 780 Broadway. To-morrow, at 
 half past nine o'clock. 
 
 In accordance with this arrangement, there- 
 fore, a little after nine o'clock, both the trunks 
 were got ready at the boarding house, each in 
 its own room. The chambermaid in Rollo's 
 room, when she saw that the trunk was ready, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 27 
 
 offered to carry it down, which, as she was a 
 good strong Irish girl, she could very easily 
 do. She accordingly took it up in her arms and 
 carried it down stairs to the front entry, and 
 put it down near the door. One of the waiters 
 of the house was standing by when she did this. 
 
 •*What is that, Mary?" said he. 
 
 *'It is a trunk to go to the steamer, ' ' said 
 Mary. *' There is a man coming for it pretty 
 soon " 
 
 She meant, of course, that it was to go to 
 the Liverpool steamer, and the man who was 
 to come for it was the driver of the carriage 
 that Mr. George had engaged. She knew 
 nothing about any other trunk, as the room 
 which Lottie's uncle occupied was attended by 
 another chambermaid. 
 
 « 
 
 Mary, having deposited the trunk in its 
 place, returned up stairs, to assist in getting 
 RoUo and Jane ready. A moment afterward 
 the express man, whom Lottie's uncle had sent 
 for his trunk rang the door bell. The waiter 
 opened the door. 
 
 **I came for a trunk," said the man, **to take 
 to the steamer.** 
 
 **Yes," said the waiter. **Here it is, all 
 ready. They have just brought it down." 
 
 So the express man took up the trunk, and, 
 carrying it out, put it on his wagon; then, 
 mounting on his seat, he drove away. 
 
 Five minutes afterward, the carriage, which 
 Mr. George had engaged arrived at the door. 
 Mr. George and the children came down the 
 
^ ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 stairs. Mr. George, as soon as he reached the 
 lower hall, inquired, — 
 Where is the trunk 
 
 **The man has taken it, sir, *' said he. 
 
 **Ah, he has, has he? That is all right." 
 
 So Mr. George and the children got into the 
 carriage, the driver holding the door open for 
 them as they did so. As the drivei was about 
 to shut the door, Mr. George said, — 
 
 ** Steamer Pacific, foot of Canal Street." 
 
 The driver, taking this for his direction, 
 mounted his box, and drove rapidly away. 
 
 When the party arrived at the gates which 
 led to the pier they found a great concourse 
 of people and a throng of carts and carriages 
 blocking up the way. The great gate was open, 
 and a stream of carriages containing passen- 
 gers, and of carts and express wagons convey- 
 ing baggage, was pouring in. Mr. George's 
 carriage was admitted, at length, in its turn, 
 and drove on until it came opposite the long 
 stairway which led on board the ship. Here 
 it stopped, and Mr. George and the children 
 got out. 
 
 Where is the trunk?" said Mr. George, 
 looking before and behind the carriage. 
 **Why, where is the trunk? You have lost the 
 trunk off of the carriage, driver, in coming 
 down. ' * 
 
 '*No, sir," said the driver; ** there was no 
 trunk." 
 
 ** There certainly was," said Mr. George; 
 **and they told me that you had put it on." 
 *'No» sir," said the driver. **Tbis is the 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 29 
 
 first time I have heard anything about any 
 trunk. * * 
 
 Mr. George was now quite seriously alarmed. 
 
 He looked about this way and that, and did 
 not seem to know what to do. In the mean- 
 time the line of carriages from behind pressed 
 on, and the drivers of them began to call out 
 to clear the way. Mr. George found himself 
 compelled to decide upon something very 
 promptly. 
 
 ** Drive over to the other side of the pier," 
 said he, '*and wait there till I come.** 
 
 Then, taking the two children by the hand, 
 he began to lead them up a long plank by 
 which the people were going on board. 
 
 Mr. George said nothing, but continued to 
 lead the children along, the throng before and 
 behind them being so dense that they could 
 not see at all where they were going. When 
 they reached the top of the stairway, they 
 descended by a few steps, and so came on 
 board. The children then found themselves 
 moving along what seemed a narrow passage 
 way, amid crowds of people, until at length 
 they came to a short and steep flight of steps, 
 which led up to what seemed to Jane a sort of 
 a roof. The balustrade, or what served as 
 balustrade for these steps, was made of rope, 
 and painted green. By help of this rope, and 
 by some lifting on the part of Mr. George, 
 Rollo and Jane succeeded in getting up, and, 
 at length, found themselves in a place where 
 they could see. 
 
 They were on what was called the promenade 
 
30 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 deck. There were masts, and a great smoke- 
 pipe, and a great amount of ropes and rigging 
 rising up above them, and there were many 
 other curious objects around. The children 
 had, however, no time to attend to these things, 
 for Mr. George led them rapidly along to that 
 part of the promenade deck which was opposite 
 to the long plank, where the people were com- 
 ing up from the pier. Mr. George left the chil- 
 dren here for a minute or two, while he went 
 and brought two camp stools for them to sit 
 upon. He placed these stools near the edge 
 of the deck. There was a railing to keep them 
 from falling off. 
 
 There, children,*' said he. **Now you can 
 sit here and see the people come on board. It 
 is a very funny thing to see. I am going after 
 the trunk. You must not mind if I don't come 
 back for a long time. The ship will not sail 
 yet for two hours. You must stay here, how- 
 ever, all the time. You must not go away 
 from this place on any consideration." 
 
 So saying, Mr. George went away. A 
 moment afterward the children saw him going 
 down the plank to the pier. As soon as he 
 reached the pier he forced his way through the 
 crowd to the other side of it, where the carri- 
 age was standing. The children watched him 
 all the time. When he reached the carriage, 
 they saw that he stopped a moment to say a 
 few words to the driver, and then hastily got 
 into the carriage. The driver shut the door, 
 mounted upon the box, and then drove out 
 through the great gate and disappeared. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. SI 
 
 What Mr. George said to the driver was this. 
 
 '*Now, driver, we have got just two hours to 
 find that trunk. I pay you full fare for the 
 carriage for the two hours at any rate, and if 
 we find the trunk and get it on board that ship 
 before she sails, I pay you five dollars over. 
 Now take me up to 780 Broadway as quick as 
 you can go.'* 
 
 When the children found themselves thus 
 left, they could not help feeling for a moment 
 a very painful sensation of loneliness, although 
 they were, in fact, surrounded with crowds, 
 and were in the midst of a scene of the great- 
 est excitement. Even RoUo found his cour- 
 age and resolution ebbing away. He sat for 
 a little time without speaking, and gazing upon 
 the scene of commotion which he saw exhibited 
 before him on the pier with a vague and bewil- 
 dered feeling of anxiety and fear. Presently 
 he turned to look at Jennie. He saw that she 
 was trying to draw her handkerchief from her 
 pocket, and that tears were slowly trickling 
 down her cheek. 
 
 Jennie," said he, don't cry. Uncle 
 George will find the trunk pretty soon, and 
 come back, 
 
 It might, perhaps, be supposed that Rollo 
 would have been made to feel more dispirited 
 and depressed himself from witnessing Jennie's 
 dejection ; but the effect was really quite the con- 
 trary of this. In fact, it is found to be uni- 
 versally true, that nothing tends to nerve the 
 heart of man to greater resolution and energy 
 in encountering and struggling against the 
 
32 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 dangers and ills that surround him, than to 
 have a woman near him and dependent upon 
 him, and to see her looking up to him for pro- 
 tection and support. It is true that Rollo was 
 not a man, nor was Jennie a woman. But 
 even in their early years the instincts and sym- 
 pathies, which exercise so powerful a control 
 over human heart in later periods of life, began 
 to develop themselves in embryo forms. So 
 Rollo found all his courage and confidence 
 coming back again when he saw Jennie in 
 tears. 
 
 Besides, he reflected that he had a duty to 
 perform. He perceived that the time had now 
 come for him to show by his acts that he was 
 really able to do what he had been so eager to 
 undertake. He determined, therefore, that 
 instead of yielding to the feelings of fear and 
 despondency which his situation was so well 
 calculated to inspire, he would nerve himself 
 with resolution, and meet the emergencies of 
 the occasion like a man. 
 
 The first thing to be done, as he thought, 
 was to amuse Jane, and divert her attention, 
 if possible, from her fears. So he began to 
 talk to her about what was taking place before 
 them on the pier. 
 
 '*Here comes another carriage, Jennie," said 
 he. "Look, look! See what a parcel of 
 trunks they have got on behind. That passen- 
 ger has not lost his trunks, at any rate. See 
 all these orange women, too, Jennie, standing 
 on the edge of the pier. How many oranges 
 they have got. Do you suppose they will sell 
 
o 
 > 
 
 H 
 > 
 
 r 
 > 
 z 
 o 
 w 
 o 
 
 2: 
 
 o 
 JO 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 33 
 
 them all? O Jennie, Jennie, look there! See 
 that great pile of trunks going up into the 
 air." 
 
 Jane looked in the direction where Rollo 
 pointed, and saw a large pile of trunks and 
 boxes, eight or ten in all, slowly rising into 
 the air, being drawn up by means of a mon- 
 strous rope, which descended from a system of 
 pulleys and machinery above. After attain- 
 ing a considerable height, the whole mass 
 slowly moved over toward the ship, and after 
 reaching the center of the deck it began to 
 descend again, with a great rattling of chains 
 and machinery, until it disappeared from view 
 somewhere on board. 
 
 •*That is the way they get the baggage on 
 board, Jennie,'* said Rollo. I never should 
 have thought of getting baggage on board in 
 that way; should you, Jennie? I wonder 
 where the trunks go to when the rope lets 
 them down. It is in some great black hole, I 
 have no doubt, down in the ship. The next 
 load of trunks that comes I have a great mind 
 to go and see." 
 
 **No, no!** said Jane, ** you must not go away. 
 Uncle George said that we must not move 
 away from here on any account." 
 
 "So he did, " said Rollo. ''Well, I won*t go. *' 
 
 After a short time, Jennie became so far 
 accustomed to her situation as to feel in some 
 degree relieved of her fears. In fact, she 
 began to find it quite amusing to watch the 
 various phases which the exciting scene that 
 was passing before her assumed. Rollo endeav. 
 
 8 Atlantio 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 ored still more to encourage and cheer her, by 
 frequently assuring her that their uncle would 
 soon come back. He did this, indeed, from 
 the best of motives; but it was not wise or even 
 right to do so, for he could not possibly know 
 when his uncle would come back, or even 
 whether he would come back at all. 
 
 In the meantime, the crowd of carriages and 
 people coming and going on the pier was con- 
 tinually increasing as the time for the depart- 
 ure of the ship drew nigh. There were more 
 than one hundred passengers to come on 
 board, and almost every one of these had many 
 friends to come with them, to bid them good 
 by; so that there was a perpetual movement 
 of carriages coming and going upon the pier, 
 and the long plank which led up to the ship 
 was crowded with people ascending and 
 descending in continuous streams. The paddle 
 wheels were all the time in motion, though 
 the ship, being yet fastened to the shore, could 
 not move away. The wheels, however, pro- 
 duced a great commotion in the water, cover- 
 ing the surface of it with rushing foam, and at 
 the same time the steam was issuing from the 
 escape pipe with a roaring sound, which 
 seemed to crown and cover, as it were, without 
 at all subduing the general din. 
 
 Rollo had one very extraordinary proof of 
 the deep and overwhelming character of the 
 excitement of this scene, in an accident that 
 occurred in the midst of it, which, for a 
 moment, frightened him extremely. The pier 
 where the steamer was lying was surrounded 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 35 
 
 by other piers and docks, all crowded with 
 boats and shipping. It happened that not 
 very far from him there lay a small vessel, a 
 sloop, which had come down the North River, 
 and was now moored at the head of the dock. 
 There was a family on board this sloop, and 
 while Rollo was by chance looking that way, 
 he saw a small child, perhaps seven or eight 
 years old, fall off from the deck of the sloop 
 into the water. The child did not sink, being 
 buoyed up by her clothes ; and as the tide was 
 flowing strong at that time, an eddy of the 
 water carried her slowly along away from the 
 sloop toward the shore. The child screamed 
 with terror, and Rollo could now and then 
 catch the sound of her voice above the roaring 
 of the steam. The sailors on board the sloop 
 ran toward the boat, and began to let it down. 
 Others on the shore got ready with poles and 
 boat hooks, and though they were probably 
 shouting and calling aloud to one another, 
 Rollo could hear nothing but now and then the 
 scream of the child. At length a man came 
 running down a flight of stone steps which led 
 from the pier to the water in a corner of the 
 dock, throwing off his coat and shoes as he 
 went down. He plunged into the water, swam 
 out to the child, seized her by the clothes with 
 one hand, and with the other swam back with 
 her toward the steps and there they were both 
 drawn out by the bystanders together. 
 
 This scene, however, exciting as it would 
 have been under any other circumstances, pro- 
 duced very little impression upon the great 
 
36 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 crowd that was engaged about the steamer. 
 A few boys ran that way to see how the affair 
 would result. Some others, standing on the 
 deck of the ship or on the pier, turned and 
 looked in the direction of the child. Other- 
 wise everything went on the same. The car- 
 riages went and came, the people walked 
 eagerly about among each other, exchanging 
 farewells. The paddle wheels continued their 
 motion, the steam pipe kept up its deafening 
 roar, and the piles of trunks continued to rise 
 into the air and swing over into the ship, with- 
 out any interruption. 
 
 The time passed rapidly on, and Mr. George 
 did not return. At length but few new carri- 
 ages came and the stream of people on the 
 great plank seemed to flow all one way, and 
 that was from the ship to the pier; while the 
 crowd upon the pier had increased until it had 
 become a mighty throng. At length the officer 
 in command gave orders to rig the tackle to 
 the great plank stair, with a view to heaving 
 it back upon the pier. The last, lingering vis- 
 itors to the ship, who had come to take leave 
 of their friends, hastily bade them farewell 
 and ran down the plank. The ship, in fact, 
 was just on the point of casting off from the 
 pier, when suddenly Mr. George's carriage 
 appeared at the great gate. It came in among 
 the crowd at a very rapid rate ; but still it was 
 so detained by the obstructions which were in 
 the way, that before it reached its stopping- 
 place the plank had begun slowly to rise into 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 87 
 
 the air, and the men on the pier had begun to 
 throw off the fastenings. 
 
 *'You are too late, sir/' said a man to Mr. 
 George. ** You cannot get on board. " 
 
 **Put that trunk on board,'* said Mr. George. 
 ''That's all." 
 
 The man took up the trunk, which was by no 
 means heavy, and just succeeded in passing it 
 through into a sort of porthole, near the engine, 
 which happened to be open. Mr. George then 
 looked up to the place where he had left the 
 children, and shouted out to them, — 
 
 "Good by, children; don't be afraid. Your 
 father will come to the ship for you at Liver- 
 pool. Good by, Jennie. Rollo will take excel- 
 lent care of you. Don't be afraid. ' * 
 
 By this time the ship was slowly and 
 majestically moving away from the pier; and 
 thus it happened that Rollo and Jennie set out 
 on the voyage to Europe, without having any 
 one to take them in charge. 
 
1 
 
 &8 ROLLO ON THE ATLANtlC. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DEPARTURE. 
 
 The moving away of the steamer from the 
 pier had the effect of producing a striking illus- 
 ion in Jane's mind. 
 
 **Why, RoUo!" she exclaimed, looking up to 
 RoUo, quite alarmed, ''the pier is sailing away 
 from us, and all the people on it." 
 
 ''O, no,** said Rollo, "the pier is not sailing 
 away. We are sailing away ourselves.'* 
 
 Jane gazed upon the receding shore with a 
 look of bewildered astonishment. Then she 
 added in a very sorrowful and desponding tone : 
 
 *'0, RoUo! you told me that uncle George 
 would certainly come back ; and now he is not 
 coming back at all. * * 
 
 *'Well, I really thought he would come 
 back,*' said Rollo. "But never mind, Jennie, 
 we shall get along very well. We shall not 
 have to get out of this ship at all till we get to 
 Liverpool ; and we shall find father at Liver- 
 pool. He will come on board for us at Liver- 
 pool, I am sure, before we land; and mother, 
 too, I dare say. Just think of that, Jennie! 
 Just think of that!*' 
 
 This anticipation would doubtless have had 
 considerable influence in calming Jennie's 
 mind, if she had had any opportunity to dwell 
 
kOLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 39 
 
 upon it; but her thoughts were immediately 
 diverted to the spectacle which was exhibiting 
 itself on the pier. The great throng of people 
 which had assembled there seemed to be press- 
 ing on toward the end of the pier, accompany- 
 ing the ship, as it were, in its motion, as it 
 glided smoothly away. As they thus crowded 
 forward, all those who had opportunity to do 
 so climbed up upon boxes and bales of mer- 
 chadise, or on heaps of wood or coal, or on 
 posts or beams of wood, wherever they could 
 find any position which would raise them above 
 the general level of the crowd. This scene, 
 of course, strongly attracted the attention both 
 of RoUo and of Jane. 
 
 And here it must be remarked, that there 
 are three distinct scenes of bidding farewell 
 that an Atlantic steamer passes through in put- 
 ting to sea. In the first place, the individual 
 voyagers take leave of their several friends, by 
 tvords of good-by and other personal greetings, 
 on the decks and in the cabins of the ship, be- 
 fore she leaves the pier. Then, secondly, the 
 company of passengers, as a whole, give a 
 good-by to the whole company of visitors, who 
 have come to see the ship sail, and who remain 
 standing on the pier as the vessel goes away. 
 This second good-by cannot be given by words, 
 for the distance is too great to allow of words 
 being used. So they give it by huzzas, and 
 by the waving of hats and handkerchiefs. 
 
 This second farewell was now about to be 
 given. The gentlemen on the pier took off 
 their hats, and, waving them in the air, 
 
40 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. / 
 
 shouted hurrah in concert, three times, with 
 great energy. The company of passengers on 
 board the ship then responded, by shouting 
 and waving their hats in return. The ladies, 
 both on the pier and in the ship, performed 
 their part in this ceremony by waving their 
 handkerchiefs and clapping their hands. By 
 this time the steamer, which had been rapidly 
 increasing the speed of its motion all the 
 while, was now getting quite out into the 
 stream, and was turning rapidly down the 
 river. This change in the direction in which 
 the steamer was going carried the pier and all 
 the people that were upon it entirely out of the 
 children's view, and they saw themselves glid- 
 ing rapidly along the shore of the river, which 
 was formed of a long line of piers, with for- 
 ests of masts surmounting them, and long ranges 
 of stores and warehouses beyond. Nearer to 
 the steamer on the water of the river, and on 
 either had, were to be seen sloops, ships, ferry 
 boats, scows and every other species of water 
 craft, gliding to and fro in all directions. 
 While gazing with great interest on this scene 
 as the steamer moved along, Jane was suddenly 
 sartled and terrified at the sound of a heavy 
 gun, which seemed to be fired close to her ear. 
 It was soon evident that the gun had been fired 
 from on board the steamer, for a great puff of 
 smoke rose up into the air from the bows of 
 the vessel, and slowly floated away. Immedi- 
 ately afterward another gun was fired, louder 
 than the first. 
 I have said that there were three farewells. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 41 
 
 The first is that of the individual passengers 
 to their individual friends. The second is that 
 of the whole company of passengers to the 
 company of spectators on the pier. The third 
 is the ship's farewell to the city. Of course, 
 for a ship to speak to a city, a very loud voice 
 is required. So they provide her with a gun. 
 In fact, a great steamer proceeding to sea may 
 be considered as, in some respects, like a 
 mighty animal. The engine is its heart ; the 
 paddle wheels are its limbs ; the guns are its 
 voice; the captain is its head; and, finally, 
 there is a man always stationed on the lookout 
 in the extreme forward part of the ship, who 
 serves the monster for eyes. Jane was quite 
 terrified at the sound of the guns. 
 
 *'0, Rollo!** exclaimed she, '*I wish they 
 would not fire any more of those dreadful 
 guns." 
 
 *'I don't think they will fire any more,' said 
 Rollo. **In fact, I am sure they will not, for 
 they have fired two now, and they never fire 
 more than two." 
 
 Rollo was mistaken in this calculation, 
 though he was right in the general principle 
 that the number of guns usually discharged 
 by a steamer going to sea, as its parting 
 salute, is two. In this case, however, the 
 steamer, in passing on down the river, came 
 opposite to a place in Jersey City, where a 
 Steamer of another line was lying moored to 
 her pier, waiting for her own sailing day. 
 Now, as the Pacfiic passed by this other steam- 
 er, the men on board of the latter, having pre- 
 
42 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 viously made everything ready for the cere- 
 mony, fired two guns as a salute to her, by way 
 of bidding her farewell and wishing her a good 
 voyage. Of course, it was proper to respond 
 to the compliment, and this called for two guns 
 more. This made, in fact, a fourth farewell, 
 which having been spoken, the firing was over. 
 The Pacific, having thus taken leave of the 
 city, and also of her sister steamer on the Jer- 
 sey shore, had now nothing to do but to pro- 
 ceed as fast as possible down the harbor and 
 out to sea. ^ 
 
 The scenes which are' presented to view on 
 every hand in passing down New York Harbor 
 and Bay are very magnificent and imposing. 
 Ships, steamers, long ferry boats, tugs, sloops, 
 sail boats, and every other species of water 
 craft, from the little skiff that bobs up and 
 down over the waves made by the steamboat 
 swell to the man-of-war riding proudly at an- 
 chor in the stream, are seen on every hand. 
 The shores, too, present enchanting pictures 
 of rich and romantic beauty. There are villas 
 and cottages, and smooth grassy lawns, and 
 vast fortifications, and observatories, and light- 
 houses, and buoys, and a great many other 
 objects, which strongly attract the attention 
 and excite the curiosity of the voyager, espe- 
 cially if he has been previously accustomed only 
 to traveling on land. 
 
 While the children were looking at these 
 scenes with wonder and admiration, as the 
 ship passed down the harbor, a young-looking 
 man who appeared to belong to the ship, came 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 43 
 
 to them and told them that if they wished to 
 remain on deck, they had better go and sit 
 upon the settees. So saying, he pointed to 
 several large and heavy-looking settees, which 
 were placed near the middle of the deck, 
 . around what seemed to be a sort of skylight. 
 These settees were all firmly secured to their 
 places with strong cords, by means of which 
 they were tied by the legs to some of the fix- 
 tures of the skylights. In obedience to this 
 suggestion, the children went and took their \ 
 places upon a settee. Jane carried the cage, 
 containing Tiger, which she had kept carefully 
 with her thus far, and put it down upon the 
 settee by her side. The man who had directed 
 the children to this place, and who was a sort 
 of mate, as they call such officers at sea, looked 
 at the kitten with an expression of contempt 
 upon his countenance, but said nothing. He 
 took the camp stools which the children had 
 left, and carried them away. 
 
 **I am sure I don't know what we are to do 
 next," said Jane, mournfully, after sitting for 
 a moment in silence. 
 
 '*Nor I," rejoined Rollo, **and so I am going 
 to follow uncle George's rules.'* 
 
 Mr. George had given Rollo these rules, as a 
 sort of universal direction for young persons 
 when traveling alone : 
 
 1. Do as you see other people do. 
 
 2. When you cannot find out in this or in 
 any other way what to do, do nothing. 
 
 In accordance with this advice, Rollo con- 
 cluded to sit still upon the settee, where the 
 
44 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 ship's officer had placed him, and do nothing. 
 In the meantime, however, he amused himself 
 in watching the ships and steamers which he 
 saw sailing to and fro about the harbor, and in 
 pointing out to Jane all the remarkable objects 
 which he observed from time to time along the 
 shores. 
 
 Among other things which attracted his at- 
 tention, he noticed and watched the movements 
 of a man who stood upon the top of one of the 
 paddle boxes on the side of the ship, where he 
 walked to and fro very busily, holding a speak- 
 ing trumpet all the time in his hand. Every 
 now and then, he would call out, in a loud 
 voice, a certain word. Sometimes it was port, 
 sometimes it was starboard, and sometimes it 
 was steady. Rollo observed that it was always 
 one or the other of those three words. And 
 what was still more curious, Rollo observed 
 that, whenever the man on the paddle box 
 called out the word, the officer on the deck, 
 who kept walking about there all the time to 
 and fro, would immediately repeat it after him, 
 in a loud but in a somewhat singular tone. 
 While he was wondering what this could mean, 
 a gentleman, who seemed to be one of the pas- 
 sengers, came and sat down on the settee close 
 by his side. Rollo had a great mind to ask 
 him who the man on the paddle box was. 
 
 ''Well, my boy," said the gentleman, "you 
 are rather young to go to sea. How do you 
 like it?" 
 
 "Pretty well, sir," said Rollo. 
 
 **We are going out in fine style," said th^ 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 45 
 
 gentleman. *'We shall soon be done with the 
 pilot." 
 
 **The pilot?" said Rollo, inquiringly. 
 
 **Yes," said the gentleman. ** There he is, 
 on the paddle box. ' * 
 
 **Is that the pilot?" asked Rollo. **I thought 
 the pilot was the man who steered." 
 
 *'No," replied the gentleman, **he is the 
 man who gives directions how to steer. He 
 does not steer himself. The man who steers 
 is called the helmsman. There he is." 
 
 So saying, the gentleman pointed toward the 
 stern of the ship where there was a sort of plat- 
 form raised a little above the deck, with a row 
 of panes of glass, like a long narrow window, 
 in front of it. Through this window Rollo 
 could see the head of a man. The man was 
 standing in a recess which contained the wheel 
 by means of which the ship was steered. 
 
 *'The pilot keeps a lookout on the paddle 
 box," continued the gentleman, ** watching the 
 changes in the channel, and also the move- 
 ments of the vessels which are coming and go- 
 ing. When he wishes the helm to be put to 
 the right, he calls out Starboard! When he 
 wishes it to be put to the left, he calls out Port! 
 And when he wishes the ship to go straight 
 forward as she is, he calls out Steady!" 
 
 Just then the pilot, from his lofty lookout on 
 the paddle box, called out, **Port!" 
 
 The officer on the deck repeated the com- 
 mand, in order to pass it along to the helms- 
 man, **Port!" 
 
 The helmsman then repeated it again, by 
 
46 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 way of making it sure to the officer that he 
 had heard it and was obeying it, *'Port!*' 
 
 There were two or three dashing-looking 
 young men walking together up and down the 
 deck, and one of them, on hearing these com- 
 mands, called out, not very loud, but still in 
 such a manner as that all around him could 
 hear, and imitating precisely the tones in 
 which the pilot's order had been given, 
 '\Sherry!*' 
 
 Whereupon there was a great laugh among 
 all the passengers around. Even the stern and 
 morose-looking countenance of the officer re- 
 laxed into a momentary smile. 
 
 *'Now look forward at the bows of the ship, " 
 said the gentleman, *'and you will see her 
 change her course in obedience to the command 
 of the pilot to port the helm/* 
 
 Rollo did so, and observed the effect with 
 great curiosity and pleasure. 
 
 *'I thought the captain gave orders how to 
 steer the ship,*' said Rollo. 
 
 **He does,'* said the gentleman, *'after we 
 get fairly clear of the land. It is the captain's 
 business to navigate the ship across the ocean, 
 but he has nothing to do with directing her 
 when she is going in and out of the harbor.'* 
 The gentleman then went on to explain that at 
 the entrances of all rivers and harbors there 
 were usually rocks, shoals, sand bars, and 
 other obstructions, some of which were contin- 
 ually shifting their position and character, 
 and making it necessary that they should be 
 studied and known thoroughly by some one 
 
 a 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. A1 
 
 who is all the time upon the spot. The men 
 who do his are called pilots. The pilots of 
 each port form a company, and have estab- 
 lished rules and regulations for governing all 
 their proceedings. They go out to the mouth 
 of the harbor in small vessels called pilot 
 boats, where they wait, both in sunshine and 
 storm, for ships to come in. When a ship 
 approaches the coast and sees one of these pilot 
 boats, it makes a signal for a pilot to come, on . 
 board. Tfhe pilot boat then sails toward the . 
 ship, and when they get near enough they let r 
 down a small boat, and row one of the pilots 
 on board the vessel, and he guides the ship in. 
 In the same manner, in going out of port, the 
 pilot guides the ship until they get out into 
 deep water, and then a pilot boat comes up 
 and takes him off the ship. The ship then 
 proceeds to sea, while the pilot boat continues 
 to sail to and fro about the mouth of the har- 
 bor, till another ship appears. 
 
 **And will this pilot get into a pilot boat and 
 go back to New York?** asked RoUo. 
 
 **Yes, '* replied the gentleman, ''and the 
 passengers can send letters back by him, if 
 they wish. They of ten do. " 
 
 *'And can I?** asked RoUo. 
 
 *' Yes, replied the gentleman. ** Write yduT 
 letter, and I will give it to him. " 
 
 Rollo had a small inkstand in his pocket, 
 and also a pocketbook with note papers folded 
 up, and envelopes in it. This was. an appar- 
 atus that he always carried with him when he 
 traveled. He took out one of his sheets of 
 
48 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 note paper, and wrote upon it the following 
 letter : — 
 
 Dear Uncle George: 
 
 This is to inform you that we have found a 
 good seat, and are getting along very well. 
 Your affectionate nephew, 
 
 R. Holiday. 
 
 Rollo made his letter shorter than he other- 
 wise would have done, on account of having 
 been informed by the gentleman, when he had 
 just written the first line, that the pilot boat 
 was coming in sight. So he finished his writ- 
 ing, and then folded his note and put it in its 
 envelope. He sealed the envelope with a 
 wafer, which he took out of a compartment of 
 his pocketbook. He then addressed it to his 
 uncle George in a proper manner, and it was 
 all ready. The gentleman then took it and 
 carried it to the pilot, who was just then com- 
 ing down from the paddle box and putting on 
 his coat. 
 
 By this time the pilot boat had come pretty 
 near to the ship, and was lying there upon the 
 water at rest, with her sails flapping in the 
 wind. The engine of the ship was stopped. 
 A small boat was then seen coming from the 
 pilot boat toward the ship. The boat was 
 tossed fearfully by the waves as the oarsmen 
 rowed it along. When it came to the side of 
 the ship a sailor threw a rope to it, and it was 
 held fast by means of the rope until the pilot 
 got on board. The rope was then cast off, and 
 the boat moved away. The engine was now 
 
5 
 
 t3d 
 
 > 
 JO 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 w 
 H 
 
 > 
 
 w 
 1—1 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 49 
 
 put in motion again, and the great paddle 
 wheels of the ship began to revolve as before. 
 RoUo watched the little boat as it went bound- 
 ing over the waves, afraid all the time that it 
 would be upset, in which case his letter would 
 be lost. At length, however, he had the satis- 
 faction of seeing the skifiE safely reach the pilot 
 boat, and all the men climb up safely on 
 board. 
 
 ''There!" exclaimed Rollo, in a tone of great 
 satisfaction, "now he will go up to the city 
 safe, and I am very glad he has got that letter 
 for uncle George." 
 
 In the meantime the captain mounted the 
 paddle box where the pilot had stood, and, 
 with his speaking trumpet in his hand, began 
 to give the necessary orders for the vigorous 
 prosecution of the voyage. The sails were 
 spread, the engines were put into full opera- 
 tion, the helmsman was directed what course to 
 steer, and the ship pressed gallantly forward 
 out into the open sea. 
 
 4 Atlautic 
 
 \ 
 
50 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GETTING SETTLED. 
 
 The gentleman v^ho had so kindly explained 
 the pilot system to Rollo did not return to the 
 settee after having given the pilot the letter, 
 but went away, and for a few minutes Rollo 
 and Jane were left alone. They observed, 
 too, that a great many of the passengers had 
 disappeared, and now there were very few 
 about the deck. Rollo wondered where they 
 had gone. He soon received some light on 
 the subject, by overhearing one gentleman say 
 to another, as they passed the settee on their 
 promenade, — 
 
 '*Come, Charley, let us go down and get 
 some lunch. " 
 
 * ' They are going to lunch, * * said Rollo, ' * We 
 will go, too. I am beginning to be hungry.*' 
 
 **So am I hungry,'* said Jane. *'I did not 
 think of it before; but I am, and I have no- 
 doubt that Tiger is hungry, too.'* 
 
 So Jane took up her cage, and then she and 
 Rollo, walking along together, followed the 
 gentlemen who had said that they were going 
 down to lunch. They walked forward upon 
 the promenade deck till they came to the 
 short flight of stairs, with the green rope bal- 
 ustrade, which led down to the deck below. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 51 
 
 These stairs were so steep that the children 
 were obliged to proceed with great caution in 
 descending them, in order to get down in 
 safety. They, however, at length succeeded; 
 and then, passing along where they saw that 
 the gentlemen went who preceded them, they 
 entered into a long and narrow passage way, 
 with doors leading to state rooms on either 
 hand. Following this passage way, they came 
 at length to a sort of entry or hall, which was 
 lighted by a skylight above. In the middle 
 of this hall, and under the skylight, was a 
 pretty broad staircase, leading down to some 
 * lower portion of the ship. As the men whom 
 they were following went down these stairs, 
 the children went down, too. When they got 
 down, they found themselves in a perfect maze 
 of cabins, state rooms, and passage ways, the 
 openings into which were infinitely multiplied 
 by the large and splendid mirrors with which 
 the walls were everywhere adorned. 
 
 **Put Tiger down there,*' said Rollo, point- 
 ing to a place near the end of the sofa, **and 
 we will bring her something to eat when we 
 come from lunch.** 
 
 Jane was very anxious to take the kitten 
 with her; but she knew that, under the cir- 
 cumstances in which she was placed, it was 
 proper that she should follow implicitly all of 
 Rollo*s directions. So she put the cage down, 
 and then she and Rollo went on together 
 through a door where the gentlemen who had 
 preceded them had gone. 
 
 They found themselves in another long and 
 
62 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 narrow passage way, which led toward the for- 
 ward part of the ship. The passage way was 
 so narrow that they could not walk together. 
 So RoUo went first, and Jane came behind. 
 The vessel was rocking gently from the motion 
 of the waves, and Jane had to put her hands 
 out once or twice, first to one side and then to 
 the other of the passage way, in order to 
 steady herself as she passed along. Presently 
 they came to a place where they had to go up 
 five or six steps, and then to go immediately 
 down again. It was the place where the main 
 shaft passed out from the engine to the paddle 
 wheel. After getting over this obstruction, 
 they went on a little farther, and then came 
 into a large dining saloon, where several long 
 tables were spread, and a great many passen- 
 gers were seated, eating their luncheons. 
 
 There were a number of waiters in different 
 parts of the room, standing behind the guests 
 at the tables; and one of these waiters, as 
 soon as he saw Rollo and Jane come in, went 
 to them, and said that he would show them 
 where to sit. So they followed him, and he 
 gave them a good seat at one of the tables. 
 As soon as the children were seated, the'waiter 
 said, addressing Rollo: 
 
 **Will you have soup?" 
 
 *'Yes,'' said Rollo. 
 
 *'And will the young lady take soup, too?" 
 he asked again. 
 
 *'Yes," said Rollo; **both of us." 
 
 While the waiter was gone to get the soup, 
 Rollo and Jane had an opportunity of looking 
 
ROLL0 ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 53 
 
 around the room and observing how very 
 different it was in its fixtures and furniture 
 from a dining-room on land. Instead of win- 
 dows, there were only round holes in the sides 
 of the ship, about a foot in diameter. For a 
 sash, there was only one round and exceed- 
 ingly thick and strong pane of glass, set in an 
 iron frame, and opening inward, on massive 
 hinges. On the side of this frame, opposite 
 the hinges, was a strong clamp and screw, by 
 means of which the frame could be screwed 
 up very tight, in order to exclude the water 
 in case of heavy seas. The tables were fitted 
 with a ledge all around the outside, to keep 
 the dishes from sliding off. Above each table, 
 and suspended from the ceiling, was a long 
 shelf of beautiful wood, with racks and sockets 
 in it of every kind, for containing wine- 
 glasses, tumblers, decanters, and such other 
 things as would be wanted from time to time 
 upon the table. Every one of these glasses 
 was in a place upon the shelf expressly fitted 
 to receive and retain it ; so that it might be 
 held securely, and not allowed to fall, how- 
 ever great might be the motion of the ship. 
 
 There were no chairs at the tables. The 
 seats consisted of handsomely cushioned set- 
 tees, with substantial backs to them. It was 
 upon one of these settees, and near the end of 
 it, that Rollo and Jane were seated. 
 
 When the soup was brought, the children 
 ate it with great satisfaction. They found it 
 excellent; and, besides that, they had excel- 
 lent appetites. After the soup, the waiter 
 
54 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 brought them some roasted potatoes and but- 
 ter, and also some slices of cold roast beef. 
 When the roast beef came, Jane exclaimed to 
 Rollo : 
 
 **Ah! I am very glad to see that. It is just 
 the thing for Tiger. *' 
 
 Then she turned round and said to the 
 waiter: 
 
 **Can I take a piece of this meat to give to 
 my kitten?*' 
 
 '*Your kitten?*' said the waiter. •*Have you 
 got a kitten on board?" 
 
 **Yes/' said Jane. 
 
 ** Where is she?*' asked the waiter. 
 
 •*I left her in the cabin," said Jane, **by the 
 end of a sofa. She is in her cage. " 
 
 The waiter smiled to hear this statement. 
 Jane had been, in fact, a little afraid to ask for 
 meat for her kitten, supposing it possible that 
 the waiter might think that she ought not to 
 have brought a kitten on board. But the truth 
 was, the waiter was very glad to hear of it. 
 He was glad for two reasons. In the first 
 place, the monotony and dullness of sea life 
 are so great, that those who live in ships are 
 usually glad to have anything occur that is 
 extraordinary or novel. Then, besides, he 
 knew that it was customary with passengers, 
 when they gave the waiters any unusual 
 trouble, to compensate them for it fully when 
 they reached the end of the voyage; and he 
 presumed, therefore, that if he had a kitten 
 to take care of, as well as the children them- 
 selves, their father, whom he had no doubt 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 55 
 
 was on board, would remember it in his fee. 
 So, when Jane told him where the kitten was, 
 he said he would go and bring her out into the 
 dining saloon, and give her some of the 
 meat there, as soon as the passengers had 
 finished their luncheon, so that he could be 
 spared from the table. 
 
 Accordingly, when the proper time arrived, 
 the waiter went aft, to the cabin, and very 
 soon returned, bringing the cage with him. 
 
 He seemed quite pleased with his charge; 
 and several of the passengers, who met him 
 as they were going out of the saloon, stopped 
 a moment to see what he had got in the cage, 
 and Jane was much gratified at hearing one of 
 them say: 
 
 **What a pretty kitten! Whose is it, wait- 
 er?'* 
 
 The waiter put the cage down upon a side 
 table, and then carried a plate of meat to the 
 place, and put it in the cage. Jane and Rollo 
 went to see. While the kitten was eating her 
 meat, the waiter said that he would go and get 
 some milk for her. He accordingly went away 
 again ; but he soon returned, bringing a little 
 milk with him in a saucer. The kitten, having 
 by this time finished eating her meat, set her- 
 self eagerly at the work of lapping up the 
 milk, which she did with an air of great satis- 
 faction. 
 
 ** There!" said the waiter, ** bring her out 
 here whenever she is hungry, and I will always 
 have something for her. When you come at 
 ineal times^ you will see me at the table. If 
 
56 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 you come at any other time, and you don*t see 
 me, ask for Alfred. My name is Alfred. *' 
 
 Jane and Rollo both said to Alfred that they 
 were very much obliged to him, and then, 
 observing that nearly all the passengers had 
 left the dining saloon and had returned to the 
 cabin, they determined to go, too. So they 
 went back through the same passageway by 
 which they had come. 
 
 There were two principal cabins in the ship, 
 the ladies' cabin and the gentlemen's cabin. 
 The ladies' cabin was nearest to the dining 
 saloon, the gentlemen's cabin being beyond. 
 A number of ladies and gentlemen turned into 
 the ladies' cabin, and so Rollo and Jane fol- 
 lowed them. They found themselves, when 
 they had entered, in quite a considerable apart- 
 ment, with sofas and mirrors all around the 
 sides of it, and a great deal of rich carving in 
 the panels and ceiling. Several splendid 
 lamps, too, were suspended in different places, 
 so hung that they could move freely in every 
 direction, when the ship was rolling from 
 side to side in rough seas. Rollo and Jane 
 took their seats upon one of the sofas. 
 
 **Well, Rollo," said Jane, **I don't know 
 what we are going to do next." 
 
 "Nor I," said Rollo; *'but we can sit here a 
 little while, and perhaps somebody will come 
 and speak to us. It must be right for us to sit 
 here, for other ladies and gentlemen are sit- 
 ting in this cabin." 
 
 Jane looked about the cabin on the different 
 sofas to see if there were any persons there 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 57 
 
 that she had ever seen before. But there 
 were none. 
 
 Among the persons in the cabin, there were 
 two who particularly attracted Jane's attention. 
 They were young ladies of, perhaps, eighteen 
 or twenty years of age, but they were remark- 
 ably different from each other in appearance. 
 One was very beautiful, indeed. Her hair was 
 elegantly arranged in curls upon her neck, and 
 she was dressed quite fashionably. Her coun- 
 tenance, too, beamed with an expression of 
 animation and happiness. 
 
 The other young lady, who sat upon the 
 other end of the same ^ofa, was very plain in 
 her appearance, and was plainly dressed. Her 
 countenance, too, had a sober and thoughtful 
 expression which was almost stern, and made 
 Jane feel quite disposed to be afraid of her. 
 The beautiful girl she liked very much. 
 
 While the children were sitting thus upon 
 the sofa, waiting to see what was next going 
 to happen to them, several persons passed 
 along that way, taking a greater or less degree 
 of notice of them as they passed. Some 
 merely stared at them, as if wondering how 
 they came there, and what they were doing. 
 One lady looked kindly at them, but did not 
 speak. Another lady, apparently about forty 
 years of age, walked by them with a haughty 
 air, talking all the time with a gentleman who 
 was with her. Jane heard her say to the gen- 
 tleman, as soon as she had passed them : 
 
 **What a quantity of children we have on 
 
58 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 board this ship! I hate children on board 
 ship, they are so noisy and troublesome.** 
 
 Jane did not say anything in reply to this, 
 but she thought that she and Rollo, at least, 
 did not deserve such censures, for they had 
 certainly not been noisy or troublesome. 
 
 Presently Jane saw the beautiful girl, who 
 has been already spoken of, rise and come 
 toward them. She was very glad to see this, 
 for now, thought she, we have a friend com- 
 ing. The young lady came walking along 
 carelessly toward them, and when she came 
 near she looked at them a moment, and then 
 said, in a pert and forward manner: 
 
 **What are you sitting here for, children, so 
 long, all alone? Where is your father?*' 
 
 **My father is in Liverpool, I suppose," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 *'Well, your mother, then,*' said the young 
 lady, '*or whoever has the care of you?** 
 
 **My mother is in Liverpool, too," said 
 Rollo, *'and there is nobody who has the care 
 of us on board this ship. * ' 
 
 **Why, you are not going to cross the Atlan- 
 tic all by yourselves, are you?*' said the young 
 lady, in a tone of great astonishment. 
 
 **Yes," said Rollo, unless we find some- 
 body to be kind enough to help us.** 
 
 *'La! how queer!** said the young lady. **I 
 am sure I*m glad enough that I am not in 
 your places." 
 
 So saying, the beautiful young lady walked 
 on. 
 
 All the beauty, however, which she had b§- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC, 5^ 
 
 fore possessed in Jane's eyes, was entirely dis- 
 sipated by this heartless behavior. Both Jane 
 and RoUo, for all the rest of the voyage, 
 thought her one of the ugliest girls they had 
 ever seen. 
 
 It was some minutes after this before any 
 other person approached the children. Jane 
 observed, however, that the other young lady 
 —the one who had appeared to her so plain — 
 looked frequently toward her and Rollo, with 
 an expression of interest and kindness upon 
 her countenance. At length she rose from her 
 seat, and came across the cabin, and sat down 
 by Jane's side. 
 
 '*May I come and sit by you?'* said she to 
 Jane. **You seem to be all alone." 
 
 *'Yes, " said Jane; **we don't know anybody 
 in this ship. ' ' 
 
 **Not anybody?" said the young lady. 
 **Then you may know me. My name is Maria. 
 But your father and mother are on board the 
 ship, are they not?" 
 
 '*No," said Rollo. ** There is not anybody 
 on board this ship that belongs to us. " 
 
 Maria seemed very much astonished at hear- 
 ing this, and she asked the children how it hap- 
 pened that they were sent across the Atlantic 
 alone. Upon which Rollo, in a very clear and 
 lucid manner, explained all the circumstances 
 of the case to her. He told her about his 
 father being sick in England, and about his 
 having sent for him and Jane to go to England 
 and meet him there. He also explained what 
 Mr. George's plan had been for providing them 
 
60 ROLLO GN THE ATLANTIC 
 
 with a protector on the voyage, and how it 
 had been defeated by the accident of the loss 
 of the trunk. He also told her how nari >wly 
 they had escaped having the trunk itseli left 
 behind. He ended by saying that there were 
 several of his father's friends on board, only 
 he did not know of any way by which he could 
 find out who they were. 
 
 *' Never mind that,'* said Maria. **I will 
 take care of you. You need not be at all 
 afraid ; you will get along very well. Have 
 you got any stateroom?" 
 
 **No," said Rollo. 
 
 **Well, I will go and find the chambermaid, 
 and she will get you one. Then we will have 
 your trunk sent to it, and you will feel quite 
 at home there." 
 
 So Maria went away, and presently returned 
 with one of the chambermaids. 
 
 When the chambermaid learned that there 
 were two children on board without any one 
 to take care of them, she was very much inter- 
 ested in their case. Rollo heard her say to 
 Maria, as they came up together toward the 
 sofa where the children were sitting: 
 
 **0, yes, I will find them a stateroom, if 
 they have not got one already. Children," 
 she added, when she came near, **are you sure 
 you have not got any stateroom?" 
 
 **Yes," said Rollo. **I did not know where 
 the captain's office was." 
 
 **0, you don't go to the captain's office," 
 said the chambermaid. *'They pay for the pas- 
 sage and get the tickets in Wall Street." 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 61 
 
 ** Perhaps this is it, then," said Rollo. And 
 so saying, he took out his wallet, and there, 
 from one of the inner compartments, where 
 his uncle George had placed it away very care- 
 fully, he produced a paper. The chambermaid 
 opened it, saying, *'Yes, this is all right. 
 Berths sixteen and eighteen. Come with me, 
 and ril show you where they are." 
 
 So the two children, accompanied by Maria, 
 followed the chambermaid, who led the way 
 across the cabin, and there, entering a passage- 
 way, she opened a door, by means of a beauti- 
 ful porcelain knob which was upon it. They 
 all went in. They found themselves in a small 
 room, no bigger than a large closet, but they 
 saw at a glance that it was very beautifully 
 finished and furnished. On the front side was 
 a round window like those they had seen in 
 the dining saloon. Under this window was a 
 couch, with a pillow at the head of it. Qn the 
 back side were two berths, one above the other, 
 with very pretty curtains before them. 
 
 ** There!" said the chambermaid, ''sixteen. 
 That lower berth is yours." 
 
 "And whose is the upper berth?" asked 
 Maria. 
 
 "That is not taken, I think," said the cham- 
 bermaid. 
 
 "Then ! will take it," said Maria. "I will 
 come into this stateroom, and then I can look 
 after Jennie all the time. But where is RoUo's 
 berth?" 
 
 "In the next stateroom," said the chamber- 
 maid* 
 
62 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 So saying, she opened a door in the end o£ 
 the room, and found another stateroom com- 
 municating with the first, where she pointed 
 out Rollo's berth. There was another entrance 
 to RoUo's stateroom from the passage leading 
 into the cabin, on the farther side of it. 
 
 ** There,'* said the chambermaid, **now you 
 can settle yourselves here as soon as you 
 please. Nobody can come in here to trouble 
 you, for you have these little rooms all to your- 
 selves, ril go and find a porter, and get him 
 to look up your trunk and send it in.** 
 
 So Rollo went into his stateroom, and Jane 
 sat down upon the couch in hers, by the side 
 of Maria, looking very much pleased. She 
 opened the door of the cage, and let the kitten 
 out. The kitten walked all about the room, 
 examining everything with great attention 
 She jumped up upon the marble washstand, 
 and from that she contrived to get into the 
 round window, where she stood for a few min- 
 utes looking out very attentively over the wide 
 sea. Not knowing, however, what to make of 
 so extraordinary a prospect, she presently 
 jumped down again, and, selecting a smooth 
 place at the foot of the couch, she curled her- 
 self up into a ring upon the soft covering of it, 
 and went to sleep. 
 
♦ 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 68 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON DECK. 
 
 As soon as Rollo and Jane found themselves 
 thus established in their staterooms, they be- 
 gan to examine the furniture and fixtures 
 around them with great curiosity. They were 
 particularly interested in observing the pre- 
 cautions which had been taken in securing 
 everything which the staterooms contained, 
 from the danger of being thrown about by the 
 motion of the ship. The wash basin was made 
 of marble, and was firmly set in its place, so as 
 to be absolutely immovable. There was a hole 
 in the bottom of it, with a plug in it, so that, by 
 drawing out the plug, the water could be let 
 off into a pipe which conveyed it away. There 
 was a small chain attached to this plug, by 
 means of which it could be drawn up when 
 any one wished to let the water off. The 
 pitcher was made broad and flat at the bottom, 
 and very heavy, so that it could not be easily 
 upset; and then there was a socket for it in the 
 lower part of the washstand, which confined it 
 effectually, and prevented its sliding about 
 when the ship was rolling in a heavy sea. 
 
 The tumbler was secured in a more curious 
 manner still. It was placed in a brass ring, 
 which projected from the wall in a comer over 
 
64 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 the washstand, and which was made just large 
 enough to receive it. The soap dish and the 
 brush tray were also placed in sockets cut to 
 receive them in the marble slab, which formed 
 the upper part of the washstand. The looking- 
 glass was round, and was screwed to the wall 
 by means of a stem and a ball or socket joint, 
 in such a manner that it could be set in any 
 position required, according to the height of 
 the observer, and yet it could not by any pos- 
 sibility fall from its place. There were very 
 few pegs or pins for hanging clothes upon, be- 
 cause, when clothes are thus hung, they are 
 found to swing back and forth whenever the 
 ship is rolling in a heavy sea, in a manner that 
 is very tiresome and disagreeable for sick pas- 
 sengers to see. Nor were there many sheb'^es 
 about the stateroom ; for if there had been, the 
 passengers would be likely to put various arti- 
 cles upon them when the sea was smooth; and 
 then, when the ship came to pitch and roll in 
 gales of wind, the things would all slide off 
 upon the floor. So instead of shelves there 
 were pockets made of canvas or duck, several 
 together, one above another. These pockets 
 formed very convenient receptacles for such 
 loose articles as the passengers might have in 
 their staterooms, and were, of course, per- 
 fectly secure. 
 
 There were two shelves, it is true, in Jen- 
 nie's stateroom — one over each of the two 
 washstands — but they were protected by a 
 ledge about the edges of them, which would 
 
i 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC, 
 
 65 
 
 effectually prevent such things as might be 
 placed upon them from sliding off. 
 
 By the time that Rollo and Jane had exam- 
 ined these things, a porter came into the state- 
 room, bringing their trunk upon his shoulder. 
 Maria told the children that they had better 
 open the trunk and take out all that they would 
 be likely to require while on board, and then 
 stow the trunk itself away under the lower 
 berth, in one of the staterooms. 
 
 ''Because,'* said she, *'as soon as we get out 
 upon the heavy seas we shall all be sick, and 
 then we shall not wish to move to do the least 
 thing.*' 
 
 "When will that be?" asked Jane. 
 
 **I don't know," replied Maria. ''Sometimes 
 we have it smooth for a good many days, and 
 then there comes a head wind and makes it 
 rough, and all the passengers get sick and very 
 wretched." 
 
 "I don't think that I shall be sick," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 "You can't tell," said Maria. "Nobody can 
 tell anything about it beforehand." 
 
 In obedience to Maria's directions, Rollo 
 opened the trunk and took out from it all the 
 clothing, both for day and night, which he 
 thought that he and Jennie would require dur- 
 ing the voyage. The night dresses he put un- 
 der the pillows in the berths. The cloaks, and 
 coats, and shawls which might be required on 
 deck in the day he placed on the couches. 
 Those which belonged to him he put in his 
 stateroom, and those that belonged to Jennie 
 
 5 Atlantio 
 
66 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 in hers. While engaged in these operations, 
 he pulled up from one of the lower corners of 
 his trunk a small leather purse or bag full of 
 money. 
 
 *'What shall I do with this?" he asked, hold- 
 ing it up to Maria. 
 
 *'What is it?*' asked Maria. 
 Money," said Rollo. 
 
 **How much is there?" said Maria. 
 
 '*I don't know," replied Rollo. •'Uncle 
 George put it in here. He said I ought to 
 have some money to carry with me, in case of 
 accidents. I don't suppose it is much." 
 
 ** You had better count it, then," said Maria, 
 **so as to ascertain how much it is. You and 
 Jane may count it together." 
 
 So Rollo and Jane sat down upon the couch, 
 and Rollo poured out the money into Jennie's 
 lap. It was all gold. Maria said that the coins 
 were sovereigns and half sovereigns. The 
 large ones were sovereigns, and the small ones 
 were half sovereigns. Rollo proposed that he 
 should count the sovereigns, and that Jennie 
 might count the half sovereigns. It proved, 
 when the counting was completed, that there 
 were thirty sovereigns and twenty half sover- 
 eigns. 
 
 '*That makes forty sovereigns in all," said 
 Maria. **That is a great deal of money. '* 
 
 •*How much is it?" asked Rollo. 
 
 **Why, in American money," said Maria, ''it 
 makes about two hundred dollars." 
 
 **Two hundred dollars!" repeated Rollo, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 67 
 
 with astonishment. **What could uncle George 
 think I could want of all this money?" 
 
 **It was in case of accidents," said Maria. 
 •*For example, suppose this ship should be 
 cast away on the coast of Nova Scotia, and all 
 the passengers and baggage be saved, what 
 could you do there without any money?" 
 
 **Why, I should think that somebody there 
 would take care of us," replied Rollo. 
 
 **Yes," said Maria, '*I suppose they would; 
 but it is a great deal better to have money of 
 your own. Besides, suppose that when you 
 get to Liverpool, for some reason or other, 
 your father should not be there. Then, hav- 
 ing plenty of money, you could go to a hotel 
 and stay there till your father comes. Or you 
 could ask some one of the passengers who is 
 going to London to let you go with him, and 
 you could tell him that you had plenty of 
 money to pay the expenses. ' ' 
 
 •*Yes," said Rollo, ^'though I don't think 
 there is any doubt that my father will be in 
 Liverpool when we arrive." 
 
 **I hope he will be, I am sure," said Maria. 
 **But now, put up the money again in the purse, 
 tie it up securely, and replace it in the trunk. 
 Then you must keep the trunk locked all the 
 time and keep the key in your pocket." 
 
 Rollo felt quite proud of being intrusted 
 with so much money ; so he replaced the bag in 
 the trunk with great care, and locked it safely. 
 
 ••Now," said Maria, '^this is your home 
 while you are on board this ship. When you 
 choose, you can come here and be alone; and 
 
68 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 you can lie down and rest here whenever you 
 are tired. At other times you can ramble 
 about the ship, in all proper places. ** 
 
 **How shall I know what the proper places 
 arer ' asked Rollo. 
 
 **Why, you will see where the other passen- 
 gers go," replied Maria; '*and wherever you 
 see them go, you can go yourself. That is as 
 good a rule as you can have. 
 
 **Well,*' said RoUo, **and now, Jane, let us 
 go up on deck and see what we can see." 
 
 Jane was pleased with this proposal; so she 
 followed Rollo to the deck. Maria said that 
 she would come by-and-by, but for the present 
 she wished to go and see her brother. She 
 said that she had a brother on board who was 
 quite out of health. He was going to Europe 
 in hopes tnat the voyage would restore him. 
 At present, however, he was very unwell, and 
 was confined to his berth, and she must go and 
 see him. 
 
 So Rollo and Jane went to see if they could 
 find their way up on deck alone. Rollo went 
 before, and Jane followed. They ascended 
 the steep stairs where they had gone up at 
 first, and then walked aft upon the deck until 
 they came to the settees where they had been 
 sitting before the luncheon. They sat down 
 upon one of these settees, where they had a 
 fine view, not only of the wide expanse of sea 
 on every hand, but also of the whole extent of 
 the decks of the ship. They remained here 
 nearly two hours, ooserving what was going 
 on around them, and they saw a great many 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 69 
 
 things that interested them very much, indeed. 
 The first thing that attracted their attention 
 was the sound of a bell, which struck four 
 strokes very distinctly, and in a very peculiar 
 manner, near where the helmsmarf stood in 
 steering the ship. This bell has already been 
 mentioned. It hung directly before the helms- 
 man's v/indow, and it had a short rope attached 
 to the clapper of it. The helsman, or the man 
 at the wheel, as he is sometimes called, from 
 the fact that he steers the ship by means of a 
 wheel, with handles all around the periphery 
 of it, had opened his widow just after Rollo 
 and Jane had taken their seats, and had pulled 
 this clapper so as to strike four strokes upon 
 the bell, the strokes being in pairs, thus: 
 
 Ding — ding ! Ding — ding ! 
 
 In a minute afterward, Rollo and Jane heard 
 the sound repeated in precisely the same man- 
 ner from another bell, that seemed to be far in 
 the forward part of the ship. 
 
 Ding — ding ! Ding — ding ! 
 
 *'I wonder what that means?" said Rollo. 
 
 **I expect it means that it is four o'clock, " 
 said Jane. 
 
 ^ **I should not think it could be so late as 
 four o'clock," said Rollo. 
 
 "I have a great mind to go and ask the 
 helmsman what it means," he added, after a 
 moment's pause. 
 
 **No," said Jane, **you must not go." 
 
 It is difficult to say precisely why Jane did 
 not wish to have Rollo go and ask the helms- 
 man about the bell, but she had an instinctive 
 
70 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 feeling that it was better not to do it. So Rollo 
 sat still. His attention was very soon turned 
 away from the bell by Jane's calling out to 
 him to see some sailors go up the rigging. 
 There were regular shrouds, as they are called, 
 that is, ladders formed of ropes, which led up 
 on each side of the masts part way to where 
 the sailors seemed to wish to go. Above the 
 top of the shrouds there were only single ropes 
 and Rollo wondered what the sailors would do 
 when they came to these. They found no 
 difficulty, however, for when they reached the 
 top of the shrouds they continued to mount by 
 the ropes with very little apparent effort 
 They would take hold of two of the ropes that 
 were a little distance apart with their hands, 
 and then, curling their legs round them in a 
 peculiar manner below, they would mount up 
 very easily. They thus reached the yard, as it 
 is called, which is a long, round beam, extend- 
 ing along the upper edge of the sail, and, 
 spreading themselves out upon it in a row, 
 they proceeded to do the work required upon 
 the sail, leaning over upon the yard above, 
 and standing upon a rope, which was stretched 
 for the purpose along the whole length of it 
 below. 
 
 **I wonder if I could climb up there," said 
 Rollo. **Do you suppose they would let me 
 try?'' 
 
 **No, indeed!" said Jane, very earnestly; 
 '•you must not try, by any means." 
 ** I believe that I could climb up there," said 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 71 
 
 Rollo; **that is, if the vessel would stop rock- 
 ing to and fro, and hold still. " 
 
 Presently, however, a boy, who appeared to 
 be about eighteen or nineteen years of age, 
 and who was upon another mast, accomplished 
 a feat which even Rollo himself admitted that 
 he should not dare to undertake. It seemed 
 that he had some operation to perform upon a 
 part of the rigging down some fifteen feet from 
 where he was ; so, with a rope hung over his 
 shoulder, he came down hand over hand, by a 
 single rope or cable called a stay, until he 
 reached the place where the work was to be 
 performed. Here he stopped, and, clinging to 
 the rope that he had come down upon with his 
 legs and one hand, he contrived with the other 
 hand to fasten one end of the short rope which 
 he had brought with him to the stay, and then, 
 carrying the other end across, he fastened it to 
 another cable which was near. He then seated 
 himself upon this cross rope as upon a seat, 
 and clinging to his place by his legs, he had 
 his hands free for his work. When he had fin- 
 ished his work he untied the cross rope, and 
 then went up the cable hand over hand as he 
 had come down. 
 
 '*I am sure I could not do that," said Rollo. 
 **And I should not think that anybody but a 
 monkey could do it, or a spider. " 
 
 In fact, the lines of rigging, as seen from 
 the place where Rollo and Jane were seated, 
 looked so fine, and the men appeared so small, 
 that the whole spectacle naturally reminded 
 one of a gigantic spider's web, with blagk 
 
72 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 spiders of curious forms ascending and descend- 
 ing upon them, so easily and adroitly did the 
 men pass to and fro and up and down, attach- 
 ing new lines to new points, and then running 
 off with them, as a spider would do with her 
 thread, wherever they were required. But 
 after all, in respect to the power of running 
 about among lines and rigging, the spider is 
 superior to man. She can not only run up and 
 down far more easily and readily wherever she 
 wishes to go, but she can make new attach- 
 ments with a touch, and make them strong 
 enough to bear her own weight and all other 
 strains that come upon them ; while the sailor, 
 as Rollo and Jane observed on this occasion, 
 was obliged in his fastenings to wind his ropes 
 round and round, and tie them into compli- 
 cated knots, and then secure the ends with 
 *'spun yarn. 
 
 While Rollo and Jane were watching the 
 sailors, they saw them unfurl one after another 
 of the sails, and spread them to the wind ; for 
 the wind was now fair, and it was fresh 
 enough to assist the engines considerably in 
 propelling the ship through the water. Still, 
 as the ship was going the same way with the 
 wind, the breeze was scarcely felt upon the 
 deck. The air was mild and balmy, and the 
 surface of the sea was comparatively smooth, 
 so that the voyage was beginning very pros- 
 perously. Rollo looked all around the horizon, 
 but he could see no land in any direction. 
 There was not even a ship insight; nothing 
 but one wide and boundless waste of waters. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 73 
 
 **I should think that there would be some 
 other ships going to England to-day," he said, 
 ** besides ours." 
 
 Jane did not know what to think on such a 
 subject, and so she did not reply. 
 
 **Let us watch for whales/* said RoUo. **Per- 
 haps we shall see a whale. You watch the 
 water all along on that side, and I will on this 
 side; and if you see any whale spout, tell me. " 
 
 So they both kept watch for some time, but 
 neither of them saw any spouting. Jane gave 
 one alarm, having seen some large, black-look- 
 ing monsters rise to the surface not far from 
 them on one side of the ship. She called out 
 eagerly to Rollo to look. He did so, but he 
 said that they were not whales; they were por- 
 poises. He had seen porpoises often before, in 
 bays and harbors. 
 
 Just then the bell near the helmsman's win- 
 dow struck again, though in a manner a little 
 different from before; for after the two pairs 
 of strokes which had been heard before there 
 came a single stroke, making five in all, 
 thus: — 
 
 Ding — ding! Ding — ding! Ding. 
 
 Immediately afterward the sound was 
 repeated in the forward part of the ship, as it 
 had been before. 
 
 Ding — ding! Ding — ding! Ding. 
 
 **I wonder what that means," said Rollo. 
 
 Just then an officer of the ship, in his walk 
 tip and down the deck, passed near to where 
 Rollo was sitting, and Rollo instinctively deter- 
 mined to ask him. 
 
74 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 "Will you please tell me, sir, what that strik- 
 ing means?" 
 
 **It's five bells," said the man; and so 
 walked on. 
 
 V 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A CONVERSATION. 
 
 Rollo at first felt quite disappointed that the 
 officer seemed so little disposed to give him 
 information ; but immediately after the officer 
 had gone another man came by, one of the 
 passengers, as Rollo supposed, who proved to 
 be more communicative. He wore a glazed 
 cap and a very shaggy greatcoat. He sat down 
 by the side of Jennie, Rollo being on the other 
 side, and said, — 
 
 **He does not seem inclined to tell you much 
 about the bells, does he, Rollo?" 
 
 **No, sir," replied Rollo; **but how did you 
 know that my name was Rollo?" 
 
 **0, I heard about you down in the cabin," 
 replied the stranger; ''and about you too, 
 Jennie, and your beautiful little kitten. But I 
 will explain the meaning of the bells to you. 
 I know all about them. I belong on board 
 this ship. I am the surgeon. " 
 
 *'Are you?" said Rollo. **I did not know 
 that there was any surgeon in the ship. " 
 
 **Yes, " replied the gentleman. **It is quite 
 necessary to have a surgeon. Sometimes the 
 seamen get hurt, and require attendance; and 
 then sometimes there are cases of sickness 
 among the passengers. I have got quite a 
 
76 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 little apothecary's shop in my state room. I 
 will show it to you by and by. But now about 
 the bells. 
 
 **You must know/* continued the surgeon, 
 **that people strike the time at sea in a very 
 different manner from that which is customary 
 on land. In the first place, they have a man 
 to strike it; they cannot have a clock." 
 
 "I do not see why not,*' said Rollo. 
 
 ** Because at sea," rejoined the surgeon, **the 
 time changes every day, and no clock going 
 regularly can keep it. Time depends upon the 
 sun, and when the ship is going east she goes 
 to meet the sun J and it becomes noon, that is, 
 midday, earlier. When the ship is going west, 
 she goes away from the sun, and then it 
 becomes noon later. Thus noon has to be 
 fixed every day anew and a clock going regu- 
 larly all the time would be continually getting 
 wrong. Then, besides, the rolling and pitch- 
 ing of the ship would derange the motion of 
 of the weights and pendulum of the clock. In 
 fact, I don*t believe that a clock could be made 
 to go at all — unless, indeed, it were hung on 
 gimbals." 
 
 **What are gimbals?" asked Rollo. 
 
 *'They are a pair of rings,** replied the sur- 
 geon, **one within the other, and each mounted 
 on pivots in such a manner that any thing 
 hung within the inner ring will swing any way 
 freely. The lamps down in the cabin are hang 
 on gimbals." 
 
 "Yes," said Rollo, ''I saw them." 
 
 **Thea, besides,*' continued the surgeon if 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 77 
 
 the men strike the bells themselves, the sound, 
 coming regularly every half hour, proves that 
 they are at their posts and attending to their 
 duties. So that, even if a machine could be 
 invented to strike the time on board ship every 
 so truly, I do not think they would like to adopt 
 it. 
 
 **Another difference in striking the time on 
 board ship," continued the surgeon, **is, that 
 they strike it by half hours instead of by hours. 
 Scarcely any of the ship's company have 
 watches. In fact, watches are of very little 
 use at sea, the time is so continually changing 
 from day to day. The sailors, therefore, and 
 nearly all on board, depend wholly on the 
 bells; and it is necessary, accordingly, that 
 they should be struck often. Every two bells, 
 therefore, means an hour; and a single bell at 
 the end means half an hour. Now, I will 
 strike the bells for you, and you may tell me 
 what o'clock it is. We begin after twelve 
 o'clock. 
 
 '*Ding!*' 
 
 ''Half past twelve, said Rollo. 
 **Ding — ding!" said the surgeon again, imi- 
 tating the sound of the bell with his voice. 
 '*One o'clock," said Rollo. 
 *'Ding — ding! Ding!" said the surgeon. 
 "Half past one o'clock. " 
 ** Ding — ding ! Ding — ding !" 
 •* Two o'clock!" 
 
 •*Ding — ding! Ding — ding! Ding!" 
 •'Half past two." 
 
 **Ding— ding! Ding — ding! Ding — ding!* ^ 
 
78 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 **Three!'' 
 
 **Ding — ding! Ding — ding! Ding — dingl 
 Ding!** 
 
 •*Half past three." 
 
 **Ding — ding! Ding — ding! Ding — ding! 
 Ding — ding!" 
 **Four o'clock." 
 
 •*Yes," said the surgeon, **that is eight bells, 
 and that is the end. Now they stop and begin 
 again with one bell, which means half past 
 four; and so they go on to eight bells again, 
 which makes it eight o'clock. The next eight 
 bells is twelve o'clock at night, and the next is 
 at four o'clock in the morning, and the next at 
 eight o'clock. So that eight bells means four 
 o'clock, and eight o'clock, and twelve o'clock, 
 by day; and four o'clock, and eight o'clock, 
 and twelve o'clock, by night." 
 
 **Yes, " said RoUo, **now I understand it. " 
 
 '*Eight bells is a very important striking," 
 continued the surgeon. **It is a curious fact 
 that almost everything important that is done 
 at sea is done at some eight bells or other." 
 
 **How is that?" asked Rollo. 
 
 **Why, in the first place," replied the sur- 
 geon, **at eight bells in the morning, the gong 
 sounds to wake the passengers up. Then the 
 watch changes, too; that is, the set of men that 
 have been on deck and had care of the ship 
 and the sails since midnight go below, and a 
 new watch, that is, a new set of men that have 
 been asleep since midnight, take their places. 
 Then the next eight bells, which is twelve, is 
 luncheon time. At this time, too, the captain 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. M 
 
 finds out from the sun whereabouts we are on 
 the ocean, and also determines the ship's time 
 for the next twenty-four hours. The next 
 eight bells is at four o'clock, and that is dinner 
 time. The next eight bells is at eight o'clock, 
 and that is tea time. At all these times the 
 watches change too; and so they do at the 
 eight bells, which sound at midnight. ' ' 
 
 **Yes," said RoUo, *'now I understand it. I 
 wished to know very much what it meant, and 
 I had a great mind to go and ask the helms- 
 man." 
 
 **It was well that you did not go and ask 
 him," said the surgeon. 
 '*Why?" asked Rollo. 
 
 ** Because the officers and seamen on board 
 ships," replied the surgeon, "don't like to be 
 troubled with questions from landsmen while 
 they are engaged in their duties. Even the 
 sensible questions of landsmen appear very 
 foolish to seamen ; and then, besides, they com* 
 monly ask a great many that are absolutely 
 very foolish. They ask the captain when he 
 thinks they will get to the end of the voyage ; 
 or, if the wind is ahead, they ask him when he 
 thinks it will change, and all such foolish ques- 
 tions ; as if the captain or anybody else could 
 tell when the wind would change. Sailors 
 have all sorts of queer answers to give to these 
 questions, to quiz the passengers who ask 
 them, and amuse themselves. For instance, if 
 the passengers ask when anything is going to 
 happen, the sailors say, *The first of the 
 month. ' That is a sort of proverb among 
 
80 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 them, and is meant only in fun. But if it hap- 
 pens to be near the end of the month, the pas- 
 sengers, supposing the answer is in earnest, 
 goes away quite satisfied, while the sailors 
 wink at each other and laugh. 
 
 *'Yes/' said Roilo. **I heard a lady ask the 
 captain, a short time since, when he thought 
 we should get to Liverpool. " 
 
 *'And what did the captain say?" asked the 
 surgeon. 
 
 **He said/' replied Rollo, **that she must go 
 and ask Boreas and Neptun^, and some of 
 those fellows, for they could tell a great deal 
 better than he could." 
 
 **The captain does not like to be asked any 
 such questions," continued the surgeon. **He 
 cannot possibly know how the wind and sea 
 are going to be diiring the voyage, and he does* 
 not like to be teased with foolish inquiries on 
 the subject. There is no end to the foolish- 
 ness of the questions which landsmen ask when 
 they are at sea. Once I heard a man stop 
 a sailor, as he v/aj going up the shrouds, to 
 inquire of him wh ther he thought they would 
 see any whales on that voyage. " 
 
 '*And what did the sailor tell him?" asked 
 Rollo. 
 
 **He told him," replied the surgeon, **that 
 he thought there would be some in sight th 
 next morning about sunrise. So the passenger 
 got up early the next morning and took his 
 seat on the deck, watching everywhere for 
 whales, while the sailors on the forcastle, who 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 81 
 
 had told the story to one another, were all 
 laughing at him.** 
 
 Rollo himself laughed at this story. 
 
 '* These questions, after all, are not really so 
 foolish as they seem,*' said the surgeon. **For 
 instance, if a passenger asks about seeing 
 whales, he means merely to inquire whether 
 there are whales in that part of the ocean, and 
 whether they are usually seen from the ships 
 that pass along ; and if so, how frequently, in 
 ordinary cases, the sight of them may be 
 expected. All this, rightly understood, is 
 sensible and proper enough; but sailors are 
 not great philosophers, and they generally see 
 nothing in such inquiries but proofs of ridicu- 
 lous simplicity and chances for them to make 
 fun. 
 
 '*You can tell just how it seems to them 
 yourself, Rollo,*' continued the surgeon, '*by 
 imagining that some farmer's boys lived on a 
 farm where sailors, who had never been in the 
 country before, came by every day, and asked 
 an endless series of ridiculous questions. For 
 instance, on seeing a sheep, the sailor would 
 ask what that was. The farmer's boys would 
 tell him it was a sheep. The sailor would ask 
 what it was for. The boys would say they kept 
 sheep to shear them and get the wool. Then 
 presently the sailor would see a cow, and would 
 ask if that was a kind of a sheep. The 
 farmer's boys would say no, it was a cow. 
 Then the sailor would ask if they sheared cows 
 to get the wool No, the boys would say, we 
 milk cows. Then presently he would see a 
 
 6 Atlantic 
 
£2 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 horse, and he would ask whether that was a 
 cow or a sheep. They would say it was 
 neither; it was a horse. Then the sailor would 
 ask whether they kept horses to milk or to 
 shear them and so on forever/* 
 
 RoUo laughed loud and long at these imagin- 
 ary questionings. At last he said, — 
 
 '*But I don't think we ask such foolish ques- 
 tions as these. " 
 
 *'They do not seem so foolish to you," 
 replied the surgeon, '*but they do to the sailors. 
 The sailors, you see, know all the ropes and 
 rigging of the ship, and everything seen at sea, 
 just as familiarly as boys who live in the coun- 
 try do sheep, and cows, and wagons, and other 
 such objects seen about the farm ; and the total 
 ignorance in regard to them which landsmen 
 betray, whenever they begin to ask questions 
 on board, seems to the sailors extremely ridic- 
 ulous and absurd. So they often make fun of 
 the passengers who ask them, and put all sorts 
 of jokes upon them. For instance, a passenger 
 on board a packet ship once asked a sailor 
 what time they would heave the log. 'The 
 log,* said the sailor, *they always heave the 
 log at nine bells. When you hear nine bells 
 strike, go aft, and you'll see them.' So the 
 passenger watched and counted the bells every 
 time they struck, all the morning, in the hopes 
 to hear the nine bells, whereas they never 
 strike more than eight bells. It was as if a 
 man had said, on land, that such or such a 
 thing would happen at thirteen o'clock/* 
 
 Rollo and Jennie laughed. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 83 
 
 **So yon must be careful, " continued the sur- 
 geon, '*what questions you ask of the officers 
 and seamen about the ship; and you must be 
 careful, too, what you believe in respect to the 
 things they tell you. Perhaps it will be the 
 truth they will tell you, and perhaps they will 
 be only making fun of you. You may ask me, 
 however, anything you like. I will answer you 
 honestly. I am at leisure, and can tell you as 
 well as not. Besides, I like to talk with 
 young persons like you. I have a boy at home 
 myself of just about your rating. " 
 
 ** Where is your home?" asked Rollo. 
 
 **It is upon the North River," said the sur- 
 geon, **about one hundred miles from New 
 York. And now I must go away, for it is 
 almost eight bells, and that is dinner time. I 
 shall see you again by and by. There's one 
 thing more, though, that I must tell you before 
 I go ; and that is, that you had better not go to 
 any strange places about the ship where you do 
 not see the other passengers go. For instancfe, 
 you must not go up upon the paddle boxes.'* 
 
 ** No,'* said Rollo, "I saw a sign painted, 
 saying that passengers were not . allowed to go 
 upon the paddle boxes " 
 
 . *'And you must not go forward among the 
 sailors, or climb up upon the rigging,'* contin- 
 ued the surgeon. 
 
 *'Why not?" asked Rollo. 
 
 ** Because those parts of the ship are for the 
 seamen alone, and for others like them, who 
 have duties to perform on shipboard What 
 should you think," continued the surgeon, **i£ 
 
84 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 some one who had come to make a visit at your 
 house were to go up stairs, looking about in all 
 the chambers, or down into the kitchen, exam- 
 ining everything there to see what he could 
 find?'* 
 
 •'I should think it was very strange, " said 
 Jennie. 
 
 *' Certainly," said the surgeon, **and it is the 
 same on board ship. There are certain parts 
 of the ship, such as the cabins, the state rooms, 
 and the quarter decks, which are appropriated 
 to the passengers ; and there are certain other 
 parts, such as the forecastle, the bows, and the 
 rigging, which are the domains of the seamen. 
 It is true that sometimes a passenger may go 
 into these places without impropriety, as, for 
 example, when he has some business there, or 
 when he is specially invited ; just as there may 
 circumstances which v:ould render it proper 
 for a gentleman to go into the kitchen, or into 
 the garret, at a house where he is visiting. 
 But those are exceptions to the general rules, 
 and boys especially, both when visiting in 
 houses and when they are passengers on board 
 ships, should be very careful to keep in proper 
 places." 
 
 **I am glad I did not go climbing up the rig- 
 ging," said Rollo. 
 
 "Yes," replied the surgeon. "Once I knew 
 a passenger go climbing up the shrouds on 
 board an East Indiaman, and when he had got 
 half way up to the main top, and began to be 
 afraid to proceed, the sailors ran up after him, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 85 
 
 and, under pretence of helping him, they tied 
 him there, hand and foot, with spun yarn." 
 
 *^Ha!" said Rollo. *^And what did he do?'' 
 
 **He begged them to let him down, but they 
 would not. They said it was customary, when- 
 ever a landsmen came up into the rigging, for 
 him to pay for his footing bj'' a treat to the sail- 
 ors; and that they would let him down if he 
 would give them a dollar for a treat." 
 
 **And did he give it to them?'* asked Rollo. 
 
 '*Yes, he said he would," replied the sur- 
 geon, **if they would untie one of his hands, so 
 that he could get the dollar out of his pocket. 
 So they untied one of his hands, and he gave 
 them the dollar. Then they untied his other 
 hand and his feet, and so let him go down." 
 
 **Why did not he call the captain?" asked 
 Rollo. 
 
 '*0, the captain would not have paid any 
 attention to such a case," replied the surgeon. 
 '*If he had been on deck at the time he would 
 have looked the other way, and would have 
 pretended not to see what was going on ; but he 
 would really have been pleased. He would 
 have considered the passenger as justly pun- 
 ished for climbing about where he had no busi- 
 ness to go. * * 
 
 Rollo was greatly interested in this narra- 
 tive. He thought what a narrow escape he had 
 had in deciding that he would not attempt to 
 climb up the shrouds, and he secretly deter- 
 mined that he would be very careful, not only 
 while he was on board the steamer, but also 
 on all other occasions, not to violate the pro- 
 
86 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 prieties of life by obtruding himself into places 
 where he ought not to go. 
 
 The surgeon now went away, leaving Rollo 
 and Jane on the settee together. 
 
 wish/* said Rollo, *'that I had asked him 
 what he meant by heaving the log." 
 
 "No," said Jane, **you must not ask any 
 questions." 
 
 Yes," replied Rollo, **I may ask him ques- 
 tions. He said that I might ask any questions 
 that I pleased of him. " 
 
 **Well, " said Jane, "then you must ask him 
 the next time you see him. " 
 
 **I will," said Rollo. ** And now let us go 
 down into our state room and find Maria, and 
 get ready to go to dinner." 
 
 ''Well," said Jane, *'only let me go first 
 alone. I want to see if I cannot find my way 
 to the stateroom alone." 
 
 Rollo acceded to this proposal, and he accord- 
 ingly remained on the settee himself while 
 Jane went down. Jane looked up toward him 
 when she turned to go down the steep flight of 
 stairs which led from the promenade deck, 
 with a smile upon her countenance which 
 seemed to say, *'You see I am right so far," 
 and then, descending the steps, — holding on 
 carefully all the time by the green rope, — she 
 soon disappeared from view. Rollo waited a 
 proper time, and then followed Jane. He 
 found her safe upon the couch in her state 
 room, with Maria seated by her side. 
 
 In a very few minutes after Rollo came into 
 the state room eight bells struck, and §o they 
 
I 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 87 
 
 all went out to dinner. At first, Jennie said 
 that she did not wish to go. She did not wis^ 
 for any dinner. In fact, RoUo perceived, in 
 looking at her, that she was beginning to be 
 a little pale. Maria told her, however, that 
 she had better go and take some dinner. 
 
 *'The rule at sea,'* said Maria, ** always is, to 
 go to the table if you possibly can." 
 
 So they all went out into the dining saloon 
 through the long and narrow passages that 
 have been already described. They were 
 obliged to put their hands up to the sides of 
 the passage ways, first to one side and then to 
 the other, to support themselves, on account 
 of the rolling of the ship, for there now began 
 to be considerable motion. When they 
 reached the saloon they staggered into their 
 places, and there sat rocking gently to and 
 fro on the long swell of the sea, and prepared 
 to eat their dinner. 
 
 The dinner was very much like a dinner in 
 a fine hotel on land, except that, as every- 
 thing was in motion, it required some care to 
 prevent the glasses and plates from sliding 
 about and spilling what they contained. Be- 
 sides the ledges along the sides of the tables, 
 there were also two running up and down in 
 the middle of it, partitioning off the space 
 where the various dishes were placed, in the 
 center, from the space along the sides where 
 the plates, and knives, and forks, and tum- 
 blers of the several guests were laid. This 
 arrangement served, in some measure, to 
 teep everything in its place ; but notwith- 
 
88 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 Standing this, there was a good deal of sliding 
 and jingling among the glasses whenever an 
 unusual sea came rolling along. In one case, 
 a tumbler, which the person whom it belonged 
 to had not properly secured, came sliding 
 down toward him, while his hands were busy 
 taking care of his soup plate ; and when it 
 came to the ledge which formed the edge of 
 the table, the bottom of it was stopped, but 
 the top went over, and poured all the water 
 into the gentleman's lap. Upon this all the 
 passengers around the place laughed very 
 heartily. 
 
 •'There, RoUo," said Jane, •'you had better 
 be careful, and not let your tumbler get 
 upset." 
 
 *'Why, it is nothing but water, replied 
 RoUo. **It won't do any harm. I would as 
 lief have a little water spilled on me as not." 
 
 '*I should not care about the water so much," 
 replied Jennie; '*but 3 would not as lief have 
 everybody laughing at tne as not." 
 
 This was a very important distinction, and 
 RoUo concluded that it was, after all, better 
 to be careful. He watched the movements of 
 the other passengers when the seas came, and 
 observed the precautions which they took to 
 guard against such accidents, and by imitat- 
 ing these he soon became quite adroit. The 
 dinner took a good deal of time, as there were 
 many courses, all served with great regu- 
 larity. First, there was soup; then fish of 
 various kinds; then all sorts of roasted meats, 
 such as beef, mutton, chickens, and ducks, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 89 
 
 with a great variety of vegetables. Then came 
 puddings, pies, jellies, ice creams, and pre- 
 serves; and, finally, a dessert of nuts, raisins, 
 apples, almonds, and oranges. In fact, it wa^ 
 a very sumptuous dinner, and what was very 
 remarkable, when at last it was ended, and 
 the party rose from the table to go back to the 
 cabin, Jennie said that she had a better appe- 
 tite at the end of the dinner than she had had 
 at the beginning. 
 
90 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INCIDENTS. 
 
 By the time that Rollo and Jennie had been 
 two days at sea, they had become accustomed 
 to their novel position, and they began to feel 
 quite at home on board the ship. They 
 formed acquaintance with several of the pas- 
 sengers, and they went to and fro about the 
 cabins and decks, and visited their friends in 
 their state rooms quite freely, sometimes alone 
 and sometimes together. The sky was clear, 
 and the water was comparatively smooth. It 
 is true that there was a long swell upon the 
 surface of the sea, which produced a contin- 
 ual, though gentle, rocking of the ship, that 
 made many of the passengers sick and uncom- 
 fortable. Rollo and Jane, however, felt for 
 the most part quite well. Sometimes, for a 
 short period, one or the other of them looked 
 pale, and seemed dispirited. At such times 
 they would lie down upon the couch in their 
 state room, or upon a sofa in one of the 
 saloons, and remain quietly there an hour at a 
 time. Jennie usually in such cases was accus- 
 tomed to lie on the couch in her state room, 
 on account of the seclusion of it ; while Rollo, 
 on the other hand, seemed to prefer the 
 saloon. He, being a boy, did not g^r^ so much 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 about the seclusion. On the contfary, it 
 amused him to see the people going to and fro 
 and to watch the reflections of their forms in 
 the mirrors about him. Sometimes, also, it 
 would happen that there were two or more of 
 the passengers seated near him and engaged 
 in conversation, that it entertained him to 
 hear; especially when it related, as it often 
 did, to adventures and incidents that they had 
 met with at sea on former voyages. It was 
 necessary, however, that persons thus convers- 
 ing should be seated very near, in order that 
 Rollo should hear them ; for the ship kept up 
 a continual creaking in all its joints, from the 
 rolling of the sea, which made it very difficult 
 to hear what was said across the cabin. 
 
 The mirrors, however, and the reflections in 
 them, produced the most singular illusions, 
 and were a source of continual interest to 
 Rollo's mind, as he lay upon the sofa sur- 
 rounded by them. There were so many of 
 these mirrors, that the saloon, and all that 
 pertained to it, were reflected a great many 
 times, and thus produced the most wonderful 
 effects. Long passages were seen running off 
 in all directions, and cabin beyond cabin, in 
 an endless perspective. So bright and dis- 
 tinct, too, were the reflections, that it was 
 difficult to tell whether what you were looking 
 at was real, or only an imagined reflection of 
 it. Sometimes Rollo would see, apparently 
 at a great distance, a man walking along 
 among carved columns in some remote passage 
 way, and then, in an instant, the man would 
 
92 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 pass directly by his sofa. He had been near 
 all the time, and it was only some third or 
 fourth reflection of him that RoUo had seen. 
 
 On the afternoon of the second day of RuUo's 
 voyage, just before eight bells, which would * 
 be the time for dinner, as Rollo was lying on 
 a sofa in the saioon, feeling very miserably, 
 and extremely disinclined to speak or to move, 
 two young men came along, talking in a loud 
 and somewhat noisy manner. They stopped 
 opposite to him, and one of them began punch- 
 ing Rollo with the curved head of his cane, 
 saying,— 
 
 *'Well, Rollo, what's the matter with you? 
 Sick? O, get up, boy, and drive about. Don't 
 lie moping here like a landlubber. Get up, 
 and go and eat some dinner. It is almost 
 eight bells." 
 
 Rollo wished very much that these visitors 
 would leave him alone. He made very little 
 reply to them, only saying that he did not wish 
 for any dinner. In fact, he felt sure that, if 
 he were to go to the table, he could not eat 
 anything. 
 
 The men, after laughing at him, and punch- 
 ing him, and teasing him a little longer, went 
 away. 
 
 A few minutes after this, Maria and Jennie 
 came into the saloon. They were ready to go 
 to dinner, and so they came into the saloon to 
 wait there till the gong should sound. When 
 they saw Rollo lying upon the sofa, they went 
 up to him, but did not speak. Rollo opened 
 his eyes and looked at them- Maria smiled, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 9S 
 
 but still did not speak. Rollo smiled in return, 
 though somewhat faintly, and then shut his 
 eyes again. Then Maria led Jennie away, 
 gently. 
 
 **You see," said Maria to Jennie, when they 
 had gone out of Rollo's hearing, *'he feels a 
 1 ctle sick, and when a person feels seasick they 
 do n t like to talk. I am going to get him a 
 bowl of broth. *' 
 
 **Well,** said Jennie, '*let me go and ask 
 him if he would like some. " 
 
 "No," said Maria. '*If you were to ask 
 him, he would say no. He would think that 
 he could not eat it; and yet, if I bring it to 
 him, without saying anything about it, when he 
 tastes it perhaps he will like it. In fact, when 
 people are sick, it is always better not to ask 
 them too much about what they would like. 
 It is better to consider what we think they 
 would like, and bring it to them, without say- 
 ing anything about it beforehand." 
 
 So saying, Maria rang the saloon bell. The 
 chambermaid came in answer to the summons. 
 Maria then sent the chambermaid to the din- 
 ing saloon to bring a bowl of chicken broth to 
 her. The chambermaid went out, and pres- 
 ently returned, bringing the broth, just as the 
 gong was sounding for dinner. Maria carried 
 the broth to Rollo. 
 
 When she offered it to him, Rollo thought 
 at first that he should not be able to take but 
 two or three spoonfuls of it, but on tasting it 
 he found that he liked it very much. He ate 
 
U ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 it all, and, as he lay down again upon his sofa, 
 he said that he felt a great deal better. 
 
 Maria then told him that he might lie still 
 there as long as he pleased ; adding, that she 
 and Jennie were going to dinner. Maria and 
 Jennie then went away, leaving Rollo alone 
 again. 
 
 Rollo felt so much better for the broth that 
 he had taken, that pretty soon he rose from 
 his recumbent position, and began to sit up. 
 Presently he said to himself, *'How much bet- 
 ter I do feel ; I believe I will go and get some 
 dinner.'* 
 
 So he rose from the sofa, and began to stag- 
 ger along toward the door of the saloon. He 
 found, however, that after all he felt some- 
 what giddy and light headed; and he con- 
 cluded, therefore, that, instead of going to 
 dinner, he would go up on deck and see how 
 the wind was. He accordingly turned to the 
 staircase which led up to the main deck, and 
 steadying himself by the hand rail as he 
 ascended the steps, he went up. 
 
 At the head of the stairs was a passage way, 
 and at the end of the passage way there was a 
 space upon the deck, which was half enclosed; 
 it being shut in by an awning on the windy 
 side, and open on the other. This space was 
 often resorted to by passengers who were sick, 
 and who wished for more fresh air than they 
 could have below. There was a row of settees 
 on one side of this space, and, at the time 
 that Rollo came up there, there was a lady 
 lying on one of these settees, apparently in a 
 
ROtLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 very forlorn condition. She looked very pale, 
 and her eyes were shut. She was lying upon 
 a mattress, which had been put upon the set- 
 tee for her, and was covered up with blankets 
 and shawls. 
 
 A gentleman, who seemed to be her hus- 
 band, was standing before her, attempting to 
 persuade her to get up. He did this, however, 
 as Rollo thought, in rather a rough and heart- 
 less manner. 
 
 '*0, get up! get up!*' said he. **You never 
 will be well if you lie here. Come, go with me 
 and get some dinner.** 
 
 The lady said, in a mournful tone, that she 
 could not get up, and that she had no appetite 
 for dinner. 
 
 **Well,'* said her husband, **I am going." 
 
 **I wish you could tell me something about 
 Hilbert,** said the lady. **I feel very anxious 
 about him. I am afraid that he will get into 
 some trouble. He is so careless." 
 
 '*0, no,'* said her husband. **Don*t disturb 
 yourself about him. He*s safe enough some- 
 where, I dare say.*' 
 
 So saying, the gentleman went away. 
 
 Rollo immediately conceived the idea of 
 performing for this lady the kind service 
 which Maria had so successfully performed for 
 him. So, without speaking to her at all, he 
 went immediately down into the cabin again, 
 and thence followed the long passages which 
 led to the dining saloon, until he came to the 
 door of it. He looked in, and saw that the 
 people were all seated at the table, eating 
 
96 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 their dinners. He went to one of the waiters, 
 and asked him if he would bring him a bowl 
 of chicken broth, to carry to a lady who was 
 sick. 
 
 The waiter said that he would do so, and 
 immediately went to get the broth. When he 
 came back with it, he said to RoUo, — 
 
 **You had better let me take it to the lady." 
 
 "No,*' said Rollo, "I can take it myself. I 
 know exactly where she is. " 
 
 So Rollo took the bowl, and began to carry 
 it along. He did this without much difficulty, 
 for it was not by any means full. Bowls of 
 broth intended to be carried about ship at sea 
 are never entirely full. 
 
 When, finally, he came to the place where 
 the lady was lying on the settee, he stood there 
 a moment holding the bowl in his hand, with- 
 out speaking, as he thought the lady was 
 asleep; for her eyes were shut. In a moment, 
 however, she opened her eyes. Rollo then 
 said to her, — 
 
 ''Would not you like a bowl of broth, lady? 
 I have brought some for you.*' 
 
 The lady gazed at Rollo a moment with a 
 sort of bewildered look, and then, raising her- 
 self up upon the settee, she took the broth, and 
 began to eat it with the spoon. At first, she 
 seemed to take it cautiously and with doubt; 
 but presently, finding that she liked it, she 
 took spoonful after spoonful with evident 
 pleasure. Rollo was extremely delighted at 
 the success of his experiment. The lady said 
 nothing to him all the time though she looked 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 Up at him repeatedly with a very earnest gaze 
 while she was taking the broth. At length 
 she finished it, and then gave Rollo back the 
 bowl, saying as she did it, — 
 
 ''Did my husband send you with that bowl 
 of broth to me?" 
 
 *'No,*' said Rollo, brought it myself." 
 
 ** And what put it into }^ourhead to do that? * 
 added the lady. 
 
 *'Why, Maria brought some to me when I 
 was sick," replied Rollo, "and it did me good; 
 and so I thought it would do you good." 
 
 The lady looked at him a moment more with 
 an earnest gaze, and then lay down again, and 
 shut her eyes. Presently she opened them a 
 moment and said, — 
 
 *'Do you know my son Hilbert?" 
 
 **I have seen a boy about the ship," said 
 Rollo, **not quite so big as I am. Is that 
 he?" 
 
 **With a blue jacket?" said the lady. 
 
 **Yes," said Rollo, '*and a bow and arrows." 
 
 ** That's he," said the lady. ''If you will go 
 and find out where he is, and ask him to come 
 to me, you will do me a great deal of good." 
 
 Rollo had seen this boy several times in 
 different places about the ship; but as he 
 seemed to be rather rude and boisterous in his 
 manners, and very forward and free withal in 
 his intercourse with the passengers who 
 chanced to speak to him from time to time, 
 Rollo had not felt much disposed to form an 
 acquaintance with him. The boy had a bow 
 and arrows, with which he had often amused 
 
 7 Atlantic 
 
98 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 himself in shooting about the decks. He did 
 this with so little consideration, that at last, 
 one of the officers of the ship told him that he 
 must not shoot any more in those parts of the 
 ship where the ladies were, but that he must 
 go forward, among the sailors, if he wished to 
 practice archery. So the boy went forward, 
 and from that time he spent most of his time 
 on the forward deck among the sailors, and in 
 the midst of the ropes and the rigging. 
 
 Rollo now went in pursuit of him, and after 
 looking for him in many places, both before 
 and aft, he finally went down into the dining 
 saloon, and there he found Hilbert seated at 
 the table, eating dinner, with his father. His 
 bow and arrows were on the seat by his side. 
 Rollo went up to the place where Hilbert was 
 isitting, and in a timid and cautious manner 
 informed him that his mother wished to see 
 him. 
 
 **My mother!" repeated Hilbert, looking up 
 surprised. 
 
 "Yes," replied Rollo; **she asked me to tell 
 you. But I suppose that she can wait until 
 you have finished your dinner." 
 
 **0, no," said Hilbert, can't go at all. 
 Go tell her I can't come. " 
 
 Rollo was greatly astonished at receiving 
 such a message as this from a boy to his 
 mother. 
 
 ''Hilbert," said his father, in a very stern 
 and threatening manner, "go to your mother 
 directly." 
 
 "No," said Hilbert, in a sort of begging and 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 99 
 
 whining tone. *'No, if I do, sheUl make me 
 stay there all the afternoon." 
 
 ** No matter for that," said his father; * 'go 
 directly." 
 
 Hilbert did not move, but went on eating 
 his dinner. 
 
 ** At least," said his father, **you must go 
 immediately when you have done your 
 dinner. " 
 
 Hilbert muttered something in reply, but 
 RoUo did not hear what it was. In fact, he did 
 not wish to hear any more of such a dialogue 
 as this between a child and his father. So he 
 went a\^/ay. He was not at all inclined to 
 go back to the lady and inform her what Hil- 
 bert had said ; but he thought that he ought 
 at least to go and tell her that he had found 
 Hilbert, as he had been taught that it was 
 always his duty to go back with a report when 
 sent on a message. So he went back to the 
 lady, and told her that he had found Hilbert, 
 and that he was at dinner with his father. 
 
 **And what did he say about coming to me?" 
 asked the lady. 
 
 **His father told him that he must come as 
 soon as he had finished his dinner," replied 
 Rollo. 
 
 **Very well," said the lady, *Hhat will do." 
 
 So saying, she turned her head away and 
 shut her eyes again, and so Rollo withdrew. 
 
 It would be a very nice and delicate point to 
 determine whether Rollo* s answer in this case 
 was or was not as full as strict honesty re- 
 quired. He certainly did not state anything 
 
100 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANT C. 
 
 that was not true; nor did he, in Vvhat he said, 
 convey any false impression. He, however, 
 withheld a very important part of what the 
 lady must have desired to know. It is un- 
 doubtedly sometimes right for us to conceal or 
 withhold the truth. Sometimes, indeed, it is 
 our imperious duty to do so. RoUo's motive 
 for doing- as he did in this case was to avoid 
 giving a sick mother pain, by reporting to her 
 the undutiful conduct of her son. Whether it 
 would or would not have been better for him 
 to have communicated the whole truth, is a 
 point which must be left for the readers of 
 this book to discuss among themselves. 
 
 After dinner Hilbert, instead of going to his 
 mother, went up upon the deck, leaving his 
 bow and arrows, however, down in the cabin. 
 As Rollo and Jennie were, at that time, seated 
 near the after part of the promenade deck, he 
 came and sat down near them. Rollo had a 
 great desire to get up and go away, taking 
 Jennie with him; but he feared that it would 
 be impolite for him to do so; and while he was 
 considering what he should do, the surgeon 
 came along that way, and said to them, — 
 Children, have you seen the little bird?** 
 
 "What bird?*' exclaimed the children, all to- 
 gether.** **Why, there has a bird came on 
 board,** replied the surgeon. **He belongs in 
 Nova Scotia, I suppose. That is the nearest 
 land. He is forward, somewhere, among the 
 sailors. ' ' 
 
 The children immediately hurried out to the 
 most forward part of the promenade deck, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 101 
 
 near the great smoke pipe, to a place from 
 which they could look down upon the forward 
 deck. There they saw the little bird perched 
 upon a coil of rigging. He was perfectly still. 
 Some sailors were standing near, looking at 
 him. The bird, however, appeared to take no 
 notice of them. 
 
 *Toor little thing!'* said Rollo. '*I expect 
 he is tired flying so far. I wonder how far it 
 is to Nova Scotia.** 
 
 Rollo turned round as he said this, to see if 
 the surgeon was near, in order to ask him 
 how far the poor bird was from home. The 
 surgeon was not there, but he saw that both 
 Jennie and Hilbert had suddenly started to- 
 gether to go back toward the stairway, as if 
 they were going below. 
 
 * 'Jennie/' said Rollo, ** where are you 
 going?*' 
 
 Jennie did not answer, but hurried on. Hil- 
 bert seemed equally eager. In fact, it was 
 evident that they had both been seized with 
 some new idea, though Rollo could not at 
 first imagine what it was. At length, he 
 said, — 
 
 *'Ah! I know. They are going down where 
 the bird is, to see it nearer. I'll go with 
 them. ' • 
 
 So saying, Rollo hurried away too. 
 
 He was mistaken, however, in supposing 
 that Hilbert and Jennie were merely going to 
 the forward deck so as to get nearer the bird. 
 Jennie was going down into the cabin to shut 
 up her kitten. The instant that she saw the 
 
102 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 bird she was reminded of Tiger, having some- 
 times seen Tiger run after little birds in the 
 yards and gardens at home. They could 
 escape from her by flying away, but this poor 
 bird seemed so tired that Jennie was afraid 
 the kitten would catch it and kill it, if she 
 came near ; and so she went off very eagerly to 
 shut the kitten up. 
 
 She found the kitten asleep on a sofa in the 
 cabin. She immediately seized her, waking 
 her up very suddenly by so doing, and hurried 
 her off at once to her cage. Jennie put the 
 kitten into the cage, and then shut and fas- 
 tened the door. 
 
 •'There, Tiger," said she, **you must stay 
 in there. There is something up stairs that 
 you must not see.*' 
 
 Then Jennie took the cage up, by means of 
 the ring which formed the handle at the top, 
 and carried it into her state room. She 
 pushed aside the curtains of the lower berth, 
 and, putting the cage in, she deposited it upon 
 a small shelf in the end of the berth. Then, 
 drawing the curtains again very carefully, she 
 came out of the state room and shut the door. 
 
 **Now, Tiger," said she, as she tried the 
 door to see if it was fast, **you are safe; and 
 you must stay there until the little bird goes 
 away. ' * 
 
 The kitten, when she found herself thus left 
 alone in such seclusion, stood for a moment 
 on the floor of the cage, looking toward the 
 curtains, in an attitude of great astonishment; 
 then, knowing well, from past experience, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 103 
 
 that it was wholly useless for her to speculate 
 on the reasons of Jennie's doings, she lay 
 down upon the floor of the cage, curled herself 
 into a ring, and went to sleep again. 
 
 As for Hilbert, who had set off from the 
 smoke pipe deck at the same time with Jennie, 
 and in an equally eager manner, his going be- 
 low had been with an entirely different intent 
 from hers. He was going to get his bow and 
 arrows, in order to shoot the little bird. Hp 
 found them on the seat where he had left 
 them. He seized them hastily, and ran up by 
 the forward gangway, which brought him out 
 upon the forward deck not very far from 
 where the bird was resting upon the coil of 
 rigging. He crept softly up toward him, and 
 adjusted, as he went, his arrow to his bow. 
 Several of the sailors were near, and one of 
 them, a man whom they called Hargo, imme- 
 diately stopped the operation that he was en- 
 gaged in, and demanded of Hilbert what he 
 was going to do. 
 
 am going to pop one of my arrows into 
 that bird,'* said Hilbert. 
 
 *'No such thing," said the sailor. **You 
 pop an arrow into that bird, and I'll pop you 
 overboard." 
 
 Sailors will never allow any one to molest or 
 harm in any way the birds that alight upon 
 their ships at sea. 
 
 ** Overboard!" repeated Hilbert, in a tone 
 of contempt and defiance. *'You would not 
 dare to do such a thing. ' * 
 
 So saying, he went on adjusting his arrow, 
 
104 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 and, creeping up toward the bird, began to 
 take aim. 
 
 Hargo here made a signal to some of his 
 comrades, who, in obedience to it, came up 
 near him in a careless and apparently unde- 
 signed manner. Hargo then, by a sudden and 
 unexpected movement, pulled the bow and 
 arrow out of Hilbert's hand, and passed them 
 instantly behind him to another sailor, who 
 passed them to another, each standing in such 
 a position as to conceal what they did en- 
 tirely from Hilbert's sight. The thing was 
 done so suddenly that Hilbert was entirely be- 
 wildered. His bow and arrow were gone, but 
 he could not tell where. Each sailor, the in- 
 stant that he had passed the bow and arrow to 
 the next, assumed a careless air, and went on 
 with his work with a very grave and unmean- 
 ing face, as if he had not been taking any 
 notice of the transaction. The last man who 
 received the charge was very near the side of 
 the ship, and as he stood there, leaning with a 
 careless air against the bulwarks, he slyly 
 dropped the bow and arrow overboard. They 
 fell into the water just in advance of the pad- 
 dle wheel. As the ship was advancing 
 through the water all this time with tremen- 
 dous speed, the paddle struck both the bow 
 and the arrow the instant after they touched 
 the water, and broke them both into pieces. 
 The fragments came out behind, and floated 
 off unseen in the foam which drifted away in 
 a long line in the wake of the steamer. 
 
 Hilbert was perfectly confounded. He 
 
 r 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 105 
 
 knew nothing of the fate which his weapons 
 had met with. All he knew was, that they 
 had somehow or other suddenly disappeared as 
 if by magic. Hargo had taken them, he was 
 sure ; but what he had done with them, he 
 could not imagine. He was in a great rage, 
 and turning to Hargo with a fierce look, he 
 demanded, in a loud and furious tone, — 
 **Give me back my bow and arrow.** 
 **I have not got your bow and arrow," said 
 Hargo. 
 
 So saying, Hargo held up both hands, by 
 way of proving the truth of his assertion. 
 
 Hilbert gazed at him for a moment, utterly 
 at a loss what to do or sav, and then he looked 
 at the other sailors who were near, first at one, 
 and then at another ; but he could get no clew 
 to the mystery. 
 
 **You have got them hid behind you," said 
 Hilbert, again addressing Hargo. 
 
 '*No," saidhe. **See.'* 
 
 So saying, he turned round and let Hilbert 
 see that the bow and arrow were not behind 
 him. 
 
 **Well, you took them away from me, at any 
 rate," said Hilbert; and saying this, he turned 
 away and walked off, seemingly very angry. 
 He was going to complain to his father. 
 
 He met his father coming up the cabin stairs 
 and began, as soon as he came near him, to 
 complain in very bitter and violent language 
 of the treatment that he had received. Hargo 
 had taken away his bow an arrow, and would 
 not give them back to him. 
 
106 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 **Very well/' replied his father, quietly, 
 •*you had been doing some mischief with 
 them, I suppose. *' 
 
 *'No," said Hilbert, **I had not been doing 
 anything at all.'* 
 
 **Then you were going to do some mischief 
 with them, I suppose," said his father. 
 
 **No," said Hilbert, **I was only going to 
 shoot a little bird. ' ' 
 
 **A little bird!" repeated his father, sur- 
 prised. **What little bird?" 
 
 **Why, a little bird that came on board from 
 Nova Scotia, they said," replied Hilbert. 
 **He came to rest." 
 
 **And you were going to shoot him?" said 
 his father, in a tone of surprise. Then, after 
 pausing a moment, he added, **Here, come 
 with me. " 
 
 So saying, Hilbert's father turned and 
 walked down the cabin stairs again. He led 
 the way to his state room, which, as it hap- 
 pened, was on the opposite side of the cabin 
 from that which Jennie occupied. When he 
 reached the door of the state room, he opened 
 it, and standing on one side, he pointed the 
 way to Hilbert, saying sternly, — 
 
 **Go in there!" 
 
 Hilbert went in. 
 
 **You will stay there, now," said his father, 
 **as long as that bird sees fit to remain on 
 board. It won't do, I see, for you both to be 
 on deck together." 
 
 So saying, Hilbert's father shut the state 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 107 
 
 room door, and locked it; and then, putting 
 the key in his pocket, went away. 
 
 The bird was now safe, his two enemies — 
 the only enemies he had on board the steamer 
 — being shut up in their respective state 
 rooms, as prisoners, one on one side of the 
 cabin, and the other on the other. He did 
 not, however, rest any the more quietly on 
 this account; for he had not at any time been 
 conscious of the danger that he had been in, 
 either from the kitten or the boy. He went 
 on reposing quietly at the resting-place which 
 he had chosen on the coil of rigging, until at 
 last, when his little wings had become some- 
 what reinvigorated, he came down from it, and 
 went hopping about the deck. Jennie and 
 Maria then went down below and got some 
 bread for him. This they scattered in crumbs 
 before him, and he came and ate it with 
 great satisfaction. In about two hours he 
 began to fly about a little; and finally he 
 perched upon the bulwarks, and looked all over 
 the sea. Perceiving that he was now strong 
 enough to undertake the passage home to his 
 mate, he flew off, and ascending high into 
 the air, until he obtained sight of the coast, 
 he then set forth with great speed in that 
 direction. It was several hundred miles to 
 the shore, and he had to rest two or three 
 times on the way. Once he alighted on an 
 English ship-of-war that was going into Hali- 
 fax; the next time upon a small fishing boat 
 on the Banks. He was not molested at either 
 of his resting-places; and so in due time he 
 
108 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 safely reached the shore, and joined his mate 
 at the nest, in a little green valley in Nova 
 Scotia. He was very glad to get home. He 
 had not intended to have gone so far to sea. 
 He was blown off by a strong wind, which 
 came up suddenly while he was playing in the 
 air, about five miles from shore. 
 
 The two prisoners were liberated from their 
 state rooms after having been kept shut up 
 about two hours. Tiger did not mind this 
 confinement at all ; for her conscience being 
 quiet, she did not trouble herself about it in 
 the least, but slept nearly the whole time. It 
 was, however, quite a severe punishment to 
 Hilbert; for his mind was all the time tor- 
 mented with feelings of vexation, self-reproach 
 and shame. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. lOl 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE STORM. 
 
 The navigation of the Atlantic by means of 
 the immense sea-going steamers of the present 
 day, with all its superiority in most respects, 
 is attended with one very serious disadvantge, 
 at least for all romantic people, and those who 
 particularly enjoy what is grand and sublime. 
 To passengers on board an Atlantic steamer, 
 a storm at sea — that spectacle which has, in 
 former times, been so often described as the 
 most grand and sublime of all the exhibitions 
 which the course of nature presents to man — 
 is divested almost entirely of that imposing 
 magnificence for which it was formerly so 
 renowned. 
 
 There are several reasons for this. 
 
 First, the height of the waves appears far 
 less impressive, when seen from on board an 
 Atlantic steamer, than from any ordinary ves- 
 sel ; for the deck in the case of these steamers 
 is so high, that the spectator, as it were, looks 
 down upon them. Any one who has ever 
 ascended a mountain knows very well what 
 the effect is upon the apparent height of all 
 smaller hills, when they are seen from an ele- 
 vation that is far higher than they. In fact, a 
 country that is really quite hilly is made to 
 
110 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 appear almost level, by being surveyed from 
 any one summit that rises above the other 
 elevations. The same is the case with the 
 waves of the sea, when seen from the prome- 
 nade deck of one of these vast steamers. 
 
 The waves of the sea are never more than 
 twelve or fifteen feet high, although a very 
 common notion prevails that they run very 
 much higher. It has been well ascertained 
 that they never rise more than twelve or fif- 
 teen feet above the general level of the water, 
 and if we allow the same quantity for the depth 
 of the trough, or hollow between two waves, 
 we shall have from twenty-five to thirty feet 
 as the utmost altitude which any swell of water 
 can have, reckoning from the most depressed 
 portions of the surface near it. Now, in a 
 first-class Atlantic steamer, there are two full 
 stories, so to speak, above the surface of the 
 sea, and a promenade deck above the upper- 
 most one. This brings the head of the spec- 
 tator, when he stands upon the promenade 
 deck and surveys the ocean around him, to the 
 height of twenty-five or thirty feet above the 
 surface of the water. The elevation at which 
 he stands varies considerably, it is true, at 
 different portions of the voyage. When the 
 ship first comes out of port she is very heavily 
 laden, as she has on board, in addition to the 
 cargo, all the coal which she is to consume dur- 
 ing the whole voyage. This is an enormous 
 quantity — enough for the full lading of what 
 used to be considered a large ship in former 
 days. This coal being gradually consumed 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. Ill 
 
 during the voyage, the steamer is lightened; 
 and thus she swims lighter and lighter as she 
 proceeds, being four or five feet higher out of 
 the water when she reaches the end of her voy- 
 age than she was at the beginning. Thus the 
 height at which the passenger stands above the 
 waves, when walking on the promenade deck 
 of an Atlantic steamer, varies somewhat dur- 
 ing the progress of the voyage ; but it is 
 always, or almost always so great as to bring 
 his head above the crests of the waves. Thus 
 he looks down, as it were, upon the heaviest 
 seas, and this greatly diminishes their ap- 
 parent magnitude and elevation. On the con- 
 trary, to one going to sea in vessels as small as 
 those with which Columbus made the voyage 
 when he discovered America, the loftiest bil- 
 lows would rise and swell, and toss their foam- 
 ing crests far above his head, as he clung to 
 the deck to gaze at them. They would seem 
 at times ready to overwhelm him with the vast 
 and towering volumes of water which they 
 raised around him. Then, when the shock 
 which was produced by the encounter of one of 
 them was passed, and the ship, trembling from 
 the concussion, rose buoyantly over the swell, 
 being small in comparison with the volume of 
 the wave, she was lifted so high that she 
 seemed to hang trembling upon the brink of it, 
 ready to plunge to certain destruction into the 
 yawning gulf which opened below. 
 
 All this is, however, now changed. The 
 mighty steamer, twice as long, and nearly four 
 times as massive as she ship, surpasses the 
 
112 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 seas now, as it were, in magnitude and momen- 
 tum, as well as in power. She not only tri- 
 umphs over them in the contest of strength, 
 but she towers above and overtops them in 
 position. The billow can now no longer toss 
 her up so lightly to the summit of its crest ; 
 nor, when the crest of it is passed, will she 
 sink her so fearfully into the hollow of the sea. 
 The spectator, raised above all apparent dan- 
 ger, and moving forward through the scene of 
 wild commotion with a power greater far than 
 that which the foaming surges can exert, sur- 
 veys the scene around him with wonder and 
 admiration, it is true, but without that over- 
 powering sensation of awe which it could once 
 inspire. 
 
 Then there is another thing. A sailing ves- 
 sel, which is always in a great measure depend- 
 ent upon the wind, is absolutely at its mercy 
 in a storm. When the gale increases beyond a 
 certain limit, she can no longer make head at 
 all against its fury, but must turn and fly — or 
 be driven — wherever the fury of the tempest 
 may impel her. In such cases, she goes bound- 
 ing over the seas, away from her course, to- 
 ward rocks, shoals, breakers, or any other dan- 
 gers whatever which may lie in the way, 
 without the least power or possibility of resist- 
 ance. She goes howling on, in such a case, 
 over the wide waste of waters before her, 
 wholly unable to escape from the dreadful fury 
 of the master who is driving her, and with no 
 hope of being released from his hand, until he 
 chooses, of his own accord, to abate his rage. 
 
( 
 
 } - - - ^ 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 113 
 
 All this, top, is now changed. This terrible 
 master has now found his master in the sea- 
 going steamer. She turns not aside to the right 
 hand or to the left, for all his power. Boreas 
 may send his gales from what quarter he 
 pleases, and urge them with whatever violence 
 he likes to display. The steamer goes steadily 
 on, pointing her unswerving prow directly . 
 toward her port of destination, and triumphing 
 easily, and apparently without effort, over all 
 the fury of the wind and the shocks and con- 
 cussions of the waves. The worst that the 
 storm can do is to retard, in some degree, the 
 swiftness of her motion. Instead of driving 
 her, as it would have done a sailing vessel, two 
 or three hundred miles out of her course, away 
 over the sea, it can only reduce her speed in 
 her own proper and determined direction to 
 eight miles an hour instead of twelve. 
 
 Now, this makes a great difference in the 
 effect produced upon the mind by witnessing 
 a storm at sea. If the passenger, as he sur- 
 veys the scene, feels that his ship, and all that 
 it contains, has been seized by the terrific 
 power which he sees raging around him, and 
 that they are all entirely at its mercy — that it 
 is sweeping them away over the sea, perhaps • 
 into the jaws of destruction, without any pos- 
 sible power, on their part, of resistance or es- 
 cape — his mind is filled with the most grand 
 and solemn emotions. Such a flight as this, 
 extending day after day, perhaps for five hun- 
 dred miles, over a raging sea, is really sub- 
 lime. 
 
 S AtXantic 
 
lU ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 The Atlantic steamer never flies. She 
 never yields in any way to the fury of the gale, 
 unless she gets disabled. While her machinery 
 stands, she moves steadily forward in her 
 course, and so far as any idea of danger is con- 
 cerned, the passengers in their cabins and state 
 rooms below pay no more regard to the storm 
 than a farmer's family do to whistling and 
 howling of the wind among the chimneys of 
 their house, in a blustering night on land. 
 
 So much for the philosophy of a storm at sea, 
 as witnessed by the passengers on board an 
 Atlantic steamer. 
 
 One night, when the steamer had been some 
 time at sea, Rollo awoke, and found himself 
 more than usually unsteady in his berth. 
 Sometimes he slept upon his couch, and some- 
 times in his berth. This night he was in his 
 berth, and he found himself rolling from side 
 to side in it, very uneasily. The creaking of 
 the ship, too, seemed to be much more violent 
 and incessant than it had been before. Rollo 
 turned over upon his other side, and drew up 
 his knees in such a manner as to prevent him- 
 self from rolling about quite so much, and then 
 went to sleep again. 
 
 His sleep, however, was very much broken 
 and disturbed, and he was at last suddenly 
 awakened by a violent lurch of the ship, which 
 rolled him over hard against the outer edge of 
 his berth, and then back against the inner edge 
 of it again. There was a sort of cord, with 
 large knobs upon it, at different distances, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 115 
 
 which was hung like a bell cord from the back 
 side of the berth. RoUo had observed this 
 cord before, but he did not knov/ what it was 
 for. He now however, discovered what it was 
 for, as, by grasping these knobs in his hands, 
 he found that the cord was an excellent thing 
 for him to hold on by in a heavy sea. By 
 means of this support, he found that he could 
 moor himself, as it were, quite well, and keep 
 himself steady when a heavy swell came. 
 
 He was not long, however, at rest, for he 
 found that his endeavors to go to sleep were 
 disturbed by a little door that kept swinging 
 to and fro, in his state room, as the ship rolled. 
 This was the door of a little cupboard under 
 the washstand. When the door swung open, 
 it would strike against a board which formed 
 the front side of the couch that has already 
 been described. Then, when the ship rolled 
 the other way, it would come to, and strike 
 again upon its frame and sill. Rollo endured 
 this noise as long as he could, and then he re- 
 solved to get up and shut the door. So he put 
 his feet out of his berth upon the floor — which 
 he could easily do, as the berth that he was in 
 was the lower one — and sat there watching for 
 a moment when the ship should be tolerably 
 still. When the right moment came, he ran 
 across to the little door, shut it, and crowded 
 it hard into its place ; then darted back to his 
 berth again, getting there just in time to save ^ 
 a tremendous lurch of the ship, which would 
 have perhaps pitched him across the state 
 
Xl6 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 room, if it had caught him when he was in the 
 middle of the floor. 
 
 Rollo did not have time to fasten the little 
 door with its lock ; and this seemed in fact un- 
 necessary, for it shut so hard and tight into its 
 place that he was quite confident that the fric- 
 tion would hold it, and that it would not come 
 open again. To his great surprise, therefore, 
 a few minutes afterward, he heard a thump- 
 ing sound, and, on turning over to see what 
 the cause of it was, he found that the little 
 door was loose again, and was swinging back- 
 ward and forward as before. The fact was, 
 that, although the door had shut in tight at 
 the moment when Rollo had closed it, the 
 space into which it had been fitted had been 
 opened wider by the springing of the timbers 
 and framework of the ship at the next roll, and 
 thus set the door free again. So Rollo had to 
 get up once more ; and this time he locked the 
 door when he had shut it, and so made it 
 secure. 
 
 Still, however, he could not sleep. As soon 
 as he began in the least degree to lose con- 
 sciousness, so as to relax his hold upon the 
 knobs of his cord, some heavy lurch of the sea 
 would come, and roll him violently from side 
 to side, and thus wnke him up again. He 
 tried to brace himself up with pillows, but he 
 had not pillows enough. He climbed up to 
 the upper berth, and brought down the bolster 
 and pillow that belonged there; and thus he 
 packed and wedged himself in. But the in- 
 cessant rolling and pitching of the ship kept 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 117 
 
 everything in such a state of motion that the 
 pillows soon worked loose again. 
 
 After making several ineffectual attempts to 
 secure for himself a quiet and fixed position in 
 his berth, Rollo finally concluded to shift his 
 quarters to the other side of the state room 
 and try the couch. The couch had a sort of 
 side board, which passed along the front side 
 of it, and which was higher somewhat than the 
 one forming the front of the berth. This board 
 was made movable, so that it could be shifted 
 from the front to the back side, and vice versa, 
 at pleasure. By putting this side board back, 
 the place became a sort of sofa or couch, and it 
 was usually in this state during the day; but 
 by bringing it forward, which was done at 
 night, it became a berth, and one somewhat 
 larger and more comfortable than the perma- 
 nent berths on the other side. 
 
 So Rollo began to make preparations for a 
 removal. He threw the bolster and pillows 
 across first, and then, getting out of the berth, 
 and holding firmly to the edge of it, he waited 
 for a moment's pause in the motion of the 
 ship ; and then, when he thought that the right 
 time had come, he ran across. It happened, 
 however, that he made a miscalculation as to 
 the time, for the ship was then just beginning 
 to careen violently in the direction in which 
 he was going, and thus he was pitched head 
 foremost over into the couch, where he floun- 
 dered about several minutes among the pillows 
 and bolsters before he could recover the com- 
 mand of himself. 
 
118 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 At last he lay down, and attempted to com- 
 pose himself to sleep ; but he soon experienced 
 a new trouble. It happened that there were 
 some cloaks and coats hanging up upon a 
 brass hook above him, and, as the ship rolled 
 from side to side, the lower ends of them were 
 continually swinging to and fro, directly over 
 Rollo*s face. He tried for a time to get out of 
 the way of them, by moving his head one way 
 and the other; but they seemed to follow him 
 wherever he went, and so he was obliged at 
 last to climb up and take them all off the hook, 
 and throw them away into a corner. Then he 
 lay down again, thinking that he should now 
 be able to rest in peace. 
 
 At length, when he became finally settled, 
 and began to think at last that perhaps he 
 should be able to go to sleep, he thought that 
 he heard something rolling about in Jennie's 
 state room, and also, at intervals, a mewing 
 sound. He listened. The door between the 
 two state rooms was always put open a little 
 way every night, and secured so by the cham- 
 bermaid, so that either of the children might 
 call to the other if anything were wanted. It 
 was thus that Rollo heard the sound that came 
 from Jennie's room. After listening a mo- 
 ment, he heard Jennie's voice calling to him. 
 
 *' Rollo," said she, **are you awake?" 
 
 '*Yes," said Rollo. 
 
 **Then I wish you would come and help my 
 kitten. Here she is, shut up in her cage, and 
 rolling in it all over the room. ' ' 
 
 It was even so. Jennie had put Tiger into 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 119 
 
 the cage at night when she went to bed, as she 
 was accustomed to do, and then had set the 
 cage in the corner of the state room. The vio- 
 lent motion of the ship had upset the cage, and 
 it was now rolling about from one side of the 
 state room to the other — the poor kitten mew- 
 ing piteously all the time, and wondering 
 what could be the cause of the astonishing 
 gyrations that she was undergoing. Maria 
 was asleep all the time, and heard nothing of 
 it all. 
 
 Rollo said he would get up and help the kit- 
 ten. So he disengaged himself from the wedg- 
 ings of pillows and bolsters in which he had 
 been packed, and, clinging all the time to 
 something for support, he made his way into 
 Jennie's state room. There was a dim light 
 shining there, which came through a pane of 
 glass on one side of the state room, near the 
 door. This light was not sufficient to enable 
 Rollo to see anything very distinctly. He, 
 however, at length succeeded, by holding to 
 the side of Jennie's berth with one hand, while 
 he groped about the floor with the other, in 
 finding the cage and securing it. 
 
 **I've got it," said Rollo, holding it up to the 
 light. '*It is the cage, and Tiger is in it. 
 Poor thing ! she looks frightened half to death. 
 Would you let her out?" 
 
 *'0, no," said Jennie. She '11 only be rolled 
 about the rooms herself. ' ' 
 
 '*Why, she could hold on with her claws, I 
 should think," said Rollo. 
 
 **fTo^" said Jennie, ** keep her in the cage, 
 
120 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 and put the cage in some safe place where it 
 can't get away.** 
 
 So RoUo put the kitten into the cage, and then 
 put the cage itself in a narrow space between 
 the foot of the couch and the end of the state 
 room, where he wedged it in safely with a car- 
 pet bag. Having done this, he was just about 
 returning to his place, when he was dreadfully 
 alarmed at the sound of a terrible concussion 
 upon the side of the ship, succeeded by a noise 
 as of something breaking open in his state 
 room, and a rush of water which seemed to 
 come pouring in there like a torrent, and fall- 
 ing on the floor. Rollo*s first thought was 
 that the ship had sprung a leak, and that she 
 was filling with water, and would sink imme- 
 diately. Jennie, too, was exceedingly alarmed ; 
 while Maria, who had been sound asleep all 
 this time, started up suddenly in great terror, 
 calling out, — 
 
 *'Mercyonme! what's that?" 
 
 '*I'm sure I don*t know," said Rollo, **unless 
 the ship is sinking. * * 
 
 Maria put out her hand and rung the bell 
 violently. In the meantime, the noise that 
 had so alarmed the children ceased, and noth- 
 ing was heard in Rollo*s room but a sort of 
 washing sound, as of water dashed to and fro 
 on the floor. Of course, the excessive fears 
 which the children had felt at first were in a 
 great measure allayed. 
 
 In a moment the chambermaid came in with 
 a light in her hand, and asked what was the 
 matter. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 121 
 
 •* I don't know,'* said Maria. ''Something 
 or other has happened in Rollo's state room. 
 Please look in and see. " 
 
 The chambermaid went in, and exclaimed, 
 as she entered, — 
 
 •'What a goose!" 
 
 "Who's a goose?" said Rollo, following her. 
 
 "I am," said the chambermaid, "for forget- 
 ting to screw up your light. But go back ; 
 you'll get wet, if you come here." 
 
 Rollo accordingly kept back in Jennie's state 
 room, though he advanced as near to the door 
 as he could, and looked in to see what had hap- 
 pened. He found that his little round window 
 had been burst open by a heavy sea, and that 
 a great quantity of water had rushed in. His 
 couch, which was directly under the window, 
 was completely drenched, and so was the floor; 
 though most of the water, except that which 
 was retained by the bedding and the carpet, 
 had run off through some unseen opening 
 below. When Rollo got where he could see, 
 the chambermaid was busy screwing up his 
 window tight into its place. It has already 
 been explained that this window was formed 
 of one small and very thick pane of glass, of 
 an oval form, and set in an iron frame, which 
 was attached by a hinge on one side, and made 
 to be secured when it was shut by a strong 
 screw and clamp on the other. 
 
 "There," said the chambermaid. "It is safe 
 now; only you can't sleep upon the couch any 
 more, it is so wet. You must get into your 
 
122 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 berth again. I will make you up a new bed in 
 the couch in the morning. " 
 
 RoUo accordingly clambered up into his 
 berth again, and the chambermaid left him to 
 himself. Presently, however, she came back 
 with a dry pillow and bolster for him. 
 
 **What makes the ship pitch and toss about 
 so?'* said Rollo. 
 
 **Head wind and heavy sea/* said the cham- 
 bermaid; * 'that's all. 
 
 The chambermaid then, bidding Rollo go to 
 sleep, passed on into Jennie's state room, on 
 her way to her own place of repose. As she 
 went by, Maria asked if there was not a storm 
 coming on. 
 
 **Yes, said the chambermaid, **a terrible 
 storm." 
 
 **How long will it be before morning?" asked 
 Jennie. 
 
 **0, it is not two bells yet," said the cham- 
 bermaid. *'And you had better not get up 
 when the morning comes. You'll only be 
 knocking about the cabins if you do. PU 
 bring you some breakfast when it is time." 
 
 So saying, the chambermaid went away, and, 
 left the children and Maria to themselves. 
 
 Rollo tried for a long time after this to get 
 to sleep, but all was in vain. He heard two 
 bells strike, and then three, and then four. 
 He turned over first one way, and then the 
 other; his head aching, and his limbs cramped 
 and benumbed from the confined and uncom- 
 fortable positions in which he was obliged to 
 keep them. In fact, when Jennie QU one occa- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 123 
 
 sion, just after four bells struck, being very 
 restless and wakeful herself, ventured to speak 
 to him in a gentle tone, and ask him whether 
 he was asleep, he replied that he was not; that 
 he had been trying very hard, but he could not 
 get anything of him asleep except his legs. 
 
 ,At length the gray light of the morning 
 began to shine in at his little round window. 
 This he was very glad to see, although it did 
 not promise any decided relief to his misery; 
 for the storm still continued with unabated vie- 
 lence. At length, when breakfast time came, 
 the chambermaid brought in some tea and toast 
 for Maria and for both the children. They 
 took it, and felt much better for it — so much 
 so, that RoUo said he meant to get up and go 
 and see the storm. 
 
 *'Well,*' said the chambermaid, **you may 
 go if you must. Dress yourself, and go on the 
 next deck above this, and walk along the pas- 
 sage way that leads aft, and there you'll find a 
 door that you can open and look out. You'll 
 be safe there. " 
 
 **Which way is aft?'* asked Rollo. 
 
 **That way,*' replied the chambermaid, 
 pointing. 
 
 So Rollo got up, and holding firmly to the 
 side of his berth with one hand, and bracing 
 himself between his berth and the side of his 
 was stand cupboard with his knees, as the 
 ship lurched to and fro, he contrived to dress 
 himself, though he was a long time in accom- 
 plishing the feat. He then told Jennie that he 
 was going up stairs to look out at some window 
 
124 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 or door, in order to see the storm. Jennie did 
 not make much reply, and so Rollo went 
 away. 
 
 The ship rolled and pitched so violently that 
 he could not stand alone for an instant. If he 
 attempted to do so, he would be thrown against 
 one side or the other of the cabin or passage- 
 way by the most sudden and unaccountable 
 impulses. He finally succeeded in getting up 
 upon the main deck, where he went into the 
 enclosed space which has already been 
 described. This space was closely shut up now 
 on all sides. There were, however, two doors 
 which led from it out upon the deck. In order 
 to go up upon the promenade deck, it was 
 necessary to go out at one of these doors, and 
 then ascend the promenade deck stairway. 
 Rollo had, however, no intention of doing this, 
 though he thought that perhaps he might open 
 one of the doors a little and look out. 
 
 While he was thinking of this, he heard steps 
 behind him as of some one coming up stairs, 
 and then a voice, saying, — 
 
 * 'Halloo, Rollo! Are you up here?" 
 
 Rollo turned round and saw Hilbert. He 
 was clinging to the side of the doorway. Rollo 
 himself was upon one of the settees. 
 
 Just then one of the outer doors opened, and 
 a man came in. He was an officer of the ship. 
 A terrible gust of wind came in with him. 
 The officer closed the door again immediately, 
 and seeing the boys, he said to them, — 
 
 *'Well, boys, you are pretty good sailors, to 
 be about the ship such weather as this." 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 125 
 
 **l'tn going up on the promenade deck/* said 
 Hilbert. 
 
 **No," said the officer, **you had better do 
 no such thing. You will get pitched into the 
 lee scuppers before you know where you are. * ' 
 
 '*Is there any such place where we can look 
 out and see the sea?" said RoUo. 
 
 '*Yes, " replied the officer; *'go aft, there, 
 along that passage way, and you will find a 
 door on the lee quarter where you can look 
 out." 
 
 So saying, the officer went away down into 
 the cabin. 
 
 Hilbert did not know what was meant by 
 getting pitched into the lee scuppers, and RoUo 
 did not know what the lee quarter could be. 
 He however determined to go in the direction 
 that the man had indicated, and see if he could 
 find the door. 
 
 As for Hilbert, he said to RoUo that he was 
 not afraid of the lee scuppers or any other 
 scuppers, and he was going up on the promen- 
 ade deck. There was an iron railing, he said, 
 that he could cling to all the way. 
 
 Rollo, in the meantime, went along the pas- 
 sage way, bracing his arms against the sides of 
 it as he advanced. The ship was rolling over 
 from side to side so excessively that he was 
 borne with his whole weight first against one 
 side of the passage way, and then against the 
 other, so heavily that he was every moment 
 obliged to stop and wait until the ship came up 
 again before he could go on. At length he 
 came into a small room with several door? 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 opening from it. In the back side of this room 
 was the compartment where the helmsmen 
 stood with his wheel. There were several men 
 in this place with the helmsmen, helping him to 
 control the wheel. Rollo observed, too, that 
 there were a number of large rockets put away 
 in a sort of frame in the coil overhead. 
 
 He went to one of the doors that was on the 
 right-hand side of this room, and opened it a 
 little way; but the wind and rain came in so 
 violently that he thought he would go to the 
 opposite side and try that door. This idea 
 proved a very fortunate one, for, being now 
 on the sheltered side of the ship, he could open 
 the door and look out without exposing himself 
 to the fury of the storm. He gazed for a time 
 at the raging fury of the sea with a sentiment 
 of profound admiration and awe. The surface 
 of the ocean was covered with foam, and the 
 waves were tossing themselves up in prodigious 
 heaps; the crests, as fast as they were formed 
 being seized and hurled away by the wind in 
 a mass of driving spray, which went scudding 
 over the water like drifting snow in a wintry 
 storm on land. 
 
 After Rollo had looked upon this scene until 
 he was satisfied he shut the door, and returned 
 along the passage way, intending to go down 
 and give Jennie an account of his adventures. 
 As he advanced toward the little compartment 
 where the landing was, from the stairs, he 
 heard a sound as of some one in distress, and 
 on drawing near he found Hilbert coming in 
 perfectly drenched with sea water. He was 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 127 
 
 moaning and crying bitterly, and, as he stag- 
 gered along, the water dripped from his clothes 
 in streams. Rollo asked him what was the 
 matter; but he could not answer. Hilbert 
 pressed on sullenly, crying and groaning as he 
 went down to find his father. 
 
 The matter was, that, in attempting to go 
 up on the promenade deck, he had unfortun- 
 ately taken the stairway on the weather side ; 
 and when he had got half way up, a terrible 
 sea struck the ship just forward of the paddle 
 box. A portion of the wave, and an immense 
 mass of spray dashed up on board the ship, and 
 a quantity equal to several barrels of water 
 came down upon the stairs where Hilbert was 
 ascending. The poor fellow was almost 
 strangled by the shock. He however clung 
 manfully of the rope railing, and as soon as he 
 recovered his breath he came back into the 
 cabin. 
 
28 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE passenger's LOTTERY. 
 
 One morning, a few days after the storm 
 described in the last chapter, RoUo was sitting 
 upon one of the settees that stood around the 
 sky-light on the promenade deck, secured to 
 their places by lashings of spun yarn, as has 
 already been described, and was there listen- 
 ing to a conversation which was going on 
 between two gentlemen that were seated on 
 the next settee. The morning was very pleas- 
 ant. The sun was shining, the air was soft 
 and balmy, and the surface of the water was 
 smooth. There was so little wind that the 
 sails were all furled — for, in the case of a 
 steamer at sea, the wind, even if it is fair, can- 
 not help to impel the ship at all, unless it moves 
 faster than the rate which the paddle wheels 
 would of themselves carry her; and if it moves 
 slower than this, of course, the steamer would 
 by her own progress outstrip it, and the sails, if 
 they were spread, would only be pressed back 
 against the masts by the onward progress of the 
 vessel, and thus her motion would only be 
 retarded by them. 
 
 The steamer, on the day of which we are 
 speaking, was going on very smoothly and 
 rapidly by the power of her engines alone, and 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 129 
 
 all the passengers were in excellent spirits. 
 There was quite a company of them assembled 
 at a place near one of the paddle boxes where 
 smoking was allowed. Some were seated upon 
 a settee that was placed there against the side 
 of the paddle box, and others were standing 
 around them. They were nearly all smoking, 
 and, as they smoked, they were talking and 
 laughing very merrily. Hilbert was among 
 them, and he seemed to be listening very 
 eagerly to what they were saying. Rollo was 
 very strongly inclined to go out there, too, to 
 hear what the men were talking about; but he 
 was so much interested in what the gentlemen 
 were saying who were near him, that he con- 
 cluded to wait till they had finished their con- 
 versation, and then go. 
 
 The gentlemen who were near him were talk- 
 ing about the rockets — the same rockets that 
 Rollo had seen "^hen he went back to the stern 
 of the ship to look out at the sea, on the day of 
 the storm. One of the men, who had often 
 been at sea before, and who seemed to be well 
 acquainted with all nautical affairs, said that 
 the rockets were used to throw lines from one 
 ship to another, or from a ship to the shore, in 
 case of wrecks or storms. He said that some- 
 times at sea a steamer came across a wrecked 
 vessel, or one that was disabled, while yet there 
 were some seamen or passengers still alive on 
 board. These men would generally be seen 
 clinging to the decks, or lashed to the rigging. 
 In such cases the sea was often in so frightful 
 a commotion that no boat could live in it; and 
 
 9 Atlantic 
 
130 ROLLO on tHE ATLANTIC. 
 
 there was consequently on way to get the unfor- 
 tunate mariners off their vessel but by throw- 
 ing a line across, and then drawing them over 
 in some way or other along the line. He said 
 that the sailors had a way of making a sort of 
 sling, by which a man could be suspended 
 under such a line with loops or rings, made of 
 rope, and so adjusted that they would run 
 along upon it; and that by this means men 
 could be drawn across from one ship to another, 
 at seai, if there was only a line stretched across 
 for the rings to run upon. 
 
 Now, the rockets were used for the purpose 
 of throwing such a line. A small light line 
 was attached to the stick of the rocket, and 
 then the rocket itself was fired, being pointed 
 in such a manner as to go directly over the 
 wrecked ship. If it was aimed correctly, it 
 would fall down so as to carry the small line 
 across the ship. Then the sailors on board the 
 wrecked vessel would seize it, by means of it 
 would draw the end of a c^trong line over, and 
 thus effect the means of making their escape. 
 It was, however, a very dreadful alternative, 
 after all; for the rope forming this fearful 
 bridge would of course be subject all the time 
 to the most violent jerkings, from the rolling 
 and pitching of the vessels to which the two 
 extremities of it were attached, and the 
 unhappy men who had to be drawn over by 
 means of it would be perhaps repeatedly struck 
 and overwhelmed by the foaming surges on the 
 way. 
 
 While RoUo was listening to this conversa- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 131 
 
 tion, Hubert's father and another gentleman 
 who had been walking with him up and down 
 the deck came and sat down on one of the 
 settees. Very soon, Hilbert, seeing his father 
 sitting there, came eagerly to him, and said, 
 holding out his hand, — 
 
 **Father, I want you to give me half a sov- 
 ereign. " 
 
 **Half a sovereign," repeated his father; 
 **what do you want of half a sovereign?" 
 
 A sovereign is the common gold coin of Eng- 
 land. The value of it is a pound, or nearly 
 five dollars; and half a sovereign is, of course, 
 in value about equal to two dollars and a half 
 of American money. 
 
 "I want to get a ticket," said Hilbert. 
 **Come, father, make haste," he added, with 
 many impatient looks and gestures, and still 
 holding out his hand. 
 
 "A ticket? what ticket?" asked his father. 
 As he asked these questions, he put his hand 
 in his pocket and drew out an elegant little 
 purse. 
 
 **Why, they are going to have a lottery 
 about the ship's run, to-day," repHed Hilbert, 
 "and I want a ticket. The tickets are half a 
 sovereign apiece, and the one who gets the 
 right one will have all the half sovereigns. 
 There will be twenty of them, and that will 
 make ten pounds. " 
 
 "Nearly fifty dollars, " said his father; "and 
 what can you do with all that money, if you 
 get it? O, no, Hibby ; I can't let you have any 
 money for that. And besides, these lotteries, 
 
132 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 and the betting about the run of the ship, are 
 as bad as gambling. They are gambling, in 
 fact." 
 
 **Why, father," said Hilbert, "you bet, very 
 often." 
 
 Mr. Livingston, for that was his father's 
 name, and his companion, the gentleman who 
 was sitting wtih him, laughed at hearing this ^ 
 and the gentleman said, — 
 
 *'Ah, George, he has you there." 
 
 Even Hilbert looked pleased at the effect 
 which his rejoinder had produced. In fact, he 
 considered his half sovereign as already gained. 
 
 **0, let him have the half sovereign," con- 
 tinued the gentleman. ** He'll find some way 
 to spend the ten pounds, if he gets them, I'll 
 guarantee." 
 
 So Mt. Livingston gave Hilbert the half 
 sovereign, and he, receiving it with great de- 
 light, ran away. 
 
 The plan of the lottery, which the men at 
 the paddle box were arranging, was this. In 
 order, however, that the reader may under- 
 stand it perfectly, it is necessary to make a lit- 
 tle preliminary explanation in respect to the 
 mode of keeping what is called the reckoning 
 of ships and steamers at sea. When a vessel 
 leaves the shore at New York, and loses sight 
 of the Highlands of Neversink, which is the 
 land that remains longest in view, the mari- 
 ners that guide her have then more than two 
 thousand miles to go, across a stormy and 
 trackless ocean, with nothing whatever but 
 the sun and stars, and their own calculation of 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 133 
 
 theif motion, to guide them. Now, unless at 
 the end of the voyage they should come out 
 precisely at the lighthouse or at the harbor 
 which they aim at, they might get into great 
 difficulty or danger. They might run upon 
 rocks where they expected a port, or come 
 upon some strange and unknown land, and be 
 entirely unable to determine which way to turn 
 in order to find their destined haven. 
 
 The navigators could, however, manage this 
 all very well, provided they could be sure of 
 seeing the sun every day at proper times, par- 
 ticularly at noon. The sun passes through 
 different portions of the sky every different 
 day of the year, rising to a higher point at 
 noon in the summer, and to a lower one in the 
 winter. The place of the sun, too, in the sky, 
 is different according as the observer is more 
 to the northward or southward. For inasmuch 
 as the sun, to the inhabitants of northern lati- 
 tudes, always passes through the southern part 
 of the sky, if one person stands at a place one 
 hundred or five hundred miles to the south- 
 ward of another, the sun will, of course, 
 appear to be much higher over his head to 
 the former than to the latter. The farther 
 north, therefore, a ship is at sea, the lower in 
 the sky, that is, the farther down toward the 
 south, the sun will be at noon. 
 
 Navigators, then, at sea, always go out upon 
 the deck at noon, if the sun is out, with a very 
 curious and complicated instrument, called a 
 sextant, in their hands; and with this instru- 
 ment they measure exactly the distance from 
 
134 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 the sun at noon down to the southern horizon. 
 This is called making an observation. When 
 the observation is made, the captain takes the 
 number of degrees, and minutes, and goes 
 into his state room ; and there, by the help of 
 certain tables contained in books which he 
 always keeps there for the purpose, he makes 
 a calculation, and finds out the exact latitude 
 of the ship ; that is, where she is, in respect to 
 north and south. 
 
 There are other observations and calcula- 
 tions by which he determines the longitude ; 
 that is, where the ship is in respect to east 
 and west. When both these are determined 
 he can find the precise place on the chart 
 where the vessel is, and so — inasmuch as he 
 had ascertained by the same means where she 
 was the day before — he can easily calculate 
 how far she has come during the twenty-four 
 hours between one noon and another. These 
 calculations are always made at noon, because 
 that is the time for making the observations 
 on the sun. It takes about an hour to make 
 the calculations. The passengers on board 
 the ship during this interval are generally full 
 of interest and curiosity to know the result. 
 They come out from their lunch at half past 
 twelve, and then they wait the remaining half 
 hour with great impatience. They are eager 
 to know how far they have advanced on their 
 voyage since noon of the day before. 
 
 In order to let the passengers know the re- 
 sult, when it is determined, the captain puts 
 up a written notice, thus:—' 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 135 
 
 Latitude, 44° 26". 
 Longitude, 16^ 31*^. 
 Distance, 270. 
 
 The passengers, on seeing this notice, which 
 is called a bulletin, know at once, from the 
 first two items, whereabout on the ocean they 
 are ; and from the last thev learn that the dis- 
 tance which the ship has come since the day 
 before is 270 miles. 
 
 This plan of finding out the ship's place 
 every day, and of ascertaining the distance 
 which she has sailed since the day before, 
 would be perfectly successful, and amply suffi- 
 cient for all the purposes required, if the sun 
 could always be seen when the hour arrives 
 for making the observation ; but this is not the 
 fact. The sky is often obscured by clouds for 
 many days in succession; and, in fact, it 
 sometimes happens that the captain has 
 scarcely an opportunity to get a good observa- 
 tion during the whole voyage. There is, 
 therefore, another way by which the navigator 
 can determine where the ship is, and how fast 
 she gets along on her voyage. 
 
 This second method consists of actually 
 measuring the progress of the ship through 
 the water, by an instrument called the log and 
 line. The log — which, however, is not any 
 log at all, but only a small piece of board, 
 loaded at one edge so as to float upright in the 
 water — has a long line attached to it, which 
 line is wound upon a light windlass called a 
 reel. The line, except a small portion of it at 
 
136 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 the beginning, is marked off into lengths by 
 small knots made^ in it at regular intervals. 
 There are little rags of different forms and 
 colors tied into these knots, so that they may 
 easily be seen, and may also be distinguished 
 one from the other. 
 
 When the time comes for performing the op- 
 eration of heaving the log, as they call it, the 
 men appointed for the purpose bring the log 
 and the reel ' to the stern of the ship. One 
 man holds the log, and another man the reel. 
 There are two handles, one at each end of the 
 reel, by which the man who serves it can hold 
 it up over his head, and let the line run off 
 from it. Besides the two men who hold the 
 log and the reel, there is a third, who has a 
 minute glass in his hand. The minute glass 
 is like an hour glass, only there is but just 
 sand enough in it to run a minute. The man 
 who has the minute glass holds it upon its 
 side at first, so as not to set the sand to run- 
 ning until all is ready. 
 
 At length the man who holds the log throws 
 it over into the water, and the ship, sailing 
 onward all the time, leaves it there floating 
 edge upward. The man who holds the reel 
 lifts it up high, so that the line can run off 
 easily as the ship moves on. As soon as the 
 first rag runs off, which denotes the beginning 
 of the marked point of the line, he calls out 
 suddenly, — 
 
 **Turn!" 
 
 This is the command to the man who holds 
 the minute glass to hold it so as to set the 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 137 
 
 sand to running. He accordingly instantly 
 changes the position of the glass, and holds it 
 perpendicularly, and immediately sets himself 
 to watching the running out of the sand. 
 The instant it is gone, he calls out, — 
 '•Stop!" 
 
 The man who is holding the reel, and an- 
 other who stands by ready to help him, in- 
 stantly stop the line, and begin to draw it in. 
 They observe how many knots have run out, 
 and they know from this how many miles an 
 hour the ship is going. Each knot goes for a 
 mile. 
 
 They do not have to count the knots that 
 have run out. They can always determine, 
 by the form and color of the last one that 
 passes, what knot it is. One of the men goes 
 immediately and reports to the captain that 
 the ship is going so many knots, and the cap- 
 tain makes a record of it. The other men at 
 once begin to draw in the line, which brings 
 the log in also at the end of it. This line 
 comes in very hard, for the friction of so long 
 a cord, dragged so swiftly through the water, 
 is very great. It generally takes for or five 
 men to pull the line in. These men walk 
 along the deck, one behind the other, with the 
 line over their shoulders ; and at first they have 
 to tug very hard. The reel man winds the 
 line upon the reel as fast as they draw it in. 
 It comes in more and more easily as the part 
 that is in the water grows shorter; and at 
 length the log itself is soon skipping through 
 the foam in the wake of the ship, until it 
 
138 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 comes up out of the water and is taken on 
 board. 
 
 They heave the log every two hours, — that 
 is, twelve times for every twenty-four hours, 
 — and from the reports which the captain re- 
 ceives of the results of these trials, it is easy 
 for him to calculate how far the ship has come 
 during the whole period. As he knows, too, 
 exactly how far the pilot has been steering by 
 the compass all this time, he has both the 
 direction in which the ship has been sailing, 
 and the distance to which she has come ; and 
 of course from these data he can calculate 
 where she must now be. This mode of deter^ 
 mining the ship's place is called by the 
 reckoning. The other is called by observa- 
 tion. 
 
 The intelligent and reflecting boy who has 
 carefully read and understood the preceding 
 explanations will perceive that the two oper- 
 ations which we have been describing are in 
 some sense the reverse of each other. By 
 the former, the navigator ascertains by his 
 measurements where the ship actually is to- 
 day, and then calculates from that how far, 
 and in what direction, she has come since yes- 
 terday. Whereas, by the latter method, his 
 measurements determine directly how far, 
 and in what direction, the ship has come ; and 
 then he calculates from these where she now 
 is. Each method has its advantages. The 
 former, that by observation, is the most sure 
 and exact ; but then it is not always practic- 
 able, for it may be cloudy. On the other hand, 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 139 
 
 the latter — that is, by the reckoning — never 
 fails, for the log can always be thrown, be the 
 weather what it may ; but it cannot be fully 
 relied upon, on account of the currents in the 
 water and the drifting of the vessel. Conse- 
 quently, on board all ships they keep the reck- 
 oning regularly every day. Then, if they get 
 a good observation, they rely upon that. If 
 they do not, they go by the reckoning. 
 
 We now return to the story. And here, I 
 suppose, is the place where those sagacious 
 children, who, when they are reading a book 
 in which entertainment and instruction are 
 combined, always skip all the instruction, and 
 read only the story, will begin to read again, 
 after having turned over the leaves of this 
 chapter thus far, seeing they contain only ex- 
 planations of the mode of navigating a ship, 
 and saying nothing about Hilbert and Rollo. 
 Now, before going any farther, I wish to 
 warn all such readers, that they will not be 
 able to comprehend at all clearly the compli- 
 cated difficulties which Hilbert and the others 
 got into in respect to the lottery without un- 
 derstanding all that has been explained in the 
 preceding pages of this chapter. I advise 
 them, therefore, if they have skipped any of 
 it, to go back and read it all, and to read it 
 slowly too, and with the utmost attention. 
 And I advise them, moreover, if they do not 
 perfectly understand it all, to ask some older 
 person to read it over with them and explain it 
 to them. If they are not willing to do this, 
 but insist on skipping the first part of the 
 
140 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 chapter, I advise them to make complete work 
 of it, and skip the last half too ; for they cer- 
 tainly will not understand it. 
 
 When Hilbert went back to the paddle box 
 with his half sovereign, it was about eleven 
 o'clock. The observation was to be made at 
 twelve ; and the results, both in respect to the 
 observation and reckoning, were to be calcu- 
 lated immediately afterward. The lottery 
 which the men were making related to the 
 number of miles which the ship would have 
 made during the twenty-four hours. The men 
 were just making up the list of subscribers to 
 the tickets when Hilbert went up to them. 
 He gave his half sovereign to the man who 
 had the list. This man, whom they called the 
 Colonel, took the money, saying, ** That's 
 right, my lad," and put it in a little leather 
 purse with the other half sovereigns. 
 
 ''What's your name. Bob?" said he. 
 • * 'Livingston, " said Hilbert. 
 
 •'Bobby Livingston," said the Colonel, writ- 
 ing down the name on his list. 
 
 "No," said Hilbert, contemptuously, "not 
 Bobby Livingston. Hilbert Livingston." 
 
 "O, never mind," said the Colonel; "it's all 
 the same thing. Bobby means boy. " 
 
 The plan of the lottery was this: It was 
 generally supposed that the ship's run would 
 be about 270 miles; and it was considered 
 quite certain, as has already been stated, that 
 it would not be more than 280, nor less than 
 260. So they made twenty tickets, by cutting 
 five of the Colonel's visiting cards into quar- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 141 
 
 ters, which tickets were to represent all the 
 numbers from 261 to 280, inclusive. They 
 wrote the numbers upon these cards, omitting, 
 however, the first figure, namely, the 2, in 
 order to save time ; for rs that figure came in 
 all the numbers, it was considered unneces- 
 sary to write it. When the numbers were writ- 
 ten thus upon the card, the cards themselves 
 were all put into a cap and shaken up, and 
 then every one who had paid a half sovereign 
 drew out one, the colonel holding the hat up 
 high all the time, so that no one could see 
 which number he drew. This operation was 
 performed in the midst of jokes and gibes and 
 loud shouts of laughter, which made the 
 whole scene a very merry one. When Hil- 
 bert came to draw, the merriment was re- 
 doubled. Some called on the Colonel to hold 
 down the cap lower, so that Bob could reach 
 it. Others said that he was sure to get the 
 lucky number, and that there was no chance 
 at all for the rest of them. Others, still, were 
 asking him what he would take for his ticket, 
 or for half of it, quarter of it, and so on. Hil- 
 bert was half pleased and half ashamed at 
 being the object of so much coarse notoriety; 
 while Rollo, who had drawn up toward the 
 place, and was looking on from a safe distance 
 at the proceedings that were going on, was 
 very glad that he was not in Hilbert's place. 
 
 The ticket that Hilbert drew was marked 
 67. It denoted, of course, the number 267; 
 and that, being pretty near to the number of 
 miles which it was thought the ship would 
 
m ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 probably make, was considered quite a valu- 
 able ticket. The owners of the several 
 tickets, as soon as the drawing was completed, 
 began to compare them and talk about them, 
 and to propose bargains to one another for 
 buying and selling them, or exchanging them. 
 In these negotiations each man was endeavor- 
 ing to outwit and circumvent his friend, in 
 hopes of buying his ticket for a moderate sum, 
 and drawing the whole prize with it. Others 
 were engaged in betting on particular tickets. 
 These bets, when they were made, they re- 
 corded in little memorandum books kept for 
 the purpose. In fact, a very noisy and tumul- 
 tuous scene of bargaining, and betting, and 
 barter ensued. 
 
 Hilbert was very much pleased with his 
 ticket. He went to show it to Rollo. He said 
 he verily believed that he had got the exact 
 ticket to draw the prize. He did not think 
 the ship would go quite 270 miles. 
 
 **And if she does not,'* said he, **and should 
 happen to go only 267 miles, then I shall have 
 ten pounds; and that is almost fifty dollars. ' * 
 
 So saying, Hilbert began to caper about the 
 deck in the exuberance of his joy. 
 
 His antics were, however, suddenly inter- 
 rupted by the Colonel, who just then came up 
 to him and asked to see his ticket. Hilbert 
 held it up so that the Colonel could see the 
 number upon it. 
 
 Sixty-seven," said the Colonel. *' That is 
 not worth much. Nobody thinks she'll go 
 less than 270. However,** he added, in a care- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 143 
 
 less tone, give you twelve shillings for it. 
 That is two shillings over what you paid for it 
 — nearly half a dollar. You'd better make 
 sure of half a dollar than run the risk of losing 
 everything on such a poor ticket as that. ** 
 
 ** Would you?'* said Hilbert, turning to RoUo. 
 
 **I don't know," replied Rollo, shaking his 
 head. **1 don't know anything about it." 
 
 "No," said Hilbert, turning to the Colonel 
 again; **I believe I'll keep my ticket, and 
 take my chance." 
 
 The Colonel said, *'Very well; just as you 
 please;" and then went away. Hilbert had, 
 after this, several other offers, all of which he 
 declined ; and in about a quarter of an hour 
 the Colonel met him again, as if accidentally, 
 and began to talk about his ticket. He said 
 that all the tickets under 270 were selling at a 
 low price, as almost everybody believed that 
 the ship's run would be more than that; but 
 still, he said, he would give a pound for Hil- 
 bert 's ticket, if he wished to sell it. **Thus," 
 he said, '^you'll get back the half sovereign 
 you paid, and another half sovereign besides, 
 and make sure of it. " 
 
 But the more the people seemed to wish to 
 buy Hubert's ticket, the less inclined he was 
 to part with it. So he refused the Colonel's 
 offer, and put the card safely away in his wal- 
 let. In one sense he was right in refusing to 
 sell his chance ; for as the whole business of 
 making such a lottery, and buying and selling 
 the tickets afterward, and betting on the result, 
 is wrong, the less one does about it the better. 
 
144 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 Every new transaction arising out of it is a new 
 sin. It could easily be shown, by reasoning on 
 the philosophy of the thing, why it is wrong, 
 if there were time and space for it here. But 
 this is not necessary, as every man has a feel- 
 ing in his own conscience that there is a wrong 
 in such transactions. It is only bad charac- 
 ters, in general, that seek such amusements. 
 When others adventure in them a little, they 
 make apologies for it. They say they are not 
 in the habit of betting, or of venturing in lot- 
 teries, or that they don't approve of it — but 
 will do it this once. Then, when people lose 
 their money, the chagrin which they feel is 
 always deepened and embittered by remorse 
 and self-condemnation; while the pleasure 
 which those feel who gain is greatly marred by 
 a sort of guilty feeling, which they cannot 
 shake off, at having taking the money of their 
 friends and companions by such means. All 
 these indications, and many others which 
 might be pointed out, show that there is a 
 deep-seated and permanent instinct in the 
 human heart which condemns such things ; and 
 nobody can engage in them without doing vio- 
 lence to this instinct, and thus committing a 
 known wrong. 
 
 In regard to most of the men who were 
 engaged in the lottery, they had so often done 
 such things before that their consciences had 
 become pretty well seared and hardened. 
 There was one man, however, who decided to 
 take a ticket against considerable opposition 
 that was made to it by the moral sentiments of 
 
1 
 
ROLLO 0^ THE ATLANTIC. 145 
 
 his heart. This was Maria's brother. He had 
 been confined to his berth most of the voyage, 
 but was now better; and he had been walking 
 up and down the deck with a friend. He 
 looked pale and dejected, however, and seemed 
 still quite feeble. 
 
 His friend, whom he called Charles, seeing 
 that they were going on with a lottery near 
 the paddle boxes, proposed that they should 
 both go and buy tickets. 
 
 *'Come,*' said he, **Chauncy, that will amuse 
 you.*' 
 
 **0, no," said Mr. Chauncy^ 
 
 *'Yes, come,** said Charles. ** Besides, we 
 ought to do our part to assist in entertaining 
 one another.*' 
 
 So saying, Charles led Mr. Chauncy along, 
 tod partly by persuasion and partly by a little 
 gentle force, he made him take out his purse 
 and produce a half sovereign, too. He also 
 subscribed himself, and then drew both the 
 tickets. He gave one of them to Mr. Chauncy, 
 and the other he kept himself ; and then the 
 two friends walked away. Mr. Chauncy 's 
 ticket was 66, the number immediately below 
 that which Hilbert had drawn. 
 
 Mr. Chauncy, being now tired of walking, 
 went to sit down upon one of the settees next 
 to where Hilbert and Rollo had just gone to 
 take a seat. Mr. Chauncy was next to Hilbert. 
 He immediately began to talk with Hilbert 
 about the lottery. 
 
 **Have you got a ticket in this lottery?** he 
 asked. 
 
 10 Atlantic 
 
 V 
 
146 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 **Yes,'* said Hilbert, **mine is 267. What is 
 yours?** 
 
 don't know/' said Mr. Chauncy, **I did 
 not observe.*' As he said this, however, he 
 took his ticket out of his pocket, and said, 
 reading it, ** Ninety-nine. ** 
 
 He was holding it wrong side upward, and 
 so it read 99. 
 
 *'Ho!*' said Hilbert, **that will not get the 
 prize. We shall not go 299 miles. I would 
 not exchange mine for yours on any account." 
 
 **No," said Mr. Chauncy, **nor would I ex- 
 change mine for yours." 
 
 '•Why?** said Hilbert. **Do you think there 
 is any chance of the ship's making 299?" 
 
 *'No," replied Mr. Chauncy, **and that is 
 the very reason I like my ticket. If I had 
 yours, I should be afraid I might get the 
 prize." 
 
 •'Afraid?*' repeated Hilbert. 
 
 •'Yes,*' said Mr. Chauncy. 
 
 •'Why should you be afraid?*' asked Hilbert, 
 much surprised. 
 
 •'Because," said Mr. Chauncy, "I should not 
 know what to do with the money. I would 
 not put it in my purse ; for I don*t let anything 
 go in there but honest money. I don*t know 
 who I could give it to. Besides, I should not 
 like to ask anybody to take what I should be 
 ashamed to keep myself. I should really be 
 in a very awkward situation. * ' 
 
 As he said this, Mr. Chauncy held his ticket 
 between his thumb and finger, and looked at 
 the number. Neither he nor Hilbert suspected 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 14t 
 
 for a moment that there was any mistake in 
 reading it ; for, not having paid any attention 
 to the scheme, as it is called, of the lottery, 
 they did not know how high the numbers went. 
 
 ** There is a possibility that I may get it, 
 after all," said Mr. Chauncy at length, mus- 
 ing. '*We have had fine weather, and have 
 been coming on fast. The best thing for me 
 to do is to get rid of the ticket Have you got 
 a ticket, Rollo.^** said he, turning to Rollo. 
 
 •'No, sir," said Rollo. 
 
 *'I have a great mind to give it to you, 
 then." 
 
 '*No, sir," said Rollo; **I would rather not 
 have it." 
 
 **That is right," said Mr. Chauncy. like 
 you the better for that. I know what I will 
 do with it. Do you remember an Irish woman 
 that you see sitting on the forward deck some- 
 times with her two children?" 
 
 **Yes," said Rollo, **she is there now." 
 
 **Very well," said Mr. Chauncy, carry this 
 to her, and tell her it is a ticket in a lottery, 
 and it may possibly draw a prize. Have you 
 any conscientious scruples about doing that?" 
 
 "No, sir," said Rollo. 
 
 "Then take the ticket and go," said Mr. 
 Chauncy. "Tell her she had better sell the 
 ticket for two shillings, if she gets a chance. 
 There may be somebody among the gamblers 
 that will buy it." 
 
 So Rollo took the ticket and carried it to the 
 Irish woman. She was a woman who was re- 
 turning to Ireland as a deck passenger. She 
 
148 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 was quite poor. When Rollo tendered her the 
 ticket, she was, at first, much surprised. Rollo 
 explained the case fully to her, and concluded 
 by repeating Mr. Chauncy's advice — that she 
 should sell the ticket, if she could get a chance 
 to sell it for as much as two shillings. The 
 woman, having been at sea before, understood 
 something about such lotteries, and seemed to 
 be quite pleased to get a ticket. She asked 
 Rollo to tell such gentleman as he might 
 meet that she had 99 to sell for two shillings. 
 This, however, Rollo did not like to do, and so 
 he simply returned to the settee and reported 
 to. Mr. Chauncy that he had given the woman 
 the ticket and delivered the message. 
 
 Mr. Chauncy said he was very much obliged 
 to him; and then, rising from his seat, he 
 walked slowly away, and descended into the 
 cabin. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 149 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE END OF THE LOTTERY. 
 
 In almost all cases of betting and lotteries 
 the operation of the system is, that certain per- 
 sons, called the knowing ones, contrive to man- 
 age the business in such a way, by secret 
 manoeuvres and intrigues, as to make the re- 
 sult turn out to their advantage, at the expense 
 of those parties concerned who are ignorant 
 and inexperienced, or, as they term it, 
 green. " Very deep plans were laid for ac- 
 complishing this object in respect to the lottery 
 described in the last chapter; though, as it 
 happened in this case, they were fortunately 
 frustrated. 
 
 The principal of these manoeuvres were the 
 work of the man whom they called the Colonel. 
 He had formed the plan, with another man, of 
 secretly watching the operation of heaving the 
 log every time it was performed, and making 
 a note of the result. By doing this, he thought 
 he could calculate very nearly how many miles 
 the ship would make, while all the other pas- 
 sengers would have nothing to guide them but 
 such general estimates as they could make 
 from recollection. He accordingly arranged it 
 with his confederates that one or the other of 
 them should be on deck whenever the men 
 
 V 
 
150 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 were called to heave the log, and, without 
 appearing to pay any particular attention to 
 the operation, carefully to obtain the result, 
 and make a memorandum of it. This plan was 
 sufficient for the daytime. For the night — in- 
 asmuch as it might excite suspicion for them 
 to be up at unseasonable hours to watch tho 
 operation — they resorted to another method. 
 They bribed one of the seamen of each watch 
 to find out the result of each trial during his 
 watch, and to give them the answers in the 
 morning. When the last time for the heaving 
 the log, previous to making up the accounts for 
 the day, came, which was at ten o'clock, they 
 took that result, and then, shutting themselves 
 up in their state room, they made a calcula- 
 tion, and ascertained pretty certainly, as they 
 thought, that the distance would be about 267 
 miles. It might possibly be 266, or 268; but 
 they thought that they were sure that it would 
 be one of these three numbers. The next 
 thing was to circulate statements, and to ex- 
 press opinions in private conversation here and 
 there among the passengers, in a careless sort 
 of way, to produce a general impression that 
 the rate of the ship would not be less than 270 
 miles. This was to lead the owners of the 
 tickets, and the bettors generally, not to attach 
 a high value to the number below 270. By 
 doing this, they expected to depress the value 
 of these tickets in the general estimation, so 
 that they could buy them easily. They calcu- 
 lated that, if their plans succeeded, they could 
 buy 266, 267 and 268 for about a sovereign 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 151 
 
 apiece — the holders of them being made to sup- 
 pose, by their manoeuvres, that those numbers 
 would have very little chance of obtaining the 
 prize. 
 
 The plan was very deeply laid, and very skil- 
 fully executed ; and the men were so far suc- 
 cessful in their efforts that they did produce a 
 general impression that the ship's run could 
 not be below 270. They also bought ticket 
 268, though they had to give two sovereigns for 
 it. It has already been shown how their at- 
 tempts to get possession of 267 failed, by Hil- 
 bert's refusal to sell it. They, of course, also 
 failed to get 266, for that ticket was not to be 
 found. They could not make any very open 
 and public inquiries for it, as it was necessary 
 that everything which they did should be per- 
 formed in a verv unconcerned and careless 
 manner. They, however, made repeated in- 
 quiries privately for this ticket, but could not 
 get any tidings of it. A certain sailor told 
 some of the bettors that an Irish woman on 
 the forward deck had a ticket which she offered 
 to sell for two shillings ; but when, on being 
 asked what the number was, he answered 99, 
 they laughed at him, supposing that somebody 
 had been putting a hoax upon the poor Irish 
 woman, as there was no such number as that 
 in the lottery. 
 
 Besides the manoeuvres of these two confed- 
 erates, there was another man who was devis- 
 ing a cunning scheme for obtaining the prize. 
 This was the mate of a merchant ship that had 
 put into the port of New York in a damaged 
 
152 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 condition, and had there been sold. The mate, 
 being thus left without a vessel, was now re- 
 turning as a passenger in the steamer, to Scot- 
 land, where he belonged. 
 
 This man was accustomed to navigation; 
 and he had the necessary books for making 
 the computations in his trunk. He conceived 
 the idea of being present on deck at twelve 
 o'clock, when the captain made his observa- 
 tion, and of learning from him, as it were acci- 
 dentally, what the sun's altitude was observed 
 to be. This he could very easily do, for it was 
 customary to have the observation made not 
 only by the captain, but one or two of the 
 chief officers of the ship also, at the same time, 
 who are all always provided with sextants for 
 the purpose. The results, when obtained, are 
 compared together, to see if they agree— each 
 observer telling the others what altitude he 
 obtains. Thus they are more sure of getting 
 the result correctly. Besides, it is important 
 that these officers should have practice, so that 
 they may be able to take the observation when 
 the captain is sick, or when they come to com- 
 mand ships themselves. 
 
 Now, the mate above referred to thought 
 that, by standing near the captain and his 
 officers when they made the observations, he 
 could overhear them in comparing their re- 
 sults, and then that he could go down into his 
 state room immediately; and that there, by 
 working very diligently, he could ascertain the 
 run of the ship before it should be reported on 
 the captain's bulletin, and so know beforehand 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 153 
 
 what ticket would gain the prize. Or, if he 
 could not determine absolutely what the pre- 
 cise ticket would be — since his computation 
 might not agree precisely with that made by 
 the captain — he could determine within two 
 or three of the right one, and then buy three 
 tickets — that is, the one which agreed with 
 his calculation, and also the one above and be- 
 low it — ^for perhaps a sovereign or so apiece : 
 he would thus get the ten sovereigns by an 
 expenditure of three or four. His plan, in fact, 
 was similar to that of the Colonel ; only his 
 estimate was to be based on the observation, 
 while that of the Colonel was based on the 
 dead reckoning. They both performed their 
 computations in a very skilful manner, and 
 they came to nearly the same result. The 
 mate came to the conclusion that the run of 
 the ship would be 266 miles; while the Col- 
 onel, as has already been stated, made it 267. 
 While, therefore, the Colonel, to make sure of 
 the prize, wished to buy tickets 266, 267 and 
 268, the mate wished to secure 265, 266 and 
 267. The mate, after making some inquiry, 
 found who had 265 ; and, after some bargain- 
 ing, succeeded in buying it for two sovereigns 
 and a half. But he could not hear anything of 
 266. As for 267, he discovered that Hilbert 
 had it, just as the bell rang for luncheon. He 
 told Hilbert that if he wished to sell his ticket 
 he would give him thirty shillings for it, which 
 is a sovereign and a half. But Hilbert said no. 
 
 It is, however, time that this story of the 
 lottery should draw to a closo, w^re it not so. 
 
154 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 a great deal more detail might have been given 
 of the manoeuvres and contrivances which both 
 the Colonel and the mate resorted to, to induce 
 Hilbert to sell his ticket. These efforts at- 
 tracted no special attention, for all the others 
 were buying and selling tickets continually, 
 and making offers for those which they could 
 not buy. Some were put up at auction, and 
 sold to the highest bidder, amid jokes, and 
 gibes, and continual shouts of laughter. 
 
 At length, when the time drew nigh for the 
 captain's bulletin to appear, the mate offered 
 Hilbert three pounds for his ticket, and Hil- 
 bert went and asked his father's advice about 
 accepting this offer. His father hesitated for 
 some time, but finally advised him not to sell 
 his ticket at all. Hilbert was satisfied with 
 this advice, for he now began to be quite sure 
 that he should get the prize. 
 
 At length, about fifteen minutes after the 
 party had come up from luncheon, and were 
 all assembled around the paddle-box settee, a 
 gentleman came up one of stairways with a 
 slip of paper in his hands, and, advancing to 
 the group, he attempted to still the noise they 
 were making, by saying, — 
 
 **Order, gentlemen, order. I've got the bul- 
 letin." 
 
 Everybody's attention was arrested by these 
 words, and all began to call out ** Order" and 
 * 'Silence !" until at length something like quiet 
 was restored. The persons assembled were all 
 very much interested in learning the result ; 
 for, in addition to the prize of the lottery, there 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 155 
 
 were a great many bets, some of them quite 
 large, pending, all of which were to be decided 
 by the bulletin. 
 
 When, at length, the gentleman found that 
 he could be heard, he began to read in a very 
 deliberate voice, — 
 
 '^Latitude forty-eight, thirty-one." 
 
 **Never mind the latitude,** exclaimed the 
 company. **The distance. Let's have the 
 distance. * ' 
 
 '^Longitude," continued the reader, **ten, 
 fourteen. ** 
 
 '^Nonsense!" said the company. **What's 
 the distance?" 
 
 * 'Distance," continued the reader, in the 
 same tone, **two hundred and sixty-six." 
 
 **Sixty-six!" they all exclaimed together; 
 and great inquiries were immediately made for 
 the missing ticket. But nobody knew any- 
 thing about it. At last, Mr. Chauncy's com- 
 panion, Charles, who happened to be there, 
 said, — 
 
 **Why, Chauncy had 66, I believe." Then 
 calling out aloud to Mr. Chauncy, who had 
 come up on the deck after luncheon, and was 
 now sitting on one of the settees that stood 
 around the skylight, he added, — 
 
 **Chauncy! here! come here! Where is 
 your ticket? You have got the prize. " 
 
 **No, " said Mr. Chauncy, in a careless tone, 
 without, however, moving from his seat. *'I 
 have not any ticket." 
 
 Two or three of the gentlemen, then, headed 
 by Charles, went to the place where Mr. 
 
156 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 Chauncy was sitting, to question him more 
 particularly. 
 
 ** Where's your ticket?" said Charles. 
 
 **I gave it to one of the deck passengers/* 
 said Mr. Chauncy. 
 
 •'You did!*' said Charles. **Well, it has 
 drawn the prize. What was the number of 
 it?" 
 
 •'Ninety- nine, I believe," said Mr. Chauncy. 
 
 "Ninety-nine!" repeated Charles, contemp- 
 tuously. "Nonsense! There was no ninety- 
 nine. It was sixty-six." 
 
 Then, shouting with laughter, he said, *'0, 
 dear me! that's exactly like Chauncy. He 
 gives half a sovereign for a tcket, then reads it 
 upside down, and gives it away to an Irish- 
 woman. O Gemini!" 
 
 So saying, Charles, and those with him, 
 went away, laughing vociferously at Chauncy 's 
 expense. 
 
 The remainder of the adventurers in the lot- 
 tery had in the meantime dispersed, having 
 slunk away, as is usual in such cases, to con- 
 ceal their mortification and chagrin. It was 
 not merely that they had each lost a half sov- 
 ereign; but they had all calculated, with 
 greater or less certainty, on getting the prize ; 
 and the vexation which they experienced at 
 the disappointment was extreme. Some of 
 them had bought up several tickets, in order to 
 make sure of the prize. These were, of course, 
 doubly and trebly chagrined. Some had been 
 offered good prices for their tickets, but had 
 refused to accept them, hoping, by keeping the 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 1S7 
 
 tickets, to get the prize. These persons were 
 now vexed and angry with themselves for not 
 accepting these offers. Then there was a feel- 
 ing of guilt and condemnation which mingled 
 with their disappointment, and made it very 
 bitter and hard to bear. 
 
 The Colonel and the mate, when they learned 
 that the Irishwoman held the winning ticket, 
 both immediately began to saunter slowly 
 along toward the stairways that led down to 
 the forward deck, each having formed the plan 
 of going and buying the ticket of the woman 
 before she should hear that it had gained the 
 prize. They moved along with a careless and 
 unconcerned air, in order not to awaken any 
 suspicion of their designs. They were sus- 
 pected, however, both of them, by Mr. Chauncy. 
 He accordingly walked forward, too, and 
 reached a part of the promenade deck that was 
 near the smoke pipe, where he could look down 
 upon the place where the woman was sitting. 
 He reached the spot just as two men came 
 before her, one having descended by one stair- 
 case, and the other by the other. When they 
 met each other, close before where the woman 
 was sitting, they each understood in an instant 
 for what purpose the other had come. They 
 knew, too, that it would defeat the object alto- 
 gether if they both attempted to buy the ticket; 
 and yet there was no time or opportunity to 
 make any formal stipulation on the subject 
 between them. Such men, however, are 
 always very quick and cunning, and ready for 
 all emergencies. The mate, without speaking 
 
158 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 to the woman, gave a wink to the Colonel, and 
 said in an undertone, as he sauntered slowly 
 along by him, — 
 
 ^Xolonel! half!" 
 
 **Done!" said the Colonel. 
 
 So the mate passed carelessly on, leaving the 
 Colonel to manage the negotiation, with the 
 understanding that they were to share the 
 profits of the transaction between them. 
 
 Just at this moment, Mr. Chauncy, who was 
 looking down upon this scene from above, 
 called out to the woman, — 
 
 **My good woman, your ticket has drawn the 
 prize. The Colonel has come to pay you the 
 money. ** 
 
 The Colonel was overwhelmed with astonish- 
 ment and vexation at this interruption. He 
 looked up, with a countenance full of rage, to 
 see from whom the sound proceeded. There 
 were one or two other gentlemen standing with 
 Chauncy as witnesses of the scene; and the 
 Colonel saw at once that his scheme was 
 defeated. So he made a virtue of necessity, 
 and, taking out the purse, he poured the ten 
 sovereigns into the poor woman's lap. She 
 was overwhelmed and bewildered with aston- 
 ishment at finding herself suddenly in posses- 
 sion of so much money. 
 
 As for Hilbert, there were no bounds to the 
 vexation and anger which he experienced in 
 the failure of all his hopes and expectations. 
 
 **What a miserable fool I was!" said he. **I 
 might have had that very ticket. He as good 
 as offered to exchange with me. Suqh a stupid 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 169 
 
 dolt as I was, not to know when it was upside 
 down! Then, besides, I was offered two 
 pounds for my ticket, sure — and I believe I 
 should have taken it, if my father had not 
 advised me not to do it. That would have 
 come to almost fifteen dollars, and that I 
 should have been sure of. So much for taking 
 my father's advice. I hope they'll get up 
 another lottery to-morrow, and then Til buy a 
 ticket and do just as I please with it, and not 
 take anybody's advice. I shall be sure to 
 make fifteen dollars, at least, if I don't do any 
 better than I might have done to-day." 
 
 The rest of the company felt very much as 
 Hilbert did about their losses and disappoint- 
 ments, though the etiquette of gambling, 
 which they understood better than he, forbade 
 their expressing feelings so freely. In fact, 
 one source of the illusion which surrounds this 
 vice is, that the interest which it excites, and 
 the hilarity and mirth which attend it during 
 its progress, are all open to view, while the dis- 
 appointment, the mortification, the chagrin, 
 and the remorse are all studiously concealed. 
 The remorse is the worst ingredient in the 
 bitter cup. It not only stings and torments 
 those who have lost, but it also spoils the pleas- 
 ure of those who win. That is, in fact, always 
 the nature and tendency of remorse. It ag- 
 gravates all the pain and suffering that it min- 
 gles with and poisons all the pleasure. 
 
160 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ARRIVAL. 
 
 Day after day of the voyage thus glided away, 
 the time being beguiled by the various inci- 
 dents which occurred, until at length the ship 
 began to draw near toward the land. As the 
 time passed on, the interest which the passen- 
 gers felt in their approach toward the land 
 began to be very strong. Some of them were 
 crossing the Atlantic for the first time ; and 
 they, of course, anticipated their first view of 
 the shores of the old world with great anticipa- 
 tions of delight. The first land to be **made," 
 as the sailors say, that is to be seen, was Cape 
 Clear — the southern port of Ireland. There 
 is a light-house on this point ; and so well had 
 the captain kept his reckoning, and so exact 
 had been his calculations in his progress over 
 the mighty waste of waters, that on the morn- 
 ing of the last day he could venture to predict 
 to an hour when the light would come into 
 view. He said it would be between nine and 
 ten. When Maria and the two children went 
 to their berths, Maria asked the chambermaid 
 to come and tell them when the light was in 
 sight. She accordingly did so. RoUo, in order 
 to know how near the captain was in his calcu- 
 lations, asked her what o'clock it was. She 
 
ROLLO GN THE ATLANTIC. 161 
 
 said twenty-five minutes after eight. How 
 astonishing must be the accuracy of the instru- 
 ments and the calculations which can enable a 
 man to guide a ship across so utterly trackless 
 a waste aiming at a light-house three thousand 
 miles away, and not only come out exactly 
 upon it, but come there, too, so exactly at the 
 time predicted by the calculation ! 
 
 When the children went on deck the next 
 morning, the southern coast of Ireland was all 
 in full view. Those who feel an interest in 
 seeing the track the ship, will find, by turning 
 to a map of Great Britain and Ireland, that 
 her course in going in from the Atlantic toward 
 Liverpool lay at first along the southern coast 
 of Ireland, and then along the western coast 
 of Wales. This route, though it seems but a 
 short distance on the map, requires really a 
 voyage of several hundred miles, and more 
 than a day in time, for the performance of it. 
 The voyage of the ship is, therefore, by no 
 means ended when she reaches the land at Cape 
 Clear. There is still a day and a night more for 
 the passengers to spend on board the vessel. 
 The time is, however, very much beguiled dur- 
 ing this last day's sail by the sight of the land 
 and the various objects which it presents to 
 view — the green slopes, the castle-covered 
 hills, the cliffs, the lines of beach, with surf 
 and breakers rolling in upon them ; and some- 
 times, when the ship approaches nearer to the 
 shore than usual, the pretty little cottages, 
 covered with thatch, and adorned with gardens 
 and shrubbery, 
 
 11 Atlantic 
 
162 
 
 ROLLO On the AtLAisrf It. 
 
 ' The children stood by the railing of the deck- 
 for some time after they came up from below, 
 gazing^ at the shores, and admiring the various 
 pictures of rural beauty which the scene pre- 
 sented to the eye. At length, becoming a 
 little tired, they went and sat down upon one 
 of the settees, where they could have a more 
 comfortable position, and still enjoy a good 
 view. Not long afterward, the captain, who 
 had been walking up and down the deck for 
 some time, came and sat down by them. 
 
 *'Well, children,*' said he, "are you glad to 
 get to the end of the voyage?** 
 
 *'Yes, sir,** replied Jennie. ** I am glad to 
 get safe off of the great sea.** 
 
 ''And I suppose that you must be very glad, 
 sir,** added Rollo, *'to get to the end of your 
 responsibility.** 
 
 *'Ah, but I have not got to the end of my 
 responsibility yet, by any means,*' said the 
 captain. 
 
 As he said this, he rose from his seat, and 
 looked out very attentively forward for a min- 
 ute or two, A length he seemed satisfied, and 
 sat down again. 
 
 **Well, you have got through all the danger, 
 at any rate,** said Rollo, '*now that we are 
 inside the land.** 
 
 **On the contrary,** said the captain, **we 
 are just coming into the danger. There 
 is very little danger for a good ship, whether 
 it is a sailing ship or a steamer, out in the open 
 sea. It is only when she comes among the 
 rocks, and shoals, and currents, and other dan- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 163 
 
 gers which thicken along the margin of the 
 land, that she has much to fear. Ships are 
 almost always cast away, when they are cast 
 away at all, near or upon the land. " 
 
 **Is that the way?** replied Rollo. **1 
 thought they were cast away at sea. I am 
 sure it looks a great deal safer here than it 
 does out in the middle of the ocean. ' * 
 
 *'I suppose so, to your eyes,** replied the 
 captain. **But you will see, by reflecting on 
 the subject, that it is, in fact, just the con- 
 trary. If a very violent storm comes up when 
 the ship is out in the open sea, it can ordinarily 
 do no harm, only to drive the ship off her 
 course, or perhaps carry away some of her 
 spars or sails. If there is no land in the way, 
 she is in very little danger. But it is very 
 different if a gale of wind comes up suddenly 
 in such a place as this. " 
 
 **And how is it here?" asked Rollo. 
 
 *'Why, in the case of a good steamer like 
 this,** said the captain, *'it makes no great 
 difference here; for we go straight forward on 
 our course, as long as we can see, let it blow 
 as it will. But a sailing vessel would very 
 probably not be able to stand against it, but 
 would be driven off toward any rocks, or sand 
 banks, or shores that might happen to be in 
 the way. ** 
 
 **And so she would certainly be wrecked, '* 
 said RqIIo. 
 
 **No, not certainly,** replied the captain. 
 **As soon as they found that the water was 
 shoaling, they would anchor.'* 
 
164 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 
 
 **How do they know when the water is shoal- 
 ing?" asked Rollo. 
 
 '*By the lead,'* replied the captain. **Pid 
 you never sound with the lead and line?" 
 
 '*No, sir,'* replied Rollo. 
 
 **Well, they have a lead, and a long line," 
 rejoined the captain, **and they let the lead 
 down to the bottom by means of the line, and 
 so learn how deep the water is. The lead is 
 round and long. It is about as large round, 
 and about as long, as Jennie's arm, from her 
 elbow to her wrist, and there is a small cavity 
 in the lower end of it. " 
 
 •*What is that for?" asked Rollo. 
 
 **That is to bring up some of the sand, or 
 mud, or gravel, or whatever it may be, that 
 forms the bottom, " replied the captain. *'They 
 put something into the hole, before they let the 
 lead down, to make the sand or gravel stick. 
 When they see the nature of the bottom in this 
 way, it often helps them to determine where 
 they are, in case it is a dark night, or a foggy 
 day, and they have got lost. It is very easy 
 to measure the depth of the sea in this way, 
 where it is not over a few hundred fathoms." 
 **How much is a fathom?" asked Rollo. 
 
 '*Six feet," replied the captain; that is as 
 far as a man can reach by stretching out both 
 hands along a wall. If the water is only a few 
 hundred fathoms deep, " continued the captain, 
 ''we can sound; but if it is much deeper than 
 that, it is very difficult to get the lead down." 
 
 "Why, I should think," said Rollo, 'Hhat the 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 165 
 
 lead would go down to the bottom of itself, no 
 matter how deep the water was.*' 
 
 *'It would,** said the captain, **wereitnot 
 for the line. But the line has some buoyancy; 
 and, besides, it makes a great deal of friction 
 in being drawn through the water; so that, 
 when the line begins to get very long, it 
 becomes very difficult for the lead to get it 
 down. As they let out the line from the ship, 
 it goes more and more slowly, until at last it 
 does not seem to move at all. * * 
 
 '*Then the lead must be on the bottom," said 
 Rollo. 
 
 **No, that is not certain," said the captain. 
 **It may be only that the quantity of line that 
 is out is sufficient to float the lead. Besides 
 that, the currents in the water, which may set 
 in different directions at different depths, carry 
 the line off to one side and the other, so that it 
 lies very crooked in the water, and the weight 
 of the lead is not sufficient to straighten it." 
 
 *'Then they ought to have a heavier lead, I 
 should think," said Rollo. 
 
 *'Yes,'* said thecaptrdn; **and for deep-sea 
 soundings they do use very heavy sinkers. 
 Sometimes they use cannon balls as heavy as a 
 man can lift. Then they take great pains, too, 
 to have a very light and small line. Still, with 
 all these precautions, it is very difficult, after 
 some miles of the line are run out, to tell when 
 the shot reaches the bottom. In some of the 
 deepest places in the sea, the line, when they 
 attempt to sound, is all day running out. I 
 knew one case where they threw the shot over- 
 
166 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 board in the morning, and the line continued 
 to run out, though slower and slower, of 
 course, all the time, until night. It changed 
 its rate of running so gradually, that at last 
 they could not tell whether it was running or 
 not. It seemed to float idly in the water, sink- 
 ing slowly all the time; and yet they could not 
 tell whether it was drawn in by the drifting of 
 the portion of the line already down, or by the 
 weight of the shot. So they could not tell cer- 
 tainly whether they had reached bottom or 
 not. 
 
 ** There is another thing that is curious about 
 it,*' added the captain; **and that is, that, 
 when a line is let out to such a length, they 
 can never get it back again. *' 
 
 **Why not?'* asked RoUo. 
 
 *'It is not strong enough,** said the captain, 
 **to bear the strain of drawing such an immense 
 length out of the water. There is a very con- 
 siderable degree of friction produced in draw- 
 ing a line of any kind through the water; and 
 when the line is some miles in length, and has, 
 besides, a heavy ball at the end of it, the resist- 
 ance becomes enormous. Whenever they 
 attempt to draw up a sounding line of such a 
 length, it always parts at a distance of a few 
 hundred fathoms from the surface, so that only 
 a small part of the line is ever recovered.** 
 
 **I should not suppose it would be so hard to 
 draw up the line,'* said Rollo. **I should 
 have thought that it would come up very 
 easily. ' ' 
 
 **No,'* said the captain. **If you draw even 
 
I 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC 167 
 
 a whiplash through the water, you will find 
 that it draws much harder than it does on the 
 grass; and if a boy's kite were to fall upon a 
 pond at a great distance from the shore, I 
 don't think he could draw it in by the string. 
 The string would break, on account of the 
 friction of the string and of the kite in the 
 water. Sometimes, in naval battles, when 
 a ship is pretending to try to escape, in order 
 to entice another ship to follow her, away 
 from the rest of the fleet, they tow a rope 
 behind, and this rope, dragging in the water, 
 retards the ship, and prevents her from going 
 very fast, notwithstanding that all the sails are 
 set, and she seems to be sailing as fast as she 
 can " 
 
 **That*s a curious way of doing it," said 
 RoUo; 'Msn't it, Jennie?" 
 
 Jennie thought that it was a very curious 
 way indeed. 
 
 * 'There is no difficulty," said the captain, 
 resuming his explanations, **in finding the 
 depth of the sea in harbors and bays, or at any 
 place near the shore ; for in all such places it is 
 usually much less than a hundred fathoms. So 
 when in a dark night, or in a fog, the ship is 
 driven by the wind in a direction where they 
 know there is land, they sound often; and 
 when they find that the water is shoal enough, 
 they let go the anchor." 
 
 *'And so the anchor holds them," said 
 Jennie, **I suppose, and keeps them from 
 going against the land." 
 
 *'yes," said the captain, generally, but 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 168 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 not always. Sometimes the bottom is of 
 smooth rock, or of some other hard formation, 
 which the flukes of the anchor cannot pene- 
 trate, and then the ship drifts on toward the 
 land, dragging the anchor with her. * * 
 
 ''And what do they do in that case?" asked 
 Rollo. 
 
 *'Very often there is nothing that they can 
 do," said the captain, ''except to let out more 
 cable, cautiously, so as to give the anchor a 
 better chance to catch in some cleft or crevice 
 in the bottom. Sometimes it does catch in 
 this manner, and then the ship is stopped, and, 
 for a time the people on board think they 
 are safe. " 
 
 "And are they safe?" asked Rollo. 
 
 "Perhaps so," replied the captain; "and yet 
 there is still some danger. The anchor may 
 have caught at a place where the cable passes 
 over the edge of a sharp rock, which soon cuts 
 it off, in consequence of the motion. Then 
 the ship must go on shore. 
 
 "At other times," continued the captain, 
 "the ground for the anchor is too soft, instead 
 of being too hard ; and the flukes, therefore, 
 do not take a firm hold of it. Then the 
 anchor will drag. Every sea that strikes the- 
 ship drives her a little in toward the shore, 
 and she is, of course, in great danger." 
 
 The captain would, perhaps, have gone on 
 still further in his conversation with the 
 children, had it not happened that just at this 
 time, on rising to look out forward, he saw a 
 large ship, under full sail, coming down the 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 169 
 
 channel. So he rose, and went tip upon one 
 of the paddle boxes, to see that a proper look- 
 out was kept, to avoid a collision. 
 
 The seas which lie between England and 
 Ireland are so wide, and they are so provided 
 with lighthouses and buoys, that no pilot is 
 necessary for the navigation of them ; and the 
 pilot boats, therefore, which contain the pilot 
 who is to take the vessel into port, generally 
 await the arrival of the ship off the mouth of 
 the Mersey, at a place which the steamer 
 reaches about twenty-four hours after making 
 Cape Clear. When the steamer in which 
 RoUo made his voyage arrived at this place, 
 almost all the passengers came on deck to wit- 
 ness the operation of taking the pilot on board. 
 There were ships and steamers to be seen on 
 every side, proceeding in different directions — 
 some going across to Ireland, some south- 
 wardly out to sea; and there were others, still, 
 which were, like the steamer, bound in to 
 Liverpool. Among these, there was a small 
 vessel at a distance from the steamer, with a 
 certain signal flying. This signal was to show 
 that this boat was the one which contained the 
 pilot whose turn it was to take the steamer in. 
 The captain gave the proper orders to the 
 helmsman, and the steamer gradually tarned 
 from her course, so as to approach the spot 
 where the pilot boat was lying. As she came 
 near, a little skiff was seen at the stern of the 
 pilot boat, with men getting into it. In a 
 moment more, the skiff pushed off and rowed 
 toward the steamer. A sailor §tpQd on a sort 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 170 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 of platform abaft the wheel house to throw 
 the men in the skiff a rope when they came 
 near. The engine was stopped, and the 
 monstrous steampipe commenced blowing off 
 the steam, which, being now no longer em- 
 ployed to work the engine, it would be danger- 
 ous to keep pent up. The steam, in issuing 
 from the pipe, produced a dense cloud of 
 smoke and a terrific roaring. 
 
 In the meantime, the skiff approached the 
 ship, and the men on board of it caught the 
 rope thrown to them by the sailor on the plat- 
 form. By this rope they were drawn up to the 
 side, of the ship at a place where there was a 
 ladder; and then the pilot, leaving the skiff, 
 clambered up and came on board. The men 
 in the skiff then pushed off and turned to go 
 back toward the pilot boat. The roaring of 
 the steam suddenly ceased, the paddle wheels 
 began again to revolve, and the ship recom- 
 menced her motion. The pilot went up upon 
 the paddle box and gave orders to the helms- 
 man how to steer, while the captain came 
 down. His responsibility and care in respect 
 to the navigation of the ship for that voyage 
 was now over. 
 
 In fact, the passengers began to consider 
 the voyage ended. They all went to work 
 packing up their trunks, adjusting their 
 dresses, changing their caps for hats, and mak- 
 ing other preparations for the land. 
 
 As the time drew nigh for going on shore, 
 Jennie began to feel some apprehension on 
 the subject, inasmuch as, judging from all th§ 
 
ROLLO OxN THE ATLANTIC. 171 
 
 formidable preparations which she saw going 
 on around her, she inferred that landing in 
 Liverpool from an Atlantic steamer must be 
 a very different thing from going on shore at 
 New York after a voyage down the Hudson. 
 As for RoUo, his feelings were quite the 
 reverse from Jennie's. He not only felt no 
 solicitude on the subject, but he began to be 
 quite ambitious of being ashore alone — that is, 
 without anyone to take charge of him. 
 
 *'We shall get along, Jennie, very well 
 indeed,*' said Rollo. asked one of the pas- 
 sengers about it. The custom-house officers 
 will come and look into our trunks, to see if 
 we have got any smuggled goods in them. 
 They won't find any in ours, I can tell them. 
 Then all I have got to do is, to ask one of the 
 cabmen to take us in his cab, and carry us to 
 a hotel." 
 
 "To what hotel?" asked Jennie. 
 
 **Why — I don't know," said Rollo, rather 
 puzzled. **To the best hotel. I'll just tell 
 him to the best hotel. " 
 
 **Well," said Jennie, '*and what then?" 
 
 **Well, — and then," — said Rollo, looking a 
 little perplexed again, and speaking rather 
 doubtingly, — **then, — why, I suppose that 
 father will send somebody there to find us.'* 
 
 Jennie was not convinced ; but she had noth- 
 ing more to say, and so she was silent. 
 
 Rollo's plan, however, of taking care of him- 
 self in the landing seemed not likely to be 
 realized; for there were not less than three 
 different arrangements made, on the evening 
 
172 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 of the arrival, for taking care of him. In the 
 first place, his father and mother were at the 
 Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, awaiting the 
 arrival of the steamer, and intending to go on 
 board as soon as the guns should announce her 
 coming. In the second place, Mr. Chauncy, 
 Maria's brother, said that they should go with 
 him and Maria. He would take the children, 
 he said, to a hotel, and then take immediate 
 measures to find out where Mr. Holiday was. 
 In the third place, the captain came to Rollo 
 just after sunset, and made a similar proposal. 
 
 Rollo, not knowing anything about his 
 father's plan, accepted Mr. Chauncy 's offer; 
 and then, when the captain came, he thanked 
 him for his kindness, but said that he was 
 going with Mr. Chauncy and Maria. 
 
 **Then you will go in the night,'* said the 
 captain; **for Mr. Chauncy is the bearer of 
 dispatches." 
 
 Rollo did not understand what the captain 
 meant by this, though it was afterward ex- 
 plained to him. The explanation was this: 
 Every steamer, besides the passengers, carries 
 the mails. The mails, containing all the let- 
 ters and papers that are passing between the 
 two countries, are conveyed in a great number 
 of canvas and leather bags, and sometimes in 
 tin boxes; enough, often, to make several cart- 
 loads. Besides these mails, which contain the 
 letters of private citizens, the government of 
 the United States has always a bag full of 
 letters and papers which are to be sent to the 
 American minister in London, for his instruc- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 173 
 
 tion. These letters and papers are ealled the 
 government dispatches. They are not sent 
 with the mails, but are intrusted usually to 
 some one of the passengers — -a gentleman 
 known to the government as faithful and trust- 
 worthy. This passenger is called the bearer 
 of dispatches. 
 
 Now, the steamers, when they arrive at 
 Liverpool, cannot usually go directly up to 
 the pier, because the water is not deep enough 
 there, except at particular states of the tide. 
 They accordingly have to anchor in the stream, 
 at some distance from the shore. As soon as 
 they anchor, whether it is by day or by night, 
 a small steamer comes alongside to get the 
 mails and the dispatches; for they must be 
 landed immediately, so as to proceed directly 
 to London by the first train. The bearer of 
 dispatches, together with his family, or those 
 whom he has directly under his charge, are, 
 of course, allowed to go on shore in the small 
 steamer with the dispatch bag, but the rest 
 of the passengers have to wait to have their 
 trunks and baggage examined by the custom- 
 house ofRcers. If the vessel gets to Liverpool 
 in the night, they have to wait until the next 
 morning. This was what the captain meant 
 by saying, that, if the children went on shore 
 with iVLr. Chauncy, they would go in the night; 
 for he then expected to get to his anchoring 
 ground so that the boat for the mails would 
 come off to the ship at about half past twelve. 
 
 Accordingly, that evening, when bedtime 
 came, Maria and the children did not go to 
 
It4 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 bed, but they lay down upon the couches and 
 in their berths, in their dayclothes, awaiting 
 the summons which they expected to receive 
 when the small steamer should come. In the 
 meantime, the ship went on, sometimes going 
 very slowly, and sometimes stopping alto- 
 gether, in order to avoid a collision with some 
 other vessel which was coming in her way. 
 The night was foggy and dark, so that her pro- 
 gress, to be safe, was necessarily slow. At 
 length, Maria and the children, tired of wait- 
 ing and vS'atching, all three fell asleep. They 
 were, however, suddenly aroused from their 
 slumbers about midnight by the chambermaid, 
 who came into the state room and told them 
 that Mr. Chauncy was ready. 
 
 They rose and hurried up on deck. Their 
 trunks had been taken up before them. When 
 they reached the deck, they found Mr. 
 Chauncy there and the captain, and with them 
 two or three rather rough-looking men, in 
 shaggy coats, examining their trunks by the 
 light of lanterns which they held in their 
 hands. The examination was very slight. 
 The men merely lifted up the things in the 
 corners a little, and, finding that there ap- 
 peared to be nothing but clothing in the 
 trunks, they said, **A11 right!" and then shut 
 them up again. All this time the steampipe 
 of the little steamer alongside kept up such a 
 deafening roar that it was almost impossible to 
 hear what was said. 
 
 The way of descent to get down from the 
 deck of the great steamer to the little one was 
 
ROLLO ON THE AtLANttC 175 
 
 very steep and intricate, and it seemed doubly 
 so on account of the darkness and gloom of 
 the night. In the first place, you had to climb 
 up three or four steps to get to the top of the 
 bulwarks; then to go down a long ladder, 
 which landed you on the top of the paddle box 
 of the steamer. From this paddle box you 
 walked along a little way over what they called 
 a bridge; and then there was another flight of 
 stairs leading to the deck. As all these stairs, 
 and also the sides of both the steamers, were 
 painted black, and as the water looked black 
 and gloomy too, the whole being only faintly 
 illuminated by the lurid glare of the lanterns 
 held by the men, the prospect was really very 
 disheartening. Maria said, when she reached 
 the top of the bulwarks and looked down, that 
 she should never dare to go down there in the 
 world. 
 
 She was, however, a sensible girl, and as she 
 knew very well that there could not be any 
 real danger in such a case, she summoned all 
 her resolution and went on. Men stood below, 
 at the different landmg-places, to help her, 
 and her brother handed her down from above. 
 Mr. Chauncy, as soon as he saw that she had 
 safely descended, was going to attend to the 
 children, but just at that instant he missed his 
 dispatch bag. He asked where it was Some 
 said they believed it had gone down the slide. 
 There was a sort of slide by the side of the 
 ladder, where the mails and trunks had been 
 sent down. Some said it had gone down this 
 slide; others did not know. So he directed 
 
m ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 the children to wait a moment while he went 
 down to see. He acco'rdingly descended the 
 ladder, and began to look about in a hurried 
 manner to see if he could find it. The men on 
 board the steamer, in the meanwhile, were 
 impatient to cut loose from the ship, the mail 
 agent having called out to them to make haste, 
 or they would be too late for the train. Accord- 
 ingly, some of them stood by the ladder, 
 ready to take it down; while others seized the 
 ropes and prepared to cast them off at a mo- 
 ment's notice, as soon as they should hear that 
 the dispatch bag was found. They did not 
 know that the children were at the top of the 
 ladder, waiting to come on board ; for it was 
 so dark that nothing could be seen distinctly 
 except where the lanterns were directly shin- 
 ing, and the noise made by the roaring of the 
 steamer was so great that very little could be 
 heard 
 
 . Mr. Chauncy found the dispatch bag very 
 soon in the after part of the vessel, where 
 somebody had put it in a safe place. As soon 
 as he saw it, he said, "Ah, here it is. All 
 right!*' 
 
 *'A11 right r all right!" said the sailors 
 around him, repeating his words in a loud 
 tone, when they heard him say that the dis- 
 patch bag was found. Mr. Chauncy immedi- 
 ately hurried back to go up the ladder to the 
 children; but he was too late. On hearing 
 the words all right!" the men had immedi- 
 ately drawn down the ladder, and cast off the 
 fastenings, so that, by the time that Mr. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. Ill 
 
 Chatincy reached the paddle box, the noise of 
 the steam pipe had suddenly stopped, the pad- - 
 die wheels were beginning to revolve, and the 
 little steamer was gliding rapidly away from 
 the vast and towering mass under which it had 
 been lying. 
 
 **The children!" exclaimed Mr. Chauncy, 
 •* the children!" 
 
 ** Never mind," said the captain, in a very 
 quiet tone. **It's too late now. I'll take care 
 of them to-morrow morning. ' * 
 
 The captain spoke in a manner as calm and 
 unconcerned as if the children being left in this 
 way was not a matter of the slightest conse- 
 quence in the world. In fact, the commanders 
 of these steamships, being accustomed to en- 
 counter continually all sorts of emergencies, 
 difficulties, and dangers, get in the habit of 
 taking everything very coolly, which is, 
 indeed, always the best way. 
 ' Then, turning to the children, he said: 
 
 **It*s all right, children. Go below and get 
 into your berths again, and I will send you on 
 shore to-morrow morning when the rest of the 
 passengers go." 
 
 So Rollo and Jennie went below again. The 
 chambermaid was surprised to see them com- 
 ing back ; and when she heard an explanation 
 of the case, she advised them to undress them- 
 selves and go to bed regularly. This they did, 
 and were soon fast asleep. 
 
 The next morning, very soon after sunrise, 
 another steamer came off from the shore, 
 bringing several customhouse officers to exam- 
 
 12 Atlantic 
 
178 
 
 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 ine the passengers' baggage. By the time that 
 this steamer had arrived, a great many of the. 
 passengers were up, and had their trunks ready 
 on deck to be examined. Among the rest was 
 Hilbert with his trunk, though his father and 
 mother were not yet ready. Hilbert was very 
 anxious to get on shore, and so he had got his 
 trunk up, and was all ready on the deck half 
 an hour before the steamer came. 
 
 When the tug came alongside, Hilbert, who 
 was looking down upon her from the prome- 
 nade deck, observed a neatly-dressed looking 
 man on board of it, who seemed to be looking 
 at him very earnestly. This was Mr. Holiday's 
 servant. His name was Alfred. When Mr. 
 Holiday had gone to bed the night before, he 
 had given Alfred orders that in case the 
 steamer should come in in the night, or at a 
 very early hour in the morning, before it 
 would be safe for him, as an invalid, to go out, 
 he, Alfred, was to go on board, find the chil- 
 dren, and bring them on shore. Accordingly, 
 when Alfred saw Hilbert, and observed that 
 he was of about the same size as Rollo had 
 been described to him to be, he supposed that 
 it must be Rollo. Accordingly, as soon as the 
 tug was made fast, he came up the ladder, and 
 immediately made his way to the promenade 
 deck, to the place where Hilbert was standing. 
 As he approached Hilbert, he touched his hat, 
 and then said, in a very respectful tone : 
 
 '*Beg pardon, sir. Is this Master Holi- 
 day?" 
 
 "Rollo, do you mean?" said Hilbert. **No. 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 179 
 
 Rollb went ashore last night with the bearer 
 of dispatches. " 
 
 , Hilbert knew that this was the arrangement 
 which had been made, and he supposed that it 
 had been carried into effect. 
 
 Alfred, who was a very faithful and trust- 
 worthy man, and was accustomed to do every- 
 thing thoroughly, was not fully satisfied with 
 this information, coming as it did from a boy ; 
 but he waited some little time, and made in- 
 quiries of other passengers. At last, one gen- 
 tleman told him that he was sure that Rollo 
 had gone on shore, for he saw him and his sis- 
 ter pass up out of the cabin when the mail tug 
 came. He was sitting up in the cabin reading 
 at the time. Alfred was satisfied with this 
 explanation, and so he called a small boat 
 which was alongside, and engaged the boat- 
 man to row him ashore. 
 
 Thus the second plan for taking care of Rollo . 
 and Jennie, in the landing, failed. 
 
 All this time Rollo and Jennie were both 
 asleep — for the chambermaid, thinking that 
 they must be tired from having been up so late 
 the night before, concluded to let them sleep 
 as long as possible. While they were sleep- 
 ing, the waiters on board the ship were all em- 
 ployed in carrying up trunks, and boxes, and 
 carpet bags, and bundles of canes and umbrel- 
 las, from all the state rooms, and spreading 
 them about upon the decks", where the custom- 
 house officers could examine them. The decks 
 soon, of course, presented in every part very 
 bustling and noisy scenes. Passengers were 
 
180 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 hurrying to and fro. Some were getting their 
 baggage together for examination ; some were 
 unstrapping their trunks; and others, having 
 unstrapped theirs, were now fumbling in their 
 pockets, in great distress, to find the keys. It 
 is always an awkward thing to lose a trunk 
 key ; but the most unfortunate of all possible 
 times for meeting with this calamity is when a 
 customhouse officer is standing by, waiting to 
 examine what your trunk contains. Those 
 who could not find their keys were obliged to 
 stand aside and let others take their turn. As 
 fast as the trunks were inspected, the lid of 
 each was shut down, and it was marked with 
 chalk ; and then, as soon as it was locked and 
 strapped again, a porter conveyed it to the 
 tug, where the owner followed it, ready to go 
 on shore. 
 
 In the midst of this scene the captain came 
 on deck, and began to look around for the chil- 
 dren whom he had promised to take care of. 
 He made some inquiries for them, and at length 
 was told that they had gone ashore. 
 
 '*At least, I think they have gone, " said his 
 informant. **I saw Mr. Holiday's coachman 
 here, inquiring for them, a short time ago. 
 And he seems to be gone. I presume he has 
 taken them ashore. * ' 
 
 **He can't have taken them ashore," said 
 the captain. ** There is nothing to go ashore 
 till this tug goes. However, I presume he has 
 got them under his charge somewhere." 
 
 So the captain dismissed the subject from his 
 mind; and after remaining a few minutes on 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 181 
 
 deck, and seeing that everything was going on 
 well, he went below into his state room, in 
 order to write a letter to the owners of the 
 ship, to inform them of the safe termination of 
 the voyage. 
 
 It was about this time that the chambermaid 
 waked Rollo and Jennie. They rose immedi- 
 ately, and were soon dressed. On going up 
 upon the deck, they were somewhat surprised 
 to witness the bustling scenes that were enact- 
 ing there ; and they stood for a few minutes 
 surveying the various groups, and watching 
 with great interest the process of examining 
 the baggage. ,At length, after following the 
 process through in the case of one of the pas- 
 sengers, who was just opening his trunk when 
 they came up, Rollo turned to Jennie, and 
 said: 
 
 *'It is nothing at all, Jennie. I can do it as 
 well as anybody. " 
 
 So he looked about till he found his trunk, 
 and, leading Jennie there, he took his station 
 by the side of it, and immediately proceeded 
 to unstrap and unlock it. He took out some 
 of the largest things from the top of the trunk 
 and put them on a settee near, so that the 
 officer could easily examine the rest. By the 
 time he had done this an officer was ready. 
 
 **Is this your trunk, my lad?" said the officer, 
 at the same time lifting up the clothes a little 
 at the corners. 
 
 **Yes, sir," said Rollo. 
 
 **A11 right," said the officer, and he shut 
 down the lid, and marked the top with a P. 
 
182 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 Rollo opened his trunk again to put the 
 other things in, and then locked and strapped 
 it. A porter then took it and carried it on 
 board the tender. Rollo and Jennie followed 
 him. 
 
 In about half an hour the tender put off from 
 the steamer and went to the shore. On the 
 way, Jennie, who could not help feeling some 
 anxiety about the result of these formidable 
 proceedings, said, timidly: 
 
 '*I don't see what we are going to do, Rollo, 
 when we get to the shore. " 
 
 **We will do what the rest do," said Rollo. 
 As soon as the steamer touched the pier and 
 began to blow off her steam, a terrific scene of 
 noise and confusion ensued. Rollo and Jennie 
 stood near their trunk, overawed and silenced ; 
 but yet Rollo was not, after all, much afraid, 
 for he felt confident that it would all come out 
 right in the end. He was right in this suppo- 
 sition ; for as soon as some fifty of the most 
 impatient and eager of the passengers had got 
 their baggage, and had gone ashore, the tu- 
 mult subsided in a great measure. At length, 
 a porter, after taking away a great many 
 trunks near Rollo, asked him if that trunk, 
 pointing to Rollo's, was to go on shore. Rollo 
 said that it was. So the porter took it up and 
 went away, Rollo and Jennie following him. 
 
 They made their way through the crowd, 
 and across the plank, to the pier. When they 
 had got upon the pier, the porter turned and 
 said, '*Do you want a carriage?" Rollo 
 anwered, '*Yes;" and then the porter immedi- 
 
ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 183 
 
 ately put the trunk upon the top of a small 
 carriage which was standing there in a line 
 with many others. He then opened the door, 
 and Rollo and Jennie got in. 
 
 '*How much to pay, sir?'* said Rollo. 
 
 ** Sixpence, if you please, sir,** said the por- 
 ter. 
 
 Rollo, who had the precaution to provide 
 himself with silver change, so as to be ready, 
 gave the man a sixpence. Of course, it was 
 an English sixpence. 
 
 ** Thank you, sir,'* said the porter. ** Where 
 shall he drive?*' 
 
 **To the hotel,'* said Rollo. 
 
 '*To what hotel?" said the porter. 
 
 *'Why— I don't know, " said Rollo. **To— to 
 the best hotel. " 
 
 '*To the Adelphi,** said the porter to 'the 
 coachman. So saying, he shut the door, and 
 the coachman drove away. 
 
 When they arrived at the door of the hotel, 
 the landlord, who came out to see who had 
 come, supposed at once that his new guests 
 must be Mr. Holiday's children; so he sent 
 them up immediately to their father's parlor, 
 where the breakfast table had been set, and 
 their father and mother, and Thanny were 
 waiting for them. The joy of their parents at 
 seeing them was unbounded, and they them- 
 selves were almost equally rejoiced in finding 
 their long voyage brought thus to a safe and 
 happy termination. 
 
 In respect to Tiger, however, the end of the 
 voyage was unfortunately not so propitious. 
 
 1 
 
184 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 In the confusion of the landing she was forgot- 
 ten, and left behind; and Jennie was so excited 
 and overjoyed at meeting her mother that it 
 was nearly noon before she thought of the kit- 
 ten at all. Her father then sent Alfred on 
 board the ship to see if he could get her. He 
 came back with the cage, but he said that the 
 kitten Wj^s nowhere to bo found. He made 
 diligent inquiry, but he could obtain no tidings 
 of her — and no tidings were ever afterward 
 heard. WWSther she fell overboard and was 
 drowned ; or whether the waiters on the ship 
 took a fancy to her, and hid her away some- 
 where in the forecastle in order to keep her for 
 their pet and plaything in future voyages ; or 
 whether she walked over the plank to the pier,' 
 when the ship came alongside of it, and there 
 got enticed away by the Liverpool cats into 
 the various retreats and recesses which they 
 resort to among the docks and sewers — could 
 never be known. At all events, neither Jennie 
 nor RoUo ever saw or heard of her again. 
 
/ / o - 
 
 h ■ 
 
 ENDOWED BY THE 
 DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 
 SOCIETIES