ff hastily envelopes his mother in that Highland plaid till nought
is visible of the old lady save the nose and one twinkling eye. We laugh
in spite of the storm. Louder and louder roars the thunder, faster and
faster fly the mules, and at last we are tearing along the deserted
streets, and hastily draw up our steaming steeds at the hotel door. And
that is almost all I remember of Rio; and to-morrow we are off to sea once
more.

CHAPTER VIII.

MONCRIEFF RELATES HIS EXPERIENCES.

Our life at sea had been like one long happy dream. That, at all events,
is how it had felt to me. 'A dream I could have wished to last for aye.' I
was enamoured of the ocean, and more than once I caught myself yearning to
be a sailor. There are people who are born with strange longings, strange
desires, which only a life on the ever-changing, ever-restless waves
appears to suit and soothe. To such natures the sea seems like a mother--a
wild, hard, harsh mother at times, perhaps, but a mother who, if she
smiles but an hour, makes them forget her stormy anger of days or weeks.

But the dream was past and gone. And here we had settled down for a spell
at Buenos Ayres. We had parted with the kindly captain and surgeon of the
Canton, with many a heartily expressed hope of meeting again another day,
with prayers on their side for our success in the new land, with kindliest
wishes on ours for a pleasant voyage and every joy for them.

Dear me! What a very long time it felt to look back to, since we had
bidden them 'good-bye' at home! How very old I was beginning to feel! I
asked my brothers if their feelings were the same, and found them
identical. Time had been apparently playing tricks on us.

And yet we did not look any older in each other's eyes, only just a little
more serious. Yes, that was it--_serious_. Even Dugald, who was usually
the most light-hearted and merry of the three of us, looked as if he fully
appreciated the magnitude of what we had undertaken.

Here we were, three--well, young men say, though some would have called us
boys--landed on a foreign shore, without an iota of experience, without
much knowledge of the country apart from that we had gleaned from books or
gathered from the conversations of Bombazo and Moncrieff. And yet we had
landed with the intention, nay, even the determination, to make our way in
the new land--not only to seek our fortunes, but to find them.

Oh, we were not afraid! We had the glorious i