u poor lads should have to go away to a
foreign land to seek your fortune while we remain at Coila. That is the
drift of it, but I fear I have not said it prettily enough to please
Irene. Good-bye.'

We had found fine weather at Coila, and we brought it back with us to
London. There was no hitch this time in starting. The Canton got away
early in the morning, even before breakfast. The last person to come on
board was the Scot, Moncrieff. He came thundering across the plank gangway
with strides like a camel, bearing something or somebody rolled in a
tartan plaid.

Dugald and I soon noticed two little legs dangling from one end of the
bundle and a little old face peeping out of the other. It was his mother
undoubtedly.

He put her gently down when he gained the deck, and led her away amidships
somewhere, and there the two disappeared. Presently Moncrieff came back
alone and shook hands with us in the most friendly way.

'I've just disposed of my mither,' he said, as if she had been a piece of
goods and he had sold her. 'I've just disposed of the poor dear creature,
and maybe she won't appear again till we're across the bay.'

'You did not take the lady below?'

'There's no' much of the lady about my mither, though I'm doing all I can
to make her one. No; I didn't take her below. Fact is, we have state
apartments, as you might say, for I've rented the second lieutenant's and
purser's cabins. There they are, cheek-by-jowl, as cosy as wrens'-nests,
just abaft the cook's galley amidships yonder.'

'Well,' I said, 'I hope your mother will be happy and enjoy the voyage.'

'Hurrah!' shouted the Scot; 'we're off at last! Now for a fair wind and a
clear sea to the shores of the Silver West. I'll run and tell my mither
we're off.'

That evening the sun sank on the western waves with a crimson glory that
spoke of fine weather to follow. We were steaming down channel with just
enough sail set to give us some degree of steadiness.

Though my brothers and I had never been to sea before, we had been used to
roughing it in storms around the coast and on Loch Coila, and probably
this may account for our immunity from that terror of the ocean,
_mal-de-mer_. As for aunt, she was an excellent sailor. The saloon, when
we went below to dinner, was most gay, beautifully lighted, and very
home-like. The officers present were the captain, the surgeon, and one
lieutenant. The captain was president, while the doctor occupied the chair