the "Chancellor" on her return voyage to England. At present there is no
direct steamship service between South Carolina and Great Britain,
and all who wish to cross must go either northwards to New York or
southwards to New Orleans. It is quite true that if I had chosen to
start from New York I might have found plenty of vessels belonging to
English, French, or Hamburg lines, any of which would have conveyed me
by a rapid voyage to my destination; and it is equally true that if I
had selected New Orleans for my embarkation I could readily have reached
Europe by one of the vessels of the National Steam Navigation Company,
which join the French Transatlantic line of Colon and Aspinwall. But it
was fated to be otherwise.

One day, as I was loitering about the Charleston quays, my eye lighted
upon this vessel. There was something about the "Chancellor" that
pleased me, and a kind of involuntary impulse took me on board, where I
found the internal arrangements perfectly comfortable. Yielding to the
idea that a voyage in a sailing vessel had certain charms beyond the
transit in a steamer, and reckoning that with wind and wave in my
favour there would be little material difference in time; considering,
moreover, that in these low latitudes the weather in early autumn is
fine and unbroken, I came to my decision, and proceeded forthwith to
secure my passage by this route to Europe.

Have I done right or wrong? Whether I shall have reason to regret my
determination is a problem to be solved in the future. However, I will
begin to record the incidents of our daily experience, dubious as I feel
whether the lines of my chronicle will ever find a reader.

CHAPTER II.

SEPTEMBER 28th.--John Silas Huntly, the captain of the "Chancellor," has
the reputation of being an experienced navigator of the Atlantic. He is
a Scotchman, a native of Dundee, and is about fifty years of age. He is
of middle height and slight build, and has a small head, which he has a
habit of holding a little over his left shoulder. I do not pretend to be
much of a physiognomist, but I am inclined to believe that my few hours'
acquaintance with our captain has given me considerable insight into
his character. That he is a good seaman and thoroughly understands his
duties I could not for a moment venture to deny; but that he is a man
of resolute temperament, or that he possesses the amount of courage
that would render him, physically or morally, capable of co