foreigner."

CHAPTER XXIII.

HOW WE SAILED TO THE ISLAND.

The business of the sale concluded, we had nothing to detain us, and
an order was at once sent to Captain Branscome to book our passages
in the next packet for the West Indies. Meanwhile we held long
discussions on details of outfit, for since our impedimenta included
two moderately heavy chests--the one of guns and ammunition, the
other of spades, picks, hatchets, and other tools--and since on
reaching Jamaica we must take a considerable journey on muleback, it
was important to cut our personal luggage down to the barest
necessities. We did not forget a medicine-chest.

On August 28 we received word from Captain Branscome that he had
taken berths for us on the _Townshend_ packet, commanded by an old
friend of his, a Captain Harrison. She was due to sail on the 1st.
Accordingly, on August 30 we travelled down by Royal Mail to
Falmouth, Mr. Rogers following that same noon by the _Highflyer_;
spent a busy day in making some last purchases, and a sleepless night
in the noisiest of hotels; and went on board soon after breakfast, to
be welcomed there by Mr. Goodfellow, who had got over his parting
three days before, at Plymouth, and professed himself to be in the
very jolliest of spirits. At the head of the after-companion Captain
Branscome met us and conducted us below, to introduce us to our
quarters and be complimented on the thought and care he had bestowed
in choosing them and fitting them up--for the ladies' comfort
especially. He himself lodged forward, in a small double cabin which
he shared with Mr. Goodfellow.

I will spare the reader a description of our departure and of the
passage to Jamaica, not only because they were quite uneventful (we
did not even sight a' privateer), but because they have been
celebrated in verse by Plinny, in a descriptive poem of five cantos
and some four thousand lines, entitled "The Voyage: with an
Englishwoman's Reflections on her Favourite Element," a few extracts
from which I am permitted to quote--

"We sailed for Kingston in the _Townshend_ packet.
The day auspicious was, and calm the heavens;
Not so the scene on board--oh, what a racket!
And everything on deck apparently at sixes and sevens.
Mail-bags and passengers mixed up in every direction,
The latter engaged with their relatives in fond farewells;
On the one hand the faltering accents of affection,