re, and I confess I don't like it.
Of course," he continued--judging, perhaps, from some of the passengers'
looks that he had said something a trifle indiscreet--"it is only
prejudice on my part; I can't explain my objection to iron; everybody
who ought to know anything about the matter declares that iron is
immensely strong compared with wood, and I sincerely believe them;
still, there the feeling is, and I expect it will take me a month or two
to get over it. You see, I have been brought up and have spent upwards
of forty years of my life in wooden ships, and I suppose I am growing a
trifle too old to readily take up newfangled notions."

"Ah, Captain, I have met with men of your sort before," remarked the
general; "you are by no means the first person with a prejudice. But
you'll get over it, my dear fellow; you'll get over it. And when you
have done so you'll acknowledge that there's nothing like iron for
shipbuilding. _Apropos_ of seafaring matters, what sort of a voyage do
you think we shall have?"

The skipper shrugged his shoulders.

"Who can tell?" he answered. "Everything depends upon the weather; and
what is more fickle than that?--outside the limits of the trade-winds
and the monsoons, I mean, of course. If we are unlucky enough to meet
with a long spell of calms on the Line--well, that means a long passage.
But give me as much wind as I can show all plain sail to, and no
farther for'ard than abeam, and I'll undertake to land you all at
Calcutta within sixty days from to-day."

We were still discussing the probability of the skipper being able to
fulfil his promise, when a howling squall swept through the taut rigging
and between the masts of the ship, causing the whole fabric to vibrate
with a barely perceptible tremor, while the swish and patter of heavy
rain resounded upon the glass of the skylights.

"Whew!" ejaculated the general, "what a lively prospect for to-night!
What are we to do after dinner to amuse ourselves; and where are we men
to go for our smoke?"

"I think," said I, "we shall find a very comfortable place for a smoke
under the overhang of the poop. The tide is ebbing strong by this time,
so the ship will be riding more or less stern-on to the wind, and we
shall find a very satisfactory lee and shelter at the spot that I have
named."

"Ay," assented the skipper. "And when you have finished smoking, what
can you wish for better than this fine saloon, in which to play cards,