hope. I could notice the various
operations going forward, in consequence of my cheerful and contented
manner having obtained for me permission to come on deck and range over
the vessel. My slight sickness went off as soon as we were under way;
and, pleased with my new mode of life, I began to make myself as useful
to the crew as I could; but the two lads were not so fortunate; for
they were continually abusing the captain, or importuning him to put
them on shore. In the forenoon of the day before we sailed from Aberdeen,
a boat, containing a quantity of luggage, came alongside, and a
genteelly-dressed couple came on board, and were ushered into the cabin.
The female appeared very dejected; and, hanging upon the male with
anxious fondness, expressed through her silent tears, bent her gaze,
alternately looking towards the shore with an expression of regret,
and then in his face with a languid smile. He was as well-made and
good-looking a man as I have ever seen in all my wanderings; but there
was a marble-like rigidity in his features, only enlivened by a peculiar
cast of his piercing black eyes, that created a peculiar feeling of
uneasiness in me as I looked at him. He left the vessel; but when I know
not; for we sailed before sunset; and I never again saw the female he
left until we had passed Cape Wrath, some few days after. As for myself,
I was quite happy, and felt myself more at home than I had done since my
mother's death. The ship was a home to me. I had my allowance with the
other palantines; slept in the hold with them at night; and enjoyed,
along with many of them, the pleasure of building castles in the
air--anticipations of the wealth and comforts we were to enjoy in the
land of promise. It was, indeed, by delusive accounts of America, that
most of them had been induced to embark.

We were now careering over the blue waves of the vast Atlantic, as if we
were far above the earth. Nothing was there for the weary eye to rest
upon but a dreary expanse of ocean and sky. All was still as death, save
the hissing at the bows of the vessel, as she parted the unfathomable
deep. The crew loitered upon the decks listlessly; and we, as
palantines, huddled together around the mainmast, were whiling away the
time in songs, or talking of the homes we had left behind, and future
hopes in a foreign land. We were suddenly interrupted by the female I
have already mentioned, who came rushing up the companion, from the
cabin, and