of the town, while the steamer
anchored in the river. She proved to be the Delhi, from Calcutta; and it
was ascertained when the party went on shore later, that she was to sail
for Saigon the next day. The first care of the cabin party was to send
the fish to Rajah Brooke and two officers whose acquaintance they had
made.

Pitts overhauled the ice-chest, and found them in excellent condition;
and Achang was appointed to be the bearer of them, with the compliments
of the Americans, to the gentlemen who were to receive them. Two native
porters were to carry them; and the party knew that the fish were a
rarity in the town, and they were in season for the dinner of that day.

The four went on shore together just as a party from the Delhi landed
with a boat. The captain of the steamer hailed them in the street in
front of the government house, and asked if they belonged to the
steam-launch which had just come up the river. He was curious to know
something more about the explorers, and Captain Scott told him what they
had been doing in the island. He was invited on board of the Blanchita,
and was much interested in the young men.

They showed him over the boat; and he was greatly pleased with the
craft, and with the excellent accommodations for sleeping, eating, and
making the voyagers generally comfortable. They came to the ice-chest,
in which two of the choice fish still remained; and Scott presented one
of them to their guest.

"We intend to sail for Point Cambodia to-morrow to rejoin our ship,"
said the captain of the Blanchita, after the fish had been sent on
board.

"In this little tub of yours?" asked the commander of the Delhi with a
smile of incredulity.

"Is this part of the China Sea subject to violent seas?"

"Not at just this season of the year. With the south-west monsoons smart
squalls come up sometimes, but they are not very bad. I don't think you
will find it any rougher than we had it outside the river to-day on your
passage to the Point," replied Captain Rayburn, who stated then that he
had seen the Guardian-Mother when she was at Calcutta.

"You are bound to Saigon, I think you said."

"To Saigon, but a portion of my cargo goes to Kampot. If I found a
sailing-vessel here that was going up the Gulf of Siam, I was ordered to
reship my freight for Kampot in her; if not, I was to take it there in
the Delhi. I find no such vessel here."

"Then you will make your course direct for Point Cambodia, Ca