lose study
which is necessary to the formation of a reasonable judgment. At first
I could not resist the conviction that my skipper must have been
indulging in a small amount of exaggeration, especially when I reflected
on the great strength and apparent invulnerability of such massive
vessels as our _Thunderer_; but knowing the sedate and truthful
character of Mr Whitlaw, I felt perplexed. Little did I think at the
time that I should live to see, and that within the year, the truth of
his statements corroborated with my own eyes. I meditated long that
night on war and its results, as well as the various processes by which
it is carried on; and I had arrived at a number of valuable conclusions,
which I would have given worlds to have been able to jot down at the
moment, when I was overtaken by that which scattered them hopelessly to
the winds: I fell sound asleep!

The rest of this delightful voyage I am compelled to pass over, in order
that I may come to matters of greater importance.

We had reached the neighbourhood of the beautiful town of Nice, when my
dear mother, to my surprise and mortification, suddenly announced that
she could not endure the sea any longer. She had kept pretty well, she
admitted, and had enjoyed herself, too, except when listening to those
dreadful stories of the captain about the American war, which had
travelled to her down the after-cabin skylight, during wakeful hours of
the night. Despite appearances, she said she had suffered a good deal.
There was something, she declared, like a dumpling in her throat, which
always seemed about to come up, but wouldn't, and which she constantly
tried to swallow, but couldn't.

In these circumstances, what could I do? We had meant to land at Nice
in passing. I now resolved to leave my mother and sister there and
proceed eastward--it might be to Egypt or the Black Sea--with
Naranovitsch. The latter had ordered his letters to be forwarded to
Nice; we therefore ran into the port, and, while my mother and sister
and I drove to "the Chateau" to see the splendid view from that
commanding position, he went off to the post-office.

On returning to the yacht, we found poor Nicholas in deep distress. He
had received a letter announcing the death of his father, and requiring
his immediate return to Russia. As the circumstances admitted of no
delay, and as my mother could not be prevailed on to go farther in the
yacht, it was hastily arranged that she