Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/18

 4 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. Three months had passed away, little Jack was convales- cent, and Mrs. Weldon, weary of her long séparation from her husband, was anxious to gct home as soon as possible. Her rcadiest way of reaching San Francisco was to cross to Australia, and thence to take a passage in one of tho vessels of the "Golden Age "Company, whîch run between Melbourne and the Isthmus of Panama : on arrivîng in Panama she would hâve to wait the departure of the next American steamer of the Une which maintains a regular communication between the Isthmus and California. This route, however, involved many stoppages and changes, such as are always disagrceable and inconvénient for women and chiidren, and Mrs. Weldon was hcsitating whethcr she should encounter the journey, when she heard that her husband's vessel, the " Pîlgrim," had arrived at Auckland. Hastenïng to Captaïn HuU, she begged him to take her with her little boy, Cousin Benedict, and Nan, an old negress who had been her attendant from her childhood, on board the " Pflgrim," and to convey them to San Fran- cisco direct " Was it not over hazardous," asked the captain, " to vcn- ture upon a voyage of between 5000 and 6000 miles in so small a sailing- vessel ? " But Mrs. Weldon urged her request, and Captain Hull, confident in the sea-going qualîties ofhis craft, and anti- cipating at this season nothing but fair weather on eithcr side of the equator, gave hîs consent. In order to provide as far as possible for the comfort of the lady during a voyage that must occupy from forty to fifty days, the captain placcd hîs own cabin at her entire disposai. Everything promiscd well for a prosperous voyage. The only hindrance that could be foreseen arose from the cir- cumstance that the "Piigrim" would hâve to put in at Valparaiso for the purpose of unlading ; but that business once accomplished, she would continue her way along the American coast with the assistance of the land breezes, which ordinarily make the proximity of those shores such agreeable quarters for sailing. Mrs. Weldon herselfhad accompanied her husband in