and sunken, sat upon the floor—indeed, it was impossible to sit anywhere else—braced against a stationary seat, and clinging to one of the iron posts which supported the roof of the saloon. He was wrapped in a heavy shawl and two elegant rugs; his soft hat was drawn down over his forehead, and he seemed entirely oblivious of everything about him.

Two spinsters, companions and sisters, lay upon cushions flat upon the floor, and, also wrapped in their rugs, looked not unlike two huge bags of wool rolling from side to side with every motion of the boat.

Another man had crept into a corner, where he tried to keep himself from pitching about by clinging to a rope which he had fastened to an immovable table.

The only other occupant of the place was a little fair-haired maiden of perhaps fifteen or sixteen years.

She was small and delicate, and was sitting, or trying to sit, upon the floor, not far from the old gentleman before mentioned.

She was wrapped in a thick woolen shawl, and her head was 11covered with a crimson hood, so that not much could be seen of her, save the fair, pale face, with its sad, appealing blue eyes, which looked out from beneath masses of shining golden ringlets that had strayed from her hood and lay upon her white forehead. She had a sensitive mouth, a pretty, rounded chin, a small, straight nose, and altogether, had she possessed something of color and less of sadness in her face, would have been considered wondrously fair to look upon.

11

This little waif, with her child-like countenance, her pathetic eyes, and her patient, uncomplaining spirit, was traveling alone.

There was not a soul on board that vessel whom she had ever seen before the day of sailing.

An orphan—her father, and the only relative on whom she could depend, had died just three months previous—she was going to the United States, to some distant connections who had consented to take her until she was of age and teach her to earn her own living.

She had been put in the care of the captain by the people with whom she had been staying since her father’s death, and he was to deliver her to the strangers to whom she was going.

Some strange magnetism had attracted her toward the old gentleman with the white hair and beard of whom we have spoken, and near to whom she was now sitting.

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