LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



That night Charles again insisted on discussing the 

 matter. The father "was exasperated and exclaimed, 

 '* Go and find me one sane man who will endorse your 

 "wild-goose chase and I w^ill give my consent." 

 Charles said no more — he would find that "sane man." 

 But he knew perfectly well that if any average person 

 endorsed the plan his father would declare the man 

 was insane and the proof of it lay in the fact that he 

 endorsed the w^ild-goose chase. 



In the morning Charles started of his own accord to 

 see Henslow. Henslo-w w^ould endorse the trip, but 

 both parties knew that Dr. Darwin would not accept 

 a mere college professor as sane. Charles w^ent home 

 and tramped thirty miles across the country to the 

 home of his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood the Second. 

 There he knew he had an advocate for anything he 

 might wish in the person of his fair cousin, Emma. 

 These tw^o laid their heads together, made a plan and 

 stalked their prey. 



They cornered Josiah the Second after dinner and 

 showed him how^ it w^as the chance of a lifetime — this 

 trip on H. M. S. the "Beagle!" Charles wasn't 

 adapted for a clergyman, anyway, he wanted to be a 

 ship-captain, a traveler, a discoverer, a scientist, an 

 author like Sir John Mandeville, or something else. 

 Josiah the Second had but to speak the word and Dr. 

 Darwin would be silenced, and the recommendation of 

 so great a man as Josiah Wedgwood would secure the 

 place J^ J> 



Josiah the Second laughed — then he looked sober. He 

 166 



