CHAPTER XIY. 



ALTHOUGH naturally overjoyed at the prospect 

 of returning home after an absence of three 

 years, it would be untrue to say that I parted 

 from my shipmates without regret. Even for 

 the ship herself I had an affection ; she had 

 carried us safely for 50,000 miles or more, and 

 it was with a sad heart, for the moment, that I 

 took a last look at the bonnie little craft, as the 

 old " China " steamed out of Acapulco Bay, 

 and the wash from her paddles drowned the 

 strains of "Auld Lang Syne." The steamers 

 of the Pacific mail are not celebrated for speed, 

 and the most the old " China " could score was 

 200 miles a day, and sometimes not that, so 

 it took us ten days to reach San Francisco. 



