2 Travels and Adventures 



After the usual ceremony of tipping railway porters 

 and cab-drivers I went on board the steam-tug Sun- 

 shine, taking passengers and mails from the Princess 

 Landing Stage, Liverpool, for embarkation on the 

 Celestial Company's steamship Phantom, then bound 

 for the Spanish Main. A few minutes' sail brought 

 us alongside the Phantom, where after a careful in- 

 spection of the eating-saloon, cabins, water filters, etc., 

 by my unhappy relatives, who consisted ,of several 

 maiden aunts, fifth-cousins, and godchildren, they 

 eventually said "Good-bye," and, as if to drive home 

 the old-fashioned words, each gave me at parting a 

 remorseless hup-. 



No sooner had the Sunshine re-embarked her 

 living freight of weeping relatives, overgrown ships' 

 agents, and postmen, than a shrill screech from the 

 funnel of the Sunshine, echoed back by a dull crunch- 

 ing sound from the screw of the Phantom, announced 

 to all on board that we were in a fair way for a 

 separation for an indefinite period from wives and 

 sweethearts, as well as the soothing associations of an 

 English fireside. 



The Phantom, although only a small ship of 200 

 tons burden, soon showed her superiority of sailing 

 over her other river companions by passing many 

 large ships, which seemed to me to be encumbered by 

 a superfluous arrangement of poles and white cotton ; 



