FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
on such an expedition from which we would never come 
back, — the hardships would be far too great for us, — they 
knew. 
Such forebodings gave our prospects quite an artificial 
zest, and consequently I felt bound to make arrangements 
against every possible misfortune. To a skilful artist of 
Dundee I intrusted the finishing of the frieze, and made 
arrangerr^nts for the payments of all legal debts, and 
with a voice that perhaps betrayed the depth of my 
emotion, asked a friend to take care of my watch. — 
Dear old turnip, — my only heirloom, — how you recall 
the palmy days of my ancestors ! Many well-lined fobs 
have you ticked in, in your time ; and now you lie 
amongst old parchments and family jewels in a lawyer's 
safe, whilst your poor owner travels the world o'er on a 
whaler, with a Waterbury — beggarly Waterbury, that 
broke the first time I wound it up. 
After these affecting ceremonies we adjourned to the 
Club with an old friend, and there Bruce and I saw the 
last fair meal we were to see for many a day. 
How vividly do I now recall that last evening of 
luxury; the gleaming white linen and silver, and the 
harvest moon peeping over the Castle, blending her 
silvery rays in the yellow bubbles of the Heidsieck. 
