was. Nevertheless, we felt confident the picnic would
be a grand success, for, to a late hour, men were hurrying fore and aft,
and the stewards were up to their eyes packing baskets and making
preparations, while from the cook's gally gleams of rosy light shot out
every time the door was opened, to say nothing of odours so appetising
that they would have awakened Van Winkle himself.

Before we turned in, we went on deck to have a look at the night. It was
certainly full of promise. We were not far from the shore--near enough to
see a long line of white which we knew was breakers, and to hear their
deep sullen boom as they spent their fury on the rocks. The sky was
studded with brilliant stars--far more bright, we thought them, than any
we ever see in our own cold climate. Looking aloft, the tall masts seemed
to mix and mingle with the stars at every roll of the ship. The moon, too,
was as bright as silver in the east, its beams making strange quivering
lines and crescents in each approaching wave. And somewhere--yonder among
those wondrous cone-shaped hills, now bathed in this purple moonlight--lay
the promised land, the romantic town of Rio, which to-morrow we should
visit.

We went below, and, as if by one accord, my brothers and I knelt down
together to thank the Great Power on high who had guided us safely over
the wide illimitable ocean, and to implore His blessing on those at home,
and His guidance on all our future wanderings.

Early next morning we were awakened by a great noise on deck, and the dash
and turmoil of breaking water. The rudder-chains, too, were constantly
rattling as the men at the wheel obeyed the shouts of the officer of the
watch.

'Starboard a little!'

'Starboard it is, sir!'

'Easy as you go! Steady!'

'Steady it is, sir!'

'Port a little! Steady!'

Then came a crash that almost flung us out of our beds. Before we gained
the deck of our cabin there was another, and still another. Had we run on
shore? We dreaded to ask each other.

But just then the steward, with kindly thought, drew back our curtain and
reassured us.

'We're only bumping over the bar, young gentlemen--we'll be in smooth
water in a jiffey.'

We were soon all dressed and on deck. We were passing the giant hill
called Sugar Loaf, and the mountains seemed to grow taller and taller, and
to frown over us as we got nearer.

Once through the entrance, the splendid bay itself lay spread out before
us in all its sil