of passengers,
and taken in most of her cargo, and only required some little putting to
rights, which had better be done under her commander's supervision,
before she sailed on her maiden trip to Philadelphia. 'I must be off the
day after to-morrow,' said Morrison, as he handed the letter to me
across the table. 'Please send for Angus,' he continued, 'I wish him to
come at once, that we may be ready to start by Wednesday morning.' This
was at the breakfast table on a Monday morning; and that same evening
Angus, summoned by a special messenger from the glen in which he was
staying with his friends, arrived at the Manse, but in so grave and
cheerless a mood that I noticed it at once, and wondered what could be
the matter with him. Taking him into a private room, I said, 'Angus,
Captain Morrison leaves the day after to-morrow. You had better get his
things packed at once. And, by the way, what a lucky fellow you are! If
you did so well on the _City of Manchester_, you will in a year or two
make quite a fortune in the _City of Glasgow_.' To my astonishment Angus
replied, 'I am not going in the _City of Glasgow_--at least, not on this
voyage--and I wish you could persuade Captain Morrison--the best and
kindest master ever man had--not to go either.' 'Not going? What in the
world do you mean, Angus?' was my very natural exclamation of surprise.
'Well, sir,' said Angus (the reader will please understand that our talk
was in Gaelic). 'Well, sir,' said Angus, 'You must not be angry with me
if I tell you that on the last three nights my father, who has been dead
nine years, as you know, has appeared to me and warned me not to go on
this voyage, for that it will prove disastrous. Whether in dream or
waking vision of the night, I cannot say; but I saw him, sir, as
distinctly as I now see you; clothed exactly as I remember him in life;
and he stood by my bedside, and with up-lifted hand and warning finger,
and with a most solemn and earnest expression of countenance, he said,
"Angus, my beloved son, don't go on this voyage. It will not be a
prosperous one." On three nights running has my father appeared to me in
this form, and with the same words of warning; and although much against
my will, I have made up my mind that in the face of such warning, thrice
repeated, it would be wrong in me to go on this voyage. It does not
become me to do it, but I wish you, sir, would tell Captain Morrison
what I have now told you; and persuade him i