one place, your past is like a
heavy log that you're tied to and can't quit.

"Anyway, one night in Buenos Ayres, when I went ashore to mail a letter
to Rosa, I was in good spirits. I reflected that, after all, my father's
dreams of founding a family were not necessarily impossible. My
brother's behaviour had nothing to do with it. I was going to marry
Rosa. If we had children they would have a chance. But just as Rosa
would not hear of Italy, so I was resolved with all my might against
living in England. My children should never come under the influence of
that gentility that had spoiled our early lives. For the old families in
England who have been steeped in it for centuries, for men like
Belvoir, for instance, I dare say it is an admirable plan. But not for
me nor for mine. I had been writing about it to Rosa and I'd put at the
bottom, 'America?'

"Another thing I wanted to do ashore was to call at the Sailors' Home
and see if they could give us a Mess-room Steward. The young fellow who
had shipped that voyage had deserted. They are always doing it in the
Argentine. Wages are very high and they all think that they can do well
up country. They sign on just to get their passage free. The ship was in
Number One Dock, loading grain, and I walked across the bridge, up San
Juan and took a trolley car along _Balcarce_ to the _Plaza de Mayo_. It
was a fine evening in September, quite cool after dark. I was rather
pleased with myself, too. The boilers had opened up uncommonly well; the
Second knew his work, and I had nothing to do but keep an eye on things
in general. I posted my letter, and after walking up and down the
_Avenida de Mayo_ for a while, went down to the _Parque Colon_ to get a
car back. The trolleys of Buenos Ayres are a bit puzzling to a stranger
because the routes go by numbers. I knew nothing about the car I wanted
except that it had the number 'Forty-eight' on the bows.

"The _Parque Colon_ is a large place running parallel with the Number
Three Dock, full of big trees, and the avenues through it are rather
dark. Considering how close it is to the busy part of the city it is
lonely. Men have been found on the seats--dead! I daresay you have heard
of Buenos Ayres. Like any other city where money can be made quickly,
like London, like New York, Buenos Ayres is full of crooks. I believe
they do their best to keep the place clean, but at that time it was
pretty bad. The Skipper warned me to carry a revolver