ip out to sea. My father and mother were with
the party, many of their friends, the captain's wife, and our
passengers' friends among the number. It was a merry party. We weighed
anchor. They gave us three cheers, and, wishing us a happy voyage,
turned back for New York. We had commenced our voyage to the Indian
Ocean.

No one had any idea how abruptly that voyage was to end, nor of the
misery that was to follow. In less than two months this despatch was
sent all over the country:

"CHARLESTON, S. C., _August, 1856_.

"The ship Prospero has arrived here, its captain having been
murdered at sea. The first mate and two boys are under arrest by
the United States officers, accused of having committed the
murder."[A]

[A] Our passengers took passage from Charleston in another ship for
China. They never reached their destination. The vessel caught
fire at sea and all aboard perished. Not a soul was ever heard
from.

Now comes the story of the mysterious murder. It has never been solved
to this day, although many years have passed since it occurred.

The ship had been headed to the south-east, so as to get into the
trade-winds near the coast of Africa. When near the Cape Verde Islands
the captain was found dead in his bed, having been killed by being
struck in the head with a ship's axe, having his throat cut, and being
stabbed in the heart several times with a double-edged knife. The cabin
steward went into the captain's state-room at eight o'clock to wake him
for breakfast, and at once notified the first mate of the murder. The
mate first went to the state-room, and then came on deck and ordered all
the crew into the state-room. This is what we saw: the captain dead in
bed, the only clothing on him being an undershirt, while the blood had
stained all the bedding, had spurted up on the partitions around the
berth for three or four feet, and also on the floor. Beside the body lay
a small axe and a white handkerchief stained with blood, marked in one
corner with the letter "L" embroidered in red silk, which letter had
been partly picked out with a pen or knife, but was still discernible.
The mate then informed us that he was acting captain of the ship. In our
presence he wound up the two chronometers, which are always kept in the
captain's room, for on them are dependent the daily calculations of the
correct longitude.

We were finally ordered upon deck. The crew converse