"Now, George, you won't get away this time; you are going straight home
with me!" I was greeted.

The way she knew the Pennsylvania had arrived was by reading the New
York Herald. That paper gave the daily arrival of ships in all the large
ports of the United States. I told her my reasons for not writing and
why I was detained in Boston; then she was satisfied. I inquired about
my relations at home. They were all well and very anxious to see me. I
then asked about my father in San Francisco. She at once began to cry.
Then, for the first time, I noticed that she was dressed in mourning.
Father had been dead just three months. I went to a hotel with mother
and remained with her until evening; then she returned to New York. In a
short time I received my money. The next train was taking me to New York
and back to my friends from whom I had been separated for such a long
time. How glad they were to see me, and what a happy time we all had!
They never got tired of listening to the stories of my sailor life. I
remained at home for about six weeks. As I did not wish to remain idle
any longer, I concluded to return to Mobile, where I was well
acquainted, and there work at discharging cargoes from vessels. I was
satisfied that I could easily earn from two dollars and a half to three
dollars a day at that work during the winter.

CHAPTER XIII

MY THIRD VOYAGE

About October 1, 1860, I intended to take passage on the ship Robert
Ely, for Mobile, but changed my mind, for the reason that the ship had a
crew of negroes instead of white men. The P. T. Bartram was almost ready
to sail; the crew were all shipped, so I paid ten dollars for steerage
passage, and was to furnish my own food. So many sailors wanted to go
South that it was difficult for me to ship as a sailor, the
boarding-house keepers having the preference with the shipping offices
for their boarders. The P. T. Bartram was a bark of about six hundred
tons burthen. The cargo was general merchandise--a little of everything.
The North at that time furnished the Southern States with everything
excepting raw cotton.

We had a fine passage to the Gulf of Mexico, with fair prospects of a
speedy voyage. Slowly the fine breeze died away, the atmosphere became
unusually sultry, the barometer falling rapidly. Then we knew that
trouble was in store for us. It was not long in coming, either. A severe
hurricane from the West Indies struck us. All sail was taken in except
clo