was on approached the ocean. Jack
had never seen the sea. The fresh salt breeze inspired him with
restless longing. Saint Nazarre lay before him,--the harbor crowded with
shipping. They landed at the dock, and there learned that the Cydnus, of
the _Compagnie Transatlantique_, would sail at three o'clock that day,
and was already lying outside,--this being, in fact, the only way to
have the crew all on board at the moment of departure.

Jack and his companion--for Father Rondic had insisted on seeing him on
board his ship--had no time to see anything of the town, which had all
the vivacity of a market-day.

The wharf was piled with vegetables, with baskets of fruit, and with
fowls which, tied together, were wildly struggling for liberty.
Near their merchandise stood the Breton peasants waiting quietly for
purchasers. They were in no hurry, and made no appeal to the passers-by.
In contrast to these, there was a number of small peddlers, selling pins,
cravats, and portemonnaies, who were loudly crying their wares. Sailors
were hurrying to and fro, and Rondic learned from one of them that the
chief engineer of the Cydnus was in a very bad humor because he had not
his full number of stokers on board.

"We must hasten," said Rondic; and they hailed a boat, and rapidly
threaded their way through the harbor. The enormous transatlantic
steamers lay at their wharves as if asleep; the decks of two large
English ships just arrived from Calcutta were covered with sailors, all
hard at work. They passed between these motionless masses, where the
water was as dark as a canal running through the midst of a city under
high walls; then they saw the Cydnus lying, with her steam on. A wiry
little man, in his shirt-sleeves, with three stripes on his cap, hailed
Jack and Rondic as their boat came alongside the steamer.

His words were inaudible through the din and tumult, but his gestures
were eloquent enough. This was Blanchet, the chief engineer.

"You have come, then, have you?" he shouted. "I was afraid you meant
to leave me in the lurch."

"It was my fault," said Rondic; "I wished to accompany the lad, and I
could not get away yesterday."

"On board with you, quick!" returned the engineer; "he must get into his
place at once."

They descended first one ladder, then another, and another. Jack, who
had never been on board a large steamer, was stupefied at the size
and the depth of this one. They descended to an abyss where the eye