o it especial attention, as well as to
the ship's medicine-chest.

[Illustration]

If the armament of the vessel was small enough to calm the timid
souls, on the other hand, the magazine was filled with enough powder
to inspire some uneasiness. The single gun on the forecastle could not
pretend to require so large a supply. This excited curiosity. There
were, besides, enormous saws and strong machinery, such as levers,
masses of lead, hand-saws, huge axes, etc., without counting a
respectable number of blasting-cylinders, which might have blown up
the Liverpool custom-house. All this was strange, if not alarming, not
to mention the rockets, signals, lights, and lanterns of every sort.

Then, too, the numerous spectators on the quays of the New Prince's
Docks gazed with admiration at a long mahogany whale-boat, a tin canoe
covered with gutta-percha, and a number of halkett-boats, which are a
sort of india-rubber cloaks, which can be inflated and thereby turned
into canoes. Every one felt more and more puzzled, and even excited,
for with the turn of the tide the _Forward_ was to set sail for its
unknown destination.

CHAPTER II.
AN UNEXPECTED LETTER.

This is a copy of the letter received by Richard Shandon eight months
previously:--

ABERDEEN, August 2, 1859.

MR. RICHARD SHANDON, _Liverpool_.

SIR,--This letter is to advise you of a remittance of 16,000 pounds,
deposited with Messrs. Marcuart & Co., bankers, at Liverpool. Enclosed
you will find a series of drafts, signed by me, which will enable you
to draw upon Messrs. Marcuart & Co. to the amount mentioned above.

[Illustration]

You do not know me. No matter; I know you, and that is enough. I offer
you the position of mate on board of the brig _Forward_, for a voyage
which may be long and perilous.

If you decline, well and good. If you accept, five hundred pounds will
be assigned you as salary, and at the end of each year of the voyage
your pay will be increased one tenth.

The brig _Forward_ does not exist. You will be obliged to have it
built so that it will be possible to set to sea in the beginning of
April, 1860, at the latest. Enclosed is a drawing with estimates. You
will follow them exactly. The ship will be built in the stocks of
Scott & Co., who will arrange everything with you.

I beg of you to be specially cautious in selecting the crew of the
_Forward_; it will consist of a captain (myself), a mate (you), a
second mate, a bo