th-westerly direction, and might therefore be easily
reached in a fortnight, if all went well with us. An important
advantage attaching to this plan was that Honolulu, if it did not lie
directly in my road to China, was nearer it than any other port, and I
still considered it very essential that, in order to avoid inconvenient
questions, I should take home a cargo of some sort, which might as well
be tea as anything else; and although I had never visited the Sandwich
Islands, I thought it probable I should there be able to pick up at
least a sufficient number of men to carry us comfortably to the Canton
river. As soon, therefore, as we were fairly clear of the island I set
the course for the island of Oahu; the wind being at the time a
four-knot breeze, well over the starboard quarter. This done, I
relieved Miss Merrivale at the wheel, leaving Forbes and the other four
men to continue at leisure the operation of making sail.

Meanwhile the question had arisen, "How was the cooking to be done?" and
the natural reply to this seemed to be, "Set the darkie to do it." This
would have been all very well but for my passengers, who, it occurred to
me, might possibly have a prejudice against having their food handled by
a black man. I therefore laid the matter before Sir Edgar, who
immediately consulted with his wife; and the ultimate result was that
one of the maids very good-naturedly undertook the work, with San
Domingo as cook's mate, to do all the dirty work, while the other maid
volunteered as steward. I was greatly distressed in my mind lest all
these inconveniences should prove a serious annoyance to my good friends
in the saloon; but on mentioning the matter to Lady Emily, she quickly
and kindly reassured me by declaring that they looked upon the whole
thing in the light of an adventure or experience of a novel kind to be
made the most of.

"Besides," she added, "a little inconvenience and privation will do us
good by teaching us to appreciate our comforts more nearly at their
proper value when we get them again."

The weather looked fine, and the barometer stood high; I therefore had
no hesitation whatever about packing sail upon the ship; and as
everybody worked with a will, it came to pass that by noon we had not
only got our anchor secured, but had also clothed the ship with every
stitch of plain sail, from the royals down. Forbes was not satisfied
even with that, and would have gone on to studding-sails; b