-night, Shawn. I am going there
to see a great specialist, and I would like very much for you to go with
me."

"It will give me pleasure to go," said Shawn.

Shawn met Mrs. Alden's carriage at the wharfboat, and exerted himself to
make her as comfortable as possible until the arrival of the up-stream
boat. At 8.30 o'clock the wharfmaster came into the little waiting-room
and said, "The America will soon be here."

In a short time the great steamer drew up to the wharf, and Shawn,
supporting Mrs. Alden's frail form with his strong arms, went up the
steps and into the cabin. The chambermaid placed Mrs. Alden's chair in
the ladies' cabin, and Shawn went off to select a convenient and
comfortable stateroom.

The cabin presented a scene of merriment. Under the gleaming lights
were a hundred happy couples, dancing away the gladsome hours. The
strains of music swelled and floated far out into the night, and the
joyous voices mingled with the changing melodies.

Shawn sat near Mrs. Alden, and together they gazed upon the gay throng
and enjoyed the inspiriting music. Far below, in the engine-room, the
lights glimmered over the polished machinery. The engineer glanced
occasionally at his steam-gauge and water-cocks. The negro firemen were
singing a plantation melody as they heaved shovels of coal into the
glaring furnace under the boilers. Roustabouts and deck-hands were
catching short rounds of sleep in their bunks back of the engine-room.
Sitting on either side of the boiler, were "deck passengers," those too
poor to engage passage in the cabin, and here and there, tired children
lay asleep across their mothers' knees.

In the pilot-house, Napolean Jenkins, the head pilot, stood with his
hand on the spokes of the wheel, gazing with the eyes of a night-bird
on the outlines of shore and hill. Mann Turpin, his steersman, stood at
the right of the wheel. Jenkins knocked the ashes from his cigar, and
the glow from the deep red circle of tobacco fire momentarily radiated
the gloom of the pilot-house. The night was serene and clear, the full
moon shining and shedding her dreamy light over the sleeping, snow-clad
valley, and the silvery rays filtered through the clustering branches of
the towering trees. As the great boat swung along past a farm-house,
Jenkins heard the shrill, alarming cry of a peacock. Strains of music
came floating upward from the cabin. The grim, black smoke-stacks were
breathing heavily, and the timbers of