cabins."

Jane felt somewhat reassured by these declarations of Lottie, and she
even began to think that if there was nothing to be done in crossing the
Atlantic but to play about the decks and cabins all the way, there was a
possibility that Rollo might be able to take care of her.

"My uncle is going on a voyage, too, to-morrow," added Lottie.

"What uncle?" asked Jane.

"My uncle Thomas," said Lottie. "He lives in this house. He is packing
up his trunk now. He is going to Charleston. I wish I were going with
him."

"Do you like to go to sea?" asked Jane.

"Yes," said Lottie, "pretty well. I like to see the sailors climb up
the masts and rigging; and I like the cabins, because there are so many
sofas in them, and so many places to hide."

Little Jane felt much less uneasiness at the idea of going to sea after
hearing Lottie give such favorable accounts of her own experience. Still
she was not entirely satisfied. As for Rollo, his eagerness to go
independent of all supervision did not arise wholly from vanity and
presumption. He was now twelve years of age, and that is an age which
fairly qualifies a boy to bear some considerable burdens of
responsibility and duty. At any rate, it is an age at which it ought to
be expected that the powers and characteristics of manhood should, at
least, _begin_ to be developed. It is right, therefore, that a boy at
that age should begin to feel something like a man, and to desire that
opportunities should arise for exercising the powers which he finds thus
developing themselves and growing stronger every day within him.

The fact that Lottie's uncle Thomas was going to embark for Charleston
on the same day that had been fixed for Rollo's embarkation for Europe
might seem at first view a very unimportant circumstance. It happened,
however, that it led, in fact, to very serious consequences. The case
was this. It is necessary, however, first to explain, for the benefit
of those readers of this book who may never have had opportunities to
become acquainted with the usages of great cities, that there are two
separate systems in use in such cities for the transportation
respectively of baggage, and of persons, from place to place. For
baggage and parcels, there are what are called _expresses_. The owners
of these expresses have offices in various parts of the city, where
books are kept, in which a person may go and have an entry made of any
trunk, or bag, or other package which he