rewells. The paddle
wheels continued their motion, the steam pipe kept up its deafening
roar, and the piles of trunks continued to rise into the air and swing
over into the ship, without any interruption.

The time passed rapidly on, and Mr. George did not return. At length but
few new carriages came, and the stream of people on the great plank
seemed to flow all one way, and that was from the ship to the pier;
while the crowd upon the pier had increased until it had become a mighty
throng. At length the officer in command gave orders to rig the tackle
to the great plank stair, with a view to heaving it back upon the pier.
The last, lingering visitors to the ship, who had come to take leave of
their friends, hastily bade them farewell and ran down the plank. The
ship, in fact, was just on the point of casting off from the pier, when
suddenly Mr. George's carriage appeared at the great gate. It came in
among the crowd at a very rapid rate; but still it was so detained by
the obstructions which were in the way, that before it reached its
stopping-place the plank had begun slowly to rise into the air, and the
men on the pier had begun to throw off the fastenings.

"You are too late, sir," said a man to Mr. George. "You cannot get on
board."

"Put the trunk on board," said Mr. George. "That's all."

The man took up the trunk, which was by no means heavy, and just
succeeded in passing it through into a sort of porthole, near the
engine, which happened to be open. Mr. George then looked up to the
place where he had left the children, and shouted out to them,--

"Good by, children; don't be afraid. Your father will come to the ship
for you at Liverpool. Good by, Jennie. Rollo will take excellent care of
you. Don't be afraid."

By this time the ship was slowly and majestically moving away from the
pier; and thus it happened that Rollo and Jennie set out on the voyage
to Europe, without having any one to take them in charge.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER III.

DEPARTURE.

The moving away of the steamer from the pier had the effect of producing
a striking illusion in Jane's mind.

"Why, Rollo!" she exclaimed, looking up to Rollo, quite alarmed. "The
pier is sailing away from us, and all the people on it."

"O, no," said Rollo, "the pier is not sailing away. We are sailing away
ourselves."

Jane gazed upon the receding shore with a look of bewildered
astonishment. Then she added in a very sorrowful and despondi