o withstand William
W. Kolderup, who loved and esteemed him enough to permit him to
contradict him.

And now all was arranged. Who had given in? William W. Kolderup or
Turcott? I dare not say, for I do not even know the subject of their
discussion. However, I rather think it must have been the captain.

Anyhow, after eight days of interviewing, the merchant and the captain
were in accord, but Turcott did not cease to grumble between his teeth.

"May five hundred thousand Davy Joneses drag me to the bottom if ever I
had a job like this before!"

However, the _Dream_ fitted out rapidly, and her captain neglected
nothing which would enable him to put to sea in the first fortnight in
June. She had been into dock, and the hull had been gone over with
composition, whose brilliant red contrasted vividly with the black of
her upper works.

A great number of vessels of all kinds and nationalities came into the
port of San Francisco. In a good many years the old quays of the town,
built straight along the shore, would have been insufficient for the
embarkation and disembarkation of their cargoes, if engineers had not
devised subsidiary wharves. Piles of red deal were driven into the
water, and many square miles of planks were laid on them and formed huge
platforms. A good deal of the bay was thus taken up, but the bay is
enormous. There were also regular landing-stages, with numberless cranes
and crabs, at which steamers from both oceans, steamboats from the
Californian rivers, clippers from all countries, and coasters from the
American seaboard were ranged in proper order, so as not to interfere
one with the other.

It was at one of these artificial quays, at the extremity of Mission
Wharf Street, that the _Dream_ had been securely moored after she had
come out of dock.

Nothing was neglected, and the steamer would start under the most
favourable conditions. Provisioning, outfit, all were minutely studied.
The rigging was perfect, the boilers had been tested and the screw was
an excellent one. A steam launch was even carried, to facilitate
communication with the shore, and this would probably be of great
service during the voyage.

Everything was ready on the 10th of June. They had only to put to sea.
The men shipped by Captain Turcott to work the sails or drive the engine
were a picked crew, and it would have been difficult to find a better
one. Quite a stock of live animals, agouties, sheep, goats, poultry,
&c., wer