America.

CHAPTER VII

AWAY TO SUNNIER LANDS.

After boarding the _Ludgate Hill_, the tramp steamship on which they
had taken passage for New York, chiefly on account of her unusually
spacious cabins, they discovered, somewhat to their discomfiture, that
the cargo, listed by the agent as "notions," really consisted largely
of live stock--horses to be taken on at Havre, and a consignment of
monkeys. All their party were of the sort, however, who have a "heart
for any fate," so they agreed to regard this as only an added
adventure. As it turned out, they were not disappointed, for, as the
elder Mrs. Stevenson writes, "It was very amusing and like a circus to
see the horses come on board," while Jocko, a large ape, which soon
struck up a warm friendship with Mr. Stevenson, furnished them with a
vast amount of entertainment. The exceptional freedom which they
enjoyed on board, too, more than counterbalanced any lack of elegance.
In a vein of exuberant joy at this escape from the narrow confines of
the sick-room, Louis writes to his Cousin Bob:

"I was so happy on board that ship I could not have believed it
possible. We had the beastliest weather and many discomforts; but the
mere fact of its being a tramp ship gave us many comforts; we could
cut about with the men and officers, stay in the wheel-house, discuss
all manner of things, and really be a little at sea. And truly there
is nothing else. I had literally forgotten what happiness was, and the
full mind--full of external and physical things, not full of cares and
labors and rot about a fellow's behavior. My heart literally sang; I
truly care for nothing so much as that."

The two ladies took up knitting to while away the long hours at sea,
and so the days slipped peacefully by, with the invalid steadily
gaining in health until they struck a heavy fog on the Newfoundland
banks, where he caught a cold.

They reached New York on September 7, 1887, at the time when
Stevenson's fame was in its flood-tide. _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ had
just made a tremendous impression on the reading public; the idea of
dual personality was being discussed on all sides; ministers preached
sermons about it. Stevenson was amazed and bewildered, though
immensely pleased, at the sudden turn of fortune's wheel. Here,
indeed, was success at last in full measure.

Their original plan had been to try the climate of Colorado, but the
long overland journey seemed too great an ordeal