Early the following morning we were at the headquarters of the detective police. We related the nature of our mission, and the services of one of their most efficient officers were placed at our disposal.
He was evidently well known at all the shipping offices. In less than an hour he furnished us with every information we could obtain in Liverpool. He ascertained that Hooker had sailed for Quebec seven days previously in the Canada mail packet ship “Belgian,” and had booked through to Montreal; and he added the still more important facts that the delinquent had with him his wife, sister-in-law, and two children, and further, that he was in possession of a roll of bank notes at the time he secured the berths.
Had he gone alone I doubt whether I should have had the courage to proceed farther; but the fact of his being encumbered with the ladies, the children, and a large quantity of baggage was a set-off against his seven days’ start, and considerably altered my views.
With such a drag on his movements, I felt there was a hope of success, and at once accepted the responsibility of following him.
A berth was secured on board the “China,” of the Cunard line, and on Saturday, the 30th of September, 4.30 p.m., I found myself afloat, and the docks of Liverpool becoming fainter and fainter.
Fortunately the weather was extremely fine; and as we steamed down the Mersey the scene and the event was one of unusual interest to me.
The interior of a first-class mail packet just starting on her voyage, and its animated appearance, have often been described. I need only say there were over two hundred passengers on board, and that my immediate No. 90. companions were a French gentleman, a Spaniard and his wife, a Scotch physician (who was in a state of complete prostration three-fourths of the voyage), a ship-builder from St. John’s, N.B., and his two daughters, the chaplain of the ship and his wife, and Mr. Tucker, an intelligent man from Philadelphia, who, during the voyage, gave me such valuable information, and introduced me to some Canadian merchants on board. These gentlemen subsequently rendered me great assistance in the prosecution of the object I had in view.
A ROPE IS FLUNG OVER LAURA’S HEAD, AND HER ARMS ARE CLOSELY PINIONED.
One of the most agreeable interludes of our voyage occurred during our detention at Queenstown for the mail bags.