"On board the steamer!" replied the man at the wheel, as he threw it over so as to direct the boat towards the gangway.
The Guardian-Mother was the steam-yacht of Louis Belgrave, who had become a millionaire at sixteen, less than a year before; and she was also the college of the young gentleman, for the vessel was provided with a study, or schoolroom, abaft the principal cabin, in which Professor Giroud, a very learned Frenchman, instructed him and his fellow-students in literature, science, history, and languages.
In what manner the steamer became the yacht and college of the young millionaire has been fully related and repeated in the preceding volumes of this series, and need hardly be repeated at length. She had sailed from New York on the first of December before, and had made an eventful voyage to the Bermudas, to Nassau, and around the island of Cuba, visiting all the principal ports.
Louis Belgrave, on account of the peculiar family circumstances that surrounded him, had fallen into many and various adventures, and passed through and out of not a few perilous situations. None of them were of his own choice, and he was not a seeker after Quixotic enterprises, though his excellent friend and trustee had dubbed him a knight, and called him "Sir Louis;" and his example had been followed by the commander and others on board.
Captain Royal Ringgold, commanding the steamer, had always been a friend of Louis, and especially of Mrs. Belgrave, his mother. The young millionaire had requested him to visit and examine a schooner he proposed to purchase for a yacht; and his mother and Felix had been his companions. The stirring adventures to which this visit gave rise strengthened the friendship before existing.
The captain had advised the purchase of the steamer to which Louis gave the name of "Guardian-Mother" as a sort of recognition of her who had given him being, and to whom he was devoted to a degree rarely observed even in good and worthy sons. He originated the idea of making the vessel the young gentleman's college, in which the study of books could be combined with foreign travel.
Squire Moses Scarburn was an old-fashioned lawyer, usually called Uncle Moses, and was one of the party. Dr. Philip Hawkes, an eminent physician and surgeon of New York, and Professor Pierre Giroud had become passengers in consequence of an accident. The doctor and the lawyer each weighed two hundred and twenty-six pounds and a fraction, and both of them were humorously inclined.
Mrs. Blossom had been the housekeeper of the squire, and a friend of Mrs. Belgrave; and she was on board as the companion of the owner's mother. The party in the state cabin of the steamer who had made the voyage to the West Indies, across the Atlantic, visiting Teneriffe and Madeira, voyaging from one port to another in European waters till they had spent several months in England, Holland, France, and the western part of Spain, consisted of the seven persons named.
Among the Bahama Islands they had picked up a bank defaulter, whose adopted son, Scott Fencelowe, had brought him there in the Seahound, his yacht. When Captain Ringgold realized that the bank officer was a defaulter, and had secured his plunder, he sent him back to the United States, forwarding the money he had stolen at the same time. The adopted son was a wild and reckless fellow, and his foster-father had practically bound him to the captain as a sort of apprentice.
The young scapegrace had run away three times, but had been reclaimed. He had reformed his life and manners, and was now a worthy young man, as he had been for about three or four months. From a common sailor, berthing with the crew, the captain had promoted him to the rank of quartermaster, messing with the officers, for he was a good steersman. He was also a student in the study, where the professor had four pupils.