The Captain, a stout, broad-shouldered, red-faced man, like Captain Ayre of the Flora, was minus an eye; but the one which fortune had left him was a piercer. He was a rough, blunt-looking tar, some forty-five or fifty years of age; and looked about as sentimental and polite as a tame bear. His coarse, weather-beaten face had an honest, frank expression, and he bade his guests to be seated with an air of such hearty hospitality, that they felt quite at home in his narrow low den.
He had no cabin-passengers, though a great many in the steerage; and he assured Flora that she could have the very best accommodations, as he would resign the state-cabin to her and the child. Mr. Lyndsay could occupy the mate’s berth in the cabin, and they could not fail of being quite snug and comfortable.
The state-cabin was just big enough to hold the captain’s chest of drawers, the top of which, boarded, and draped with the same faded red stuff which decorated the outer room, formed the berth that Flora was to occupy. Small as the place was, it was scrupulously neat and clean, and possessed for Flora one great charm—that of privacy. She could, by shutting the door and drawing the bolt, at any time enjoy the luxury of finding herself, though in a crowded vessel, alone.
“Mamma Flora, are you not charmed with the splendid accommodations of your fancy ship?” whispered the mischievous Jim. “There is not room for a flea to hop, without giving him the cramp in his legs.”
“It is better than the Flora; so hold your tongue, you wicked imp.”
But Lyndsay thought otherwise. The Flora was larger, and was to sail a fortnight earlier. He demurred—his wife coaxed and entreated; but he only went so far as to tell the captain to keep the berths unoccupied until the following day, and he would inform him of his final determination.
Just as they were rising to take leave, a tall, lanky man, stuck his long scraggy neck in at the cabin-door, and, in the broadest Scotch vernacular, exclaimed,—
“To what port are ye bound, man?”
“Quebec and Montreal.”
“Wull you tak’ a cabin-passenger on reasonable terms?”