Publisher's Synopsis
Sixteen years after the date of Mr. Ronald's disastrous discovery at Ramsgate-that is to say, inthe year 1872-the steamship Aquila left the port of New York, bound for Liverpool.It was the month of September. The passenger-list of the Aquila had comparatively few namesinscribed on it. In the autumn season, the voyage from America to England, but for theremunerative value of the cargo, would prove to be for the most part a profitless voyage toshipowners. The flow of passengers, at that time of year, sets steadily the other way. Americans arereturning from Europe to their own country. Tourists have delayed the voyage until the fierceAugust heat of the United States has subsided, and the delicious Indian summer is ready to welcomethem. At bed and board the passengers by the Aquila on her homeward voyage had plenty of room, and the choicest morsels for everybody alike on the well spread dinner-table.The wind was favourable, the weather was lovely. Cheerfulness and good-humour pervaded theship from stem to stern. The courteous captain did the honours of the cabin-table with the air of agentleman who was receiving friends in his own house. The handsome doctor promenaded the deckarm-in-arm with ladies in course of rapid recovery from the first gastric consequences of travellingby sea. The excellent chief engineer, musical in his leisure moments to his fingers' ends, played thefiddle in his cabin, accompanied on the flute by that young Apollo of the Atlantic trade, thesteward's mate. Only on the third morning of the voyage was the harmony on board the Aquiladisturbed by a passing moment of discord-due to an unexpected addition to the ranks of thepassengers, in the shape of a lost bird!It was merely a weary little land-bird (blown out of its course, as the learned in such matterssupposed); and it perched on one of the yards to rest and recover itself after its long flight.The instant the creature was discovered, the insatiable Anglo-Saxon delight in killing birds, fromthe majestic eagle to the contemptible sparrow, displayed itself in its full frenzy. The crew ran aboutthe decks, the passengers rushed into their cabins, eager to seize the first gun and to have the firstshot. An old quarter-master of the Aquila was the enviable man, who first found the means ofdestruction ready to his hand. He lifted the gun to his shoulder, he had his finger on the trigger, when he was suddenly pounced upon by one of the passengers-a young, slim, sunburnt, activeman-who snatched away the gun, discharged it over the side of the vessel, and turned furiously onthe quarter-master. "You wretch! would you kill the poor weary bird that trusts our hospitality, andonly asks us to give it a rest? That little harmless thing is as much one of God's creatures as you are.I'm ashamed of you-I'm horrified at you-you've got bird-murder in your face; I hate the sight ofyou!"The quarter-master-a large grave fat man, slow alike in his bodily and his mental movements-listened to this extraordinary remonstrance with a fixed stare of amazement, and an open mouthfrom which the unspat tobacco-juice tricked in little brown streams. When the impetuous younggentleman paused (not for want of words, merely for want of breath), the quarter-master turnedabout, and addressed himself to the audience gathered round. "Gentlemen," he said, with a Romanbrevity, "this young fellow is ma
