are aboard, and will get there as soon as I will." A few days after that
the mate was arranging the employment of the men, and when he came to my
friend's turn he said to him, "Who employed you? You are not an
able-bodied seaman." He made no reply. They could see he was a man of
intelligence, and his pale look showed he had been sick. It may have
moved the sympathies of the officer, who said to him, "This vessel is
crowded with people; it wont do for us to be short of water, and I will
put the water in your charge, and you must not let any passenger, or
even the steward, have any except according to the regulations, and if
you attend to that properly no other services will be required of you."
That took him off of the anxious seat and put him on the solid. In all
his adversities he never thought of turning back. That commanded my
esteem. His attentions to me, when sick, aroused my sympathies for him,
which good action on his part saved him. Of one thousand passengers
desirous of getting on that steamer, and there was room but for sixty on
the day of its departure; his chance looked the most hopeless, being
penniless, but he was one of the fortunate ones, while those who had
plenty of money were left. It illustrated the old maxim, "Where there is
a will there is a way."

Nothing of interest occurred until we got to the port of Acupulco, the
largest place on the west coast of Mexico. We were about to enter the
harbor when a government boat with officials came out and ordered us to
stop. If we proceeded any further there would be "matter trouble" in
broken English. There were Americans on shore who had crossed over from
Vera Cruz for the purpose of taking this steamer. It would be a month
before there would be another one, and then there would be no certainty
of their getting aboard of that. The captain held a consultation of the
passengers, who all decided to have them come on board. They were our
countrymen and we would share our berths with them, although the vessel