dear boy," I replied, "there is nothing you would venture to ask
that I could possibly refuse." "Then," continued he, "it is this. I
see my mother is grieving, although she says nothing, at our all
leaving her together. Let Tom and I go alone: I will pledge myself
to take care of him." After a consultation with my wife this new
plan was agreed upon. I released myself from my engagement with
Messrs. Simpkin and Marshall for the Ballaarat, and secured two
berths for the boys in one of Mr. W.S. Lindsay's ships, which at
that time were conveying living freights to Melbourne, their
Channel port of departure being Dartmouth.

By the advice of Mr. Lindsay himself I took steerage passages for
them. He shrewdly remarked, "They will be there as soon and as
safely as the cabin-passengers, and their money will be saved."
This sounded so like an axiom in practical economy that my dear boy
never attempted to argue the question. Having obtained permission
to knock two cabins into one, my sons considerably diminished their
expenses, and had quite as agreeable a voyage as if they had paid
sixty guineas each; for I have lately learned by experience, in a
homeward passage, that you have to put up with companions in the
cabin, as objectionable as can be imagined in almost any situation
of life.

At Dartmouth, a day or two before the ship started, I found that
William had expended some money on a quantity of stuff rolled up
like balls of black ropeyarn. I exclaimed with astonishment, "In
the name of goodness, are you going to chew or smoke all the way to
Australia?" for the commodity was the good old pig-tail tobacco. He
said, smiling, "This is to make friends with the sailors: I intend
to learn something about a ship by the time we reach our