CHAPTER XXV.

THE VOYAGE.

Thalatta! Thalatta!
I greet thee, thou ocean eternal!
I give thee ten thousand times greeting,
My whole soul exulting!
--_Heine_.



It was a splendid winter morning, and Boston harbor, with its
shipping, presented a magnificent appearance, lighted up by the
rising sun, as the "Oceana" steamed out towards the open sea.

Our three friends stood in the after part of the deck, gazing upon
the dear native land they were leaving behind them. The professor
waited in respectful attendance upon them.

A little way from the shore the signal gun was fired; the farewell
gun! how it brought back to the father's memory that moment of agony
when the signal gun of another steamer struck the knell of his
parting with his only daughter, and seemed to break his heart!

He was going to Claudia now, but oh! how should he find her? Who
could tell?

Still there was hope in the thought that he was going to her, and
there was exhilaration in the wide expanse of sparkling waters, in