but he was told that this was of daily occurrence, as six or eight
large steamers went out from Liverpool every week for America
alone, and that the great proportion of the passengers came down,
as they had done, on the previous night, and slept at the Station
hotel. Their own share of the baggage was not large, consisting
only of a portmanteau each, Mr. Goodenough having sent down all
his boxes two days previously. At twelve o'clock they went on board
the Niger, bound for the west coast of Africa. This would carry
them as far as Sierra Leone, whence Mr. Goodenough intended to take
passage in a sailing ship to his starting point for the interior.

Frank enjoyed the voyage out intensely, and three days after sailing
they had left winter behind; four days later they were lying in
the harbor of Funchal.

"What a glorious place that would be to ramble about!" he said to
Mr. Goodenough.

"Yes, indeed. It would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast
than between this mountainous island of Madeira and the country
which we are about to penetrate. This is one of the most delightful
climates in the world, the west coast of Africa one of the worst.
Once well in the interior, the swamp fevers, which are the curse of
the shores, disappear, but African travelers are seldom long free
from attacks of fever of one kind or the other. However, quinine
does wonders, and we shall be far in the interior before the bad
season comes on."

"You have been there before, you said, Mr. Goodenough?"