of vessels sailing for America, and should at once write and take a
passage.

There was no time lost. Carry felt that it would be best for them all
that the parting should be got over as soon as possible. Letters were
written the next morning to two steamship companies and to the owners of
two sailing vessels asking the prices of steerage passages, agreeing
that if there was not much difference it would be better to save perhaps
a fortnight by taking the passage in a steamship.

The replies showed that the difference was indeed trifling, and a week
after their receipt Tom Wade started from Portsmouth to Liverpool. Even
at the last moment he was half-inclined to change his plans, it seemed
so hard to leave his sisters alone; but Carry and Janet had both
convinced themselves that his scheme was the best, and would not hear of
his wavering now. They kept up a show of good spirits until the last,
talked confidently of the success of their own plans, and how they
should set about carrying them out as soon as they were free to act. The
younger girls, although implored by the elders not to give way to their
grief at the departure of their brother, were in a state of constant
tearfulness, and were in consequence frequently got rid of by being sent
on errands. Tom, too, took them out for hours every day, and by telling
them stories of the wild animals he should hunt, and the Indians he
should see, and of the stores of gold he should find hidden, generally
brought them home in a more cheerful state of mind.

At last the parting was over, and after making heroic efforts to be
cheerful to the end, Tom waved a last adieu with his handkerchief to the
five weeping figures on the platform, and then threw himself back in his
seat and gave free vent to his own feelings. Two girls sitting beside