Among the Bahama Islands they had picked up a bank defaulter, whose adopted son, Scott Fencelowe, had brought him there in the Seahound, his yacht. When Captain Ringgold realized that the bank officer was a defaulter, and had secured his plunder, he sent him back to the United States, forwarding the money he had stolen at the same time. The adopted son was a wild and reckless fellow, and his foster-father had practically bound him to the captain as a sort of apprentice. The young scapegrace had run away three times, but had been reclaimed. He had reformed his life and manners, and was now a worthy young man, as he had been for about three or four months. From a common sailor, berthing with the crew, the captain had promoted him to the rank of quartermaster, messing with the officers, for he was a good steersman. He was also a student in the study, where the professor had four pupils. Mr. Lowell Woolridge was a Fifth Avenue millionaire of New York, whose wife, son, and daughter, as well as himself, had increased the number of the party in the cabin to eleven, making up a dozen with the commander, who spent with them all the time he could spare from his duties. Mr. Woolridge had become acquainted with the Belgrave family through the agency of his yacht, the Blanche. His daughter, a very beautiful and graceful young lady of sixteen, having some slight symptoms of a pulmonary disease, had been sent to Orotavo, in the island of Teneriffe, by the physicians, and her father had been advised to take her there in his yacht. In a long and violent gale the Blanche had nearly foundered; but the Guardian-Mother had saved the vessel and the family. Dr. Hawkes declared that nothing ailed the fair patient, and the Blanche accompanied the steamer on her voyage as far as Southampton. On the passage there the commander and the Belgraves decided to invite the Woolridges to join the party on board of the steamer; and the arrangements had been completed at Southampton, so that the expense of the voyage around the world should be equally divided between the two millionaires. While the two parties were travelling in the United Kingdom, some needed alterations were made in the cabin of the steamer, increasing the number of staterooms. Six of the rooms on board were provided with bathrooms, with all the appendages, and were as luxurious as the suites of a first-class hotel. Mr. Melancthon Sage, the chief steward, was a caterer of established reputation, and Monsieur Odervie, the chief cook, was an artist in his profession of the highest rank. In fact, everything on board of the Guardian-Mother was luxurious. The ship was good for eighteen knots an hour when driven, and was officered by men of skill and long experience. Besides the boatswain and three quartermasters, her crew of sixteen seamen were all picked men, and it would have been difficult to find their equals as a whole in any yacht that sailed the seas.