BOUND TO A SICKLY CLIMATE. Capt. Crogick was a good deal more vexed at the appearance of these unwelcome passengers than he cared to express. He had treated them well; but he wished they were at the bottom of the sea, or anywhere except on board of the “Housatonic,” which was to receive the cashier of the Walnut National Bank the next day. He wondered if the boys were not sent as spies, to ascertain what was going on on board of the ship; but, when he figured up his dates, he was satisfied that they were genuine runaways, as well as the cashier. It seemed very strange that these boys should come on board of his ship just at this time when he was managing the escape of his brother-in-law. He at once made up his mind to send the young fugitives back to New York in the “Moonlight.” But Capt. Bendig might convey his passengers to the ship before he knew the situation; and, if Lon saw Mr. Wallgood, the whole scheme would be exposed, especially his own agency in the affair, which was sure to make trouble with his owners. Lon and Matt were permitted to sleep in peace for that night, and in the morning they were invited to the captain’s table to breakfast. It had been arranged beforehand, that Lon should do the talking; but the cabin-steward was present most of the time, and nothing was said during the meal about the presence of the two boys on board. As soon as the table was cleared away, and they were alone in the cabin, Capt. Crogick opened the subject. “Where do you think of going to, Alonzo?” he asked. “Matt and I wanted to take a little voyage,” replied Lon, with a cheerful smile, as though he was engaged in a perfectly legitimate business. “We don’t care much where we go to.” “Would you like to go to the coast of Africa, where men die off like sheep with malarial fever?” asked the captain, with a stern expression. “No: we don’t care about going to any such place as that,” answered Lon, his jaw dropping at the question, which seemed to indicate that the “Housatonic” was bound to such a region as the shipmaster described. “We don’t want to go to any such place as that. Is your ship going to the coast of Africa?” “We shall certainly go to the coast of Africa,” replied the captain; but he meant that part of the coast of Africa which borders the Strait of Gibraltar. “But your way of going to sea is not quite regular. As it stands now, you are stowaways.” “But we will pay our passage,” added Lon. “Then you have plenty of money?” “We have some money.” “Of course your father knows what you are about, Alonzo?” continued the captain. “I can’t say he does.” “Then you are runaways, are you?” “I suppose that is what you would call us,” said Lon, trying to laugh, though the captain was very sober and dignified; but it was only because he was troubled about his expected passengers, who might meet the president’s son in spite of his efforts to prevent such a meeting.